Month: March 2007

Flash CS3 announced (Euro prices too high?)

Alessandro Crugnola actionscript , ,

Finally Flash CS3 it’s here!
A lot of features have been included.. probably there are many reasons to upgrade, as they say:

Reasons to upgrade

– Adobe Photoshop® and Illustrator® import
– Animation conversion to ActionScript™
– Adobe interface
– ActionScript 3.0 development
– Advanced debugger
– Adobe Device Central CS3

– BUT –

I really cant understand why the US upgrade is $ 199 (this is what I currently read on the store), while in Euro it will be € 298 (which is $396).
So if I buy Flash CS3 upgrade in Euro, I will pay the double price than american people!
Bad, bad thing!!

FlashTracer 2 for Firefox 2.0.*

Alessandro Crugnola firefox , , ,

I dont know what happened to the link of my FlashTracer extensions on Mozilla extensions page.. it simply has been removed.
It’s a while I don’t visit the mozilla developers corner and so I dont know the reason.. probably I had to update the extension for the final release of Firefox2, and they removed the link from the database..

Anyway, now the developer area is inaccessible until they release the new addons site. For this reason, for who want to download again the flashtracer extension can use this link:

http://www.sephiroth.it/firefox/flashtracer

I’ve also added my site as updateURL for this extension, so I dont have to care anymore about mozilla  changes on their site…
The extension itself has no new features, just some little changes and an help panel too. I’ve added the possibility of open the flashtracer in a floating window, as someone requested.

P.S. Remember that you can find all the Adobe Flash debug player versions here:  http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

UPDATE: A new flash tracer called fbtracer has been released. This new extension is integrated into Firebug. Read more here

Flex 2.0.1 SDK Hotfix 1 (bug fix)

Alessandro Crugnola flex , , ,

Adobe just released an update for Flex 2.0.1 SDK, download it from http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=kb401224

Flex 2.0.1 SDK hotfix 1 (build 159086) is a collection of bug fixes that have been completed since the Flex 2.0.1 release on January 5, 2007. This hotfix release is being made available to Flex customers who are experiencing any of the issues described in this document and require the provided bug fixes. Installation of this hotfix release is not recommended for customers who are not experiencing one of the described issues.

Cell Renderers
192854 itemEditors on DataGrid don’t correctly commit data when dragEnable=true
192558 Combo renderer in a DataGrid causes problems on the DataGrid scroll
DataGrid
193316 DataGrid with headerRenderer and selectedIndices becomes uneditable
194284 DataGrid incorrectly focuses hScrollbar
194311 After clearing data from DataGrid, RTE occurs
183325 When set verticalScrollPolicy=”off” in datagrid, can’t move up/down to show more rows
192117 DataGrid whose width depends on the size change of Browser gets RTE
196149 DataGrid with lockedColumnCount incorrectly displays using vScrollbar
193106 Horizontal scrolling DataGrid cannot display the updated width
194972 DataGridColumn visibility=false doesn’t work (when set in mxml)
192466 The width of the last 2 columns is displayed narrower after horizontal scrolling
193641 If you resize the player window with a DataGrid with width=100%, the DataGrid’s last column continues to grow rather than showing more columns
192695 After horizontal scrolling, changing the width of DG updates the width of incorrect column
192694 Changing the width of DataGrid that is disappeared gets error (RTE)
192728 Using an itemRenderer as an editor may not update the dataProvider
195589 DataGrid with horizontalScrollPolicy cell and width behavior changed
193319 Change event doesn’t occur when moving the line using Enter and Tab key on DataGrid
195389 Tab key is functional even if scrollbar is focused
Debugging (Macintosh only)
193086 Once RTE is thrown and debug session is selected to be terminated, closing browser window does not let FB release debug session
Other
193354 CollectionChangeEventKind in CollectEvent.COLLECTION_CHANGE incorrect
192765 If you use MenuBar.dataDescriptor.setEnabled(…) on a top level item of a MenuBar, the item is not changed
126610 Binding to a static variable gives warning Unable to detect changes to ‘var’ and does not show changes
193102 Parent window becomes available after close grandchild Popup
194872 Update PhotoViewer sample README.html file with the additional compiler arguments needed to compile
Tree
192365 Selecting a node then collapsing its grandparent doesn’t move selection up to the grandparent
192347 RTE when tweening occurred while opening nodes in Tree (in Flex Explorer sample)

BTW, it seems they haven’t fixed the Nullpointer exception caused by invalid xmllists..

Apollo, why so much excitement?

Alessandro Crugnola actionscript , , , , ,

In these 2 days I read only Apollo related news, post and video tutorials! I dont think there is still someone who dont know about the public alpha of Apollo 🙂
I see much more excitement than for a new Flash player release.

I’m sure Apollo will be a great product, I’m just testing it right now (even if I sill have  no idea about what to create with it… but it’s another story), but to be honest I can see anything so revolutionary there.
Unfortunately I dont have so much experience with desktop flash suff (just a couple of little projects using mdm and some experiments with XUL)
What’s the difference and innovation compared with MDM Zinc, Screenweaver, Xul Runner, and all the other flash desktop integration kits?
I just hope I can find the time to use it much more in the future to give me an answer…

mxmlc NullPointerException crash

Alessandro Crugnola flex , , , ,

Today I was getting crazy to find out why Flex didn’t want to compile my application.. Clicking on compile it started suddenly to give me an internal compile error and nothing else. So i tried to compile with the mxmlc from a console just to see the error log and the outpuw was:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:891)
at macromedia.asc.parser.BinaryExpressionNode.evaluate(BinaryExpressionNode.java:38)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:890)
at macromedia.asc.parser.BinaryExpressionNode.evaluate(BinaryExpressionNode.java:38)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:891)
at macromedia.asc.parser.BinaryExpressionNode.evaluate(BinaryExpressionNode.java:38)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:890)
at macromedia.asc.parser.BinaryExpressionNode.evaluate(BinaryExpressionNode.java:38)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:962)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ListNode.evaluate(ListNode.java:27)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:5859)
at macromedia.asc.parser.LiteralXMLNode.evaluate(LiteralXMLNode.java:28)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:3087)
at macromedia.asc.parser.VariableBindingNode.evaluate(VariableBindingNode.java:48)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:962)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ListNode.evaluate(ListNode.java:27)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:2897)
at macromedia.asc.parser.VariableDefinitionNode.evaluate(VariableDefinitionNode.java:32)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:4629)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ClassDefinitionNode.evaluate(ClassDefinitionNode.java:86)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:938)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ArgumentListNode.evaluate(ArgumentListNode.java:28)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:750)
at macromedia.asc.parser.SetExpressionNode.evaluate(SetExpressionNode.java:39)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:580)
at macromedia.asc.parser.MemberExpressionNode.evaluate(MemberExpressionNode.java:31)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:1273)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ExpressionStatementNode.evaluate(ExpressionStatementNode.java:33)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:4407)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ClassDefinitionNode.evaluate(ClassDefinitionNode.java:86)
at macromedia.asc.semantics.FlowAnalyzer.evaluate(FlowAnalyzer.java:2577)
at macromedia.asc.parser.ProgramNode.evaluate(ProgramNode.java:63)
at flex2.compiler.as3.Compiler.analyze2(Compiler.java:436)
at flex2.compiler.mxml.InterfaceCompiler.analyze2(InterfaceCompiler.java:337)
at flex2.compiler.mxml.Compiler.analyze2(Compiler.java:130)
at flex2.compiler.API.analyze(API.java:2360)
at flex2.compiler.API.analyze(API.java:2275)
at flex2.compiler.API.batch2(API.java:337)
at flex2.compiler.API.batch(API.java:1025)
at flex2.compiler.API.compile(API.java:1211)
at flex2.compiler.API.compile(API.java:1114)
at flex2.tools.Compiler.main(Compiler.java:222)
Wow!!
So, how can I find the problem? I can’t find any useful information from this log..
For this reason I had to remove portion of code from my mxml and from all the imported packages.. 2 hours of “debugging” gave me the solution!

A syntax error in a declaration of an XMLList was the problem!  Fixed the line also the compiler started to run again with no problems.

This is a portion of mxml code to reproduce the problem:
;

< ![CDATA[ private var uuid:String = ""; private var menubarXML:XMLList = <>
<>;
]]>

ActionScript 3 import alias! Where is it?

Alessandro Crugnola actionscript , , ,

working with Flex2/ActionScript 3 sometimes you may find that in different libraries there as classes (always in different packages) with the same name.
Ok, no problem, in fact I remember I’ve read something in the as3 documentation about the import alias directive..
A quick google search and in fact I come to this page: http://livedocs.adobe.com/…?href=as3_specification106.html

Cool, I thought. Then I applied the directive in my as3 project (because two ‘Location’ classes were giving me problems in flex) but when clicked on compile it throws me a syntax error  🙁
Strange, it’s described in the documentation, but dont work!.. It’s also described in the es4 specs.
Fortunately Colin gives me an answer: “… single name aliases were indeed dropped for AS3. even if the plan is that they will go into the ES4 standard, and if that occurs, they will be added to ActionScript eventually.”
I hope it will happen soon!

IMHO, I would prefer a syntax like the python one about the import alias: http://docs.python.org/ref/import.html

Something like: import os as somethingelse, but it’s just a stylistic issue for me…

Google Talk Gadget

Alessandro Crugnola general , ,

Google team just announced a new gadget available for google personal homepage: Google Talk Gadget.
Basically it’s a flash version of the Gtalkr application. It has a lot of features such as share YouTube videos or Picasa WebAlbum pictures…

Does this mean that the google crew has started to look at flash more that in the past? Maybe a new way to remove the “beta” to all its AJAX apps?
Probably also thanks to the linux flash player 9 recent release?

Read the full post here: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/…/google-talk-gadget.html