.FLA File Format – Publish settings

XFL document (Flash CS5 and later, ZIP)

PublishSettings.xml holds what the Publish Settings dialog shows: which files to make when the document is published, what to call them, and how to compile the SWF. It is UTF-8 XML. Unlike the rest of the document, its values are the text content of elements, not attributes.

<flash_profiles>
  <flash_profile version="1.0" name="Default" current="true">
    <PublishFormatProperties …>
      <flash>…</flash>
      <html>…</html>
      …
      <flashFileName>….swf</flashFileName>
      …
    </PublishFormatProperties>
    <PublishHtmlProperties …> … </PublishHtmlProperties>
    <PublishFlashProperties …>
      <Version>11</Version>
      <ActionScriptVersion>3</ActionScriptVersion>
      <DocumentClass>classes.SimpleMMOWorld</DocumentClass>
      <AS3PackagePaths>…</AS3PackagePaths>
      <AS3ConfigConst>…</AS3ConfigConst>
      <AS3Strict>…</AS3Strict>
      <AS3Optimize>…</AS3Optimize>
      …
    </PublishFlashProperties>
  </flash_profile>
</flash_profiles>
The outline of PublishSettings.xml, with values from an ActionScript 3.0 document saved by Flash CS5.5. Values shown as … differ from file to file.

Profiles

The root element <flash_profiles> holds one or more <flash_profile> elements, one for each named set of settings in the dialog. Each has version (1.0), name (such as Default) and current, which is true on the profile in use. A reader takes the current profile, or the first if none is marked; the explorer does the same.

A profile holds a group of settings for each output:

ElementHolds
<PublishFormatProperties>Which formats to publish, as flags (<flash>, <html> and others), and their file names, such as <flashFileName> for the SWF.
<PublishHtmlProperties>The settings of the HTML page that embeds the SWF.
<PublishFlashProperties>How to compile the SWF (below).

Flash properties

The children of <PublishFlashProperties> that matter for reading the document and its scripts:

ElementMeaning
<Version>The Flash Player version to publish for: 9 and 11 in the files seen.
<ActionScriptVersion>The ActionScript version of the scripts: 1, 2 or 3. Frame scripts in the document are in this language.
<DocumentClass>The ActionScript 3.0 class of the main timeline, such as classes.SimpleMMOWorld. Empty when there is none. See ActionScript in FLA.
<AS3PackagePaths>The class path for ActionScript 3.0: the folders searched for .as files. . is the folder of the .fla.
<AS3ConfigConst>Constants for conditional compilation, such as CONFIG::debug.
<AS3Strict>Whether the ActionScript 3.0 compiler runs in strict mode, checking types.
<AS3Optimize>By its name, whether the compiler optimises the code.

Other elements hold further compiler and SWF settings. The explorer reads the Flash Player version, ActionScript version, document class, class path and SWF file name, and shows them with the document.

A binary FLA of Flash CS3 or CS4 keeps the same settings as name and value pairs in its Contents stream, such as Vector::DocumentClass.