There are so many online communities out there already, but I was curious when Mixx debuted their “Communities”.
Figured I would create a community just for Flex. I don’t know if there is enough value in a mini Digg-like community just for Flex developers and designers, but I guess we can find out … introducing:
It is open registration for members, so if you think it might be cool, join up!
Nice, via Read Write Web, Google has released a Flash API for Google Maps in ActionScript 3! Nice to be skipping right over some of those annoying LocalConnection hassles with these APIs when using Flex/AS3.
Speaking of Google, LocalConnection, and APIs, has anyone wrapped up a LocalConnection lib to use the YouTube Chromeless Player APIs yet? I know there is some rough sample code in their forum, but is there a project that puts this all in one spot to use as a library?
What do fried cheese curds, spotted cows, and developing simulations, games, and educational applications in Flex have in common? Madison, WI baby!
If you are interested in working with the educational and academic community in Madison for the University of Wisconsin, and have strong skills and background with client-side development with a focus on Flex and ActionScript, then apply right now!
Just a heads up, I’m writing a series of articles dealing with Mozilla and RIAs over on InsideRIA entitled “Why Mozilla Deserves Our Attention”.
Go check it out!
I will be headed to Chi-town for Flex Camp later this month. Really interested to meet some people and in Labriola’s building Flex components session. Should be fun!
BTW, went to register and noticed that all attendees now get a copy of Adobe Flex 2: Training From The Source!
There is limited capacity, so if you’re interested you’d better sign up soon!
Reading over the article on ALA previewing HTML 5, there is a lot of cool stuff. The video and audio tags, and the new structure elements are all great. That last part stung a little bit though:
Work on HTML 5 is rapidly progressing, yet it is still expected to continue for several years. Due to the requirement to produce test cases and achieve interoperable implementations, current estimates have work finishing in around ten to fifteen years.
Hold up. Now, I’m sure that “work finishing” and being able to use it in more than one browser have to be two completely different things.(Hopefully!) But thats a long time!
Just as a head check in case there are folks looking to develop advanced RIAs right now. The Flash Player get’s over 90% penetration after just about a year. That means, Flash Player 9, along with Flex and ActionScript 3 apps incorporating video and audio, have a runtime penetration rate of over 90% right now. And in at the most one year, over 90% of clients will have the capability to playback H.264 video. That includes Linux, Windows, and Mac.
Following up on the efforts that a few others had already started (including someone named Robbish who’s blog is gone), I’ve updated the macros and language spec files for ActionScript 3 to work with Xcode 3.
Xcode 3 switched from pblangspec files to xclangspec. The macros format and pbfilespec files had a few tweaks to be made as well. There are a few lines still left in the pblangspec file, Xcode didn’t seem happy without them, or with them moved into the xclangspec file. I wasn’t able to keep the method parameters in the code completion, it wouldn’t properly work with some of the different characters in there. I tried a few things, but it didn’t work. If I or someone else gets that figured out, it will be updated.
As a brand spankin’ new addition, and as a result of Xcode 3 having better support for XML, I was able to get an xclangspec going for MXML too! I even have ActionScript in the CDATA blocks working! It works hand-in-hand with the ActionScript.xclangspec file.
This is a first stab, and no doubt can be improved on, but at least I’m rockin’ and rollin’ with Xcode 3 now. To use, just drop the files here:
/Developer/Library/Xcode/Specifications/
If you are moving a project over from an older Xcode project, the ActionScript and MXML files may not automatically register. As you work on them, simply do a “Get Info” (Command+I), and select either “sourcecode.actionscript” or “sourcecode.mxml” for the type in the inspector.
Here you go, enjoy!
Flex for Xcode 3 (0.0.1)
