See trace() of Flash when running in browser

Question

What's an easy way to see the trace() output of Flash/Flex movies when running in any browser?

Spinthariscope

Answer 1

Download and install the content debugger version of Flash Player.

Enable trace logging (official guide) by adding an mm.cfg file:

ErrorReportingEnable=1

    TraceOutputFileEnable=1

Where to save mm.cfg depends on the OS:

• Mac OS X: /Library/Application Support/Macromedia
• Windows: %HOMEDRIVE%\%HOMEPATH%
• Linux: /home/user name

The log file, flashlog.txt, can be found at:

• Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs
• Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs
• Mac OS X: /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/Logs/
• Linux: /home/username/.macromedia/Flash_Player/Logs/

Optionally, you can install the Firefox add-on FBTracer which displays the trace output in a Firebug panel.

Spinthariscope

This answer needs updating - the "official steps" link is dead, and FlashTracer hasn't been updated since July 2008. – Liquor

It doesn't look like FlashTracer plugin has been updated for the latest version of Firefox. However I did find a handy standalone GUI at code.google.com/p/flash-tracer – Mystique

You can just open the flashlog.txt; there's no need for a separate plugin to read it. – Bencion

Another possible alternative to FlashTracer is FlashFirebug. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashfirebug Though I couldn't get it to work (might be a licensing issue), so ended up using Vizzy mentioned above. Also ran across this post on how to get Vizzy working in Chrome: burnedouthippy.com/2011/02/… – Newmark

Or simply use import flash.external.*; /*....*/ ExternalInterface.call('console.log', 'this was very tricky'); along with trace? – Furlough

It's good that you updated the "official steps" link, but you should also describe those steps here, in case the link goes offline again. StackOverflow guidelines also encourage this: stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer . You don't have to quote the entire page, just the relevant info (how to enable trace logging) – Enscroll

Answer 2

i just use the console.log function (most recent browsers implement it);

import flash.external.ExternalInterface;

public static function log(msg:String, caller:Object = null):void{
        var str:String = "";
        if(caller){
            str = getQualifiedClassName(caller);
            str += ":: ";
        }
        str += msg;
        trace(str);
        if(ExternalInterface.available){
            ExternalInterface.call("console.log", str);
        }
    }

Bidentate

You also need to import flash.utils.getQualifiedClassName;. – Innervate

Answer 3

Check out De Monster's MonsterDebugger. You can debug track objects, traces, and display chains in a lovely AIR application. Very fun to use. And it's open source!

http://demonsterdebugger.com/

You can also configure Flash and Flex to write to a log file. Check out how to do that here:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=logging_04.html

I've been using Monster lately, but I used to have an alias that ran a unix "tail" on the flashlog file that would effectively give me a logging window for "in browser" tracing:

alias flashlog='tail -f /PATH/TO/flashlog.txt'

Or if you have a log viewer (like Console on Mac OS), you can view the log there. The only reason I suggest these options is that FlashTracer is pretty "crashy" ;)

Buonarroti

Not perfect since it only caters to AIR and AS3 apps. – Spinthariscope

Ha, ok. What, if anything in life, is perfect? – Buonarroti

Wow. I wish I had found this 2 years ago. It just goes to show you that, as programmers, we are so used watching shell output fly by that we sometimes forget how nice a well engineered GUI debugger can be. – Often

Answer 4

Vizzy makes life easier if you want a basic logfile viewer. You just install the debug player and then install Vizzy. It is a window that tails the flashlog file. The sweet thing is that is does all the mm.cfg file b.s. for you.

http://code.google.com/p/flash-tracer/

Wampum

Easy to use tool. Once a debug flash player is installed, no configuration is needed. All done by Vizzy. Browser independent. Cool tool. – Erhard

Answer 5

Probably not as fancy as the others or cutting edge, but I used to create my own log function in the flash movie (funnily enough, called log) that called trace and also called a js function on the page (using whatever method your comfortable with). The function on the page was just a simple console.log() with Firebug. Simple and worked a treat.

Latashalatashia

Answer 6

I am a happy Thunderbolt user, maybe it is also worth a look (multiple log levels, plays nicely with firebug out of the box).

Sorrows

Answer 7

Since macromedia was aquired by adobe,I thought it should be 'D :\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Adobe\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt '.Which resutlted in loss of few minutes for me.Finally i decide to give it a try to look at D:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt and bingo i could see the flash trace() outputs.

I wonder why adobe is sill keeping the log file location in macromedia folder.Whatever it is I can see the trace ouptuts of flash applications run inside a browser and i am a happy man :)

Brumley

Answer 8

In windows, If you use a localized version (i.e. spanish) of the operating system, 'Application Data' must be replaced with the localized version (i.e. "Datos de programa")

Perfusion

Answer 9

Unix's tail command works well for me:

tail -f ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/Logs/flashlog.txt

The -f switch keeps the log open and tails it via stdout into an open Terminal window. This is a Mac solution, I'm not sure what the Windows tail equivalent is.

Note that path is based on this document, posted above by @Jarvis.

Ailis