Archive for OSFlash
April 30, 2008 at 11:52 pm · Filed under AIR (Apollo), Actionscript 2, Adobe, Flash, Flex, Mobile Development, OSFlash, Remoting, Tech
Life just got a lot more interesting for those who make a living working with Flash:
http://blogs.adobe.com/open/2008/04/the_open_screen_project.html
As a part of the announcement, Adobe is publishing exactly how the SWF format works without restrictions, and removing all other barriers to getting Flash on the widest range of devices. Set top/cable boxes, all mobile phones, televisions, your appliances... anything technical, really. Even those devices without a screen and/or user interface. Bill Perry does a great job of going into more detail on the implications for devices on his blog.
Ryan Stewart has a great post explaining all the implications of this announcement, for devices and desktop computers alike. He goes into more detail on the several parts of the announcement, so it is worth the read.
As someone who makes their living from the Flash ecosystem, you should care greatly about this announcement. It may not seem like it to a non-developer, but this is huge for anyone who knows how to use Flash. The thought of having Flash everywhere is finally a reality for those who want to include it in their products as a user interface layer, or even to allow developers to control the product using ActionScript. And this means that your capabilities to design, develop, and then deploy your Flash experiences just became more marketable and useful.
Lastly, as a member of the Flash community, you should also be excited about the implications this has on open source projects such as SWX, AMFPHP, and the like. The more open the specifications surrounding the various parts of the Flash ecosystem, the easier it is for members of the community to create tools and open source projects which contribute to the growth and prominence of said ecosystem... and make all of our lives as participants in that ecosystem that much more interesting and fun.
April 18, 2008 at 1:07 pm · Filed under Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Adobe, Books, Flash, Flex, Mobile Development, OSFlash, Personal
About a month ago Aral Balkan mentioned he wasn't finding the time to write a chapter on SWX for an upcoming Friends of Ed book, so I offered to step in to write the chapter for The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development on SWX for Flash and Flash Lite.
It is an honor to be a part of this book with such open source Flash community members as Chris Allen, John Grden, Wade Arnold, Carlos Ulloa, Moses Gunesch and others. You can read bios of all the authors on the book's bio page.
I am wrapping up the last round of review this weekend, and the book should be published and available in July. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com today for about $31.
April 10, 2008 at 2:55 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Flash, Flex, OSFlash
As I had mentioned earlier, I attended the PaperVision3D training in Vegas a few weekends back and it was well worth giving up a whole weekend and making the trip to Vegas.
John Grden did an great job with the class and was really fluid in covering whatever we as a class asked him to. It turned out that we covered a lot more than I thought we would. 16 hours of training over two days is really intense, but if you have a chance to attend the upcoming Vancouver or Toronto classes, I highly suggest you do. I'll bet you can even find a 10% discount code on the PaperVision3D blog post announcing the two additional class dates.
Lastly, just like at conferences, the best times had were outside the classroom. With that in mind, I'll leave you with a group photo of Martin Lassen, myself, Jim Isaacs, John Olson, and John Grden drinking Octoberfest style (by the liter) at this awesome German-themed restaurant near the resort where the training was held.
Next time you see John Grden, ask him about the bonus that comes with a shot of Jagermeister for a good laugh.
March 26, 2008 at 9:53 am · Filed under Actionscript 3, Flash, OSFlash
The Rich Media Institute is having official PaperVision3D training in Las Vegas this weekend (March 29/30) led by John Grden. Sometimes I feel as if I am the only Flash developer left without much PaperVision3D experience, so you can see why I'm so excited to be attending.
It looks like they still have some seats left, so if you have been thinking about going, come check it out. John has even posted a discount code for 10% off on the PaperVision3D blog and also wrote about what the course will be covering and how all Flash types (designer and developer) will benefit from the class.
15 hours of training in two days is going to be intense (and awesome), but hopefully the short taxi ride to the Vegas strip will provide a nice break in the evenings. If you also plan on attending, be sure to say hello!
January 25, 2008 at 11:14 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Flash, OSFlash
I have been using the open source BulkLoader AS3 classes since I read about it a few months back on the developer Arthur Debert's blog. When I first used the classes in FDT, the editor shows that the classes have errors in BulkLoader.as and LoadingItem.as. However, the project would still compile without issue so I just kept on coding, ignoring the little "x" as I finished the project. The issue is even marked as "WontFix" in the project's issue database on Google Code.
I am setting up a new project in which I intend to use BulkLoader once again -- and this time I'd prefer not to have FDT barking at me about code which I know compiles correctly, even in strict mode. So, I spent a few minutes and dug up how to fix the issues so that FDT quits complaining. Hopefully this saves someone else the time, and allows you to know your code is really error-free at a glance.
The issue has a proposed fix in the Google Code issue database, but *warning* you'll want to stay away from it, as the fix partially leads to more issues. The correct fix is actually found deep in FDT's forums, the gist of which is:
First, on lines 201-207 of LoadingItem.as remove all of the quotation marks and add a semi-colon at the end of the object definition. These lines should now read:
private static var classes : Object= {
loader: Loader,
xml: URLLoader,
video:NetConnection,
sound: Sound,
text: URLLoader
};
Second, change line 958 of BulkLoader.as to:
var res : * = item.content as type;
Note that the line numbers are for revision 107 : 0.9.4.1 and may change in future revisions.
December 25, 2007 at 1:06 pm · Filed under Actionscript 2, Flash, OSFlash, PHP
Yesterday I received an email from Aral Balkan informing me that one of my entries in the SWX Contest won!
The Gal to Gal Walk site completed a few months back, which was one of (if not the) first large-scale site completed using SWX, won the website category. In addition, the Verisign Payment API service which was written for use on the Gal to Gal Walk site and enables interaction with the Versign/PayPal Payment Gateway through SWX came in third place in the services category.
There was some great competition, so I'm really happy to have placed in two categories and am also excited about the amazing prize package Aral has put together. What a great unexpected holiday gift!
A huge thanks to Aral and the sponsors!
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