Component to Search AS2 Code

Question

I am trying to figure out a way to search the code and frames of an FLA and return the results that can be printed or at least displayed some way on screen.
We have hundreds of Computer Based Training (CBT) Flash movies that need to be updated periodically. Each FLA has several frames which represent separate lessons. My dilemma is that in order to update an acronym, for instance, I'd have to open each FLA and look into each frame. I'd like to automate the process and be able to enter search criteria and then have the component spit out all instances of the acronym (or whatever) and also tell me on which frame each instance exists. To compound the issue external SWFs are loaded into some of the frames.
Is there a way to do this with a component or maybe jsfl? Is there a way to report which frame the playhead is on when the search criteria is found? Although I think this is impossible, is there a way to jump into an externally loaded SWF and search the frames it contains for the search criteria?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

well, here's more of that code.  it's from a jsfl file that finds specific actionscript strings and replaces it with other actionscript.  all timelines that are used or could be used are searched for actionscript:
var doc = fl.getDocumentDOM();
var rootTL = doc.getTimeline();
var checked_mcA = [];
// *** begin initializations
// array of replacement arrays.  first term is searched and replaced by 2nd.
// example:
//var replacementA = [["new Sound()","new Sound(this)"],[" 'audio/","pathS+'audio/"]];
var replacementA = [["._x+357","._x+350"]];
// *** end initializations
//fl.trace(doc.name);
findAS(rootTL);
//findLibrary_mcAS();
//fl.saveDocumentAs(doc);
fl.saveDocumentAs(doc);
function findAS(tl) {
    if(tl==rootTL){
        for (var layerIndex = 0; layerIndex<tl.layers.length; layerIndex++) {
            for (var frameIndex = 0; frameIndex<700; frameIndex++) {
            //for (var frameIndex = 0; frameIndex<tl.layers[layerIndex].frameCount; frameIndex++) {
                //fl.trace(frameIndex+" : "+tl.layers[layerIndex].frameCount);
                if(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex]!=undefined&&tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[fram eIndex]!=null){
                    //fl.trace(tl.name+" : "+tl.layers[layerIndex].name+" "+frameIndex);
                    findASinLayerFrame(tl, frameIndex, layerIndex);
    } else {
        for (var layerIndex = 0; layerIndex<tl.layers.length; layerIndex++) {
            for (var frameIndex = 0; frameIndex<tl.layers[layerIndex].frameCount; frameIndex++) {
                findASinLayerFrame(tl, frameIndex, layerIndex);
            // end frameIndex
        // end layerIndex
function findASinLayerFrame(tl, frameIndex, layerIndex) {
    //fl.trace(tl.layers[layerIndex].name+" :: "+layerIndex+" ::: "+frameIndex+" "+tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].startFrame);
    if (tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].startFrame == frameIndex) {
        // edit actionscript, if any, attached to this frame/layer.  actionscript only on keyframes (hence, start_frame=frameIndex)
        var as = tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].actionScript;
        if (editNeeded(as)) {
            //fl.trace("frameIndex: "+frameIndex);
            as = editAS(as);
            //fl.trace(tl.name);
        tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].actionScript = as;
        //fl.trace("****");
        // find components/movieclips/buttons that could have actionscript attached to this tl/layer/frame
        //elementA = tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements;
        //fl.trace(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements.length);
        for (var eNum = 0; eNum<tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements.length; eNum++) {
            if (tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].elementType == "instance") {
                libItem = tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].libraryItem;
                //fl.trace(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].libraryItem.name+" "+tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].elementType+" "+tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].libraryItem.itemType)
                // check for code directly attached to this instance, if button
                // anything in library derives from Item object.  item objects have itemType property
                // tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum] is a SymbolInstance and therefore as an actionScript property
                if (libItem.itemType == "button") {
                    if (editNeeded(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript)) {
                        tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript = editAS(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript);
                // check for code directly attached to this instance, if component
                if (libItem.itemType == "component") {
                    if (editNeeded(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript)) {
                        tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript = editAS(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript);
                if (libItem.itemType == "movie clip") {
                    // check for code directly attached to this instance, if movieclip
                    if (editNeeded(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript)) {
                        tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript = editAS(tl.layers[layerIndex].frames[frameIndex].elements[eNum].actionScript);
                    // and then check if this is a movieclip that has code on its timeline  
                    // or other movieclips/buttons on its timeline etc
                    // linked library items checked from findLibrary_mcAS.  relative path difficult because library items may be attached to any timeline
                    // and in fact, the same library item may be attached to different timelines and have different relative paths
                    if (!memberOfA(checked_mcA, libItem)) {
                        //fl.trace("libItem "+libItem.name);
                        checked_mcA.push(libItem);
                        findAS(libItem.timeline);
                //end itemType = "movie clip"
            // end if-elementyType=="instance"
        //end eNum loop
    // end if-startFrame
function findLibrary_mcAS(){
    libraryItemsA = doc.library.items;
    for (var libItemNum = 0; libItemNum<libraryItemsA.length; libItemNum++) {
        libraryItem = libraryItemsA[libItemNum];
        if (libraryItem.linkageExportForAS && !memberOfA(checked_mcA,libraryItem) && libraryItem.itemType == "movie clip") {
            checked_mcA.push(libraryItem);
            findAS(libraryItem.timeline);
function editAS(as){
    for(var rIndex=0;rIndex<replacementA.length;rIndex++){
        as = as.split(replacementA[rIndex][0]).join(replacementA[rIndex][1]);
    return as;
function editNeeded(as){
    if(as==undefined||as==null){
        return false;
    } else {
        if(as.length>0){
            for(var rIndex=0;rIndex<replacementA.length;rIndex++){
                if(as.indexOf(replacementA[rIndex][0])>-1 && as.indexOf    (replacementA[rIndex][1])==-1){
                    return true;
            // as defined, as.length>0, no replacement strings found
            return false;
        } else {
            // as defined,as.length==0
            return false;
function memberOfA(a,e){
    for(i=0;i<a.length;i++){
        if(a[i]==e){
            return true;
    return false;