Software, Fitness, and Gaming – Jesse Warden

Blog

  • Flex Chronicles: Part 2

    Was there a part 1? Yeah dude, when I used it before. I didn’t make it through many tutorials, though, only the walkthrows and videos. Last night and this morning, I went through that 56 page PDF tutorial (you can also see it LiveDocs). I’ve been digging around in the samples, LiveDocs, and pinging peeps on AIM and email for help when I run into a brick wall.

    All in all, Flex is pretty hot. The speed at which you can develop form based apps seems like it’ll be faster than what you can do in Flash. It’s slow for me because I’m still learning, but I’m digging the layout tools the most; reminds me a lot of XUL …only, it’s Flash. The direct linking of CSS stylesheet props like you do with HTML is just rad.

    As I hit weird hurdles, I’ll document them here. Even though most are probably newb, green, cut your teeth types of problems, I’d much rather be the newb who can go on Google, type in his/her issue, and find my site lamenting about how I already went through the problem, and posting a solution.

    Without further adu(sp?), I was having problems with Flex finding my external script. I’m making my GUI in an MXML component, and referencing the class code out (well…like, just functions and properties, that’s how Flex makes classes associated with an MXML component; weird concept (weird cause it’s new to me)). It kept complaining it couldn’t find it. I tried all kinds of filepaths after reading about how import/include work in the LiveDocs, and finally foobarred it enough to cause a Java nullpointer excepion. Reading the exception, the full filepath was on the server, not my site folder. Turns out my frikin’ file wasn’t on the server. When you run an MXML file, Flex Builder’ll upload it to your test server. However, it didn’t upload the dependant file, Login_script.as. I uploaded the scirpt, and she runs fine. Dar dar dar… so, if you have a similiar problem with your external as files, now you know; just upload them.

    …I’m just worried about 60 days from now; I’m not sure how I’m gonna pay for Flex Builder and Flex. Flashcom’s easy; you just get a server with a few amount of users from an ISP who hosts it for you. Not sure about Flex, though. Maybe I can qualify as one of those not-for-profits or something. :: shrugs :: Anyone know someone who knows someone who knows what I could do?

  • Classpath Annoyance

    I finally got bit by the classpath ordering that Flash utilizes. I finally know what Grant was talking about over a year ago, cause at the time, I had no fuggin’ clue what a classpath was.

    I hope the order is reversed in both Flash 8, and Flex (haven’t dug to see how they deal with classes yet). I kept changing my code, but Flash wouldn’t recognize the new property I put into my class no matter what I did. Turns out I had installed an older version of my extension which installed the base classes in Flash’ classes directory… where Flash looks first. BS Flash… look at MY code first, NOT yours. How dare you presume to override my project when you don’t even know anything about it. To make matters worse, I have to futz around in your innards just so you pay attention to me? Hell with that.

    Anyway, a gotcha to look for if your a component developer and you distribute your source via MXP’s. Uninstall before you re-test your code or you’ll wonder why Flash is ignoring you.

  • Blockbuster Shady Marketing

    The article is titled “Blockbuster dropping late fees as of Jan. 1“. If you read the article, though, all they’re doing is extending the due-date by 6 weeks, at which point, they charge you the same amount of money. If you do the math, what a typical customer ends up paying in late fee’s after 6 weeks accounts to the cost of the movie anyway. The $300 million dollar loss is probably because the restocking fee isn’t that high. Now, as a consumer I can no longer stem the blood loss by returning the tape early, and avoiding any further late fee’s. All I have to do is return it before my 6 days are up, and I can avoid paying the restocking fee.

    I’ve had a chip on my shoulder against this company ever since they threatened me with legal action when I was 18. It feels good now to sink back into my anti-establishment teenage tirade, almost like I’m getting revenge at the company who was legitamtely upset at me for losing their copy of Tomb Raider for Playstation. This was coupled hearing a co-worker couldn’t get a mortage for his house until he resolved an outstanding late fee from Blockbuster on his credit.

    Blockbuster is losing revenue to Netflix, and I guess they feel it is because people like me chose Netflix over them because the cost of movies the way Netflix does it is far cheaper then the known late fees I will be charged at Blockbuster. That’s not the only reason. Blockbuster had some shady practices because of their monopoly. Their late fee’s and prices grew and grew over the years, far suprassing the 3% economy, and their customer service was a joke; they were always rude in some way if I ever had a problem, or wanted to open a new membership at a new store. Their lack of store to store connectivity was astounding… until I read Zeh’s comment at MossyBlog, and it all made sense.

    Not only is their company technically imcopetent (keep in mind they were the ONLY company I heard about haveing Y2K problems January 1st, 2000 on the news), but so is their staff. I want to go back in time and say to one rude encounter I had after waiting for 20 minutes to discuss a problem with my account back in ’97, “Your just mad your not coding HTML for 100k a year, bee-oootch!!!!”

    It kind of sucks that their fixin’ to purchase Hollywood Video too. I went to them so I could publicly not support Blockbuster… but now they’re buying it too. Course, the late-fee’s are the same on my wallet…

    I remember camping out at the MovieTime in Richmond, Virginia for hours at a time, waiting for whatever customer to return some new Nintendo game I wanted to try since the cashier would tell me it was due that day.

    Screw that, I’ll just automate it, pay the difference, and end up saving money and heartache in the long run. Karma’s a bitch, Blockbuster.

    Blockbuster Article

    Via her majesty.

  • Subway Toasts Too Late

    Quizno’s had a really cool ad a year ago. It was based off of the Moon Song video. Those of us in the know when we saw it, loved it. Here was a company embracing my demographic’s area of entertainment so much so that they were willing to look like freaks of nature by airing such a weird and out there commercial… which was an adaptation of something weird and out there.

    Well, it appears 11 months later Subway has responded (I think). This may be old news to some, but keep in mind I live out in a remote area. I was asked if I wanted my sub “toasted”.

    “…sure!” I replied with a slight start and an attenuation at the end of my response. I had never been asked that before, although I eat Subway at least once a week. Upon asking when they started doing it, they lady replied, “…about a month ago, nationwide. It’s in response to Quizno’s.”

    ‘In response’? It takes you 11 months to install toasters into Subway stores nationwide, and instruct the personnel how long to leave a sandwhich in it? Can I bungie jump using the red tape? It just goes to show how successful a good sandwhich can be with little marketing. They’d p@wn if their response time was faster, and they went on the offensive.

    Subway’s site title starts with “Official” whereas Quizno’s starts with their name. Quizno’s has Flash on the front page too, whereas Subway does not.

    Anyway, the sub was good toasted.