Strikefish Blog - Flash

Flex 4 and FlashBuilder 4 Released

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:20:00 -0400

Start your engines... You can get the scoop here: http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/

Spring and BlazeDS Best Practices

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:37:00 -0400

I recently wrote a white paper for a client to assist them in ramping up with Spring and BlazeDS Integration (SBI) best practices. The link below will allow you to download the white paper. It contains many links to helpful downloads and assists in a "painless" install and configuration for this solution set. There is also a java and flex example app to get you started. Enjoy... BlazeDS Best Practices

Flash Camp Atlanta

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:38:00 -0400

If you are looking for a great day of Flex and Adobe discussion/training sign up for Flash Camp Atlanta! It's on Aug. 28th and starts at 8 for the special introduction course with general sessions starting at 9. You can't beat the training you will receive from these experts in Flash and RIA; plus it only costs 50 bucks! I am planning to attend, hope to see you there; click on the image to register:

Flash 9 and 10 Compatibility Matrix

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:57:00 -0400

I was recently tasked on my current project to generate this. I hope it helps some of you in communication regarding Flash support across multiple OS and Browsers. Matrix

Flex Camp Miami

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:59:00 -0400

I wanted to blog a reminder that I am promoting Flex Camp Miami (http://www.flexcampmiami.com). It will be on the University of Miami campus. A great place to meet during the winter season and registration is only $30!!!! The testimonials alone are reason to attend: http://www.flexcampmiami.com/page.cfm/testimonials. It's an opportunity to learn from the industry's finest, network, discuss the daily grind, etc. I look forward to seeing you there! Here is the Agenda:

Time	Session and Speaker
8:00-8:30 am	Registration
8:30-9:30 am	Welcome and Keynote (Flex 4 Preview) Brian Rinaldi, Universal Mind Greg Wilson, Adobe
9:30-10:20 am	Working With Data in AIR David Tucker, Universal Mind
10:20-10:40 am	Break
10:40-11:30 am	In Search of AOP for AS3 Maxim Porges, Highwinds
11:30-12:20 pm	Merapi or How to Blow Your Mind with AIR Andrew Powell, Universal Mind
12:20-1:00 pm	Lunch (provided)
1:00-1:50 pm	User Experience Design Topic TBA TBA
1:50-2:40 pm	Continuous Integration and Flex Brian LeGros, Highwinds
2:40-3:00 pm	Break
3:00-3:50 pm	ScrapBlog.com Speaker
3:50-4:40 pm	Mate Framework Laura Arguello, ASFusion
4:40-5:00 pm	Closing and Door Prizes

So as you can see, something for everyone. Look forward to seeing you there.

Thank You Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:11:00 -0400

I spoke to the GMCC yesterday afternoon about SEO and how Universal Mind has overcome the challenges of spidering flash based solutions. It was an enjoyable presentation and I appreciated the genuine interest and questions from the attendees. Thank you Chamber! I look forward to visiting again. The "download" link below will allow you to save the PowerPoint presentation.

Spatial Key (The Future of GIS)

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:06:00 -0400

I finally found some time to blog on what I deem a revolutionary software solution released by Universal Mind. Having my head in GIS solutions; ESRI, MapQuest and the players they integrate with I state knowing full well based on what I have seen over this 7 year period that the approach taken to this solution goes far beyond any solution on the market and will provide tremendous benefits to any organization that retains and/or analyzes location based data. You may be asking yourself, what is the benefit of Spatial Key with regard to the data in question? The quick response is that if you are dealing with large datasets spread globally, regionally, or even locally this software will save you time. Please follow the Law Enforcement link to see how Spatial Key is currently being utilized by the Ogden Police Department. Imagine millions of data points immediately organized allowing the user to drill down, expedite reporting, and understand relationships of data that may not have been realized prior to using Spatial Key. This last item is important with regard to statistics associated with location data spread over time. A real world scenario would be an event that created increases and or decreases of a given activity in certain locations (i.e sales, travel, instability, etc). With Spatial Key the timeframe of this event can be filtered graphically in which the analytics behind this filter can be readily deduced. See the demo here and try out the various example applications here As human beings we are visual creatures and when it comes to crunching numbers or aligning information what better approach is there than to understand where the data points are generated from and then drill into this data with a better understanding of what is occurring. I have just touched on the surface at this point with regard to data integration with Spatial Key. In closing I have to comment on the incredibly intuitive visual cues built into viewing the data across a map backdrop. These are features such as heat maps, heat grids, and graduated circles which will show you hot and cold spots within your data points. There is also timeline playback support where animation of data across time will show how data changed within a given time period. I look forward to your comments and questions regarding Spatial Key.

A Mashup That Makes Sense

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:37:00 -0400

Recently Andy Powell won a WII for his submission into the 360 Flex | API Contest. His winning application is a great example of leveraging multiple APIs that at first glance, one may be challenged in connecting the dots with regard to how they could be integrated into a single intuitive application. When I first looked at Andy's initial layout and functionality as intuitive as it was, I got stoked because I could see that this application could be enhanced visually and functionally; so I am blogging about the enhancements I made to that effect. First, I had some .css in mind to give it that Ribbit Green theme. I adjusted the layout of the various nested canvases and converted them to use a form which allows for formitem conciseness with regard to alignment etc and allots for a default button (integrated form 'enter key' functionality). I sized down the respective API images into the main panels control bar (will be applying links shortly) and enhanced the map functionality which allows for a unique icon (hotel) to identify the selected hotel from other hotel POIs on the map. Each time a search is performed the past icon is returned to its initial state and the newly selected hotel gets the new icon (member variables used to allow for this). I will be styling the MapQuest info windows that pop up with selection of a POI shortly as the very customizable MapQuest API is 100% extensible. I then relocated the RIBBIT dial up interface and adjusted dialing status to persist in the connection labeling area rather than separately at the bottom of the form to save real estate. Lastly, I wrapped it in a panel with the hotel details form and nested it within a panel along with the MapQuest tilemap component. This panel will soon be a slide in that will open/close via grid selection and panel close feature. Please check out the new app on Andy's site here; Ribbit, Kayak, MapQuest Mashup and book your hotel today 8-). FYI, souce code is located at Andy's Google code site here: AP's GCode site

Flex Smart Combo (aka look ahead combo)

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:36:00 -0400

A few weeks back a fellow UM-er asked if there had been a look ahead combo created at some point and possibly checked into our library. To my knowledge such a component didn't exist except for a few components running around that didn't exactly do what he was looking for. So I spent some time extending combo box to create the functionality he was looking for. This component allows a user to hot key filter the combos list/data provider which means, when the combo box gains focus it becomes editable allowing key entry to filter the list items based on the keys pressed. It is quite slick and is written entirely as a single class extending ComboBox. Feel free to enhance, chop, criticize... It's yours to use how you wish and I hope it assists you in your efforts. Enjoy! I would like to thank Adam Flater for adding case sensitivity option and label filtering. Check out his blog: Here ********* UPDATE: 6/26/2008 ************ Resolved focus issues. Enabled view source (right click on the swf).


package com.universalmind.controls
{
  import flash.events.Event;
  import flash.events.FocusEvent;
  import flash.events.MouseEvent;
  
  import mx.controls.ComboBox;

  public class SmartCombo extends ComboBox
  {
    private var _trackText:String = "";
    private var _caseSensitiveSearching : Boolean = true;
    
    public function SmartCombo()
    {
      //TODO: implement function
      super();   
    }
    
    public function set caseSensitiveSearching (bool : Boolean) : void {
      _caseSensitiveSearching = bool;      
    }
    
    public function get caseSensitiveSearching () : Boolean {
      return _caseSensitiveSearching;      
    }
    
    override protected function textInput_changeHandler(event:Event):void {
        _trackText = this.textInput.text;
        
        // variables used in the loop
        var label : String = null;
        var matchingIdx : int = 0;
        var foundMatch : Boolean = false;
        var searchString : String = this.textInput.text;
        
        if ( caseSensitiveSearching == false ) searchString = searchString.toLowerCase();

   
        // using a for each loop on dataProvider does not strongly 
        // couple to it only being an ArrayCollection... simlar 
        // with weak typing on the items in the set
        for each ( var item : Object in this.dataProvider ) 
        {
          // using itemToLabel() checks a few things like
          // if the item is a String, or it there's a 
          // labelFunction being used
          label = this.itemToLabel( item );
          
             
          // if searching should not be case sensitive
          // do a toLowerCase() on label
          if ( this.caseSensitiveSearching == false )
          {
            label = label.toLowerCase();
          }
    
       
        // find the first item that starts with searchString
        // if there's a match, break out of the loop
        if ( label.substr( 0, searchString.length ) == searchString )
        {
          this.dropdown.selectedIndex = matchingIdx;
          this.dropdown.scrollToIndex( matchingIdx );
          foundMatch = true
          break;
        }
        matchingIdx++;
    }


    // if there was no match found set selectedIndex to -1 
    // (unselect the list)
    if ( foundMatch == false ) 
    {
      this.dropdown.selectedIndex = -1;
    }
  }
    
    override public function close(trigger:Event=null):void{ 
      super.close(trigger);
      if (this.text == "")
      {
        this.selectedIndex = 0;
      }
      this.editable = false;
    }
    
    override protected function focusOutHandler(event:FocusEvent):void
    {
      super.focusOutHandler(event);
      if (this.text == "")
      {
        this.selectedIndex = 0;
      }
      this.textInput.selectionEndIndex = this.textInput.width;
      this.editable = false;     
    }
    
    override protected function focusInHandler(event:FocusEvent):void
    {
      super.focusInHandler(event);
      this.editable = true;
      this.textInput.setFocus();
      this.open();
    }
    
    
  }
}

Example: Download Source Project: Here

IPhone and Third Party Software

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:14:00 -0400

This article at CNN does not specifically state that Apple will allow for installation of Flash runtime. Hmmm... That has to be around the corner you would think. Come on Apple, Flexers want to write solutions for the IPhone. The CNN Article

Universal Mind is Blogging

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:02:00 -0400

Check it out here: UM Blog. UM is made up of a bunch of stellar Adobe and related software IT professionals. They have some incredible information to share with regard to Flex, Flash, AIR, CF, Java, etc. and we can all learn from them. Enjoy!

MapQuest's AS3 API in Beta

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:19:00 -0400

I recently assisted in developing and testing on the API Development and QA teams for this product and wanted to share some information on their new Actionscript 3 API with the community. If you are interested in mapping GIS related data (what data doesn't have a GIS component?) or are currently working with competing products you should evaluate what MapQuest has to offer with their new AS3 API. I can't stress enough the concentrated effort that went in to streamlining the integration process, performance and speed, and feature set. The Libraries:

AdvantageAPI.swc - Actionscript Library used for retrieving geographical data from mapquest servers
TilemapToolkit.swc - Actionscript Library used for creating a tilebased map
TilemapComponent.swc - Flex Library used for placing tilemaps within MXML

With the above libraries you can acquire geocode information for existing address information, place points of interest on a map, utilize vector based overlays, and fully customize all built in MapQuest default features such as the zoom and pan controls. It is important to stress that with MapQuest's API you can customize the entire look and feel of the map to suite your business (logo etc.) It is important to stress some of the peformance gains I noticed from the legacy html and javascript based solution. Most importantly the speed in which POIs (points of interests) can be added to a map. I witnessed a 500 poi legacy application load 500 pois in 10 seconds and via the AS3 API load the same 500 POIs instantaneously. Imagine this performance benefit if you were to embed a map in a desktop app written in AIR? If you are currently utilizing MapQuest and have standardized on javascript or don't foresee spending this years budget on converting to AS3, that is ok, you can utilize a version of the API wrapped to support javascript integration, which should allow you to drop the new flash based solution in to your existing javascript/html/AJAX solution. There are many more advanced features such as POI decluttering, customizing POI graphics, and display windows to name a few. There are also Flash CS3 supported swc libraries that can be imported in to the Flash IDE as well. MapQuest went above and beyond to make integration with Adobe products seamless. The following links will detail some of the release information and how to get ahold of the libraries: Links to various MapQuest sponsored information and links:

Snapshot:

Flex Components and Anchor Tags

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:34:00 -0400

On a current project I found a bug within a custom UIComponent. Hopefully my explanation is thorough enough to give you an understanding as to why I think this may be an implementation issue with components in the Flex framework itself: The UIComponent added a child Sprite that contained a TextField child. The text field's htmlText property contained an anchor tag. By default the text field's selectable property was set to false. This is when it gets interesting. The class which contained the TextField and extended from Sprite when included on the flash player stage worked correctly, meaning that the anchor tag located the browser correctly when clicked even though the selectable property was set to false. Seems like this should be the standard... The bug was when this class' object reference was added as a child to a class extending UIComponent. When this occurred the anchor tag did not allow for left mouse click in turn locating the browser to the location specified in the anchor tag. Oddly enough, Flash allowed for right clicking on the link displaying the standard anchor tag options of open, open in new window, and copy link. The workaround was to set the selectable property to true, though I may not want a user to select the text it was the only workaround with regard to adding a text field to a UIComponent. Please see examples below (view source is enabled). Selectable set to false in component example. Selectable set to true in component example. Selectable set to false in sprite example.

Trimming a TextField with AS 3.0

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:22:00 -0400

I was recently tasked with building a utility class that was designed to trim text off a TextField object; it accepts 3 argument. The initial TextField, desired width, and text to be concatenated to the existing TextField. So in short I had to truncate due to the width argument, but also add the concatenated text, which was usually "..." signifying the text had been truncated. The code is below. I hope it helps you if you come up against a similar challenge. Good luck!


package com.mapquest.tilemap.util
{
  import flash.text.TextField;
  import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;  
  
  public class TextFieldUtil
  {
    
    public function TextFieldUtil()
    {}
    
    
    /**
      * Evaluates the textField and desired width param and sizes the TextField
      * 
      * @returns sized TextField
      * @param {number}  desired width
      * @param {TextField} text field to be edited
      * @param {concatText} string to concat
      */
    public function sizeTextField(textField:TextField, wid:Number, concatText:String):String
    {
      //size the text field and apply ellipses if it's text width is greater than desired width
      if (textField.textWidth > wid)
      {
        
        var initWidth:Number = textField.textWidth;
        textField.appendText(concatText);
        var concatWidth:Number = textField.textWidth - initWidth;
        var activeWidth:Number = wid - concatWidth;
        
        //change back to initial text
        textField.text = textField.text.substr(0, (textField.text.length - concatText.length))
        
        //loop until size is right
        for (var i:int = 0; i < initWidth; i++)
        {
          if(textField.textWidth > activeWidth)
          {
            
            textField.text = textField.text.substr(0, (textField.text.length - 1));
          }
          else
          {
            textField.appendText(concatText);
            break;
          }
        }
        return textField.text;
      }
      else
      {
        return textField.text;
      }
    }
  }
}

Ignorance is Bliss

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:38:00 -0400

If there ever was a blog entry that should be removed... Take my advice on this, crack open one of your favorite beverages and settle into your desk chair. You are in for pure entertainment on this one... Flash Sucks. I can't believe I wrote that link that way, but it's the title of the blog entry. The comments are beyond funny.