blackcj.com http://www.blackcj.com/blog Cutting edge development with Adobe Flex, ActionScript and AIR Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:35:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Define Popup Window Size in HTML Text http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/03/01/define-popup-window-size-in-html-text/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/03/01/define-popup-window-size-in-html-text/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:31:08 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=709 Executing JavaScript in a Flash HTML TextField is both cool and a little scary. You can throw some inline JavaScript in your htmlText to dynamically specify a pop up window size when using target="_blank." This works in both ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0.

Pop up Window Example:

Example of Inline Java Script

Get Adobe Flash player

(click on the link above to open a 200 x 300 pop up window)

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // myTextField is a dynamic text field instance on the stage
  2. var link:String = "http://www.blackcj.com/"
  3. var jsText:String = "window.open('" + link + "','win','height=200,width=300,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes'); void(0);"
  4. myTextField.htmlText = "<a href=\"javascript:" + jsText + "\"><u>blackcj.com</u></a>";

Any JavaScript tag can be run this way. Try adding an alert right after the window.open script. Notice how they both execute. Yet another reason to ALWAYS validate your input fields when displaying htmlText. Nothing worse than somebody adding some inline JavaScript to your Flash form.

Resources
http://www.webmasterworld.com/html/3429895.htm
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14192.html

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/03/01/define-popup-window-size-in-html-text/feed/ 0 Cut the Drama. Flash is Here to Stay. http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/02/01/cut-the-drama-flash-is-here-to-stay/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/02/01/cut-the-drama-flash-is-here-to-stay/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:27 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=682 I really wish that Steve Jobs would quit misinforming the public. It amazes me that Apple and Adobe's childish feud is even news worthy. I've had a number of people tell me that I should start looking for a new profession because HTML5 is the future and Flash is dead (link). All of them iPhone users and each of them were just tech savvy enough not to know what the hell they were talking about. Here is ten minutes worth of research to show Steve Jobs' opinion on the matter is a bit more like a leap of blind faith.

What does this graph tell us?
Well, even through a recession, ActionScript job growth has held strong. Objective C on the other hand looks very unstable.

And this one?
Nobody seems to be able to make up their mind about how much to pay Objective C programmers. Is it worth more than HTML or not? Would you work in a development language that had the potential for a 50% pay cut if you lost your job?


http://www.hiten.net/wilberwind/wordpress/?p=826

How about this chart?
I would like someone to point out the web development language that died. Anyone? Oh wait... none of them have ever died! When somebody comes out with something better, the competition does the same. Not to mention that it took AJAX nearly ten years to catch on. As much as some people hate PHP, it is still around. As much as some people hate Microsoft, .NET is still kicking. As much as Steve Jobs hates Adobe, Flash is here to stay.

Do I hate HTML5 and think it will fail? No. I hope it succeeds. The reason I code ActionScript is because it is widely supported and cutting edge. HTML4 wasn't enough for me. When HTML5 has a 3D engine, physics support, frameworks, blogs of examples, full browser support, and a great IDE, I'll strongly consider it. Until then, please don't tell me I should look for a new profession.

*Update 02/02/2010 @ 7am in response to a comment below*

Analysis:
Perl seems to be holding strong. I wish the data went back further, was there ever a significant decline? They still have a pretty big market for jobs with a steady incline. Coldfusion jobs have not gone up but have also not really gone down over the past 5 years. That's pretty good job security for 'dead' languages.

Looks like Silverlight has seen nothing but positive growth over the past few years. Was it two years ago Microsoft and .NET developers where predicting the death of Flash due to Silverlight? Looks like there is enough market for both. If the web wants interactive maybe there is room for Flash, HTML5, and Silverlight to all grow over the next 5 years. Based on the data at hand, that would be my prediction.

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/02/01/cut-the-drama-flash-is-here-to-stay/feed/ 9 Fix Disappearing Fonts Caused by SWC’s http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/01/03/resolve-swc-font-conflicts/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/01/03/resolve-swc-font-conflicts/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:15:47 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=659 Have you ever had that feeling that something is very wrong in your project? Maybe that some paranormal force is working against you? Well, when embedded text starts disappearing after adding a SWC to a project, that's the feeling I used to get.

Problem:
Let me start by saying SWC's are great. I've been using them more and more to include third party API's, utilities and assets. There is one problem, embedding a font into an asset in a SWC will override the internally defined fonts in a project. Why is that bad? Well lets say you have a static text field in your SWC using Georgia and a TextField instance in your Flex project using Georgia. No text will show up in your Flex TextField. Check out this example (notice it starts invisible):

SWC Text Embed Conflict:

Example of Conflicting Fonts

Get Adobe Flash player

(switch between MyGeorgia and Georgia fonts to see the disappearing text)

Full source code can be found here.

Solution:
Define your embed tags in ActionScript with a different fontFamily and fontName. So, if your font is Georgia than name it EmbedGeorgia. This will allow your TextField to reference the correct class definition. In my experience the SWC will always win if there is a conflict.

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. [Embed(source="/assets/fonts/georgia.ttf", advancedAntiAliasing="true", fontFamily="MyGeorgia",
  2.     fontName="MyGeorgia", fontWeight="normal", mimeType="application/x-font" )]
  3. private var MyGeorgiaFont:Class;
  4. public static const MY_GEORGIA:String = "MyGeorgia";

rather than...

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // This will conflict with Georgia references in a SWC!!!
  2. [Embed(source="/assets/fonts/georgia.ttf", advancedAntiAliasing="true", fontFamily="Georgia",
  3.     fontName="Georgia", fontWeight="normal", mimeType="application/x-font" )]
  4. private var GeorgiaFont:Class;
  5. public static const GEORGIA:String = "Georgia";

It's that easy?
Yup.

What if you have two SWC's with Georgia embedded text?
Will they conflict with each other? Based on the example above the answer is no. Awesome!

What if my fonts are stored in a SWF file?
Than duplicate the above code but reference your SWF instead of the font in the assets folder.

Code that results in invisible text:

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // This will conflict with Georgia references in a SWC!!!
  2. [Embed(source="/assets/fonts/georgia.ttf", advancedAntiAliasing="true", fontFamily="Georgia",
  3.     fontName="Georgia", fontWeight="normal", mimeType="application/x-font" )]
  4. private var GeorgiaFont:Class;
  5. public static const GEORGIA:String = "Georgia";
  6.  
  7. private var georgiaFormat:TextFormat;
  8. private var georgiaText:TextField;
  9.  
  10. public function ConflictingFonts()
  11. {
  12.     // Component from SWC which uses Georgia in a static text field
  13.     var cc:ColorComponent = new ColorComponent();
  14.     cc.colorPicker.addEventListener(ColorPickerEvent.CHANGE, selectColor, false, 0, true);
  15.     cc.y = 30;
  16.     this.addChild(cc);
  17.    
  18.     // Create the local TextFormat
  19.     georgiaFormat = new TextFormat(GEORGIA, 18);
  20.    
  21.     // Create the local TextField (the text won't show up!)
  22.     georgiaText = new TextField();
  23.     georgiaText.embedFonts = true;
  24.     georgiaText.width = 300;
  25.     georgiaText.height = 20;
  26.     georgiaText.defaultTextFormat = georgiaFormat;
  27.     georgiaText.setTextFormat(georgiaFormat);
  28.     georgiaText.text = "Hello World";
  29.     this.addChild(georgiaText);
  30. }

Swap out the Embed tag, update the TextFormat and you will be good to go.

Rant:

On the way to this solution I came up with a number of hacks that appeared to work only to break at the worst time. These hacks included storing a second reference of the font in the SWC (assuming you have access to the source), enumerating through the font list at runtime (which only fixes the problem in debug), and breaking apart the text into bitmaps (you don't want to know how long that takes). Rather than stop using SWC's I started to create more and more of them pushing towards an acceptable solution. This is what I ended up on. Hopefully it will save everyone some time and a little sanity ;)

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2010/01/03/resolve-swc-font-conflicts/feed/ 2 Don’t Forget to Update Your Adobe Products http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/27/dont-forget-to-update-your-adobe-products/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/27/dont-forget-to-update-your-adobe-products/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:02:07 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=640 Is Flash CS4 crashing when you try to open an FLA? Are you pulling out your hair wondering why Flex 3 doesn't auto complete BitmapData? Adobe Updater may be the answer.

Flash CS4 10.0.2

One of my co-workers called me over to troubleshoot when a folder full of FLAs were crashing Flash CS4 every time he tried to open them. He had already tried a fresh install of the software and had all of the necessary fonts. So why did it crash? Well it turns out that Flash CS4 had a bug where it would crash when embedded fonts are used.

"FLA crash on open when fonts loaded." -Glavan on Flash (detailed list of what was fixed)

After running Adobe Updater everything worked great!

Flex Builder 3.0.2

How about Flex Builder? I recently installed Windows 7 with a fresh copy of Flex Builder 3 Professional. Unfortunately I pulled the install from one of my external hard drives and it was version 3.0.1 rather than 3.0.2. A major bug with version 3.0.1 using SDK 3.3 and higher is that BitmapData does not auto complete. After trying multiple versions of the SDK I finally found the bug report on Adobe Bugs citing that the problem was fixed in version 3.0.2.

After running Adobe Updater everything worked great!

See the common theme here? I tend to disable most of the automatic software updates since they are usually very annoying. After my experiences over the past week I will be checking Adobe Updater much more frequently! Always update after a fresh install.

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/27/dont-forget-to-update-your-adobe-products/feed/ 0 Base64 Encoding BitmapData http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/22/base64-encoding-bitmapdata/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/22/base64-encoding-bitmapdata/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:24:24 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=608 Turn your BitmapData into a string and back! Great for storing images in XML, Databases, or transmitting them over a network. This post will cover Bitmap Encoding, PNG Encoding and JPG Encoding along with the pros and cons for each.

Bitmap Encoding - (link)

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // Encode
  2. var encoded:String = BitmapEncoder.encodeBase64(bitmap.bitmapData);
  3.    
  4. // Decode
  5. var bd:BitmapData = BitmapEncoder.decodeBase64(encoded);

Advantages:
Keep transparency
Fastest Method
Does not require a Loader

Disadvantages:
Largest Filesize
Will only work with images up to a certain size

PNG Encoding - (link)

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // Encode   
  2. var ba:ByteArray = PNGEncoder.encode(bitmap.bitmapData);
  3. var encoded:String = Base64.encodeByteArray(ba);
  4.  
  5. // Decode   
  6. var decoded:ByteArray = Base64.decodeToByteArray(encoded);
  7. var loader:Loader = new Loader();
  8. loader.loadBytes(decoded);

Advantages:
Keep transparency
Smaller filesize than Bitmap Encoding

Disadvantages:
Slower than Bitmap Encoding
Larger than JPG Encoding
Requires Loader

JPG Encoding - (link)

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // Encode
  2. var jpgEncoder:JPGEncoder = new JPGEncoder();
  3. var ba:ByteArray = jpgEncoder.encode(bitmap.bitmapData);
  4. var encoded:String = Base64.encodeByteArray(ba);
  5.  
  6. // Decode
  7. var decoded:ByteArray = Base64.decodeToByteArray(encoded);
  8. var loader:Loader = new Loader();
  9. loader.loadBytes(decoded);

Advantages:
Smallest Filesize
Variable Quality

Disadvantages:
Slower than Bitmap Encoding
No Transparency
Requires Loader

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/12/22/base64-encoding-bitmapdata/feed/ 3 Adding Server Side Captcha to Flash Forms http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/11/23/adding-server-side-captcha-to-flash-forms/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/11/23/adding-server-side-captcha-to-flash-forms/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:06:40 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=587 Problem:
Flash forms are very vulnerable to attacks. Spiders may not be able to easily iterate through your Flash content but they can sure spam your form submission URL. How can you be sure your form was submitted through Flash?

Definition:
A CAPTCHA or Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer.

Solution:
What if we have a user drag a circle onto a box? A spider would have a pretty hard time with that, right? WRONG. While this may be a good filter at the view level it still does not solve our problem. All the hacker would need to do is submit the form correctly one time and use a program like Firebug to sniff the submission URL. They could then completely bypass your view and submit the form as many times as they want.

The only way to ensure the Flash form is being used is to pull the logic out of the view and onto the server. The Flash merely serves up content and never knows what the 'answer' is. In this example we will use PHP to generate the image, MySQL to store the key value pairs, and Flash to display the content. This implementation does not require any images to be stored on the server so it NEVER re-uses an existing image. The PHP generates the image on the fly and serves it directly to the Flash application.

Here is a diagram representing the high level information. Blue lines represent Captcha generation and the red lines represent the Captcha verification.

Server Side Captcha in Flash

Server Side Captcha in Flash

Let's start with the PHP. There are already plenty of PHP scripts out there to generate Captcha. In this example I re-purposed a script called Securimage.

First we need a script that will retrieve the image:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. <?php
  2. $flash_id = $_GET['flash_id'];
  3. include 'securimage.php';
  4. $img = new securimage();
  5. $img->show($flash_id); // alternate use:  $img->show('/path/to/background.jpg');
  6. ?>

Next we will need one that verifies the user input with the image:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. <?php
  2.  
  3. $flash_id = $_GET['flash_id'];
  4. $captcha_text = $_GET['captcha_text'];
  5.  
  6. if ($flash_id && $captcha_text){
  7.     $con = mysql_connect('localhost', 'DB_USERNAME', 'DB_PASSWORD');
  8.     if (!$con) {
  9.         die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  10.     }
  11.     mysql_select_db("utils", $con);
  12.     $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM captcha WHERE flash_id = '".$flash_id."'");
  13.     $match = 0;
  14.     $valid = 0;
  15.     $answer = "false";
  16.     while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
  17.     {
  18.         if($row['valid'] == 1)
  19.         {
  20.             $valid = 1;
  21.            
  22.             if($row['captcha_id'] == $captcha_text){
  23.                 $match = 1;
  24.                 $answer = "true";
  25.             }
  26.         }
  27.        
  28.     }
  29.     if($valid == 1){
  30.         mysql_query("UPDATE captcha SET valid = '0' WHERE flash_id = '".$flash_id."'");
  31.        
  32.     }
  33.     echo $answer;
  34.     mysql_close($con);
  35. }
  36. ?>

Now that we have the PHP in place we can create the Flash. The display logic is separated from the view so you can re-use this code with any server side script. The Captcha class requires an ID and a URL to the image to display. It has optional styling parameters to match the look and feel of your webpage.

Generating a Captcha in Flash:

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. // Create a Captcha object
  2. _captcha = new Captcha( );
  3.  
  4. // Create a unique ID so the server can identify the Flash
  5. var date:Date = new Date();
  6. var id:String = "" + Math.floor(Math.random()*1000) + date.time;
  7.  
  8. // Pass in the url along with the ID so the Captcha can load
  9. _captcha.loadCaptcha("http://www.blackcj.com/utils/securimage_show.php?flash_id=" + id, id);

Verifying a Captcha in Flash:

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
  2. loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, formSuccess, false, 0, true);
  3. var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://www.blackcj.com/utils/check_captcha.php?flash_id=" + _captcha.id + "&captcha_text=" + _text.text);
  4. loader.load(request);

Flash Demo and Source:

Server Side Captcha for Flash

Get Adobe Flash player

(click the image to manually refresh the captcha)

Full source code for Flash & PHP can be found here.

In the source code you will need to replace DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD with your username and password. This example also requires a MySQL database with a table called captcha containing rows flash_id, captcha_id and valid. Valid is used to ensure the Captcha is only submit one time. Since we are always generating a new image there is no reason the Captcha should be allowed to be submitted twice with the same id.

Next Steps:
Additional steps could be taken to prevent robots. Failure rates and number of attempts could be stored for each IP address. No human should ever attempt to re-submit an old Captcha since each time it is randomly generated. The system could block anyone that attempted to re-submit a Captcha.

I would eventually like to make this accessible by integrating audio support. This is a feature of Securimage and would make the utility more versatile.

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/11/23/adding-server-side-captcha-to-flash-forms/feed/ 2 Build a Flash Game in Under 3KB http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/11/build-a-flash-game-in-under-kb/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/11/build-a-flash-game-in-under-kb/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:58:45 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=554 Here are three Flash games each built in under 3KB and in less than 4 hours. They may not be Half Life 2 but they are entertaining! Try your luck at the racing game, platform game, and a space shooter that I like to call Little Ship vs. Space.

Wait? Doesn't everybody have loads of bandwidth? Why create a game so small? Well, because it's fun, a good preparation for the 4KB challenge and most importantly size != entertainment. You may spend weeks designing, architecting, and developing a game only to find out it's not fun. Evolve your game.

Build a 4KB game. If you enjoy playing it then slowly build it up into something better. Add levels, create graphics, improve the structure but AFTER you've come up with a cool idea.

Lets play some games! Don't forget to vote for your favorite game in the poll bellow the games.

For all games click on the icon in the top right to re-start.

Racer Game (1.98KB):

Racing Game

Get Adobe Flash player

(Use the Left, Right, and Up arrows to move. Try and beat 20 seconds!)

Full source for the Racer game: zip (2.09KB)

Coin Collector (2.08KB):

Coin Collector

Get Adobe Flash player

(Use the Left, Right, and Up arrows to move. Try and beat 16 seconds!)

Space Shooter (2.99KB):
Notice: MAC users have reported issues with the arrow keys in the Space Shooter game. I will look into this shortly and post a new, functional, version. Looks like I need a MAC to test on ;)

Space Shooter

Get Adobe Flash player

(Use the Left, Right, and Up arrows to move. Ctrl (Command) to fire. Try to get more than 4 frags!)

How to do it:
After rudimentary tests Flash CS3 is the best enviornment to compile with. A pure AS3 project in Flex and a project built from CS4 add 500 bytes of overhead (Anyone know why? Maybe meta data?). You also save space by using an external AS file, so create a main.as file for your code. Put all of your code in this one file! Every additional AS file adds space rather than saves. Once your game is setup if you absolutely need one or two extra AS files than make them. Type all of your functions and variables. You'd think it would be the opposite but typed vars take up less space in the compiled SWF. Don't use MouseEvent.CLICK, use "click" to save some bytes.

Now for the game play.

All three games use the arrow keys as input. Individual key listeners / flags use way to much code! What are the values for left, right and up arrows? 37, 39, and 38. None of which are divisible by anything but themselves. So... lets add one key listener and multiply our single key value by the code value. Up = 38, Up * Left = 1406. That means that key value % expected value == 0 than our key is down. This only works for key values that don't have common denominators, key codes 2 and 4 would not work. Both 2 and 4 mod 4 would result in true. Looking back you could also push these codes into an array and do an index check which would allow more flexibility... mod is more fun though.

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. package {
  2.     import flash.display.MovieClip;
  3.     import flash.events.Event;
  4.     import flash.events.KeyboardEvent
  5.    
  6.     public class main extends MovieClip
  7.     {
  8.         private var k:int = 1;    // Keyboard number
  9.  
  10.         public function main()
  11.         {
  12.             this.addEventListener("enterFrame", eF);
  13.             stage.addEventListener("keyDown", kD);
  14.             stage.addEventListener("keyUp", kU);
  15.         }
  16.         private function eF(e:Event)
  17.         {
  18.             if(k%37 == 0)            
  19.                 trace('rotate object left');
  20.             if(k%39 == 0)
  21.                 trace('rotate object right');
  22.             if(k%38 == 0){ 
  23.                 trace('add velocity');
  24.             }else {
  25.                 // remove veloicty
  26.             }
  27.         }
  28.         private function kD(e:KeyboardEvent)
  29.         {
  30.             if(k%e.keyCode != 0)
  31.                 k *= e.keyCode;
  32.         }
  33.         private function kU(e:KeyboardEvent)
  34.         {
  35.             if(k%e.keyCode == 0)
  36.                 k /= e.keyCode;
  37.         }
  38.     }
  39. }

Both the Coin Collector and the Racer game use bitmap hit detection which is very little code and very powerful. Bitmap hit detection looks a bit like this:

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. /* Constructor */
  2. // Car BitmapData, built in the enter frame function
  3. sb = new BitmapData(500, 400, true, 0x00000000);
  4.  
  5. // Track BitmapData, doesn't move / change so lets build it here
  6. tb = new BitmapData(500, 400, true, 0x00000000);
  7. m = new Matrix();
  8. m.tx = t.x;
  9. m.ty = t.y;
  10. tb.draw(t, m);
  11.  
  12.  
  13. /* Enterframe loop */
  14. // First see if bitmap hit detection is needed.
  15. if(s.hitTestObject(t)){
  16.     // Clear our car bitmap data object
  17.     sb.fillRect(new Rectangle(0,0,500, 400), 0x00000000);
  18.    
  19.     // Create a matrix that defines the location and rotation of the car
  20.     m = new Matrix();
  21.     m.rotate((Math.PI/180) *s.rotation);
  22.     m.tx = s.x;
  23.     m.ty = s.y;
  24.    
  25.     // Draw the car to our BitmapData using the matrix
  26.     sb.draw(s, m);
  27.    
  28.     // Do a hit detection with the track BitmapData
  29.     if(tb.hitTest(new Point(0,0), 0xFF, sb, new Point(0,0), 0x11)){
  30.         v = 1.1;
  31.     }
  32. }

The space game deals with circles so that code uses Trigonometry for hit detection. We'll save that for another day. I need to clean it up a bit for it to really make much sense. Stay tuned for more on games!

Full source for the Racer game: zip

Q/A:

Why 3KB?
My initial goal was 4KB. I hoarded the KBs so much that they all ended up under 3KB. I suppose that means I should add more features / levels.

Whats with the sudden interest in games?
I actually used to be big into making games back in the AS2 days about 4 years ago. I built out a six level space shooter, 8-ball, and 9-ball billiards. My game programming was shelved for four years until one of my co-workers sparked my interest by mentioning the 4KB challenge :)

Can I have the source code for the other two games?
E-mail me with specific questions and I'll be happy to help. I built out the Coin Collector and space games using the Racer as a starting point. It wouldn't be fun if I gave away all the answers ;)

People who inspired me to make these games:
Iain Lobb
Game Poetry
Micheal Hills

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/11/build-a-flash-game-in-under-kb/feed/ 2 Best of Flash on the Beach ‘09 http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/01/best-of-flash-on-the-beach-09/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/01/best-of-flash-on-the-beach-09/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:50:08 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=535 Back in the U.S. and recovered from jet lag, I've compiled a list of the best sessions, restaurants, beer and more from FOTB09. Plenty of reasons to go back again next year!

Best Session:
Carlos Ulloa - Hello Enjoy. Carlos, the creator of PV3D, demoed three amazing projects. He even gave some insight as to how he solved challenges in those projects and provided a time line of effort between software packages.

Best Code Jam:
Joa Ebert - Live coding. All of the Jam sessions were great but Joa's live coding was beyond words.

Joa Ebert's java live coding at Flash on the Beach 2009 from Thomas Gabrielsen on Vimeo.

http://blog.joa-ebert.com/

Best Food:
Bill's - Produce store by day, restaurant by night. I didn't have any bad food in Brighton but this restaurant was the highlight of the trip. A must visit for anyone traveling to Brighton.

Map of Bill's Restaurant

Map of Bill's Restaurant


http://www.billsproducestore.co.uk/

Other notable restaurants include Pizza Express, Iguana, Bagleman's and a Japanese restaurant.

Best Beer:
Harveys Best Bitter

Harvey's Best Bitter

Harvey's Best Bitter

http://www.harveys.org.uk/

Best Destination:
The Brighton Pier - Loads of rides, food and sights to see at the Brighton Pier. I skipped out on a couple sessions one of the afternoons to check it out. Definitely worth while to check out. Make sure to bring some coins for the arcade machines.

Brighton Pier

Brighton Pier

Best Inspiration Session:
Joel Gethin Lewis - Joel walked through his experiences with Massive Attack and contributions to open source frameworks.

Best Hotel:
Premier Inn - The staff was great, the rooms were clean and the price was reasonable. I would highly recommend the Premier Inn to anyone attending Flash on the Beach or traveling to Brighton.

Until next year!

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/10/01/best-of-flash-on-the-beach-09/feed/ 1 Flash Your TV: the suspense is killing me http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/09/08/flash-your-tv-the-suspense-is-killing-me/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/09/08/flash-your-tv-the-suspense-is-killing-me/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:33:54 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=519 A look at some press releases from January 2009. Wait... wasn't that 8 months ago? Both Intel and Broadcom both talk about releasing Flash Lite supported hardware first half of 2009. What happened?

 

Intel and Adobe to Extend Flash Platform to TVs

Jan 5, 2009

"Intel plans to ship the first CE3100 with support for an optimized implementation of Adobe Flash Lite before mid-2009."

"Adobe and Intel are also working together to bring an optimized implementation of Adobe® AIR™ technology to Intel's digital home platform in the future."

 

Collaboration Extends Flash Platform Ecosystem to Digital TVs and Set-Top Boxes

Jan 06, 2009

"Broadcom DTV and STB platforms with integrated Adobe Flash support are expected to be available to manufacturers in the first half of 2009"

"With Adobe Flash Lite™ 3 software supported... TV viewers will be able to view Flash based content and applications from popular online providers and entertainment sites."

 

Analysis

According to both of the press releases the hardware will launch with Flash Lite support. Event the latest version of Flash Lite (3.1) is still ActionScript 2.0 (Flash Lite Fact Sheet). The jump from AS2 to AS3 is very significant. The support is built into the hardware which would suggest it will not be upgradable through a software update. Here are three plausible scenarios based on the information at hand:

Scenario 1:
Hardware launches in the upcoming months with AS2 support. The hardware could all be rendered obsolete when AIR support comes out.

Scenario 2:
The eight months of silence could be due to a realization that obsolete hardware is not an ideal solution. Why not wait until AIR support is ready? This is the one I'm hoping for.

Scenario 3:
They may be taking the time to ensure the hardware can be upgraded. Keep in mind there is an actual physical chip in the hardware that would need to support both AS2 and AS3.

 

Conclusion

Are there scenerios that I haven't outlined? Of course. The three above are my 'best guesses.' What can we expect from MAX 2009? Hopefully some awesome news about Flash for your TV!

Whether it launches in AS2 or AS3, Flash support for televisions will be very cool. You may want to brush up on your ActionScript 2 skills just in case ;)

*Disclaimer*
While it should be obvious, this post is entirely speculation. Adobe has remained completely silent on the topic of Flash for your TV, if anything, a bit too silent. The goal of this post is to get people thinking about the topic so they are ready when the hardware is available.

Resources
Engagethd
Broadcom - Press Release
Adobe - Press Release
Nerd Acumen
Flash Your TV on Twitter

]]> http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/09/08/flash-your-tv-the-suspense-is-killing-me/feed/ 4 Box2D Part 3: Anti-Gravity http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/08/17/box2d-part-3-anti-gravity/ http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2009/08/17/box2d-part-3-anti-gravity/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:04:43 +0000 Chris Black http://www.blackcj.com/blog/?p=501 Can you get the objects to float in space using your mouse? This is the conclusion to the three part series on using the Box2D Physics engine with ActionScript.

Box2D Anti-Gravity Example:

Box2D Anti-Gravity Example

Get Adobe Flash player

(click and hold the mouse down for anti-gravity)

Now that we have a Box2D environment set up and lots of polygons in it, let's make it cool.

Anti-gravity boolean.
Add this boolean and if statement into your shape environment class.

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. public var counterGravity:Boolean = false;
  2.  
  3. override protected function update(e:Event):void
  4. {
  5.     // ...(from part 2)... //
  6.         if (bb.m_userData is Sprite) {
  7.             if(counterGravity){
  8.                 world.SetGravity(new b2Vec2(0,-9.8));
  9.                 bb.WakeUp();
  10.             }else{
  11.                 world.SetGravity(new b2Vec2(0,9.8));
  12.             }
  13.     // ...(from part 2)... //
  14. }

Now add a mouse event handler and the following functions into your main class.

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. private function addCounterGravity(event:MouseEvent):void
  2. {
  3.     _shape2d.counterGravity = true;
  4. }
  5.  
  6. private function removeCounterGravity(event:MouseEvent):void
  7. {
  8.     _shape2d.counterGravity = false;
  9. }

Now you have anti-gravity!

Miss out on the basics? Check out part 1 and part 2 of this series.

Full source code here.

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