Checking the user’s Flash Player capabilities using the flash.system.Capabilities class

There are a lot of times when you may want to know what version of the Flash Player plug-in your visitors are using. Or perhaps you want to know their screen resolution, operating system, language, whether they have accessibility or an IME. Finding all this out is simple thanks to the Flash Player’s flash.system.Capabilities class.

The following application will show how you can grab all the capabilities of the user’s Flash Player and display them in an easy-to-read DataGrid control.

Full code after the jump.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="vertical" verticalAlign="middle" backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import flash.system.Capabilities;

            /* Label function for the nameCol DataGridColumn object. */
            private function nameColFunc(item:Object, column:DataGridColumn):String {
                var ss:String = item.@serverString;
                if (ss.length > 0) {
                    ss = " (" + ss + ")";
                }
                return item.@name + ss;
            }

            /* Label function for the valueCol DataGridColumn object. */
            private function valueColFunc(item:Object, column:DataGridColumn):String {
                return Capabilities[item.@name];
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:XML id="capabilitiesXML" source="capabilities.xml" />

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <mx:Label text="Player version: {Capabilities.version} (debug={Capabilities.isDebugger})" />
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

    <mx:DataGrid id="dataGrid" width="100%" height="100%" variableRowHeight="true">
        <mx:dataProvider>{capabilitiesXML.property}</mx:dataProvider>
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn id="nameCol" labelFunction="nameColFunc" headerText="Property name (server string):" />
            <mx:DataGridColumn id="valueCol" labelFunction="valueColFunc" headerText="Value:" wordWrap="true" />
            <!--mx:DataGridColumn id="valueCol" dataField="@value" headerText="Value:" wordWrap="true" /-->
        </mx:columns>
    </mx:DataGrid>

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar>
        <mx:Text width="500">
            <mx:htmlText>&lt;b&gt;Capabilities.serverString:&lt;/b&gt;&llt;br /&gt;{Capabilities.serverString}</mx:htmlText>
        </mx:Text>
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

</mx:Application>

View capabilities.xml

<capabilities>
    <property name="avHardwareDisable" serverString="AVD" value="{Capabilities.avHardwareDisable}" />
    <property name="hasAccessibility" serverString="ACC" value="{Capabilities.hasAccessibility}" />
    <property name="hasAudio" serverString="A" value="{Capabilities.hasAudio}" />
    <property name="hasAudioEncoder" serverString="AE" value="{Capabilities.hasAudioEncoder}" />
    <property name="hasEmbeddedVideo" serverString="EV" value="{Capabilities.hasEmbeddedVideo}" />
    <property name="hasIME" serverString="IME" value="{Capabilities.hasIME}" />
    <property name="hasMP3" serverString="MP3" value="{Capabilities.hasMP3}" />
    <property name="hasPrinting" serverString="PR" value="{Capabilities.hasPrinting}" />
    <property name="hasScreenBroadcast" serverString="SB" value="{Capabilities.hasScreenBroadcast}" />
    <property name="hasScreenPlayback" serverString="SP" value="{Capabilities.hasScreenPlayback}" />
    <property name="hasStreamingAudio" serverString="SA" value="{Capabilities.hasStreamingAudio}" />
    <property name="hasStreamingVideo" serverString="SV" value="{Capabilities.hasStreamingVideo}" />
    <property name="hasTLS" serverString="TLS" value="{Capabilities.hasTLS}" />
    <property name="hasVideoEncoder" serverString="VE" value="{Capabilities.hasVideoEncoder}" />
    <property name="isDebugger" serverString="DEB" value="{Capabilities.isDebugger}" />
    <property name="language" serverString="L" value="{Capabilities.language}" />
    <property name="localFileReadDisable" serverString="LFD" value="{Capabilities.localFileReadDisable}" />
    <property name="manufacturer" serverString="M" value="{Capabilities.manufacturer}" />
    <property name="os" serverString="OS" value="{Capabilities.os}" />
    <property name="pixelAspectRatio" serverString="AR" value="{Capabilities.pixelAspectRatio}" />
    <property name="playerType" serverString="PT" value="{Capabilities.playerType}" />
    <property name="screenColor" serverString="COL" value="{Capabilities.screenColor}" />
    <property name="screenDPI" serverString="DP" value="{Capabilities.screenDPI}" />
    <property name="screenResolutionX" serverString="R" value="{Capabilities.screenResolutionX}" />
    <property name="screenResolutionY" serverString="R" value="{Capabilities.screenResolutionY}" />
    <property name="serverString" serverString="" value="{Capabilities.serverString}" />
    <property name="version" serverString="V" value="{Capabilities.version}" />
</capabilities>

View source is enabled in the following example.