Simplest Explanation

This is actually pretty easy, but it’s not something widely known. Here’s the code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
            layout="absolute"
            creationComplete="trace(text);">
   <mx:Script>
      <![CDATA[
         [Embed( source="myTextFile.txt", mimeType="application/octet-stream" )]
         public var MyText:Class
         public var text:String=new MyText().toString();
      ]]>
   </mx:Script>
</mx:Application>

So what is this doing?
The embed tag works to keep the file in your swf. It then binds it to the Class defined on the next line. Since it’s an unrecognized file format (Flex supports swf, mp3, jpg, gif, png), Flex wouldn’t know what to do with it, so we specify a mimeType — a description of how to handle this file.
Then, we create a new variable and set its contents to a new instance of the Class, then convert it to a string.
Finally, I’ve set the Application parameter creationComplete to perform a trace of the text variable’s contents. If all is correct, you should see a trace with the txt file’s contents.
EmbedTXTTest

Ahh, one of those holy grail type posts. After days of searching to answer a problem, I’ve managed to solve it by completely bypassing the preloader in Flex. It can be done, and here’s how:

Flex uses a 2-frame configuration to display its content. The Preloader is put on the first frame, and is downloaded immediately. It then waits for the rest of the content to load and fires its complete event. Then the SystemManager jumps to frame 2 and everything’s ready to go. To turn this off, we need to do two things:

1: Create a preloader shim file named PreloaderShim.as:

package
{
	import flash.display.Sprite;
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.events.TimerEvent;
	import flash.utils.Timer;
 
	import mx.managers.SystemManager;
	import mx.preloaders.DownloadProgressBar;
 
	public class PreloaderShim extends DownloadProgressBar
	{
		private var delay:Timer = new Timer(1);
 
		override public function set preloader(value:Sprite):void
		{
			SystemManager(value.parent).gotoAndStop(2);
			delay.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, go);
			delay.start();
		}
 
		public function go(e:TimerEvent):void{
			delay.stop();
			delay.removeEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, go);
			delay = null;
			dispatchEvent(new Event(Event.COMPLETE));
		}
 
	}
}

2: Use this in our Flex file:

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
				preloader="PreloaderShim">

We override the set preloader function of the DownloadProgressBar class. This is automatically set to the preloader instance in Flex. This instance’s parent is the SystemManager. The SystemManager has a gotoAndStop method that allows us to skip to the next frame. Almost immediately, we can fire the complete event. I think that Flex needs a single millisecond to begin its download process, so we wait that long before firing the complete. After that, Flex loads, no preloader perceived.

The Flex part is easy–just point your Flex project to have this new class as a preloader. Just drop your PreloaderShim.as file in with your mxml files and you’re off and running!

Note, I’ve only tried this on local files, and have NO idea how it would work in a real, downloading production file. It works fine for me, but please test it before you go breaking things.