Crack it with Flare

Earlier today Jason Zada pointed me in the direction of Flare, a Windows, Mac, and Linux based ActionScript decompiler for swf files that is a must-have utility for any Flash developer.

ActionScript decompilers are nothing new (check out ActionScript Viewer for the most robust of the bunch), but Flare is unique in both its simplicity, and cost. Flare only decompiles, and publishes to a text file, the raw textual ActionScript code of any swf file -- no bitmaps, sounds, or other assets. And as for cost, Flare is free.

Of all the supported platforms, Windows users (thus far anyway) have it the best. Flare for Windows comes with an extra plug-in for the Windows Explorer which lets you right-click on any swf and instantly publish a text file of all the ActionScript contained therein. The Mac / Linux version performs exactly the same, but you must access the command line (use Terminal in OS X) to both run Flare and point it in the direction of the swf you wish to decompile -- a task that will feel very foreign to most Mac users. But once you get the hang of it, Flare works like a charm.

This probably goes without saying, but decompilers are a very touchy subject in the Flash developer community. With tools like Flare, ActionScript Viewer, and others, anyone with enough interest can crack open the hood of your work, copy, and re-use the ActionScript in their own project (that is, if they can figure out how it even works).

But while opening a swf and viewing the source may be easy, and as far I know there isn't anything technically illegal about doing so, the practice is a dead-end, short-sighted solution for anyone trying to learn ActionScript. Decompiler tools are very handy in cases of emergency, or even as learning tools, but should never be used to copy - verbatim - another developer's work and republished under another name.