This is an update to my earlier post where I demonstrated how to dynamically generate an image of a DisplayObject in Flash and push it up to the server using PHP. I’ve cleaned up and extended the code here to now allow you to also save an image to the desktop using the new save( ) method of the FileReference class introduced in Flash Player 10.

To use this class download the source files and create a new BitmapSnapshot object passing in the DisplayObject you want to create an image of as well as an optional file name, width and height. If width and height are omitted BitmapSnapshot will use the full width and height of the object you are passing in.

Note : BitmapSnapshot will generate a jpg or a png based on the extension of the filename you pass in.
The default output will be a png because it’s encoding algorithm is much faster than that of jpeg’s.

private function saveToDesktop():void
{
var img.BitmapSnapshot = new BitmapSnapshot(_canvas, _filename);
    img.saveToDesktop();			
}
 
private function saveOnServer():void
{
var img:BitmapSnapshot = new BitmapSnapshot(_canvas, _filename);
    img.saveOnServer(_phpscript, _destination);
}

A note on dependencies : BitmapSnapshot does rely on the fantastic jpeg and png encoder classes written by Tinic Uro as part of the AS3CoreLibrary. These files are included in the ‘libs’ directory along with BitmapSnapshot so be sure this folder is in your class path when you go to compile.

To see the generated image saved to the server, be sure to clear your cache and view the image here.

As always please leave any questions or problems in the comments below.