[Flashcoders] Congratulations America.
It's off topic, but it is a very special day. You give us hope. Hope that we can help each other. This forum is also proof of that. John ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
[Flashcoders] AS2 - Code not working in FP10
Hi guys, ive got a bit fo code that works fine in flash player 9 but in 10 it
completely messes up!
Its suppose to centre an image, any ideas why it no longer works?
center_content.onEnterFrame = function() {
// CENTER Y
contentYTarg = Math.round((Stage.height - center_content._height)/2);
contentYDist = contentYTarg - center_content._y;
center_content._y += contentYDist/contentEase;
if (contentYDist 0) {
center_content._y = Math.ceil(center_content._y);
}else{
center_content._y = Math.floor(center_content._y);
}
if (Math.abs(contentYDist) 1) {
center_content._y = contentYTarg;
}
// CENTER X
contentXTarg = Math.round((Stage.width - center_content._width)/2);
contentXDist = contentXTarg - center_content._x;
center_content._x += contentXDist/contentEase;
if (contentXDist 0) {
center_content._x = Math.ceil(center_content._x);
}else{
center_content._x = Math.floor(center_content._x);
}
if (Math.abs(contentXDist) 1) {
center_content._x = contentXTarg;
}
// WHEN CENTERING IS COMPLETE...
if (contentYDist == 0 contentXDist == 0) {
delete center_content.onEnterFrame
}
}
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children
- Original Message - From: Glen Pike [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com Flashcoders mailing list flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 10:13 PM Subject: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children snip The problem I have run into is that when I instanciate an AppScreen symbol from my library - it's not on stage - and add it to the stage I handle the ADDED_TO_STAGE event for wiring the components up. All my component instances trace out as null at this point, so I am left scratching my head wondering when they might be added to the display list... I'd really like to see how you are trying to access the the component instances. Instanciating the symbols alone won't add them to the stage (addChild does that), so do you ever receive the event? If you do you should be able to find the component from the event payload. If you can write a tiny snippet of code to show how you attempt to load and access your components, then I'm sure we'd find the problem straight away. Paul ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Congratulations America.
As the list admin, I look forward to the end of this thread. Thanks! Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
[Flashcoders] Shell loaders
Hi, Does anyone have any experience with creating shell loaders? I would like to create a standalone application - for PDA Flash 7 - that will try to load a SWF from a remote location - in order to centralise the application updates. Because of network connectivity issues, I would also like the option of allowing the user to choose to load a local file if this changes. Even better would be the ability to update the PDA software with a new version if the 2 don't match. I have had a Google on this, but not having much luck. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks Glen ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Congratulations America.
Yea ... now we can all look forward to a re-incarnation of the Welfare State. Yay. :P - jon On Nov 5, 2008, at 3:57 AM, John McCormack wrote: It's off topic, but it is a very special day. You give us hope. Hope that we can help each other. This forum is also proof of that. John ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
[Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
I'm going to throw a question out there to see if anyone has experienced something similar to this. Didn't get any responses on Flash_Tiger. If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? Reason I ask is we've had bad experiences with some vendors in India in the past producing poor Flash/Actionscript sourcecode (we require them to provide sourcecode in the contract, so if need be, we can tweak minor things later). We've had better luck with U.S. vendors (nothing against India or Indians at all, that's just been our experience). So we decided to spec out how we would like them to code it (in general, not extremely specific - for example, use AS3, use external classes, comment the code, if they use a framework, tell us what it is, etc.). So the new vendor we used in India did all this (did a pretty good job with the final product), - they complied with our specs just fine, but they went overboard in the coding in my opinion. They over-coded by making the sourcecode EXTREMELY abstract, it was nearly impossible from looking at it to determine where to make minor tweaks. There is virtually no way to tell where to make a change, or what the change should be. They DID comment their code, but it's at the function-level - not at the bigger overall picture on how everything fits together. It's not a matter of being able to understand the code, I humbly consider myself a semi-near-expert (not a guru, but certainly no where near a novice) in Actionscript. The problem is figuring out how all the classes tie together to make what you see on the screen. I could figure it out, but it could take a very long time, and would require a lot of diagramming to map everything out. So instead we are having to go BACK to this vendor to have them make the change. I don't know if they over-coded because they thought that is what we wanted, that's the only way they knew how to tackle the project, or if they did it to ensure if there were ever any updates, only they would make the changes, thus ensuring future work (if so, pretty smart, but sneaky, which angers me). Anyway, that's the story, my general question is how do you define specs for a vendor to ensure you get good sourcecode back, but it's not overly abstracted, over-coded work? Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media * GCIB Staff Support LLD ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
It really depends on what level of design patterns were used. The best way to prepare for making changes is to provide the API you expect to be able to use. Possibly created with something like gModelerhttp://www.gskinner.com/gmodeler/app/run.html(although there may be a better option for as3). In a best case scenario, you should never have to edit any of the existing classes, just extend or compose them as needed. If the class package delivered has your expected api, you should only have to write adapters to tweak what you need without making risky changes to existing classes. The package should also be heavily commented and include signatures. It's fairly rough ground to cover since approaches to common problems can vary and ultimately what you are paying for is one developers approach over another. My brother was hired at a company who was already knee deep in development with an indian firm and soon found himself teaching them and practically holding there hand. They were charging a competitive price so he understood his employers decision so sometimes it just comes down to sacraficing one node of the iron triangle for another. On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Merrill, Jason [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm going to throw a question out there to see if anyone has experienced something similar to this. Didn't get any responses on Flash_Tiger. If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? Reason I ask is we've had bad experiences with some vendors in India in the past producing poor Flash/Actionscript sourcecode (we require them to provide sourcecode in the contract, so if need be, we can tweak minor things later). We've had better luck with U.S. vendors (nothing against India or Indians at all, that's just been our experience). So we decided to spec out how we would like them to code it (in general, not extremely specific - for example, use AS3, use external classes, comment the code, if they use a framework, tell us what it is, etc.). So the new vendor we used in India did all this (did a pretty good job with the final product), - they complied with our specs just fine, but they went overboard in the coding in my opinion. They over-coded by making the sourcecode EXTREMELY abstract, it was nearly impossible from looking at it to determine where to make minor tweaks. There is virtually no way to tell where to make a change, or what the change should be. They DID comment their code, but it's at the function-level - not at the bigger overall picture on how everything fits together. It's not a matter of being able to understand the code, I humbly consider myself a semi-near-expert (not a guru, but certainly no where near a novice) in Actionscript. The problem is figuring out how all the classes tie together to make what you see on the screen. I could figure it out, but it could take a very long time, and would require a lot of diagramming to map everything out. So instead we are having to go BACK to this vendor to have them make the change. I don't know if they over-coded because they thought that is what we wanted, that's the only way they knew how to tackle the project, or if they did it to ensure if there were ever any updates, only they would make the changes, thus ensuring future work (if so, pretty smart, but sneaky, which angers me). Anyway, that's the story, my general question is how do you define specs for a vendor to ensure you get good sourcecode back, but it's not overly abstracted, over-coded work? Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media * GCIB Staff Support LLD ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- --Joel ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
Did you have check ins with them, or did they just deliver the final thing? Check ins might allow you to see how they are architecting things and you'd be able to ask questions, or suggest different ways to code something, etc. I've seen some projects where custom events are passed from one class to another until they reach a document class... sometimes through more than three classes, and following those along can be difficult, etc. Maybe checkpoints would work if it's not too much trouble. Or UML with stubbed code? On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Merrill, Jason [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm going to throw a question out there to see if anyone has experienced something similar to this. Didn't get any responses on Flash_Tiger. If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? Reason I ask is we've had bad experiences with some vendors in India in the past producing poor Flash/Actionscript sourcecode (we require them to provide sourcecode in the contract, so if need be, we can tweak minor things later). We've had better luck with U.S. vendors (nothing against India or Indians at all, that's just been our experience). So we decided to spec out how we would like them to code it (in general, not extremely specific - for example, use AS3, use external classes, comment the code, if they use a framework, tell us what it is, etc.). So the new vendor we used in India did all this (did a pretty good job with the final product), - they complied with our specs just fine, but they went overboard in the coding in my opinion. They over-coded by making the sourcecode EXTREMELY abstract, it was nearly impossible from looking at it to determine where to make minor tweaks. There is virtually no way to tell where to make a change, or what the change should be. They DID comment their code, but it's at the function-level - not at the bigger overall picture on how everything fits together. It's not a matter of being able to understand the code, I humbly consider myself a semi-near-expert (not a guru, but certainly no where near a novice) in Actionscript. The problem is figuring out how all the classes tie together to make what you see on the screen. I could figure it out, but it could take a very long time, and would require a lot of diagramming to map everything out. So instead we are having to go BACK to this vendor to have them make the change. I don't know if they over-coded because they thought that is what we wanted, that's the only way they knew how to tackle the project, or if they did it to ensure if there were ever any updates, only they would make the changes, thus ensuring future work (if so, pretty smart, but sneaky, which angers me). Anyway, that's the story, my general question is how do you define specs for a vendor to ensure you get good sourcecode back, but it's not overly abstracted, over-coded work? Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media * GCIB Staff Support LLD ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- http://ericd.net Interactive design and development ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
It sounds like this was a situation where you just passed off a project and got the result in the end. My experiences have taught me to make sure to do reviews often and recommend changes early. I think there are several issues that cause these kinds of problems (language, education and styles to name a few), and other than hand-holding there isn't very much you can do. Steve Mathews Sr. Technical Lead Flypaper Studio On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Merrill, Jason [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm going to throw a question out there to see if anyone has experienced something similar to this. Didn't get any responses on Flash_Tiger. If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? Reason I ask is we've had bad experiences with some vendors in India in the past producing poor Flash/Actionscript sourcecode (we require them to provide sourcecode in the contract, so if need be, we can tweak minor things later). We've had better luck with U.S. vendors (nothing against India or Indians at all, that's just been our experience). So we decided to spec out how we would like them to code it (in general, not extremely specific - for example, use AS3, use external classes, comment the code, if they use a framework, tell us what it is, etc.). So the new vendor we used in India did all this (did a pretty good job with the final product), - they complied with our specs just fine, but they went overboard in the coding in my opinion. They over-coded by making the sourcecode EXTREMELY abstract, it was nearly impossible from looking at it to determine where to make minor tweaks. There is virtually no way to tell where to make a change, or what the change should be. They DID comment their code, but it's at the function-level - not at the bigger overall picture on how everything fits together. It's not a matter of being able to understand the code, I humbly consider myself a semi-near-expert (not a guru, but certainly no where near a novice) in Actionscript. The problem is figuring out how all the classes tie together to make what you see on the screen. I could figure it out, but it could take a very long time, and would require a lot of diagramming to map everything out. So instead we are having to go BACK to this vendor to have them make the change. I don't know if they over-coded because they thought that is what we wanted, that's the only way they knew how to tackle the project, or if they did it to ensure if there were ever any updates, only they would make the changes, thus ensuring future work (if so, pretty smart, but sneaky, which angers me). Anyway, that's the story, my general question is how do you define specs for a vendor to ensure you get good sourcecode back, but it's not overly abstracted, over-coded work? Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media * GCIB Staff Support LLD ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
RE: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
Yeah, checking in would have been good - but I was only asked to design the specs, and then the project was handed off to some others. Then the project came back to me later.. but yeah, totally agree on that point. Thanks great responses everyone. I haven't outsourced much work - only a few projects, I'm used to making Flash apps that make sense on the front end and behind the scenes. :) Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media · GCIB Staff Support LLD Interested in Flash Platform technologies? Join the Bank of America Flash Platform Developer Community Interested in innovative ideas in Learning? Check out the Innovative Learning Blog and subscribe. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Mathews Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 12:34 PM To: Flash Coders List Subject: Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs It sounds like this was a situation where you just passed off a project and got the result in the end. My experiences have taught me to make sure to do reviews often and recommend changes early. I think there are several issues that cause these kinds of problems (language, education and styles to name a few), and other than hand-holding there isn't very much you can do. Steve Mathews Sr. Technical Lead Flypaper Studio On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Merrill, Jason [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm going to throw a question out there to see if anyone has experienced something similar to this. Didn't get any responses on Flash_Tiger. If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? Reason I ask is we've had bad experiences with some vendors in India in the past producing poor Flash/Actionscript sourcecode (we require them to provide sourcecode in the contract, so if need be, we can tweak minor things later). We've had better luck with U.S. vendors (nothing against India or Indians at all, that's just been our experience). So we decided to spec out how we would like them to code it (in general, not extremely specific - for example, use AS3, use external classes, comment the code, if they use a framework, tell us what it is, etc.). So the new vendor we used in India did all this (did a pretty good job with the final product), - they complied with our specs just fine, but they went overboard in the coding in my opinion. They over-coded by making the sourcecode EXTREMELY abstract, it was nearly impossible from looking at it to determine where to make minor tweaks. There is virtually no way to tell where to make a change, or what the change should be. They DID comment their code, but it's at the function-level - not at the bigger overall picture on how everything fits together. It's not a matter of being able to understand the code, I humbly consider myself a semi-near-expert (not a guru, but certainly no where near a novice) in Actionscript. The problem is figuring out how all the classes tie together to make what you see on the screen. I could figure it out, but it could take a very long time, and would require a lot of diagramming to map everything out. So instead we are having to go BACK to this vendor to have them make the change. I don't know if they over-coded because they thought that is what we wanted, that's the only way they knew how to tackle the project, or if they did it to ensure if there were ever any updates, only they would make the changes, thus ensuring future work (if so, pretty smart, but sneaky, which angers me). Anyway, that's the story, my general question is how do you define specs for a vendor to ensure you get good sourcecode back, but it's not overly abstracted, over-coded work? Jason Merrill Bank of America Instructional Technology Media * GCIB Staff Support LLD ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Shell loaders
Hi Glen, So to get this straight: How do you intend to store the file data... Shared objects, or as an actual file? Only if the connection is available, and only if the user would not rather keep their old version? What type of PDA? Will it actually be flash 7 or flashlight? By shell do you mean a simple lightweight wrapper application? Are you comfortable developing in c++, and with whatever sdk you will need to use? Are you trying to compare hashes on the file, file size alone, timestamp, revision counter stored in the DB or on a file based check in check out system, or some other method? Dependant on what you want it could be easy or provide you with a bit of a learning curve; unless you have the finances to farm out some of the work. Always with the questions, Anthony Glen Pike wrote: Hi, Does anyone have any experience with creating shell loaders? I would like to create a standalone application - for PDA Flash 7 - that will try to load a SWF from a remote location - in order to centralise the application updates. Because of network connectivity issues, I would also like the option of allowing the user to choose to load a local file if this changes. Even better would be the ability to update the PDA software with a new version if the 2 don't match. I have had a Google on this, but not having much luck. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks Glen ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
If you have ever outsourced some Actionscript work to an outside vendor, have you ever struggled with how to spec out how you want them to code it? I haven't done this, but have worked as a consultant to offshore vendors before - they offshore their own consulting! - and would make these recommendations. 1. Specify whatever frameworks, etc, you can in advance. If you plan to maintain the source code yourself, you need to tell them in advance to follow the standards and practices you'd use. 2. Weekly code reviews. Not monthly. You need to tell them what's good and what's bad, so they can react accordingly. 3. Give samples of the kind of work you expect in advance, if possible. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] AS2 - Code not working in FP10
Hi,
I'm sure someone else can give a reason, cause I wouldn't know; but
short of that, you could use a tween engine to center it. AS2 has
several good tween engines available.
Seb.
FlashDev wrote:
Hi guys, ive got a bit fo code that works fine in flash player 9 but in 10 it
completely messes up!
Its suppose to centre an image, any ideas why it no longer works?
center_content.onEnterFrame = function() {
// CENTER Y
contentYTarg = Math.round((Stage.height - center_content._height)/2);
contentYDist = contentYTarg - center_content._y;
center_content._y += contentYDist/contentEase;
if (contentYDist 0) {
center_content._y = Math.ceil(center_content._y);
}else{
center_content._y = Math.floor(center_content._y);
}
if (Math.abs(contentYDist) 1) {
center_content._y = contentYTarg;
}
// CENTER X
contentXTarg = Math.round((Stage.width - center_content._width)/2);
contentXDist = contentXTarg - center_content._x;
center_content._x += contentXDist/contentEase;
if (contentXDist 0) {
center_content._x = Math.ceil(center_content._x);
}else{
center_content._x = Math.floor(center_content._x);
}
if (Math.abs(contentXDist) 1) {
center_content._x = contentXTarg;
}
// WHEN CENTERING IS COMPLETE...
if (contentYDist == 0 contentXDist == 0) {
delete center_content.onEnterFrame
}
}
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] FW: [Flash_Tiger] Outsourcing and Actionscript specs
Open the discussion with them, tell them where you are confused and have them explain things to you. If they can't explain it to you in a quick conversation; have them document it. gModeler seems good [first time I saw it was 5 seconds ago!], or any other UML-esque program that can build relationship diagrams. Depending on the project, some aspects might need their own view, for example: I've found it useful to document the event-model as a completely separate view. Hopefully once it's documented it will become easy to maintain. :) All the other tips given are solid; good luck! Seb. ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children
oh very sorry, my misunderstanding.
:)
jonathan howe wrote:
I don't think this is really Glen's problem. You should not have to
addChild() an object placed on the stage via the authoring environment.
On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 6:27 PM, sebastian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
If you don't do addChild() it won't actually be on the stage - even if you
add it to an array or a variable inside of the clip.
Consider:
public class Tree blabla ()
{
private var apple:Apple;//where 'Apple' is some item you want to attach
to this class
public function Tree ()
{
apple = new Apple();
addChild(apple);
}
}
If I don't do an 'addChild' the Apple class will simply be assigned to the
variable apple but it will NOT be opn the stage until I add it via
addChild();
Make sense?
Google it otherwise, it's a basic AS3 concept that differs from AS2.
:)
Seb.
Glen Pike wrote:
Hi,
If I create my AppScreens dynamically and add them - the added to stage
event handler for the AppScreen sub-class is called.
I am not calling addChild() for the components in the AppScreen
sub-class because they are placed at authortime inside the clip - I should
not have to call addChild for these surely?
Glen
sebastian wrote:
forget to addChild()?
The problem I have run into is that when I instanciate an AppScreen
symbol from my library - it's not on stage - and add it to the stage I
handle the ADDED_TO_STAGE event for wiring the components up.
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Shell loaders
Hi, By local file - I mean a SWF file in the same directory as the shell. The user would be given the option to load remotely or locally - this choice would be stored as an LSO. PDA's are iPaq Pocket PC's running FP7 - not Flash Lite. Shell - hopefully a SWF, but from a dirty spike today, we have sandbox issues - system has to use Local Network, plus allow from domain, still trying to get my head around this... Comparison - user choice between local or remote, the application is only available to a small set of customers 20 and the idea is to rollout updates in a nicer way than FTP a new version, Sync the PDA, etc. There is also the possibility of writing the version into the local flash file, retrieving from this when loaded and then using a remote connection to ask for the version of that via a web-script or similar - then offer the remote version only if it's newer, etc. The other option, possibly more sensible would be to have some other app on the PDA that is not Flash, do the updating and stuff. Currently we are using Flash Assist from Antmobile, as this allows us to do full-screen flash, etc. But Ant went bust a while ago, so it may not be practical to do this for much longer. We do have a stack of PDA's and spares though and these ship with a product we are creating as a means to control administer the product. I/we don't mind learning curves, we have some C++ linux coders, but I am guessing the development would be with Windoze SDK's for Pocket PC 2003 version. If that means tooling with Visual Studio, that could be a no-no. I really hated trying to deal with Windoze coding - I switched to Flash as it's quicker to get something on the screen, I am a visual guy, who likes to quickly get things moving rather than spend hours trying to get DirectX to draw a couple of shapes on screen... Thanks in advance for any help. Glen Anthony Pace wrote: Hi Glen, So to get this straight: How do you intend to store the file data... Shared objects, or as an actual file? Only if the connection is available, and only if the user would not rather keep their old version? What type of PDA? Will it actually be flash 7 or flashlight? By shell do you mean a simple lightweight wrapper application? Are you comfortable developing in c++, and with whatever sdk you will need to use? Are you trying to compare hashes on the file, file size alone, timestamp, revision counter stored in the DB or on a file based check in check out system, or some other method? Dependant on what you want it could be easy or provide you with a bit of a learning curve; unless you have the finances to farm out some of the work. Always with the questions, Anthony Glen Pike wrote: Hi, Does anyone have any experience with creating shell loaders? I would like to create a standalone application - for PDA Flash 7 - that will try to load a SWF from a remote location - in order to centralise the application updates. Because of network connectivity issues, I would also like the option of allowing the user to choose to load a local file if this changes. Even better would be the ability to update the PDA software with a new version if the 2 don't match. I have had a Google on this, but not having much luck. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks Glen ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- Glen Pike 01326 218440 www.glenpike.co.uk http://www.glenpike.co.uk ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children
Hi, I found my problem... I had created classes that extended my AppScreen class public class ShowControlScreen extends AppScreen public class RobotDiagnosticsScreen extends AppScreen etc. But the Flash IDE would not let me use the AppScreen as the Base Class for my Library symbol - it whines about the Base class being already defined??? So to workaround this problem, I had set the Base class to; ShowControlScreen, RobotDiagnosticsScreen, etc. Then set a LinkageID for each one to something else; ShowControl, RobotDiagnostics, etc. So my symbols on stage that included components were ShowControl, etc. As soon as I started instanciating these instead of the Base class for the symbol, my on stage instances appear - hooray. Need to get my head around this - found a useful thread here, but I am having the problem that if I don't declare my stage instances automatically, but in my classes, I get a reference error for each thing on stage when the system tries to create these objects in the display list; ReferenceError: Error #1056: Cannot create property _displayText on RobotDiagnosticsScreen etc... So, does anyone know what the workflow is, because this seems like a PITA - either I have to create everything programmatically at runtime, or do some frig' in Flash with my LinkageID's to get it working and risk compounding errors with possible typo's etc in these fields. Why can't I just specify the class name as the LinkageID and choose WTF I want for the Base class - if I mess it up, that's my problem surely??? Thanks, from a tired pd off Glen. Paul Andrews wrote: - Original Message - From: Glen Pike [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com Flashcoders mailing list flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 10:13 PM Subject: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children snip The problem I have run into is that when I instanciate an AppScreen symbol from my library - it's not on stage - and add it to the stage I handle the ADDED_TO_STAGE event for wiring the components up. All my component instances trace out as null at this point, so I am left scratching my head wondering when they might be added to the display list... I'd really like to see how you are trying to access the the component instances. Instanciating the symbols alone won't add them to the stage (addChild does that), so do you ever receive the event? If you do you should be able to find the component from the event payload. If you can write a tiny snippet of code to show how you attempt to load and access your components, then I'm sure we'd find the problem straight away. Paul ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- Glen Pike 01326 218440 www.glenpike.co.uk http://www.glenpike.co.uk ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children
Okay, I'll admit I'm only getting a vague sense of your problem, so forgive
me if I'm totally off base, but I think the proper workflow is this...
1. Uncheck the Automatically declare stage instances checkbox. (In
File... Publish Settings, go to the Flash tab, and click the Settings
button next to ActionScript 3.0) It sounds like you've already done this.
2. Create whatever you want to on stage within the Flash IDE. Remember the
name that you give it. For example, maybe you're creating a custom member of
the Ball class called bouncyBall. And maybe you added a TextField called
highScore
3. Go into your Document Class ActionScript file, and make sure you have
code like this...
public class BounceApp extends Sprite {
public var bouncyBall:Ball;
public var highScore:TextField;
// rest of code goes here...
4. You might need to repeat steps 2 and 3 if you've done something similar
for any individual symbols in your library. For instance, if my Ball class
had a text field called bounceCount, I'd need to include code like this...
public class Ball extends Sprite {
public var bounceCount:Textfield;
// other code here
4a. The nice thing is that I could actually then create a new class that
extends Ball, and as long as it has a Text Field called bounceCount in
there, it should all work.
5. From experience, I can tell you this is a pain in the butt if you're
doing it for the first time on a project you've already implemented halfway,
but when you start getting into this workflow from the beginning of a
project, it becomes second nature.
Hope that helps somewhat...
--T
On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Glen Pike [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi,
I found my problem...
I had created classes that extended my AppScreen class
public class ShowControlScreen extends AppScreen
public class RobotDiagnosticsScreen extends AppScreen
etc.
But the Flash IDE would not let me use the AppScreen as the Base Class
for my Library symbol - it whines about the Base class being already
defined???
So to workaround this problem, I had set the Base class to;
ShowControlScreen, RobotDiagnosticsScreen, etc.
Then set a LinkageID for each one to something else;
ShowControl, RobotDiagnostics, etc.
So my symbols on stage that included components were ShowControl, etc.
As soon as I started instanciating these instead of the Base class for
the symbol, my on stage instances appear - hooray.
Need to get my head around this - found a useful thread here, but I am
having the problem that if I don't declare my stage instances automatically,
but in my classes, I get a reference error for each thing on stage when the
system tries to create these objects in the display list;
ReferenceError: Error #1056: Cannot create property _displayText on
RobotDiagnosticsScreen
etc...
So, does anyone know what the workflow is, because this seems like a PITA
- either I have to create everything programmatically at runtime, or do some
frig' in Flash with my LinkageID's to get it working and risk compounding
errors with possible typo's etc in these fields.
Why can't I just specify the class name as the LinkageID and choose WTF I
want for the Base class - if I mess it up, that's my problem surely???
Thanks, from a tired pd off Glen.
Paul Andrews wrote:
- Original Message - From: Glen Pike [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com Flashcoders mailing list
flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 10:13 PM
Subject: [Flashcoders] Flash Authortime vs Runtime children
snip
The problem I have run into is that when I instanciate an AppScreen
symbol from my library - it's not on stage - and add it to the stage I
handle the ADDED_TO_STAGE event for wiring the components up. All my
component instances trace out as null at this point, so I am left scratching
my head wondering when they might be added to the display list...
I'd really like to see how you are trying to access the the component
instances. Instanciating the symbols alone won't add them to the stage
(addChild does that), so do you ever receive the event? If you do you should
be able to find the component from the event payload.
If you can write a tiny snippet of code to show how you attempt to load
and access your components, then I'm sure we'd find the problem straight
away.
Paul
___
Flashcoders mailing list
Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
