Unload Symbol / Class in AS2

[itdanny33]

I have a lot of external text files.
I can use Loadvars to download each
when required. However, I wanna to
make a easy deployment and consolidate
few hundred files to main swf. And, the limit
of sis is 300 files ! So, I make it as class
(symbol). However, the size is very large. I
can't remove symbol after use and reload when
required again. Once loaded, can't remove.

My objective is load file one by one with
less memory. However, I try many methods but
still no success. Though using removeMovieClip
but still keep in memory. (I have checked that
the movieclip is removed but memory size in
device central hasn't dropped !)

Any good method to keep low memory while swapping
amongst files (symbol) ? Can I use another swf to
keep all those files and load it from main when
neccesary ?

Thanks in advance.

[Thommasc]

"(I have checked that
the movieclip is removed but memory size in
device central hasn't dropped !)"

The garbage collector need 60 seconds at least to clean some memory !
And you can never be 100% sure the memory will be cleaned. Most of the time, you'll get some free memory again after 60 seconds, but if you rely on this, your application's architecture is just bad.

You should try to use a safer way of using external text files.

"Can I use another swf to
keep all those files and load it from main when
neccesary ?"
Just remember, every time you load a SWF file, there is about 50 ko of data just for the SWF packaging, this is a pure waste. However, it would be better to load just once a SWF than loading a thousand other files...

In Flash Lite tips & trick, they say :
You should only load data when you need to display or use it. Never in any other case. Don't load text if you're not using it right now. And after that, always set the variable holding your text to "null" to tell the garbage collector to do its job.

[itdanny33]

Thank you. If I load one swf instead of
hundred files. I try to make these files
as symbol and also try to put it in frame.
Anyhow, once the frame or symbol is loaded,
it occupied the memory and can't release.

Any idea on storing all text in one swf but
load / unload them if required ?

Many Many Thanks.

[Thommasc]

Build a SWF with all your text in variables (avoid using MANY variables).
Then, load your swf in a movieclip. Use your variables.
unloadMovieClip on the movieclip to allow releasing the memory when you don't need the text anymore.

"I try to make these files as symbol"
Do you mean you're storing your text in textField ???!!!

[itdanny33]

I have tried

1) Put each text file as textfield and saved it different
frame.
2) Put each text file as textfield and change it as symbol
3) Put each text file as variable and saved in different
frame

If each text file 10K, total of hundred is 1MB. When
I load the swf. It loads 1MB. All textfield or variable
are not in 1st frame. However, it still occupy 1MB.

My target is to load each text file 10K only. I use
loadvar and make it as external file. It is success.
However, I wanna to put it in one swf file. Otherwise,
it is hard for user to transmit their file to friend.