Update.Arul's Blog: Big Hit today!

Update.Arul's Blog: Reference Viewer Tutorials, on the Way!

News.Flash MX: Reference XML Viewer Pre Alpha Release!

I can not hold it with in myself any more!!! I'm almost done with the reference viewer. This will be useful for testing your reference documents. This pre alpha version supports "see also" type of cross reference links too :) ( see the stringUtilsRef.xml for example).
Still it is not a complete application, it is just a demo preview only.

download from here and try it your self. I will now start working on the refEdit the reference xml editor. :)

Update.Arul's Blog: Full as a Goog now syndicates Arul's Blog!!!

Update.Arul's Blog: ActionScript Highlighting Service.

Flash community is very powerful and active around the word. There are many experts from all parts of the world to serve this community

As a tiny element of this community what best I can do from my side?
After a long thinking I've decided to serve the people those who serve the community with my tools and services to help them serve better.

Here is my first offering, an online service for syntax highlighting actionscript which can increase the readability of scripts posted on the web.

I've created an interface to post your code and get the syntax highlighted version. Take a look and make use of them from here

Now there is no option to modify the colors, add your own keywords and properties. I will add those options soon!

Code.Flash MX: Rendering HTML in FlashMX.

Rendering of HTML text in browsers and flash text box is different in the fact that;
spaces, tabs and line brakes are ignored in browsers but are rendered in flash text box.
I faced this problem in my reference panel application and wrote the following script as a solution.

String.prototype.onlyHTML = function() {
        var str = "";
        var prevWhite = true;
        for (var i = 0; i<this.length; i++) {
                var code = this.charCodeAt(i);
                white = code<=32;
                if (white) {
                        if (!prevWhite && (code == 9 || code == 32)) {
                                str += " ";
                        }
                } else {
                        str += this.charAt(i);
                }
                prevWhite = white;
        }
        return str;
}

News.Flash MX: Flash Remoting with PHP.

News.Flash MX: Another weblog from India.

My friend Darshan Sawardekar (well known for his components) has come up with his blog. I can proudly say that I acted as a catalyst in this reaction ( see I'm remembering my good old chemical technology days !!!).

Also take a look at his Building Flash MX Components that don't "PRE"-LOAD! tutorial. I saw branden hall also commented about this as a must read article for component developers in his blog !

Good Start Darshan :)

Demo.Flash MX: Improved Reference Panel Application in Flash.

I'm updating my reference panel application. I've made some minor improvements in the look and feel and now it sorts the entries alphabetically. Still lot more to be done :)

Update.Arul's Blog: Link in Quasimondo.

News.Flash MX: Were Not Here?

Update.Arul's Blog: New Administrator for web.apps forum!!

As you all may already know I'm also the moderator for Flash MX and Director in DI Forum :)

Code.Flash MX: Object.copyProperties(toObj, PropertyStr, exclude?).

Update.Arul's Blog: Slow Server.

Demo.Flash MX: Recreating Reference Panel in Flash.

It is not even alpha version. But demonstrates the basic functionality. Here I'm recreating the Flash MX reference panel. I need to do lot of modifications and improvements. This is just a preview.

Code.Flash MX: Object to ActionScript Utility.

Many times we need this!
We create objects and arrays and modify them through code to get them as we want. Finally the object is ready but every time it is created using the same complex procedure when the SWF runs.
This affects the performance to some extent.
Also sometimes we need to see what's in that object at that movement for debugging (including remote debugging)
So I've created this code to convert Objects and Arrays to Action Script string which can be used to construct the object again.

News.Flash MX: Syntax Highlighting ActionScript.

I also thought of server side solutions. Before starting to make one myself, I checked for available open source solutions, and came across the following PHP based solutions.

• Beautifier - Supports many languages
• Actionscript Highlighter - Specifically for ActionScript

I found few bugs (highlighting the keywords in the commented lines etc.) in both the solutions. I will also put in some efforts to get it fixed. I'm using Actionscript Highlighter in the ActionScript Section

I will make it available as a service in my blog soon

Update.Arul's Blog: Action Script section added!!

Update.Arul's Blog: Guest Book now ready!!

News.Flash MX: FUIComponentClass ActionScript Dictionary.

FUIComponentClass is the base class of all of the Macromedia components. Understanding that will help you in building your own component.

Demo.Flash MX: Interactive IK Skeleton .

Today I just saw this through random search. It is an interesting interactive inverse kinematics animation of a skeleton (oh! so many 'i'). I liked it

Bug.Flash MX: Workaround for Hollow Movieclip Mask problem.

I found out one workaround yesterday. When the mask movieclip made open (instead of keeping it with a closed hole) even with a hairline gap makes the mask work properly. Hiding the hairline gap we created is another trick. I will write about it later

Update.Arul's Blog: Comment system added!

Bug.Flash MX: Masking with Hollow Movieclip.

If you use a movieclip with a hollow interior as the mask it does not mask correctly, via actionscript or otherwise.

News.Flash MX: Flash Studio PRO 1.5 released.

The updates are massive and unique including enabling joystick control, running applications in hidden windows, and sending email directly from the projector file. A full list of additions can be seen on Flash Studio's website.

Update.Arul's Blog: Dynamic Tree Example Updated.

News.Multimedia: MIT Open Source Courseware!!

Update.Arul's Blog: XML Feed URL Changed.

Examples.Flash MX: Dynamic Tree using FTree Component and .tab file.

Here I am going to explain how we can build a dynamic tree using FTree Component that comes with Flash UI Components Set 2.

Hierarchical nature of XML makes it more suitable for building Tree Views But I have desided to use simple tab file (Tab delimited text file) which containes the path to build the tree like "root/branch/branchof the branch" and the URL in each line.
Take a look at the text file which I used to build the tree below.

Note: My Inspirations is a long list I've mentioned only few here to keep this example simple :)

• Step 1. Preparing the file:
  • Create a new flash movie and drag and drop FTree Component from the components window, resize it to fit your needs.
  • Name the instance as "my_tree"
• Step 2. Preparing the data:
  • Copy the file sample tab file from here to the same folder
    [or]
  • Create a new text file in the same folder and name it as "TreeData.txt"
  • type the tree path like "my root/my folder/my subfolder" followed by minimum one tab then type the URL
    (you can use as many tabs as you want to keep them like colums in your text editer)
  • repeat this step until you finish all the items
• Step 3. Adding the code:
  • Download my code from here and copy paste it into the first frame of your flash file
  • Modify it to suit your needs
  • Publish and have fun :)

News.Flash MX: Pre-Alpha version of FCF Chat.

footnote:-
Also check the recent entries and feel free to add your comments. I need your comments to improve this blog