Release Notes | Flash Player® 23 AIR® 23

Welcome to the Flash Player and AIR 23 release notes!

November 8, 2016

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes and security updates.

October 26, 2016

In today's release, we've updated Flash Player with important security updates.

October 11, 2016

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player with important bug fixes and security updates.

September 13, 2016

In today's scheduled release, we've updated Flash Player and AIR with important bug fixes, security updates, and new features.

How to update Flash Player

Current Flash Player customers who have enrolled in the "Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)" update mechanism will be automatically updated to the latest version of Flash Player within 24 hours after release.

Users who have selected "Notify me to install updates" will receive an update notification dialog within 7 days from release date. Please note that Windows users will need to restart their system or log out and in to activate the update notification dialog.

The latest version of Flash Player can always be downloaded and installed by simply visiting https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

Customers using Google Chrome or Windows 8.x/10 Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge will receive updates through the Google and Microsoft update mechanisms.

How to contact us

We hope you enjoy this release. If you encounter any problems, please let us know by posting issues to our public bug database. For installation or usage help, please visit our community forums for assistance.

Adobe Bug Database - https://bugbase.adobe.com
Flash Player Forums - http://forums.adobe.com/community/flashplayer
AIR Forums - http://forums.adobe.com/community/air

November 8, 2016

Flash Player

• Stability bugs and security fixes
  

October 26, 2016

Flash Player

• Security Fixes

October 11, 2016

Flash Player

• [Mac]Flash player quits unexpectedly while playing Forge of Empires on Firefox(4190467)
• [Chrome]Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V does not work with CAPS ON in flex (4186251)
• [WinXP/Vista][PPAPI] "Couldn't load plugin" error attempting to view Flash content on Opera & Chromium (4186169)
   

September 13, 2016

Flash Player

• Application with Embedded ActiveX (f-in-box) Crashes (4176988)
  

AIR

• [iOS] ld-64 Compilation getting failed while packaging app with multiple swf and ANE (4182822)
• [iOS] Capabilities.screenDPI gives a wrong value on AIR 22 simulator (4157457)
• [iOS] Context3D.drawToBitmapData uses wrong offset on mobile (4147414)
• [iOS] TextField with TextFieldType.INPUT cuts off text on the left side when focused (4009346)
• [iOS] StageWebView makes application crash (4180325)
• [Android] MP4 Video rendering completely broken in Air 22 on all version of Android (4167492)
• [Android] Full screen display states must use immersive mode on Android 4.4+ (4100625)
• [Android] OpenSSL library upgraded to 1.0.2h version
• [iOS] App using concurrency closes when a class is instantiated on the worker .swf (4067035)
• [iOS] CameraRoll on iOS returns Bitmap in incorrect orientation (4070057)
• [iOS] [Windows] Error, ld: in section __TEXT,__text reloc 153: R_ABS reloc but no absolute symbol at target address for architecture arm64 while packaging Application with Social.ane using flag -hideAneLibSymbols yes (4005515)
• [iOS] sharedobjects fail when available storage is low (3711301)
• TextField contextMenu displayed with offset with HiDPI screens (4177810)
  

Mozilla NPAPI AsyncDrawing Support

Async Drawing refers to the method that the browser and Flash Player use to exchange a bitmap surface where Flash Player draws the SWF content. It is used only when the stage is composited with rest of the content in the browser window. This feature allows wmode “direct” (wmode opaque and transparent) to behave as “windowless” in hardware accelerated async drawing. It is not used in fullscreen mode, or in windowed mode where the plugin draws directly to its own window. If asynchronous drawing is unavailable for any reason, the plugin falls back to using the existing synchronous drawing model.

AsyncDrawing is supported in NPAPI Plugin on Windows desktop platforms only. It is currently available from FP version 23.0 in Firefox Nightly 51.0a1, the Firefox versions supporting the feature is yet to be announced. The choice of which Async Drawing path is used (hardware or software) depends on whether the browser supports hardware or software Async Drawing modes.

To disable AsynchronousDrawing support in Firefox, go to “about:config” in the search bar of the browser and set “dom.ipc.plugins.asyncdrawing.enabled” to false.

HSTS Support in Flash Player

Beginning with Flash Player 23, we have introduced support for HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security). HSTS is an IETF standard, which enforces user agents (browsers) to use HTTPS for communication instead of HTTP. HTTPS response may have a Strict-Transport-Security(STS) header field that requests the user agent to make further requests in HTTPS. Flash Player will now acknowledge the STS header in HTTPS response.

This will be particularly helpful when a SWF calls another SWF (child SWF) that is present in HSTS enabled server. Flash Player will acknowledge the STS header in the response and further request to the same domain will always be HTTPS. This feature will be helpful in mitigating protocol hijacking attacks and cookie hijacking.

Disabling local-with-filesystem access in Flash Player by default

Beginning with Flash Player 23, local-with-network permissions will now be applied to all local SWF content, regardless of the preference chosen at compile time.

Background:
When playing Flash (SWF) content from local filesystem, developers have historically been able to configure content to exclusively read from the filesystem, or communicate to the network. When this functionality was introduced over a decade ago, it enabled an interesting array of use-cases ranging from simple games to interactive kiosks. In context of modern web security, we believe that it is time to retire local filesystem functionality in the browser plugin. At the same time, Adobe AIR has been established as a robust, mature solution for delivering ActionScript-based content as a standalone application.

Vast majority of Flash Player users and content will be unaffected by this change. This change only impacts Flash content played from the local filesystem, using the browser. Flash content hosted on the internet and local webservers, as well as the Standalone Flash Player remains unaffected.If you are a user who requires this functionality, these files can be added to the list of Trusted Locations in Flash Player.

Workarounds for Legacy Content:
We highly recommend that you only circumvent these controls to enable content from sources that they trust.

For Individuals:
For Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Safari:
On the affected system, go to the Flash Player Settings Manager:
• Mac: System Preferences > Flash Player
• Windows: Control Panel > Flash Player
Select the Advanced tab
In the Developer Tools section, click the Trusted Location Settings button
Click the "Add..." button and add relevant files and folders to the list

For Google Chrome (and other PPAPI browsers):
Navigate to the Settings Manager page
Choose Edit Locations > Add Locations from the popup list
In the text field that appears, type or paste the file/folder path that you'd like to trust
Click the "Confirm" button
Note: Please be aware that the "Browse for files" and "Browse for folder" buttons do not function properly. You must manually type or copy/paste your path into the text field above the buttons to add the file or folder to the trusted list.

For System Administrators:
The legacy behavior can be restored by applying the EnableInsecureLocalWithFileSystem=1 flag to mms.cfg.

Video and Camera support for Stage3D by VideoTexture for Flash Player (Release)

In Flash Player 20 or earlier, use of video in Stage3D required use of the Video object, which is not hardware accelerated. It involved copying the video frame to a BitmapData object and then loading data onto the GPU, which made it CPU-intensive.

To address this limitation, Video texture object was introduced. It allows you to use hardware decoded video in Stage 3D content. Further, extending this capability in Flash Player 23 release, texture objects have been introduced to support the use of NetStream and Cameras in a manner similar to the use of StageVideo. These textures can be used as source textures in stage3D rendering pipeline. You can use them as rectangular, RGB, or no mipmap textures in rendering of a scene. They are treated as ARGB texture by the shaders which implies that the AGAL shaders do not have to bother about YUV to RGB conversion now. The shaders treat these textures as ARGB textures. This allows you to use the standard shaders with static images without any need for modification. When you render using these textures, the image that is used by the rendering pipeline is the the latest frame at that time. Though, there is no tearing in the video frame, if you use the same texture many times, some of these instances may be picked from different timestamps.

With the use of a VideoTexture object, all this work gets optimized internally - YUV to RGB conversion and texture loading can be completely moved to the GPU. See the VideoTexture devnet article for implementation details.

Note: Video Texture is an existing feature in AIR. It was introduced in AIR 17.0 version.

GameInput API for iOS

Starting AIR 23, we are providing GameInput API support for iOS. GameInput API is an interface that allows applications to communicate with attached Game controllers. There are different types of Game Controllers depending on the number of controls. This API allows an application to get all information related to the Game controller.
GameInput API support has already been available for Android. On iOS, it requires a minimum swf version of 34. This API supports iOS devices running on iOS version 9.0 or higher.

GameInput API Example:

{
trace("GameInput.isSupported - "+ GameInput.isSupported);
trace("GameInput.numDevices - "+ GameInput.numDevices);

gameInput = newGameInput();
gameInput.addEventListener(GameInputEvent.DEVICE_ADDED, inputDeviceAddedEvent);
gameInput.addEventListener(GameInputEvent.DEVICE_REMOVED, inputDeviceRemovedEvent);

functioninputDeviceRemovedEvent(e:GameInputEvent):void
{
trace("inputDeviceRemovedEvent - "+ e.device);
}

functioninputDeviceAddedEvent(e:GameInputEvent):void
{
trace("inputDeviceAddedEvent - "+ e.device);
getDeviceInformation(e.device);
}

functiongetDeviceInformation(device:GameInputDevice):void
{
trace("device.enabled - "+ device.enabled);
trace("device.id - "+ device.id);
trace("device.name - "+ device.name);
trace("device.numControls - "+ device.numControls);
trace("device.sampleInterval - "+ device.sampleInterval);

for(vari:Number=0; i < device.numControls; i++)
{
varcontrol:GameInputControl = device.getControlAt(i);
getControlInformation(control);
control.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, changeEvent);
}
}

functionchangeEvent(e:Event):void
{
varcontrol:GameInputControl = e.target asGameInputControl;
getControlInformation(control);
}

functiongetControlInformation(control:GameInputControl):void
{
trace("control.device - "+ control.device);
trace("control.value - "+ control.value);
trace("control.minValue - "+ control.minValue);
trace("control.maxValue - "+ control.maxValue);
trace("control.id - "+ control.id);
}

}

Echo Cancellation on AIR for Android
Starting AIR 23, we have introduced Echo Cancellation for AIR on Android.Acoustic echo occurs when the speaker output feeds back to the built-in microphone input, producing disturbing echoing artifacts and significantly reducing the quality of captured data.

Acoustic echo arises in collaboration applications, where two or more parties carry out interactive conversation. From this release onwards, developers can develop VOIP applications without any echo using AIR on Android.

Note: This feature is already present on AIR for desktop and iOS Platform. For more information, see Microphone - AS3.

Following changes are required in the action script code:

Microphone.getEnhancedMicrophone

To get access to device Microphone, we use Microphone.getMicrophone(). However, this API returns a simple microphone, which does not have the ability to eliminate acoustic echo. To remove the acoustic echo, developers must get an instance of Microphone using the API: Microphone.getEnhancedMicrophone(). The device microphone returned by this API has the acoustic echo cancellation feature enabled.

Requirements
- Add the following tag under Android manifest additions:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS" />

- There may be pre-existing swfs that use Microphone. getEnhacedMicrohone () API (as it is already present and working for AIR desktop applications). If such swf files are packaged with the latest AIRSDK (version 23), the feature will not work. Developers need to recompile the swf with swf-version 34 or higher.

Sample snippet
Here is the example code snippet for this scenario:

public function Microphoe()
{
mic = Microphone.getEnhancedMicrophone();
mic.gain=60;
mic.rate =22;
mic.addEventListener(StatusEvent.STATUS, mic_status);
}

Limitations
Acoustic Echo Cancellation may not work on some devices (such as the Moto G2) because of hardware side limitations.

The API MicrophoneEnhancedOptions (present on AIR for desktop) will be a no-op on AIR for Android.

Performance of the feature can vary depending upon the hardware side handling of echo cancellation for different Android devices. For the devices that do not support Echo Cancellation at the hardware level, AIR will handle the echo cancellation from the software side.

Acoustic effects of the microphone class will vary according to the device. Because the Android Family has devices with different hardware configurations, the same audio settings will have different impact on different devices. For example, a developer may have to use "mic.gain = 70;" for Samsung Note 4 for loud output of the voice.

The StageText clear button is now optional on iOS

While creating StageText object on iOS, a clear button option is available by default to the AS developers. Beginning with AIR 23, a new feature has been introduced, which makes the StageText clear button optional. This provides more flexibility to the AS developers when using StageText. In the earlier versions, StageText object was created with an integrated clear button.

To implement this feature, following changes are required in the ActionScript code:

stageText.clearButtonMode
For getting access to the optional clear button support, AS developers can now use a clearButtonMode property to set different modes.There are four modes associated with this property:

To show clearButton while editing: StageTextClearButtonMode.WHILE_EDITING

To never show clearButton: StageTextClearButtonMode.NEVER

To always show clearButton: StageTextClearButtonMode.ALWAYS

To show clearButton unless editing: StageTextClearButtonMode.UNLESS_EDITING

By default, clearButtonMode property is set as StageTextClearButtonMode.WHILE_EDITING.

Requirements

The application must be packaged with latest AIR SDK (version 23).

SWF version must be 34 or later.

Sample snippet

You can use this example code snippet for your reference.

public function ClearButtonMode()
{
label = new StageText();
label.clearButtonMode = StageTextClearButtonMode.NEVER;
label.textAlign = "right";
label.stage = stage;
label.viewPort = new Rectangle(20, 20, 90, 90);
}

Limitations for using stageText.clearButtonMode property

This property is not available in StageText with multi-line

This property is a No-Op for Android

Windows: Add HiDPI support for AIR desktop (Release)

Beginning with AIR 23, HiDPI support for AIR Desktop on Windows has been introduced. It allows you to provide a higher quality rendering for AIR content on HiDPI displays. This feature works on the concept of higher pixel density scaling instead of pixel-doubling scaling.

Note: HiDPI is already available for AIR on Mac Retina displays.

To implement this feature in an AIR app, the developer should set requestedDisplayResolution as high in the manifest file.

requestedDisplayResolution set high

<requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution>

For a full list of features in Flash Player and AIR, including features introduced in previous releases, please review the document here

Flash Player

• Resizing embedded flash video player will turn the interface black in xulrunner(4186134)
  
• "ALT GR+0" does not return @ on french layout Keyboard(4196791)
• Performance drop is observed on Firefox 49.0.2 when async drawing is enabled (4197072)

AIR

• [Android] softKeyboardRect height is incorrect (4085072)
• [iOS] VideoTexture on iOS - sometimes the event TEXTURE_READY isn't dispatched (4150401)
• [iOS] Crash when trying to access function arguments (4117964)
• [iOS] Landscape mode is not able to initiate the camera and the app crashes in debug mode (4168916)
• [Android N] AIR apps are not able to recognise display changes & font size as per the new Android N features (4186054)
• TextField: delay after creation of first TextField (4133187)
  
• Glitches are observed when graphic content is transformed with 2.5D transformation in AIR 23(4191283)
• Artifacts are observed when Z axis depth of the display object is changed(4189739)
• Triangle is either blank or filled with artifacts when using Graphics.drawTriangles() in AIR 23.0 (4191288)
• Glitches are observed when using 3D rotation is applied on a Bitmap or any containers(4188948)
• Exponential increase in no of GDI object handler due to which application quits unexpectedly (4194045)
• Starling.display.Image mask is not rendering on mobile when rendered with starling.textures.RenderTexture (4196946)
  

Authoring for Flash Player 23

To use the new Flash Player, you will need to target SWF version 34 by passing "-swf-version=34" as an extra compiler argument to the ASC 2.0 compiler.  Detailed directions are below.

• Download the new playerglobal.swc for Flash Player 23
• Download and install Flash Builder 4.7 from Creative Cloud: https://creative.adobe.com/products/flash-builder
• Backup the existing AIR SDK if you need to restore it later then replace the bundled AIR SDK with the AIR 23 SDK.  To do this, unzip the AIR 23 SDK to this location:
  • MacOS: /Applications/Adobe Flash Builder 4.7/eclipse/plugins/com.adobe.flash.compiler_4.7.0.348297/AIRSDK
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.7 (64Bit)\eclipse\plugins\com.adobe.flash.compiler_4.7.0.349722\AIRSDK\
• In Flash Builder, create a new project: File -> New -> project.
• Open the project Properties panel (right-click and chose 'Properties'). 
• Select ActionScriptCompiler from the list on the left.
• Add "-swf-version=34" to the 'Additional compiler arguments' field.
  • This ensures the outputted SWF targets SWF version 34.  If you compile on the command-line and not in Flash Builder, you need to add the same compiler argument.
• Ensure you have installed the new Flash Player 23 build in your browser.

Authoring for AIR 23 Update to the AIR 23 namespace

You must update your application descriptor file to the 23 namespace in order to access the new AIR 23 APIs and behavior. If your application does not require the new AIR 23 APIs and behavior, you are not required to update the namespace. However, we recommend all users start using the AIR 23 namespace even if you are not yet taking advantage of the new 23 capabilities. To update the namespace, change the xmlns attribute in your application descriptor to: <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/23.0">

Found a bug? Please submit a bug to the Flash Player and Adobe AIR bug database.

Flash Player and AIR may leverage your graphics hardware to decode and play H.264 video. There may be video issues that can only be reproduced with your particular graphics hardware and driver. When reporting an issue involving video, it is essential to note your graphics hardware and driver, along with your operating system and browser (when using Flash Player), so that we can reproduce and investigate issues. Please be sure to include this information as described in Instructions for Reporting Video Playback Issues. Note: Due to the high volume of email we receive, we are unable to respond to every request.

Thank you for using Adobe® Flash Player® and AIR® and for taking the time to send us your feedback!

For the latest Flash Player system requirements please review the document here

For the latest AIR system requirements please review the document here