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Using makesis on Mac OS X Tiger to Create Flash Lite 1.1 Application Installers (.sis files)

I have been doing some Flash Lite 1.1 projects lately, and I have figured out a few things that make testing and developing easier. First off, its really easy to test .swf files, I simply publish out a new one and use the built in bluetooth file transfer to send files from my Mac OS X laptop to my Nokia 6000 and they end up in my message inbox. One click and the Flash Player launches my .swf and I’m off and running.

In some projects, you might have several local .swf files or other supplemental files, sometime you want to be able to package up and make an installer that will transfer them all in and organize things in the proper hiearchy, etc. Basically a full installer package. Well in that case you use Symbians “makesis” utility in combination with package files to create an actual .sis [1] installer file. Makesis comes with the Symbian SDK, but the SDK is geared towards PC’s not Macs. No problem, makesis is open source now and you can compile it. I actually found a great article by Simon Woodside [2], that covers developing for Symbian devices on OS X. Its not really geared towards Flash Lite 1.1 development, but the tidbits about getting and compiling makesis were just what I needed. It only took a few minutes, and a little reading on this Symbian reference page on the syntax for package files [3], and I was creating functional .sis files on my Apple Mac OS X laptop.

My next step is to get makekeys [4] working so I can digitally sign my .sis files with a certificate to show the originator, and provide a level of security and trust, and to avoid some warning’s that pop up. Just a couple minor details. Just being able to make the .sis files certainly speeds up the process of development, I run a JSFL file that publishes out my Flash Lite 1.1 .swf to a “deploy” folder, and then triggers a shell script to run makesis and bundle up my .sis installer. I could probably take it a few steps further, and have AppleScript or perhaps use the new Tiger application, Automator, to automatically send the resulting .sis file to my phone without my having to mouse around at all. I’ll have to give that a try with automator and see what I can work out.

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