Introducing SWFExplorer 0.1 [ by Thibault Imbert ]

08/19/2008 06:31 pm in Actionscript 3

In a recent project I had to use runtime shared libraries. In ActionScript 3, the use of external libraries is made easy through the ApplicationDomain class and the getDefinition method. But one common limitation of the getDefinition method is that you have to know the name of the class definition you want to extract. A cool [...]

TTF/OTF to AFM Parser [ by Thibault Imbert ]

07/29/2008 10:13 pm in Actionscript 3

As I was working on AlivePDF, I decided to add some font embedding support. The idea was simple, being able to inject any TrueType font in the PDF as a ByteArray and use it in the PDF. As you can imagine, the PDF specification asks for some details about the font you are embedding like its [...]

Orientation Class

07/24/2008 05:05 pm by Tink in ActionScript 3.0

In the Flex framework we have the following classes… BoxDirection FormItemDirection TileDirection TileBaseDirection ScrollBarDirection ScrollEventDirection SliderDirection. All for the purpose of setting the orientation of a component (defined as direction), each class has the following 2 public static constants… HORIZONTAL : String = “horizontal” VERTICAL : String = “vertical” Do we seriously need all those classes for those 2 options? I logged a request on this a [...]

Colin Moock talks to Jim Corbett (Flash Player Engineer)

07/18/2008 01:58 pm in ActionScript 3.0

This morning I finally got around to watching an interview Colin Moock did with Jim Corbett back at Flash In The Can 2008 in Toronto. Jim is one of the software engineers working at Adobe on the Flash Player. The interview is 50 minutes long and has some interesting insights in to the Flash Player, [...]

The Charges Against ActionScript 3.0

07/16/2008 01:53 pm by EverythingFlex in ActionScript 3

In case you missed it we published a very interesting piece from Colin yesterday on InsideRIA.com called The Charges Against ActionScript 3.0. I highly recommend that you read it and voice your opinions and I know that Adobe is following reactions to this article.

Pearson will print “Pratique d’ActionScript 3″ [ by Thibault Imbert ]

07/07/2008 07:49 pm in Actionscript 3

This is the kind of post which makes me happy Some of you guys may remember the sad story concerning my book who was supposed to be published by O'Reilly France. Finally, O'Reilly France went into a bankrupt and my book was never released. Since a few months, the book is available for download on [...]

Flash on free software: FlashDevelop and Flex SDK

07/01/2008 06:41 pm by Everyday Flash in Actionscript 3

I have been recently asked a couple of times about the source code that I publish and how to compile it. I decided to write a short note on that. For my experiments, I use a combination of FlashDevelop and the free Flex SDK from Adobe Open Source. It is much better suited to work with [...]

Attention all RIA Book Authors

06/22/2008 02:09 pm by EverythingFlex in ActionScript 3

As some of you may know, I have been the community manager for the InsideRIA site since its launch last year. I would like to try something new for InsideRIA and that is publishing some snippets of information that is part of your book during the writting process. Think of it like “here is what [...]

Difference between MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER and MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER in AS3

06/19/2008 03:36 pm by zedia flash blog in ActionScript 3

This was a question that has been in my head for a long time: what is the difference between MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER and MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER. I have been using MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER for all my rollOvers up to now without really thinking about it, but I think it would be interesting to know the difference for something so basic. If you [...]

AS3 tour, last stop Milan

05/29/2008 08:57 pm by sephiroth.it - flash & php in actionscript 3.0

Just come back from the big Apple and discovered that Adobe as3tour, presented by Colin Moock, will be in Italy on Moday 23rd of June, and more precisely in Milan at the Atathotel Executive.

Also, this will be the last stop of the tour! So don't miss it if you live near Milan, like me!

The course teaches object-oriented programming fundamentals in
ActionScript 3.0. it is designed for Flash users with beginner to
intermediate programming skills (*NOT* advanced programmers). the target
audience should have:
     * familarity with the Flash authoring tool
     * basic knowledge of variables and functions
     * little or no experience with object oriented programming

topics covered include object-oriented programming, classes, objects,
variables, methods, packages, event handling, displaying things on
screen, and compiling and running programs.

Anyway, dont miss the beer(s) at the end of the meeting!! :)

AlivePDF and Local File Access/Saving in Astro [ by Thibault Imbert ]

05/29/2008 12:50 am in Actionscript 3

I just posted a tiny demo of the new FileReference feature mixed with AlivePDF. Just simple !

Creating a Preloader in ActionScript 3.0 and Flash CS3

05/22/2008 08:14 pm by All Things Flash in ActionScript 3.0

A lot of folks ask me how to create a simple preloader using ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3, so I thought I'd share the information with everyone all at once. Here's the idea behind creating the simple preloader shown here:

Create necessary variables. You'll need the path to the file you want to load, in the form of a string. You need a URL request to represent the URL of the file, and you'll need an instance of the Loader class to load the file.
Add event listeners to your Loader object's contentLoaderInfo property to listen for the Event.COMPLETE event (for when the file is done loading) and the ProgressEvent.PROGRESS event (to do stuff while the file is loading, or to show a preloader). You can learn more about the contentLoaderInfo property in Flash Help. Basically, it's the property that holds all of the information about the file that's loading, so you need to use it to register event listeners.
Create event listener functions to respond to the events. Don't forget to put the loader on the stage using addChild() once it's loaded.
In the ProgressEvent listener, you can access the loading info via the ProgressEvent's bytesLoaded and bytesTotal properties. Divide bytesLoaded by bytesTotal to calculate the percent that is loaded. The value will be between 0 and 1. Hold it in a variable for easy reference later on.
To get a number that represents the percent loaded that is between 1 and 100, multiply the percent loaded variable by 100 and round the number using Math.ceil (so you don't get zero as a result).
Use your rounded percent to refer to a movie clip frame to show when the file is at a particular percent. For example, once your file is 50% loaded, the preloader movie clip will display frame 50.

That's it! If you're not sure what these steps look like together in a completed file, you can download the source code here. Enjoy!

Note: I do not make any guarantee for these files regarding bugs or implementation in your applications. If you want to contact me to fix bugs or solve problems for your application, have your credit card number ready. =)

My intermediate Flash presentation

05/18/2008 01:45 am by zedia flash blog in ActionScript 3

Where I work we have these kind of workshops that are given by the employees. I was mandated to give a presentation entitled Advanced Flash, but it is not really going to be advanced; more like intermediate. I am basically going to introduce ActionScript 3, Tweening using TweenLite, Events, Linking symbol to a class, using [...]

Thank you Astro ! [ by Thibault Imbert ]

05/15/2008 06:15 pm in Actionscript 3

Adobe released on the lab an early beta from Astro (Flash Player 10). This new player comes with some crazy new features like dynamic sound generation, new text engine, 3D, etc. As you can imagine, there is ONE feature I love : File Reference runtime access — Bring users into the experience by letting them load files [...]

generate random Strings in AS2 or AS3

05/11/2008 01:03 am by zedia flash blog in ActionScript 3

I was searching for a function to generate random Strings either in AS2 or in AS3 but I couldn't find any so I made my own using code from a typewriter effect, but I can't seem to find the page anymore. I use this code when I load dynamic content from php and such and [...]

Colin Moock - ActionScript 3.0 from the Ground Up

05/05/2008 03:43 pm by Daniel Tome's blog in Actionscript 3

Today I went to Colin Moock’s ActionScript 3.0 tour here in Sydney. The venue was the SMC Conference and function centre at 66 Goulburn St. It’s just around the corner from the office. Colin was a great presenter and quite amusing. Even after letting us know that he couldn’t go to sleep after 3am in [...]

BlendMode.LAYER; A must when changing the alpha property of a DisplayObject containing other DisplayObjects

04/29/2008 01:22 am by zedia flash blog in ActionScript 3

I don't know if you ever tweened a MovieClip's alpha while this MovieClip contained multiple assets, but I kinda do this all the time (fade in ,fade out being the easiest transition for almost everything). The default way Flash handles this is by changing the alpha of every assets in the containing MovieClip (or Sprite). [...]

The story of a book: “Pratique d’ActionScript 3″

04/23/2008 07:33 pm by Everyday Flash in Actionscript 3

A couple of weeks ago Thibault Imbert from ByteArray.org announced that he just finished a book on ActionScript 3. It was supposed to be released by O'Reilly France. However, for different reasons, the editor couldn't publish it. Thibault then decided to release it for free in form of a PDF file! He created a fresh [...]

BugZap Game in Flash IDE Panel

04/22/2008 07:32 pm in ActionScript 3.0

Today I created a little game that can be played in the Flash CS3 IDE. It is an extension for Flash CS3 (mxp file) that adds a new panel to the interface. You can access the panel by going to Window > Other Panels > BugZap. The game pretty simple but quite addictive. You move the [...]

ActionScript 3.0 Quiz

04/21/2008 01:03 pm in ActionScript 3.0

I’ve just come across a little online quiz where you can test your ActionScript 3.0 knowledge. It’s a site that accompanies the Learning ActionScript 3.0 book from O’Reilly. It’s not a particulary comprehensive quiz, more of a bit of fun. I managed to get full marks on most sections, but it looks like I need to [...]

Next » 1 2 3

Planet Flash