Blog

  • MXDU 2005 Presentation Notes

    Here are my presentation notes from MXDU 2005. I don’t have much explanation about the code, but the gist is I’ve provided 3 Flash examples of how to get stock information into Flash:

    • Screenscraping with AMFPHP
    • Using a webservice
    • Using Flashcom which uses screenscraping with AMFPHP

    The Flashcom version does not have all the bells and whistles that concrete the point of it being a superior way to garner data from your Model tier by doing 1 database hit, caching the data, and reducing redundancy by pushing to mulitple clients, nor scaling the frequency of those updates to clients. If it did, I’d sell it since any would pay for a technology to effectively turn 10,000 database hits a minute to 1 big one across a cluster with all clients getting pushed data in real-time… wouldn’t they?

    Additionally, my speech wasn’t recorded live since I didn’t have an AV whatever adatpor for DVI, so it’s recorded later, here in the states since I had to turn it in for Speech class.

    I’ve included my presentation FLA file so you can see how it’s built as well as my slides in PNG format for easier viewing. I’ve used the MediaDisplay component’s addCuePoint functionality (although I could of used the Component Inspector which has a nice Flash interface for me to do this, I was in a hurry, and did it via code… yes, I know, that sounds backwards).

    Please note the comment about Flashcom on devices is incorrect; I currently do not know of a device that supports Flashcom, Flast Lite wise, and I’m not sure if Flash 6 or Flash 7 for Pocket PC supports Remote SharedObject or not.

    MXDU 2005 Speech – ZIP

    MXDU 2005 Notes – ZIP

  • Yahoo Opens Search Engine to Developers

    “Search firm makes a bid for enterprise business

    Yahoo has launched a network giving developers access to the company’s technology through web services-based APIs.

    The interfaces allow application developers to create services that mix search results from an intranet with web search results or stories from Yahoo News. They can also use Yahoo’s spelling correction technology to check online forms filled out by employees or customers.”

    It’s really great to see company’s with awesome technology making them available via web service API’s. I love how everything can be made interoperable for a price. A technology you think is useful can be accessed from anywhere with a connection, and everyone can use the same thing in different ways. It’s been pretty cool to see Amazon & PayPal’s usage of them, so naturally it’s nice to see Yahoo! follow suit. Too bad I don’t use their search engine, but the more the merrier. As a consumer, I dig options.

    Via her majesty.

  • Compile Flash From Dreamweaver/FlexBuilder

    Those of you who have used SciteFlash from bomberstudios.com know that one of the key features of that editor was its ability to cause Flash to compile directly from SciteFlash’s coding IDE. This way, you could code like normal, and press Control + 1 to cause Flash to test movie, just like you would do Control + Enter in Flash to test movie. This was beneficial because you didn’t have to ALT + Tab (or click on Flash in the taskbar) to switch to Flash just so you could compile.

    I’m using Dreamweaver, just like I did in Flash MX (because Dreamweaver had tabs back then, Flash didn’t), because I’m doing some crazy re-factoring, and Dreamweaver has some awesome find and replace features. …however, same problem; don’t want to switch to Flash just to compile. However, I have a JSFL folder in my class directory that I’m viewing in Dreamweaver’s Files panel (which is what Flash’ Project Panel should be). I dropped a JSFL file in there called “compile.jsfl” that just does:

    fl.getDocumentDOM().testMovie();

    All I have to do is double-click it in Dreamweaver, and it’ll go back to Flash and compile my only open FLA. Haven’t figured out how to map to a Dreamweaver keyboard shortcut yet, but anyway, awesome!

  • Valve vs. HL2CTF Team

    Valve, the company that made Half-Life 1 and 2 was challenged by the Half-Life 2 Capture The Flag Team to a game of Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag. To quote the news release that Valve issued today, “…we’ve been challenged to a game of Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag by the team that created this mod. We noticed on their website that they want to “beat up on Valve” in a match that starts today at 6:00 pm PST. While our relationship with the MOD community usually involves us providing tools and support, we’re more than happy to give them a beating in their own game.”

    You can attempt to spectate, but if you haven’t signed up already, I’d just wait for the aftermath coverage.

    More info at the guys who made the mod.

    Reminds me of another company I know…