Articulate Engage content inside an AS3 Flash container? Well, almost…

Articulate’s Engage software is a quick and polished way to create eLearning interactions. Unfortunately, it’s also built from the ground up in AS2.

So while the Engage content SWFs can be loaded into an AS3 container, you definitely can’t use images in your Engage content because the XML onLoad event fails to fire when AS2 content is loaded into an AS3 container.

I used ‘Charles‘ to see what HTTP requests were being sent and noticed that:

• When browsing directly to the Engage SWF a GET request for the image is sent immediately after the Engage content XML is loaded; and
• When browsing the Engage content after it’s loaded into my AS3 container the GET request for the image is never sent.

While it’s not cast-iron proof I think it’s safe to assume that an ‘onLoad’ event for the XML might not be firing, so the Engage SWF hangs, waiting for confirmation that never comes.

While it’s not completely crippled (text-only interactions are just fine) this reduces the usefulness of Engage content in any Flash environment that’s been built in the last few years.