1) Remember to update your forum software.
2) Remember to make backups of your forums regularly instead of sporadically.
Luckily we only lost a week of posts after www.flashmx2004.com/forums was recently hacked. All the posts were gone one evening, but thank goodness we restored most of them after a day or two. And while we were at it, paid for the latest version of invision power boards (as opposed to continuing on with the freebie version).
Definitely worth it - the forums are much better now, and safer (well, as much as a forum can be). A few bugs are gone, the UI is a bit better.
So...
Back up your forum posts, update your forum software. And, the new version of invision is nice.
Anyway, on with helping people learn Flash!
//end of public service announcement.
Jen d.
Best Flash site I've seen in a looooong time. Check it out:
http://www.mailorderchickens.org/
Real sweet use of video and techniques to mimic and minimize that bandwidth. Absolutely hilarious to boot.
Sorry about the long title or if this has already been blogged to death (didn't see it during a quick search of Fullasagoog), but I just noticed that Rockstar has released Beaterator, their online real-time music sequencer.
I only played with it briefly, and it can take up a fair bit of CPU to run, but it is pretty impressive! Sure, it isn't as good as say, Garageband, but it's free and online and built in Flash. Great work!
Check it out at beaterator.rockstargames.com.
I'm sure this has already made the rounds, but I just noticed it in my Google Alerts email folder from last Friday.
Macworld UK (who seemingly sports ColdFusion!) reports that Macromedia is expected to debut new products in its industry-standard MX range by "late summer" (or so says an analyst).
Macromedia - new MX products in late summer [Macworld UK]
So remember folks, you heard it here... errr... last, probably. Yes, Flash-MX, bringing you yesterday's news today!
Big news coming out of the Macromedia camp as they ink deals with Samsung and Nokia to include Flash on certain high-end phones.
BusinessWeek has an interesting article which posts some numbers and figures (if you're into that kind of thing), but they also had those juicy bit:
So what does that amount to? To get an idea, consider Nokia's smart phone, the Series 60, which has 20 million customers, and whose sales are growing 100% per year, says Antti Vasara, head of Nokia's mobile-software sales and marketing.Before these deals, Flash was on about 20 million phones, the bulk of which were part of NTT DoCoMo's (DCM ) network in Japan, a Macromedia partner since 2003. In Macromedia's fiscal third quarter, which ended in December, it made $5.9 million from the inclusion of Flash in mobile devices.
While that sounds like a small amount, consider the massive market opportunity on the horizon. Nearly 200 million handsets shipped in the fourth quarter, according to market researchers at IDC. And for the year, shipments were up 30% from 2003. Some analysts estimate nearly half the phones shipping next year will have enough memory to run Flash. If current growth rates keep up, that's roughly 500 million phones with Flash potential.
Wow! It looks like Flash and mobile devices are set to [finally] take off over on this side of the ocean! Now would be a good time to head over to the Macromedia store and pick up that developer release of Flash Lite 1.1!
Macromedia Looks Flash in Cell Phones [BusinessWeek]
Problem: I needed to take a screenshot of Flash's Start Page for a project, but I don't want it showing all my recent files and would rather have an empty list.
Solution: Well, I'm not sure if this is the "ideal" way, or if there is some secret that everybody out there knows but me, but... Basically I had to open up ye ol' registry editor and do a quick search for one of my recently opened files. I stumbled onto the specific registry keys which needed to be deleted in order to clear the recent items list.
*** WARNING: Editing the registry may cause Flash to stop working, or your computer, or stop the planet's rotation. Use at your own peril, and most importantly, don't come crying to me if everything stops workin'. ***
Step 1) Close Flash. It seems like Flash writes the recently opened items to the registry after the program is closed, so if you have Flash open while trying to delete the keys, it just writes all back as soon as you close Flash.
Step 2) With Flash closed, open the Registry (on PC -- Mac user's are on their own) by selecting Start > Run..., typing "regedit", and clicking OK.
Step 3) Search for one of your known Recent Items documents or try navigating to:
HKEY_USERS \ S-1-5-21-823518204-1606980848-839522115-1003 \ Software \ Macromedia \ Flash 7 \ Recent File List
Delete any values in this folder (File1 through File10 -- leaving the (Default) entry).
Reopen Flash. If all went well, Flash's recently opened items list should now be clear and you're on your way to a nice screenshot or client presentation or what have you.
Does anybody out there know of an alternate way of clearing this list? Preferrably a method that doesn't involve using the registry editor.
Always like to see Flash Video being picked up more and more. Especially by ones favorite cartoons.
http://www.fox.com/familyguy/index.htm#011405
Flash video, media components, requires FP7 - good stuff.
Here's a cool (blogged) list of TV shows that are done in Flash. Check it out - there are a lot out there:
(good work at compiling them - it's hard to keep track!) Question for those in the know - is it pretty typical for studios to work with Flash + After Effects when working on broadcast Flash stuff? (I know Flash isn't the most common - but to reprhase - what is it typically paired with when studios do choose to use Flash?).
A question for those of you who USED to use Normal mode in Flash MX (please use the comments to reply).
As a result of Normal mode being removed in FMX 2004, did you learn some ActionScript as a result?
If yes, are you happy?
If no, what did you do as a result?
Just curious!
Thanks!
Jen d.
Couple new tutorials out on the Dev Center.
On using the new FLV Extension for Dreamweaver:
Presenting Video with the Flash Video Extension for Dreamweaver MX 2004
On skinning the video controller (that FLV extension pumps out):
Creating Custom Video Skins for the Flash Video Extension for Dreamweaver MX 2004
Feel free to ask any questions here that you might have about the article/extension here.
Using the UIScrollBar Component with a Dynamically Created Text Field
The new UIScrollBar re-introduced in Flash 7.2 (codename Ellipsis) with dynamically created text fields is actually fairly simple and straight forward. Basically it can be broken down into two main steps:
1. Drag an instance of the UIScrollBar component from the Components panel on to the Stage and then immediately delete it from the Stage by pressing the Backspace or Delete keys. This removes the component from the Stage, but leaves a copy of the component in the Library so you can dynamically attach later using ActionScript.
2. Create a new layer named actions in the Timeline and add the following code to the first frame of the new layer:
this.createTextField("news_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 160, 120);
news_txt.html = true;
news_txt.multiline = true;
news_txt.wordWrap = true;
//
this.createClassObject(mx.controls.UIScrollBar, "news_sb", this.getNextHighestDepth());
news_sb.move(news_txt._x+news_txt._width, news_txt._y);
news_sb.setScrollTarget(news_txt);
news_sb.setSize(4, news_txt._height);
//
news_txt.htmlText = "<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.</p>";
You can break this ActionScript down into three small sections. The first section creates the dynamic text field and sets the html, multiline and wordWrap properties to true. The second section dynamically attaches an instance of the UIScrollBar component into the Stage and assigns it an instance name of news_sb. Next you call the move, setScrollTarget and setSize methods and resize and reposition the scroll bar to the right of the dynamic text field. Finally the last section of code assigns some HTML formatted text to the dynamic text field.
That’s it! If you publish your Flash document you should see some Latin text and have the ability to scroll the contents of the text field using the handy scroll bar. Thank you 7.2.
Using the UIScrollBar Component
1. Create a text field on the Stage using the Text tool. Using the text field’s handles, try and resize the text field instance to approximately 200 pixels wide by 300 pixels high.
2. Give the text field an instance name of news_txt using the Property inspector.
3. Drag an instance of the UIScrollBar component from the Components panel onto the Stage.
4. Give the UIScrollBar component an instance name of news_sb. In either the Property inspector or Component Inspector panel set the _targetInstanceName property to news_txt.
5. Drag the news_sb instance so that is snaps to the upper left corner of the news_txt text field.
6. Before you can test the Flash document you’ll need to populate the text field with enough content that it will scroll. Create a new layer at the very top of the Timeline and enter the following line of ActionScript:
textfield_mc.news_txt.htmlText = "<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.</p>";
7. At this point you should be able to test the current Flash document and see scrollbars attached to the text field on the Stage. You’ll notice that the scroll bar extends the entire height of the text field it is bound to. If there wasn’t enough text within the text field you’d also notice that no buttons appear on the scrollbar as well as no slider.
Next… using the UIScrollBar component with a dynamically created text field.
Here's a simple example of using the V2 TabBar (version 1.0.1) in Flash.
1. Add a TabBar and Loader to the Library.
2. Add this code (frame 1 of Timeline):
var tabListener:Object = new Object();
tabListener.change = function(evt:Object) {
content_ldr.load(evt.target.value);
};
this.createClassObject(mx.controls.TabBar, "myTabBar", this.getNextHighestDepth());
myTabBar.addEventListener("change", tabListener); myTabBar.setSize(550, 30);
myTabBar.addItem({label:"Home", data:"http://www.flash-mx.com/images/image1.jpg"});
myTabBar.addItem({label:"News", data:"http://www.flash-mx.com/images/image2.jpg"});
this.createClassObject(mx.controls.Loader, "content_ldr", this.getNextHighestDepth(), {_x:0, _y:30, _width:550, _height:370});
3. Ctrl+Enter.
If you bought DRK5 which includes the original version of this component, you can update to the V2 version for free. For more information, visit this link.
Saw this fun little Flash game over on Gadgetopia and it is pretty addictive. So far my highest score is 1795.
The basic concept is to catch a ball of paper and toss it into a waste paper basket. Sounds simple, but it has pretty realistic physics, so you have to arc your shots carefully.
[via Gadgetopia]
Several people have asked how to remove or make the maximize button invisible (set visibility to false) on the Media Playback component. The maximize button on the MediaPlayback component (at the upper right-hand corner) makes the FLV you stream full-screen. This can be useful, but if you have a layout that doesn't accomodate full-screen or maximized video, this can be a problem. After Google searches turning up nothing, we worked on a solution for awhile, and just figured it out. If you have a MediaPlayback component with the instance name mediaPlayback_mp, the following code unloads the maximize button so it's removed at runtime:
mediaPlayback_mp._chrome._toggleNE.unloadMovie();
Flash MX 2004 7.2. If you have a problem with "Too many activations" on the Mac, or with necessary re-activations on Windows after installing the ellipsis 7.2 updater, then check out the Flash MX 2004 emerging issues page for solutions to your problems.
Read the page here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/mx_04_emerging_issues.htm?pss=rss_flash_18889
Check it out. I couldn't activate Dreamweaver on Windows while using ellipsis (it spontaneously de-activated), and after the hot fix I could activate again. It works! Yes! Good bye activation problems (for now...)! Find the activation hot fix for Windows here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/service/ts/documents/win_fl72_reactivation_hf.htm
And find out more about the Too Many Activations problem (for which you have to contact activation support) here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/macosx_fl72_activations.htm
Today Flash 7.2 updater (aka ellipsis) has been released. What does this mean to you? A radically different Flash, and that's not an exaggeration. There are over a hundred bug fixes, including a major performance improvement and component fixes. For example, you might have noticed at times Flash interacted badly with other software, and you had to reboot often. Or perhaps, Flash crashed while you were working, with no warning. Well - that's been fixed. Watch your task manager, and marvel. Above and beyond, the most influential improvement to my workflow.
And of course I have to note the addition of a ScrollBar component in the V2 component set. No more complaining from me! The ScrollBar is back!
To read about the significance of Ellipsis, read Mike Chambers article here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/context.html
FAQ and general information about 7.2 updater:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/special/7_2updater/
Additionally, there's a major new documentation release. Hundreds of new code examples (check out that ActionScript Dictionary), and thousands of doc bug fixes. Check out your install file, and look inside Samples\HelpExamples folder - you'll find a whole new set of example FLA files for you to explore and learn from including a PHP and Flash example, WebService example, animation example, and many more about the fundamentals of coding. Many of these example files use components, so hopefully these will be useful to you. Please feel free to ask questions here about the new examples. To read more about the documentation update, see Erick Vera's article here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/logged_in/evera_flashdoc.html
For info on the new JavaScript Flash File API, read Guy Watson's article here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/jsapi.html
And for skinning V2 components, read Chafic's article here:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/skinning_2004.html
And Mike Chambers article about the new-to-7.2 Delegate class:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/eventproxy.html
Without further ado, the download is a must. Find it here:
Windows - 66.66 MB
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flash/updates/mx2004/update_fmx2004_7.2.exe
Mac - 73.46 MB
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flash/updates/mx2004/update_fmx2004_7.2.dmg
Do not uninstall Flash (7.0 or 7.0.1) before applying the 7.2 updater. The updater installs overtop of your current installation.
Feel free to post any questions or comments below.
Happy downloading,
Jen deHaan.
Permanent article link: http://www.flash-mx.com/flash/updater2.cfm
Peter has just posted a code snippet that you can use to make rounded rectangles using the Drawing API at the Flash MX 2004 forums. Check out the code snippet here:
http://flashmx2004.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=18&t=3847&st=0#entry15248
FlashPaper 2 will have a new single-user license. It's really nice to see this as its own product now. It's also nice to see sites using FlashPaper when surfing around. FlashPaper has Office integration, which is going to make it nice and easy to put those word docs online in a usable format. Many additional new features will make this a great release. Read about them from the link below.
Also, there is a public trial of FlashPaper out. Go to Macromedia to give it a test:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashpaper/
Ah, the age old question, how does one embed fancy fonts into a Flash document? Particularly when you're creating dynamic text fields with code?
Well, it is actually easier than most people think. All you need to do is add a font to your library by clicking the options button in the Library panel and selecting New Font... well, ok, there's a few more steps than that. But after you do this, you can rotate and fade out dynamic text, so it's pretty useful.
There are probably more than a couple occasions when you want to embed a font, or modify its _alpha or _rotation properties without having to break apart the text and convert it into a MovieClip symbol. This quick mini-tutorial shows you how you can take your fancy fonts and embed them into your Flash document so the end users can see your font, even if they don't have it installed.
my_txt.embedFonts = true;
my_txt._rotation = 15;
my_txt._alpha = 10;
Enter some text into the dynamic text field and test the SWF file. You should see your text slightly rotated by 15° and nearly transparent.
This is useful if you need to create your text field with ActionScript. Using the same general techniques you can also create dynamically created text fields using the createTextField method, although this requires a few more steps...
With the font already embedded into your library, you can now use the following code:
var my_fmt:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
my_fmt.bold = true;
my_fmt.font = "Palatino 24pt Bold"; /* this is the LinkageID not the symbol name. */
my_fmt.size = 24;
this.createTextField("new_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 100, 200);
new_txt.setNewTextFormat(my_fmt);
new_txt._rotation = 45;
new_txt._alpha = 50;
new_txt.autoSize = true;
new_txt.embedFonts = true;
new_txt.text = "hello world";
The only real snag in all of this is that if you are using a manually created text field, the font name is taken from the Symbol name in the library. But, if you are dynamically creating text fields, it seems that you have to use the Linkage identifier instead.
You can even build feedback forms with embedded forms by modifying the code to the following:
/* Note: You'll still the "my_fmt" code for this example to work. */
this.createTextField("new_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 400, 300);
new_txt.setNewTextFormat(my_fmt);
new_txt._rotation = 10;
new_txt._alpha = 50;
new_txt.embedFonts = true;
new_txt.text = "";
new_txt.type = "input";
new_txt.multiline = true;
new_txt.wordWrap = true;
new_txt.border = true;
Note that the autoSize property was also removed since that just throws a giant wrench into the works.
Whew, no small title!
I was answering some emails today and the topic of error reporting came up. Basically the person was wondering why Flash always reports the same error message for WebServices:
Error opening URL "http://www.flash-mx.com/ws/tipoftheday/tip.cfc?wsdl"
No matter what the error could be in the Flash app (bad bindings, no bindings, bad URL, etc), the error message always reports "Error opening URL".
After a bit of investigation, and a few trips to livedocs.macromedia.com, I managed to piece together the following short example. The only prerequisite (apart from Flash MX Pro 2004) is that you have a WebServiceConnector component in your library.
import mx.services.*;
//_global.__dataLogger = new mx.data.binding.Log();
var my_log:Log = new Log();
my_log.onLog = function(txt:String) {
trace(txt);
};
var myWebServiceObject:Object = new WebService("http://www.flash-mx.com/ws/tipoftheday/tip.cfc?wsdl", my_log);
var myPendingCallObject:Object = myWebServiceObject.getCurrentTip();
myPendingCallObject.onResult = function(result:Object) {
trace("\n\nTip received.");
/*
for (var prop in result) {
trace(prop+":"+result[prop]);
}
*/
};
myPendingCallObject.onFault = function(fault:Object) {
trace(fault.faultCode+","+fault.faultstring);
};
It is probably worth mentioning that both the Log class and the WebService class are contained within the mx.services.* package. So, if you want to avoid an import statement, you need to qualify the Log class with mx.services.Log. Likewise with the WebService class, which you need to change to mx.services.WebService.
Anyways, hopefully somebody out there finds that useful in some small way.
Some really sweet news. The Flash platform is extending across more handsets and operators. Macromedia has announced the Flash Lite 1.1 player, which is much more adanced than the previous Flash Lite 1.0 player released and used in DoCoMo phones in 2003. The new version of Flash Player supports SVG Tiny, networks, audio and APIs for Flash. Adopters include: Bellwave, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson, Symbian, Texas Instruments, and T-Mobile.
Read more about it here: http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/proom/pr/2004/flash_lite.html
More information:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/devices/products/flashlite/
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/flashlite.html
There are new product RSS feeds available. This is awesome - previously I had only found a couple, but now there are Flash feeds available. For example, if you want to aggregate all the new TechNotes - you now can! Super. Anyway, here's the link for more info:
http://www.markme.com/notifications/
Big news - Flash Remoting components for Flash MX 2004 / ActionScript 2.0 have finally been released.
This update includes the following, and I quote:
* The Flash Remoting ActionScript API has been updated to comply with ActionScript 2.0.
* The new RemotingConnector component allows you to work directly with the new data binding features in Flash MX 2004 Professional
* Significant improvements to the Documentation, including new ASDoc format and sample applications.
You can read more and download the components here:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashremoting/downloads/components/
If you're using Remoting and Flash MX 2004, these are a must. The new RemotingConnector component is a must. Go check it out!
So the news came that service pack two on Win. would undo the whole pop-up thing in IE. Big news for the Flash people! So here's a MSDN page that shows how your sites will be limited.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/xpsp2websites.asp
They even say there is no workaround without clicking on a link, which works only one time. Seems to sound a little scary, if it only ends up being one single pop-up per entire SWF file.
I'm not talking about love. I'm talking about Flash. Did you used to use Normal mode in Flash MX (and/or earlier) and miss it in Flash MX 2004? I would like to hear what you used it for, and what you feel you are missing out on now that it's gone. What did you use Normal for?
What can we build to help you get the job done -- what kinds of Behaviors do you need? Add your feedback to the forum here (or this blog, of course):
I got this press release/advertisement in my inbox:
=================
Vertical Moon has just released Text-Osterone 1.0 for Windows. Text-Osterone is an extremely easy program to create eye-popping Flash text effects in seconds! Works with your installed TrueType and Postscript fonts. Text-Osterone is easy to use and is great for websites and presentations. Text-Osterone can output SWF and FLA files!
==================
When did FLA become an open format to work with? I've always heard it would be hard/impossible to have as an open format. Is it even allowed? I checked it out, and it does make (uh, tell target using Flash 5) FLA files.
Personally, I'm waiting for the Estro-generator app.
Exciting news: there are new data connection wizard and data grid editor extensions available for download on the Macromedia Exchange. These new extensions enable designers (or even developers) to quickly connect and use external data in your SWF files. Components are generated and added to your SWF files -- already ready to go. Download them and check them out!
URL:
Data Connection Wizard / data grid editor
Best news: they're free!
A new Flash player has been released. Fixes and improvements have been made to the player. This means it is a great time to check your web sites against the new player, after installing it of course!
To read all of the details, point your browsers here: Macromedia Support Docs - Flash Player
The Video Exporter has been updated due to issues with it and Media Components. Has 2 Pass. How sweet is that.
More info and the download found here:
Video Update 1.2 for Flash MX Professional 2004.
Flash MX 2004 introduced the XPathAPI class which allows you to do simple XPath searches within Flash. This can be very useful for searching XML packets based on node names and attribute values.
In order to use XPath searches within Flash you first need to include the XPathAPI class into your Flash library by including the DataBindingClass if it hasn't been included already. If you've already set up bindings this class may have been included automatically, otherwise you'll need to select the class from the common libraries by selecting Window > Other Panels > Common Libraries > Classes. From the Classes.fla library panel you can simply drag a copy of the DataBindingClasses component into your current Flash document's library. Now you can import the class by typing "import mx.xpath.XPathAPI;" or by using the classes fully qualified name when accessing its methods by prefixing the class' methods with mx.xpath.XPathAPI.<method_name>".
The XPath class has two methods; selectNodeList and selectSingleNode. The selectNodeList method returns an array of XML nodes matching the XPath expression, whereas the selectSingleNode returns only the first matching node.
You can see an example of the XPath API in ActionScript below, before you can test the movie you have to make sre that you have a copy of the DataBindingClasses component in your movie's library by dragging it from Common Libraries > Classes into your current Flash movie's library.
import mx.xpath.XPathAPI;
var rssfeed_xml = new XML();
rssfeed_xml.ignoreWhite = true;
rssfeed_xml.load("http://flash-mx.com/news/rdf_syndicate.cfm");
rssfeed_xml.onLoad = function(success) {
if (success) {
var titlePath:String = "/rdf:RDF/item/title";
title_array = mx.xpath.XPathAPI.selectNodeList(this.firstChild, titlePath);
for (var i = 0; i<title_array.length; i++) {
trace(title_array[i].firstChild.nodeValue);
}
} else {
trace("error loading XML");
}
};
Special thanks to Nate Weiss for helping me debug this. More information about XPath and using it within your Flash applications can be found in Nate's latest book, Flash MX Professional 2004 for Server Geeks.
... to the Flash Reference on ActionScript.com. Go and view them here:
Movie Clip control -- check out the 6 entries for MovieClipLoader class. There are some "issues" with the Flash Help system where the code doesn't work, so if you have been having some problems I hope this helps you out a little bit.
Released moments ago. Go and download the Updater from this URL:
Windows is 16 megs and Mac is 26 megs.
Includes new documentation, and greatly improves stability and speed (ie: you drag a component onto the Stage - and it shows up right away). More news soon.
If you evaluated Flash and never purchased, your evaluation period has been extended by 30 days to re-evaluate Flash and check out whether it works well enough for you.
If you watch this:
There is reference to a "dot release" for Flash being released in November in this Macromedia presentation/report. This could spell very good news for us developers and designers in a short period of time. It isn't terribly specific, so hopefully I haven't taken it out of context here.
A Flash Remoting connector component has been developed. Nicely complements the other data connection components, and while I haven't tried it out yet I have heard it works very nicely.
Justin Watkins put this component together for the likes of all of ya, and the MXP made by Owen van Dijk. Enjoy, and please feel free to comment on how you find the component and what you're using it for!
I know a lot of people have seen or linked to this excellent article benchmarking SOAP (what we have built into FMX 2004) and Remoting, but I think it bears repeating (or well... relinking).
Take a look:
http://www.flashorb.com/articles/soap_vs_flash_remoting_benchmark.shtml.
Have you been working with Halo colors in the MX components? Then you probably know how to change your Halo themes using the following ActionScript:
myButton_btn.setStyle ("themeColor", "haloBlue");
However, did you know you could also add different colors instead of the three halos? You can try entering a hex value instead of the theme colors. You won't get the semi-transparent look, but despite the lack of transparency it still looks ok on some of the components.
myButton_btn.setStyle ("themeColor", 0xFF0000);
My favorite flasher, Mr. Robin Debreuil, has started a blog. Is it true? Why YES. This man is a genius, and funny as hell.
The MX Elements components (aka V2 components) are finally documented :) Sweet!! Make sure you click the Update button in your Help panel to get all the new components documentation.
For questions and help regarding the new components, be sure to check out our Flash MX 2004 forums, here.. There is a forum dedicated to working with the new components.
New (official) Help is finally available for Flash MX 2004. To download new help, open up the Help panel and click the Update button. Updates will be automatically downloaded and installed into your system.
Hopefully this will help you out with some of the new functionality.
If you haven't yet used NetConnection and NetStream right in Flash MX 2004, why don't you give it a try. Now you can dynamically load FLV files right in Flash without the FlashCom server.
var connection_nc:NetConnection;
var stream_ns:NetStream;
playVideo = function () {
connection_nc = new NetConnection();
connection_nc.connect(null);
stream_ns = new NetStream(connection_nc);
stream_ns.setBufferTime(3);
video1_video.attachVideo(stream_ns);
stream_ns.play("video.flv");
};
play_btn.onRelease = function() {
playVideo();
};
Note that if you strict type inside the function, this code will not work. So, if you don't use a function, this code works just fine.
var connection_nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
connection_nc.connect(null);
var stream_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(connection_nc);
stream_ns.setBufferTime(3);
video1_video.attachVideo(stream_ns);
stream_ns.play("video1.flv");
If you guys are out there looking for ActionScript livedocs, unofficial ones have been created at ActionScript.com/reference. Starting out, in "beta", some spelling errors - but has great potential.
Check it out here.
These settings provide full documentation for using Cleaner 6 (Mac) or XL (PC) to output Flash video. Vital stuff if you have Cleaner (imo, the best compression software there is) and Flash MX Pro.
Discreet -- Flash Pro settings.
Note: (from Discreet.com) "For Windows, users must update cleaner XL to 6.0.3.401 by using the free Service Pack 2 updater found on the Discreet Support web site. For Macintosh, cleaner 6 is required."
Special thanks to TunaFish at the Flash MX 2004 Forums for providing this link!!
Hello Flash developers out there:
I'm looking for Flash MX 2004 resource links - whether it is a 3rd party resource, forum, email list, components, tutorials. Just no portfolio or web dev business sites (unless developing things like 3rd party extensions or components IS your business - then that's fine of course!) This is for a book, and also for the flash2004.com site.
I know there isn't much out there, but if you have something coming up in the next few weeks I'd love to receive your link. Even if you have Flash MX resource links you want to pass my way that you will probably soon update for 2004, that's fine too.
So if you have something, leave it in the notes here or email me if you want to make sure I get it right away. I can't guarantee everything will be included but it probably will be :) If you know of someone that should be included, please let them know to email me. Please send a very short description too with the URL.
Thanks, really appreciate it!
Jen.
Link back: http://www.flash-mx.com/news/newscomments.cfm?NewsID=81
Joey Lott, Flash Remoting guru and all around cool guy, has released the ActionScript 2.0 Flash Remoting class files. They are still in beta, but I'd like to encourage all of you to try them out and report your findings back to Joey.
Find them here:
Flash Remoting 2.0 class files.
Instructions are available on that page as well as to what to do to get them going. This should help immensely if you are having trouble getting things working in Flash 2004.
The kind of neat thing about the IDE this time around is when you change your Win XP theme, the interface changes its color as well. So if you have the green XP (if that's really your bag) then Flash is greenish too.
Some designers don't prefer the blue interface, so you can change your XP theme to silver and Flash authoring environment turns grey/silver.
Your best choice is to use the FLV exporter if you have QuickTime Pro or Cleaner. Or use Flix or Squeeze to creat FLV. However, if you don't want to use other software, you can create FLV video right out of the Flash IED.
Import the video into Flash, and then
1) open the Library.
2) right click video, choose Properties
3) click the Export button (on Embedded Video Properties dialog)
4) enter a file name for the video and click Save.
And an FLV file is saved, no extra software. The results are not as good as using the Exporter for FLV files out of something like Cleaner or QT Pro. But it works, that's the main thing.
There isn't docs yet, I don't think, so here's an example for you Flash Pro users.
Drag an Alert component onto the Stage. Then delete it. Then put this code on the main Timeline.
import mx.controls.Alert;
var listenerObj:Object = new Object();
listenerObj.click = function(evt) {
switch (evt.detail) {
case Alert.OK :
trace("you hit \"OK\".");
break;
case Alert.CANCEL :
trace("you hit \"CANCEL\".");
break;
}
};
Alert.show("ALERT! Do you want to delete the Internet?",
"Error",
Alert.OK | Alert.CANCEL,
this,
listenerObj);
Hope that helps.
The security sandbox for Flash has changed yet again, and this means, yet again, you have to go and make some changes to your movies. A bit more drastic this time. If you have any of the following in your SWF files (young and old)
· You're connecting to a socket server
· You're controlling another movie
· You're loading XML or variables
you have to add a cross domain policy file. Otherwise, visitors with the Flash Player 7 will see an ugly alert when they access the file. It's easy to do this and you can find more info and directions here, kindly providered up by Colin Moock: Read Moock's Tech Notes here.
Pick your software, and download here.
The Studio MX suite, Flash MX 2004, Flash MX Professional 2004, Fireworks MX 2004 and Dreamweaver MX 2004 have been released, officially, to the masses. Not just DevNet now.
Go and download, try em out, be happy.
That's right, Flash MX 2004 is available for download if you are a DevNet subscriber. So a semi-release I suppose?
If yer a subscriber, go run and download before the masses get there. And have fun exploring the new features :)
It's called talk@flashmx2004.com. We have set a email list tonight up for talking about Flash MX 2004 and Professional.
Just wondering what people are thinking out there. Are you going to go Pro, or keep it regular with Flash MX 2004. As I'm sure you know, Flash Pro offers you additional components, screens, easy Web Services, easy Data Binding, Project/source control and so forth. Will you use those at all? Is the extra $200US worth it?
Or is Flash MX 2004 all you ever need in a Flash MX? I know comments aren't so hot on the news over here (nothing I say really warrants it), but if you have an opinion, share it. I'm wondering what you guys will be using so we can do the right tutorials for the site.
... this would be it! It isn't actually Flashcom, but it is a Flash game. Check it:
Good design, nice look, funny ass game.
Permission has been granted to show screenshots of the new software, so go to this page and click on the smaller image if you want to see a fullscreen view.
New panels in Flash (at bottom of page, click to enlarge).
Check out what people have to say about the new products... completely unbiased I'm sure.
If you are interested in the future of the Flash Player, then check out macromedia and download the new beta for the flash player.
Enjoy, and remember to send your bugs into the Flash team to help make this a great and stable player.
The Flash Player 6 for PPC has finally been released. The Developers Kit also includes a set of nice looking new "tiny" components aimed for PPC Flash developers. Also, there is a license-able Standalone for the first time ever. The unfortunate news (and I stress unfortunate) is that you have to pay a hefty $500 fee for developing PPC apps.
Although this is a great new addition, I worry that the fee is too steep for many developers. I know for one, I can't sell any PPC Flash apps at this point -- the interest isn't strong enough in my neck of the woods. Therefore, I know the added weight of the licensing fee might not help the case any if I was approached with some interest in standalone apps. So, if the fee remains in place, hopefully those who can afford it will build some cool apps to build the interest out there so I could sell something close to cool and buy the license.
Regardless, check out the news and download the player PPC owners:
=====snippet======
MACROMEDIA FLASH PLAYER 6 NOW AVAILABLE FOR POCKET PC 2002
Casio, HP, Toshiba, and other Microsoft devices now able to view Macromedia Flash MX content
FlashForward 2003 San Francisco—March 27, 2003—Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced the immediate availability of Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2002, enabling developers and publishers to quickly and easily deploy rich content and applications to Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC 2002 devices. Macromedia Flash Player is the leading rich client on the Internet, and Pocket PC 2002 users can find more information and download the player today at www.macromedia.com/go/fp6_ppc.
=========end snippet========
Definitely one of the more awesome developments lately, here you can draw in a Flash movie and have a PDF made of your creation at the click of a button. It was created by Gregg Wygonik.
Definitely check this one out here.
http://moock.org/asdg/technotes/crossDomainLoad/
You might find this note on cross domain loading/the sandbox useful. This is one of the "less-documented" areas of Flash MX (ie: the entire System/System.security is not terribly well documented anywhere). Regardless, check it out. Hopefully it should clear some things up for you.
This new reader allows you to import FreeHand files into Flash MX. It's good for FreeHand 8 - MX. A "first-party importer" essentially. This is very handy if you design vector graphics and want to bring 'em straight into Flash. There is some more information on the above link (with a warning for you Mac users).
Thanks Macromedia =)
Escalate is just about finished -- a collection of various artists and their stop-motion photography work in Flash. Some great work there indeed, and quite inspirational. I'd also like to give the shouts out to the people at artdirectorsanonymous who made a kick ass interface for it all.
My entry (jen dehaan) is still a work in progress, and is certainly not one of the inspirational ones. Any comments/suggestions more than welcome though.
http://www.artdirectorsanonymous.com/escalate/
Amazing news are circulating the Flash blogs. Mike Chambers has posted on his that the FP6 has a 72% penetration as of December. This is up nearly 20% from September!
What does this mean? It means that if you were nervous about switching over from Flash 5 to MX for your development, you have a lot more reason to now! These are the kind of stats which help sell your clients on the latest technology.
You should also think about it in terms of displaying (shorter) videos - as Flash numbers go up, it competes a lot more with WMP. And of course, it already has QT beat out.
The word here.
Here's a link to the demo of what is on the CD-ROM of the Designers ActionScript Reference book from friends of ED.
Demo.
Most importantly - might be a few useful tidbits of information for you here.
WhatIsFlash is a new, wiki based web site geared towards research and definining exactly what "Flash" is.
Notably, this site is meant to create a manifesto by the Flash community to help define Flash and create a
collection of best practices.
You might want to also enter the Logo Competition. The deadline is midnight (GMT) February 2nd, 2003 -- and you can check out the information here.
This site is run by Aral Balkan. I have had a couple conversations with the guy, and he also contributed an awesome component to the book called Flash MX Most Wanted Components. I was another co-author on that one -- and it is a prize for the competition -- so hurry up and enter!