Flash
Using JSON with ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 27-Oct-09
Reader Level: 
Flash developers have been using XML for data exchange for years now. XML is a great choice: it's extendable, easy to format, and in common use practically everywhere. ActionScript 3.0, with its E4X syntax, makes XML even easier to use than ever before. But there's a new kid in town — a lightweight alternative called JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) — that you're likely to run into nowadays when shuttling data between your SWF and server side code. Sadly, Flash Player doesn't feature a native JSON parser, but thanks to a free Adobe class library at Google Code, this omission won't get slow you down. In fact, the ActionScript 3.0 JSON parser is so easy to use, it can easily be covered in a single article.
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
by David Stiller - 13-Oct-09
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In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 6, we migrated the ActionScript 2.0 version of our custom Scrubber class to ActionScript 3.0. This required a second class file, ScrubberEvent.as, which introduced a key difference in event dispatching between the two versions of the language. Here in Part 7, we'll conclude the series by investigating another AS3 point of interest (again related to events) — and finally, we'll use the Scrubber class for a bit of audio/visual fun.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript Concluded
by David Stiller - 01-Sep-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In this final installment, we'll investigate an optional feature called "express install," which facilitates upgrading for users who don't meet your minimum required version of Flash Player. We'll also cover optional parameters for the dynamic approach to SWFObject embedding, introduced in Part 7, and then wrap up the series with a quick look at a free tool that helps you use SWFObject without manually typing any code.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Quickshot: Let Flash Move Your Files
by David Stiller - 21-Aug-09
Reader Level: 
Do you ever find yourself tediously moving SWF files from your Flash work folder to your website folder — again and again and again? As it turns out, there's a simple way to avoid this scenario, right in the preferences settings for each FLA file. Let's take a look, and let Flash do the work!
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
by David Stiller - 21-Jul-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In this installment, we'll take a radical detour from what you've seen to this point. Here in Part 7, you'll be introduced to a JavaScript solution that slings off most of the effort of the traditional HTML approach. This software is called SWFObject. As of this writing, it's already in its second generation and is among the most widely used embedding scripts in the world. It works great, it's free, and it's easy to use. What more could you ask for, right? Let's jump in!
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
by David Stiller - 10-Jul-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 6, we'll examine a number of potential points of failure in regard to embedding SWF files. Fortunately, they're easy enough to avoid (or fix) when you understand them, so keep your chin up! As with almost everything in life, "knowing is half the battle"; only in this case, knowing is typically 98% of the battle.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
by David Stiller - 10-Jun-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest.
In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 4, we'll explore the remainder of the optional parameters displayed in the HTML tab of the Flash authoring tool's Publish Settings dialog box.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
by David Stiller - 29-May-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 3, we'll continue our investigation into the original two-tag ( and ) approach to embedding SWF files. In this article, you'll learn how to control certain aspects of your embedded Flash content with optional HTML parameters, a topic that will span several articles.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
by David Stiller - 29-Apr-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a web site, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document.
If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Flash CS4: Encoding Video Content
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 15-Apr-09
Reader Level: 
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at a number of these new features in this series, along with a some features that have been around for quite some time (though relatively underused). Now it's time to round out this excerpt series with a look at the new Adobe Media Encoder, the application Flash CS4 now uses exclusively to encode video content.
Adobe Media Encoder used to be known as the Adobe Flash Video Encoder. The name change is deliberate. Adobe came to the conclusion that the Flash brand name was being attached to a lot of stuff, and there was understandable concern that the brand was becoming diluted. The release of Creative Suite 4 starts the process of Adobe's refocusing of the Flash brand. If you have used Flash to encode video in previous iterations of the application, you will find that things have really changed. Let's take a look.
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 30-Mar-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but no matter what version of Flash you're using, if your content is distributed via the Internet, the time it takes to download and display is totally dependent on two things: a) the assets included in that content, which are under your control, and b) the flow of network traffic, which is not necessarily under your control. This is your chance to fall in love with the user and not the technology.
When we last touched base, we made the acquaintance of a longtime feature of Flash, the Bandwidth Profiler. In that previous article, you learned that the Bandwidth Profiler allows you to simulate various modem speeds in order to test your content as many of your users will experience it. As we continue in this installation — the second last of our Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers excerpt series — you'll learn how to actually use the information provided by the profiler to structure your content for optimized delivery.
Approximate download size: 2.5MB
The Using The Bandwidth Profiler Series:
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
by Joseph Balderson - 17-Feb-09
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Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project where you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast. This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.
In this introductory article, before getting into specific strategies and techniques, we'll take a look at some of the issues you may be facing when tasked with converting a project from AS1 or AS2 to AS3.
The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 23-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Part 2 of an investigation of the Motion Editor panel, this installment delves into easing and how this feature has changed for new-style motion tweens. The difference comes by way of a series of graphs, rather than the single hot text slider in the Property inspector's version of easing. Let's "ease" on in, shall we?
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 19-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Flash animators will notice a significant change with the sort of tweening that used to be called a motion tween. In Flash CS4, motion tweens are now called classic tweens, and the new motion tween is largely managed by something called the Motion Editor panel. The authors suspect there will be a surge of interest in the new-style motion tweens — and there's good reason for that, as you'll see. People will begin to ask, "Which approach is better?" We'll be compelled to reply with the only legitimate answer there is: the best approach depends entirely on whatever works best for the project at hand.
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 14-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Picking up from where we left off, let's continue with the 3D tools. In this article, we'll briefly cover the 3D Translation tool and demonstrate its usefulness. But first, let's take a quick detour to understand something called a "vanishing point."
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 07-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Let's start with the 3D tools. In terms of visual cool factor, the 3D Rotation tool is sure to please. This tool allows you to quickly and intuitively rotate a movieclip in 3D space. In previous versions of Flash, this was possible only with shapes, and even that technique required a bit of careful nudging with the Free Transform tool. You simply couldn't do this with a symbol. Now you can, and that means you can perform perspective transforms on complex artwork, imported photos, and yes, even video. Kind of makes the corners of the mouth go up, doesn't it?
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
by David Stiller - 20-Nov-08
Reader Level:
When it comes to Flash, one of my programming mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.
Here in Part 2, we'll scratch our heads collectively over a common issue involving ActionScript 2.0 and audio.
The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
What's New In Flash Player 10?
by Joseph Balderson - 23-Oct-08
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On October 15th, 2008, Adobe Systems unveiled the much anticipated Flash Player 10 to the world, to the great delight of Flash designers and developers everywhere. This new version of the Flash Player is so jam-packed with cool new stuff that you'd have to check out a dozen websites and blogs just to get the full story on all the amazingness bundled into this release.
Or you can read this summary right here, where we'll cover the nitty gritty of all the new features enabled in Flash Player 10 and what it means for both Flash designers and developers.
Adobe Media Encoder CS4
by Tom Green - 06-Oct-08
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Adobe deep-sixes the Flash Video Encoder and replaces it with a snazzy Media Encoder.
Evaluating Script Assist's Usefulness
by David Stiller - 30-Sep-08
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The concept of Script Assist has existed in many versions of the Flash authoring tool and has evolved over the years. Prior to Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia, Flash MX developers encountered a similar feature in an Actions panel preference setting for "Normal Mode" versus "Expert Mode." Nowadays, that feature is called Script Assist, which you can think of as a built-in form of on-the-job training that can potentially expand your overall understanding of the ActionScript 3.0 API. Just be advised, Script Assist can also be a very tedious tool, so its usefulness will largely depend on your personal learning preferences. This feature temporarily sets the Actions panel's script pane as read-only and provides an alternative approach to adding, removing, and editing code.
This article takes you on a brief trip that shows Script Assist in action. The journey should help you evaluate if this feature can actually help you in your daily work, or if you'd rather skip it and try your hand at writing ActionScript without assistance. While aimed at a Flash beginner, this article does move at a fairly brisk pace. Remember, this isn't an ActionScript tutorial, but rather a demonstration of how Script Assist works.
A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface
by Tom Green - 24-Sep-08
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Flash CS4 sports a rather sleek new look, a few new tools and a somewhat familiar-looking Motion Editor.
Flash CS3: What Happened to the WebServiceConnector Component?
by David Stiller - 11-Sep-08
Reader Level:
Based on the title of this article, you might get the impression that the WebServiceConnection component has disappeared in Flash CS3 — that you can't consume Web services at all after Flash 8 — and that isn't actually true. If you're programming in ActionScript 2.0, you can go right on using any of the data components listed in the Components panel, including the one for web services. The issue described in this article hinges on the way Flash CS3 responds to the version of ActionScript you're using. As soon as you configure a FLA file's publish settings for ActionScript 3.0, the Components panel actually changes the items it displays, causing the data components to vanish. So it's ultimately ActionScript 3.0 that makes a challenge out of using Web services in conjunction with Flash.
The overall number of components in Flash has been reduced for ActionScript 3.0 FLA files. The data components, as mentioned, have been removed completely and now belong to the Flex framework. A handful of user interface (UI) components, such as Accordion, Tree, and Window, are also absent. Again, these components are still available for ActionScript 2.0 documents, but if you want to program in ActionScript 3.0 — which is only possible as of Flash CS3 — you'll need a workaround.
This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide, gives you exactly that, thanks to a free third-party component. This reference book is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.
How AS3 Helps You Program with Purpose
by David Stiller - 03-Sep-08
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ActionScript has historically been a very forgiving language. In some ways, you can draw a comparison between older versions of ActionScript and older versions of HTML. In the early days of web development, HTML was deceptively unfussy. Styling was handled with straightforward <font> tags, which all too often became a redundant jumble. Closing </p> tags were optional, nested tags could be closed out of sequence from how they were opened, and dozens of other lenient practices led — or had the tendency to lead — to overtime headaches.
Popular websites like The Web Standards Project and CSS Zen Garden have since sparked a surge of interest in a practice called semantic markup, in which great care is taken to cleanly separate styling and formatting from content. This separation usually relies on XHTML specifications, which are considerably stricter than HTML, and coupled with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Ironic as it may seem, adherence to a stricter standard has gradually made things easier for Web developers. It's a bit like the idea that picking up after yourself throughout the day saves you from facing an overwhelming mess at the end of the week. ActionScript 3.0 is more disciplined than its predecessors in a similarly helpful way.
This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide (ISBN: 0596517351), discusses how the complexities of ActionScript 3.0 can actually be a good thing, because they encourage developers to think about code organzation as they program. This quick answer guide is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and is written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.
Ditching the Chipmunks: Choosing the Right Sample Rate for Flash Audio
by David Stiller - 04-Aug-08
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Flash is a terrific Web audio medium for a number of reasons. Most importantly, Flash Player is one of the most popular browser plug-ins in the world. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even other operating systems, and it works fairly consistently across the board. In addition to that, Flash is capable of loading audio files dynamically. This makes it a popular choice for podcasters, who like to speak their mind, upload an MP3 file, and go. In fact, there are a number of Flash-based MP3 players specifically made for podcasters, such as the PodPress plugin for WordPress.
But an interesting bug happens for certain listeners, and it isn't always easy to pin down. Some listeners hear — are you ready for this? — chipmunks. Not the chirping of actual animals, but a too-speedy distortion of the actual recording. Think Alvin and the Chipmunks. Thanks to a change in the way Flash Player 9 handles external audio files, this issue doesn't come up as often as it used to on the forums, but if it happens to you ... now you'll know how to fix it.
Issues with Dynamically Creating and Calling Display Objects
by Derrick Ypenburg - 09-May-08
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Something completely new to ActionScript 3.0 is ActionScript's trust in object references. In AS2.0 you were able to dynamically add an object and call it after-the-fact by its instance name. In AS3.0, when an object is created dynamically you need to specifically tell the compiler how to treat an object when calling it in some cases. You cannot just simply call its instance name anymore as display objects that are dynamically added in many cases need to be referenced by a name property and do not have an instance name. ActionScript no longer "trusts" your judgment when calling dynamically created objects. This results in frustrating errors.
This new concept really made me feel like a newbie at first. Researching documentation on this topic to make sure I'm explaining this properly was also frustrating to find. So here it is! This article will show you when you need to tell Flash how an object should be treated.
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Mar-08
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Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
In this first article, we will introduce the topic by looking at where certain Flash and Flex development scenarios might need to converge into an integrated Flash-Flex workflow. We'll also look some typical strategies to meet the needs of certain Flash Platform development methodologies.
A bird's eye view of the Flash-Flex Workflow.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
So You Want To Hire a SWF Developer?
by Joseph Balderson - 10-Jan-08
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In the ever-evolving world of Flash development, designers, developers, hr people and managers need up to date information on skills categories in the current marketplace. With all the aspects which comprise the Adobe ecosystem of design and development technologies, all of which may be located on a developer's resumé — such as Flash, Flex, ActionScript, FLV Video, Flash Media Server, Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), LiveCycle Data Services, and Cairngorm, to name a few — what do we call "the person who builds SWF files" for a living?
This is the question which can confuse an HR person enough to inadvertently misrepresent a candidate, may cause a manager to incorrectly assess a potential hire, and precipitate an identity crisis in the web developer wondering how the heck to correctly market themselves. This article is here to help.
Finding onDragOver: An AS2 to AS3 Migration Case Study
by David Stiller - 13-Nov-07
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For many designer/developers, ActionScript 3.0 is still very much new territory. You may have dipped into the latest language a bit — you may have even purchased a book or two on the subject — but unless you're required to use it every day, AS3 may very well present you with baffling new workflow changes, seemingly at every turn. This can especially be true when you undertake the endeavor to migrate an existing AS2-based project.
AS3's new event handling structure certainly threw me for a loop at first. It didn't take long before I realized that certain things seemed to be missing, such as the onReleaseOutside event of AS2's MovieClip and Button classes (Derrick Ypenburg discusses a workaround for this in his article "That Annoying stopDrag() Quirk in AS3.0"). In addition to that, it was recently brought to my attention that two other events, again shared by movie clips and buttons, had gone the way of the dodo: onDragOver and onDragOut.
Here's a brief case study on how I re-discovered the underlying basis for those events within their new trappings in ActionScript 3.0. By sharing the journey with me, I hope you find encouragement in your own friendly grapples with AS3.
Exploring Regular Expressions in ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 09-Nov-07
Reader Level:
I have a geek confession to make. I love regular expressions (aka regex, regexp, and other abbreviations). In a nutshell, regular expressions comprise a mechanism for searching and replacing text. I'm not just talking about finding the word "cat" inside the longer word "catastrophe," though regex can certainly do that. I'm talking about complex searches like spotting all the US ZIP codes in a particular paragraph. Think of the possibilities! ZIP codes can be any combination of five digits, with or without the ZIP+4 (a hyphen followed by another four digits). Or looking for accidentally doubled words — "The dog jumped over the the fence," regardless which two words those might be — or formatting North American telephone numbers consistently, such as rendering 123.456.7890, 123-456-7890, or even (123)456.7890 as (123) 456-7890, no matter what the numbers are.
To me, solving these challenges is a bit like solving Sudoku puzzles. They're flat out fun! Many programming languages support regular expressions, often in their own slightly varied flavors, and ActionScript 3.0 finally brings this technology natively into Flash. Let's take an introductory look at how to make use of it.
Exploring the Flash Brush Tool
by David Stiller - 25-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Flash offers quite a few drawing tools, even if you don't count the time-tested Oval, Rectangle, and Polystar tools, or even Flash CS3's new Oval Primitive and Rectangle Primitive tools. Those provide a great starting point from which to manipulate given shapes, but if your goal is to create strokes and fills of your own design, completely from scratch, you'll want to pick up the Pencil, Pen, or Brush tools. Each has its unique characteristics, and the Brush tool is the most configurable. This article provides an overview of the Brush tool and its options.
What AVC/H.264 Means for the Future of Flash Video
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Aug-07
Reader Level:
During the week of August 20th, Adobe announced its plans to support the AVC/H.264 video standard in the final release of Flash Player 9 update 3. You can currently download beta 2 of Flash Player 9 update 3 on the Adobe Labs site. This beta contains the AVC/H.264 codec, which enables you to test MPEG-4 files using the H.264 codec right now! I won't recap the information already provided by Adobe, but I'll provide a context for this announcement with existing Flash Video codecs and the world of Internet-delivered video.
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 30-Jul-07
Reader Level:
Masks with hard edges are easy to do in Flash. What about masks with feathered edges? That's another story. Learn how in this sixth excerpt written by Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green in the new book -Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers- from friendsofED
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Notes From the Photoshop File Importer Front
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 26-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this, the fifth of eight excerpts from their new friendsofED book- Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers- Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green examine a new feature of Flash CS3. The Photoshop File Importer in Flash CS3 is a welcome addition to Flash CS3. Just be aware there are a couple of "gotcha's" you need to know.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze
by Derrick Ypenburg - 01-May-07
Reader Level:
In the first two installments of the Art of Encoding Series, I covered the basics of the FLV Format, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: About the FLV Format and introduced everyone to encoding video using Sorenson Squeeze, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: Sorenson Squeeze.
This installment will go further into the compression settings of Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 using its advanced compression settings. Getting familiar with and using these advanced settings will result in higher encoded video quality and better playback performance of Flash video. If you are not familiar with Sorenson Squeeze 4.5, please read the introduction article to Sorenson Squeeze, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: Sorenson Squeeze.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
When coding an object-oriented project involving many external ActionScript files, using the SEPY ActionScript Editor has been quite simply a boon to my life as a Flash developer, whose features have saved me a lot of time and headaches. One of those features is the ability to automate code creation. In this article we will look at how SEPY can make your job as a Flash developer a whole lot easier.
The SEPY Snippets panel
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Using the CS3 Studio Flash Video Encoder
by Tom Green - 13-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Sporting a brand new look and a feature that will knock your socks off, the CS3 version of the Flash Video Encoder may just be a the sleeper hit of the Studio.
Approximate download size: 8.4MB
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
by David Stiller - 06-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, this series takes a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program, but rather, an overview of approaches you might take while getting your feet wet. In Part 1, we looked at code attached to timeline keyframes. In Part 2, we rode a carriage down memory lane to examine code directly attached to objects. Here in Part 3, we conclude with a brief discussion on code in external files.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
by Joseph Balderson - 06-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This article covers a utility which I consider to be paramount to any Flash developer's toolkit: the FlashTracer extension for Firefox.
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
by Joseph Balderson - 04-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Many times in the past I found myself wanting to preview an FLV video, either for pre-selection during development, or simply to watch a video I had downloaded from the net. Problem is, Flash does not come with a standalone FLV player out of the box. The solution: use a standalone FLV player. This article will cover three popular, free standalone FLV players, by Martijn Devisser, Nothing Media and Blitz Labs (Windows only).
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Flash Video: Move Over?
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Mar-07
Reader Level:
In November 2006, I wrote an article title "Flash Video: Why the Other Players Don't Get It", wherein I made a case for Flash Video on the web. Indeed, Flash Video is everywhere on the web, from Google to YouTube to Blip.tv. However, within the last couple of weeks, Flash Video suffered a casualty: ABC.com replaced Flash Video as the video player technology on their showcase Full Episode Streaming site. I initially blogged about the event, chiding Adobe for not moving faster to address widely known concerns about Flash Video streaming on the web, especially by providers who want to protect their content. After my post received over 1000 web views within 12 hours, I got the feeling that I should write more about my thoughts on Flash Video, and how it might suffer more casualties if Adobe doesn't take their customers (especially their big customers, like ABC.com) more seriously. (Or should I be so bold as to say they shouldn't take them for granted?)
NOTE: This article is an editorial reflecting my personal concerns about Flash Video technology, and does not reflect the views and opinions of any other entity.
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
by David Stiller - 22-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, this series takes a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program, but rather, an overview of approaches you might take while getting your feet wet. In Part 1, we looked at code attached to timeline keyframes. Here in Part 2, we'll see how things differ when code is directly attached to objects. Part 3 will conclude the discussion with a brief look at code in external files.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
by Joseph Balderson - 16-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Implementing code-generated graphics or animations can be greatly facilitated with the aid of an "explorer," showing a live example of certain effects, and the code required to create the effect at runtime. This can greatly expedite code generation, and provide an essential learning tool. In this article we'll look at a little-known but very useful utility created by Adobe called the Transition and Tween Explorer.
The Adobe Transition and Tween Explorer
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
by David Stiller - 08-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, let's take a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program. If you were an aspiring chef, this might be a tour of various kitchen facilities, to give you a feel for what's available at each venue. After a brief look at the options, you may just find that the best approach is simply the one that makes you the most comfortable, even on a project-by-project basis. We'll start with timeline code, here in Part 1, then address the other procedures in subsequent articles.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
Flash Power Tools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
by Joseph Balderson - 05-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This article covers a utility which I consider to be paramount to any Flash developer's toolkit: the Flash Switcher extension for Firefox. (Windows only)
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
by Derrick Ypenburg - 13-Feb-07
Reader Level:
If you want to dramatically increase the quality of encoded video, you need to go beyond the free Flash 8 Video Encoder that ships with Flash 8 Professional. Third-party software such as On2 Flix Exporter for Flash and Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 are the best options for encoding video with superior quality. Third-party encoding software also has many options and settings: deinterlacing options, pre-processing filters and greater control of audio/video data rate and compression settings, are all enhanced options that any encoding professional needs to make the best video they can for streaming delivery.
If you want to shake your "money-maker" with top-notch video, then this article is for you. This article will go into detail of all the advanced settings of Sorenson Squeeze and make quality comparisons to video encoded with the Flash 8 Video Encoder.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze Coming Soon
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
by Joseph Balderson - 23-Jan-07
Reader Level: 
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
by Joseph Balderson - 19-Jan-07
Reader Level:
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and OOP principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
9-Slice Scaling in Flash
by Tom Green - 12-Jan-07
Reader Level:
9-Slice scaling? What's that? Read on...
From Final Product to Upload in Flash Professional 8: Part 2
by Tom Green - 20-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In January, 2007, friendsofED will be releasing a ground breaking book: From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics. Written by Community MX Partner, Tom Green and Community MX contributer, Tiago Dias, the book is the first exploration of how After Effects and Flash are about to become a motion graphics power house.
Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting the first two chapters of the book. These two chapters are designed to explore the emerging workflow between After Effects and Flash and they take you from concept to upload. In this second excerpt, from Chapter 2, you convert the project created in the previous chapter into an FLV.
Approximate download size: 3.1MB
The Complete JumpStart Catalog Update
by Sheri German - 15-Dec-06
Reader Level:
We now have 20 JumpStarts and are still counting. For anyone who has ever agonized over which to use for a current project, this article is for you. Updated from an article we released a year ago, the newly expanded and refreshed catalog should help you make the tough decisions about which layout and features will work for your latest client's site.
From Final Product to Upload in Flash Professional 8
by Tom Green - 05-Dec-06
Reader Level:
You have created a video in After Effects. Now it is time to encode it and prepare it for playback through Flash.
Approximate download size: 13.6MB
From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics
by Tom Green - 01-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In this last installment of Chapter One we examine how to prepare an After Effects Video for encoding in Flash.
Flash Video: Why the Other Players Don't Get It
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Flash Video has taken over the web video industry. There should be little doubt by now that Flash Video is a major player—in any sense of the word—with online distribution of video. I've personally worked on several high-profile Flash Video deployments, and you can see the evidence of Flash Video on just about every major video-enhanced web site.
From Concept to Final Product in After Effects 7
by Tom Green - 17-Nov-06
Reader Level:
In January, 2007, friendsofED will be releasing a ground breaking book: From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics. Written by Community MX Partner, Tom Green and Comunity MX contributer, Tiago Dias, the book is the first exploration of how After Effects and Flash are about to become a motion graphics power house.
Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting the first two chapters of the book. These two chapters are designed to explore the emerging workflow between After Effects and Flash and they take you from concept to upload. In this first excerpt, from Chapter 1, you are introduced to the After Effects work space and how Projects and Compositions are created in After Effects.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
by Derrick Ypenburg - 16-Nov-06
Reader Level:
The process of encoding quality streaming video for Flash (or for any video streaming playback delivery for that matter) is the most important process in creating video streaming applications. Any slick-looking video player that you build will only be as good as the quality of the video streaming through it.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of FLV encoding by the encoding software. Understanding this article will help you create higher quality FLV files when it comes to applying settings in an encoder and creating video for encoding.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze Coming Soon
Building a Flash Video Kaleidoscope - Part 1: Video Reflection
by Tom Green,Joseph Balderson - 22-Sep-06
Reader Level:
The ideas that sparked this series came about in an unexpected manner.
Having just completed an article on the subject of creating reflections in Flash, I started thinking about how it could be done using video instead of images. In typical Community MX fashion, I bounced my question off of our Flash guy Joseph Balderson, and we rapidly solved the problem. (That's happens when a couple of "Tech weenies" get hold of Flash Video.) By that I mean we have a fascination with what we can do with this technology. As such the two of us starting thinking:, "Yeah that is interesting but, really, what more can we do with this basic technique?"
It turns out there is quite a bit more you can do with the video reflection technique. At one point in our discussion Joe said, "Hey, now that we have one reflection working, why not add a few more? Let's show 'em how to build a video kaleidoscope too!!" And so this series was born.
Approximate download size: 4.2MB
FLV Data Rate and Bandwidth... Demysitifed.
by Tom Green,Scott Fegette - 20-Sep-06
Reader Level:
The issue really isn't getting an FLV to play on your web page. The issue is properly creating that FLV before it hits the browser.
Working with ActionScript Externally Using the SE|PY ActionScript Editor
by Derrick Ypenburg - 13-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Working with ActionScript externally has many benefits to working with AS directly within a Flash movie itself. This article will discuss some of the benefits to working with ActionScript externally, and the great features that the SE|PY Actionscript editor has to offer to make coding easier and more productive.
Understanding The Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes
by Joseph Balderson - 01-Aug-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths, oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 3 of this series we will look at Scenes: what they are, when to use and not to use them, and what the alternatives are when building your Flash application.
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
by Joseph Balderson - 14-Jul-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths, oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 2 of this series we will look at levels: what they are, how to use them and what to watch out for in your Flash projects. We will look at library asset linkages in multilevel SWFs, and examine the difference between authortime and runtime objects. In addition we will look at the _lockroot property. As an advanced topic bonus we will also code an implementation of _lockroot for SWFs exported to Flash 6 using AS 1.0.
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes Coming Soon
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Jun-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 1 of this series we will distinguish the fundamentals of the Flash Movie Clip Architecture: movie clips, the timeline, layers and depths. This article will also reveal the secret of "magic frame rates".
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes Coming Soon
A Dreamweaver 8.0.2 Updater
by Tom Green - 26-May-06
Reader Level:
Last week before heading off to TODCON I did my due diligence and installed the Dreamweaver 8.0.2 updater. Later that evening one of the partners for whom I had done a video tutorial asked me where I had put it. Turns out I thought she was finished with it and I had pulled it down. Being the great guy that I am, I opened Dreamweaver and used the Put feature of the Dreamweaver 8 Files panel to upload it. This is where things get interesting.
Tackling the ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
by David Stiller - 22-May-06
Reader Level:
You've read Jen deHaan's excellent Flash ActionScript 2.0 Learning Guide and are eyeballing an empty Actions panel. Either that, or you've found a code sample online and have pasted it into the same. But you're stuck. You're itching to jump in, and yet ... something tugs at you, holds you back. For some reason, you still don't know where to begin.
Sure, you have a handle on the concepts, but the nitty-gritty still evades you. It's that pesky ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference, isn't it? It's supposed to be your first stop, yet stop is all you've done. In theory, it's got everything you need, but it seems so vast! How is anyone expected to plod through this seemingly endless reference? So you sit... Until now.
From iPhoto to Flash Video: Creating a Custom Slideshow for the Web
by Kim Cavanaugh - 04-May-06
Reader Level:
Recently the school district where I work conducted our annual technology conference—a huge event that requires months of planning by the team that I work on, culminating in a single-day event attended by over 1,300 teachers.
To capture the whirlwind of activity that it requires to pull this off I wanted to grab as many photos as possible during the set up and then share them with members of my team and with the other volunteers that help us. And to make it more engaging than simply sharing a bunch of pictures, I decided this year to set the photos to music and produce a slideshow that has the proper musical accompaniment.
In this article I'll discuss how I created our little music video using a number of tools on my Macintosh. Yes, this is a decidedly Mac specific project. The video itself was generated using a combination of iTunes, iPhoto, Quicktime Pro, and finally published as a Flash video so that everyone would be able to see and hear my tribute to all of those who worked so hard to make our event a success.
The Future of the Adobe Flash Player
by Robert Reinhardt - 24-Jan-06
Reader Level:
Web designers and developers alike have been speculating wildly about the fate of the Flash Player, now that Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia is history. The most popular rumor is that the Flash Player will become one with Adobe Reader. If you've been flying solo with Macromedia products and never touched Adobe's line, you've probably still used the Adobe Reader, formerly known as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe Reader can open, display, and print PDF files. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and accomplished very similar feats for the printing industry as SWF did for the web industry.
Introduction to Captionate 2.0
by Tim O'Hare - 06-Jan-06
Reader Level:
Flash Video combined with simple ActionScript gives you, the developer, the ability to synchronize video content with additional data such as text, images and even links. This functionality has been enabled since Flash Video started with Flash 6, but is now easier to implement with tools like Captionate and the Flash 8 Video Encoder. This article focuses on the basics of Captionate 2.0 and its ability to synchronize video content with persistent data. I will not go in to detail of any feature; however I will try to cover Captionate from a broad spectrum. I will assume you have never used the application and will explain not only what's new, but also the existing features from Captionate 1.0.
Alpha Video and HTML: How did they do that?
by Tom Green - 03-Jan-06
Reader Level:
Flash Video containing an Alpha channel can be used to intereact with your web pages. It is surprisingly easy to do.
The Complete JumpStart Catalog
by Sheri German - 20-Dec-05
Reader Level:
We now have a healthy portfolio of JumpStarts, and sometimes so much choice can be overwhelming. This article outlines the features of all the JumpStarts, offers guidance in choosing the right JumpStart for your project, and provides a complete catalog of our first thirteen JumpStarts.
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 - Overview of Cue Points
by Robert Reinhardt - 06-Dec-05
Reader Level:
Flash Professional 8 makes the process of adding cue points to your video content easier than ever before. In this introductory article for a new Flash Video series at Community MX, you learn the in's and out's of cue points for Flash Video.
The Flash Video Cue Points Series:
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 - Overview of Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 2 - Embedded Navigation Cue Points with Flash Pro 8
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 3 - Building a List of Embedded Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 4 - Adding Cue Points with Sorenson Squeeze 4.3 Coming Soon
Reading Flash Metadata with PHP
by Rob Williams - 21-Nov-05
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Flash 8 is the first version of the SWF file format to support standardized, native metadata. This is a great new feature that has the potential to make SWF files easier to manage, organize, and even locate through search engines. Unfortunately there's one small catch; although Flash 8 has made adding metadata to your SWF files extremely simple, at the time of writing there are very few applications/scripts/bots outside of Flash itself that actually have the ability to read that metadata!
In this article we'll take a look at a custom PHP class that can be used to read SWF metadata, and how it can be used to realize some of these great new potentials.
Migrating a Configuration Class to AS3
by Danny Patterson - 02-Nov-05
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With the release of ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) in the Flex 2 public alpha, many developers have already been speculating on the difficulty of migrating code written is ActionScript 2.0 (AS2). This article will migrate a class I wrote an article on a few weeks ago that is used to load XML configuration settings into your application at runtime. In this article we will examine the various changes related to this class and build this same class in AS3.
Pushing Flash Player 8 Technology
by Robert Reinhardt - 16-Sep-05
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Whenever a new version of the Flash Player is released, Flash content creators need to decide how soon they'll start building content for the new player. In this article, you learn more about Flash Player adoption trends.
JavaScript Integration in Flash 8
by Danny Patterson - 22-Aug-05
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Flash's ability to integrate with JavaScript just took a huge leap forward with the release of Flash 8. Introducing the External Interface! This is a new feature in Flash 8 that allows for better communication between Flash and its host. Most of us will use this for integration with JavaScript. This article will show you how easy this new feature is to use. It will whet your appetite and get you thinking about how you want to use this in your applications.
Getting Expressive with Flash Professional 8
by Tom Green - 11-Aug-05
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Flash Professional 8, in many respects, not only invites the "Design Guys" back to the party, it seems as though the party is being held in their honor.
A Programmer's Look at Flash 8
by Danny Patterson - 08-Aug-05
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Flash 8 was announced today (August 8, 2005) and that always means two things. There is not only a new version of the Flash authoring environment but also a new version of Flash Player. This article will examine many of the new features available to programmers in Flash Player 8.
Flash Video: Your Playback Options
by Tom Green - 01-Aug-05
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If you have been following this series, Part 1 explained how the video file is created and Part 2 walked you through the creation of the FLV file that will deliver the video. In this, the final installment, I review the end game: "How the heck do I get video to play in my Flash movie?"
At first glance that may seem to be a dumb question. It isn't. In fact, it is one of the most common questions asked of me when I talk about video in class or at a variety of speaking engagements. If you take the time to really think through the question you quickly come to the realization it is a two-parter:
- Do I use FLV or a SWF?
- Which video delivery option is best for me?
The answer to the first question depends upon how the video is to be delivered. If it is to be streamed either from your web server or a Flash Communication Server then FLV is the best route. All other scenarios will most likely require a SWF.
Distributing ActionScript Classes - Part 1
by Danny Patterson - 28-Jul-05
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If you've ever developed an application or a piece of software that needs to be distributed, you know it isn't always easy. One area that most Flash developers have to eventually deal with is distributing their code. This most frequently happens when working on teams with other developers or designers. In the first part of this series, we will look at techniques focused on distributing ActionScript classes in a way that allows for easy installation, maintenance and scalability.
The Distributing ActionScript Classes Series:
Distributing ActionScript Classes - Part 1
Distributing a Class Library: Part 2
Creating an FLV: Encoding a Video
by Tom Green - 20-Jul-05
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It is a common scenario. Someone hands you a CD containing a QuickTime video and you are instructed , "Let's get this up on our site as soon as possible." So you purchase the Flash Video Kit from Macromedia or, you notice you already have Flash Professional, so all you need to do is to pick up the FLV Video Exporter and you are on your way to streaming video greatness. It is at this point where the Macromedia or Community MX forums suddenly receive a pitful cry from the wilderness: "This isn't as easy as it looks."
In this article I will walk you through the FLV creation process and explain the math used to determine the values you enter in the dialog box that appears in the two more popular FLV creation tools out there: Sorenson Squeeze and the Flash FLV Exporter.
Flash Developer Toolbox
by Paul Newman - 14-Jul-05
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This article reviews tools and applications that make Flash development easier, from ActionScript editors to Flash video utilities, from compilers to debuggers, from document generators to version control systems. If you write ActionScript classes and components, these tools will save you a great deal of time and effort.
Laszlo: Part 5 -- Managing Layouts
by Arman Danesh - 13-Jul-05
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In the fifth in our series on Laszlo, we look at the methods provided to automate the layout of elements in your applications. Using layouts you create complex layouts that without explicitly defining the width, height and placement of every element. Instead, your layouts can be intelligent and take into account the size of the canvas and items' relationships with each other.
The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon
Unleashing the Power of Strong-Typing
by Danny Patterson - 11-Jul-05
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One of the main features of ActionScript 2.0 and Flash Player 7 is the ability to strong-type variables and parameters. Previously in ActionScript, you could not strong-type. This new feature is optional, but in this article you will learn why you should always strong-type your code and in the process unleash the power of types.
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
by Arman Danesh - 22-Jun-05
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In this installment of the our introductory series about Laszlo, we learn about a wide range of elements you can include in your Laszlo applications including text, images and form widgets.
The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon
Using Collections and Iterators in ActionScript
by Danny Patterson - 14-Jun-05
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The idea of collections and iterators is borrowed from Java. In Java there are two interfaces, Collection and Iterator, that describe this functionality. Implementations of the Collection interface in Java would be classes like ArrayList. In this article, you will learn how to use a generic Collection and Iterator class and what the advantages are. Our implementation won't follow the Java collection framework exactly, but it borrows many of the same concepts.
Announcing the Flash Platform
by Joey Lott - 06-Jun-05
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Read about the "State of Flash" in this discussion of Macromedia's announcement of the Flash Platform. Learn about where the Flash Player can be found, and how the Flash Player is supported by an entire platform of related technologies. Additionally, read a brief overview of some of the new features in the pending Flash Player, code named Maelstrom.
Introducing Jumpstart Vegas
by Sheri German - 02-Jun-05
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We proudly introduce CMX JumpStart Vegas, designed by Fireworks expert Linda Rathgeber, and coded by CSS guru Stephanie Sullivan. Vegas includes a Flash slideshow, FlashObjects JavaScript for accessibility, sIFR for using custom fonts on your pages, a form with an often requested complex layout, and a golden design that does justice to the town that never sleeps. It's all there, ready for you to adapt it for your own sites.
Understanding Easing in Flash Animations
by Kim Cavanaugh - 27-May-05
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Easing is the process of adding acceleration or deceleration to an animated sequence in Flash. That's a rather sterile description for an effect that can go a long way to adding realism to an animation. In this article you'll see just how easing is accomplished, which settings to use to create a a particular effect, and how easing is applied to a tweened object on the Timeline. And since easing is a technique best seen rather than described, there are several examples of how the effect is accomplished here.
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
by Arman Danesh - 23-May-05
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In the third article in our series we learn about the basic component of a Laszlo application, the canvas, and then display the ever-popular "Hello World" text on the canvas.
The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon
Resolving Undefined Methods and Properties Within a Flash Object
by Danny Patterson - 06-May-05
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The __resolve method of the native Object class in Flash is a fairly unknown feature. When implemented, it gives an object the ability to handle requests to undefined members. In this article we will look at how we can use this feature to resolve undefined properties and methods. We will then use it in a real world example as we create a proxy class to an XML document.
Introducing CMX Jumpstart New Orleans
by Sheri German - 21-Apr-05
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The suspense has been building around the release of our next JumpStart, and now it's here: Jazzy JumpStart New Orleans, a hybrid CSS/Flash layout that should appeal to anyone needing to build a music site. Its inspiration is derived from two sources: the sites of Sony artists such as Vladimir Horowitz, Joshua Bell, Louis Armstrong, and The Isley Brothers where Flash and frames combine, and content scrolls in a fixed-area; and the recent acquisition of our own "CMX artist" the jazzy, bluesy Umoja String Quartet, whose site will be hosted on Community MX in the upcoming weeks.
Read on to find out more about this feature-rich JumpStart that includes an MP3 Player that uses wmode, FlashObject for accessibility, scrolling content, functional forms, and a fully editable source PNG.
Working Around the Flash Security Model with a Web Service Proxy
by Danny Patterson - 19-Apr-05
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One of the most powerful techniques in Flash development is the use of Web Services. This allows a Flash client to call a remote web service. However, at times the restrictions imposed by the Flash Security Model can become a problem. This article will identify the cross-domain security restriction and provide a solution with a Web Service Proxy built in ColdFusion.
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
by Arman Danesh - 18-Apr-05
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Macromedia has done a lot to promote Flash as a platform for the delivery of media-rich Web applications using Flash, Flash Remoting and ColdFusion to build and deliver applications or using the Flex platform to deliver them.
However, the open source Laszlo platform from Laszlo Systems, offers a complete, intergrated, powerful environment for delivering Flash-based Web applications and offers a compelling alternative to Flex for server-driven delivery of generated Flash movies.
The Laszlo Series:
Laszlo: Part 1 - Overview
Laszlo: Part 2 - Installation
Laszlo: Part 3 - Hello World
Laszlo: Part 4 - Laszlo Widgets and Elements
Laszlo: Part 5 - Managing Layouts
Laszlo: Part 6 - Working With Data Coming Soon
A Quest for Flash Communication Server Magic
by Tom Green - 11-Apr-05
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In this tale of deception, deceit and a quest for knowledge, you will follow me as I discover that using the Flash Communication Server isn't as easy at it appears and learn, at the end of my quest, "something I wish I would have known" before I started.
Flash Logging - A Better Trace
by Joey Lott - 05-Jan-05
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Using the ASCBLibrary Logging library you can more readily accomplish both simple and complex logging. Rather than using trace() - which only allows you to write simple output in the test player - the Logging library enables you to write log output to a variety of locations even when not using the test player. You can apply custom formatting and message level prioritization. Read more in this article.
ECMAScript for XML (E4X): Overview
by Danny Patterson - 04-Jan-05
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This summer ECMA International approved ECMAScript for XML (E4X). This specification adds native XML support to ECMAScript. Why does this matter to you? ActionScript is based on ECMAScript, so understanding the future of ECMAScript will give you a glimpse into the future of ActionScript. It remains to be seen if the next version of ActionScript will follow the E4X specification, but Macromedia has publicly stated that full compliance with the ECMAScript 4 Standard is one of the goals for the next release of Flash.
This article will cover a few highlights of the E4X specification including objects, initializers, accessors, and filtering. It will also show some examples of what the ActionScript code may look like when (and if) these features find their way into the next version of ActionScript.
ActionScript Function Workshop
by Joey Lott - 14-Dec-04
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In this article learn the ins and outs of ActionScript functions. Learn how to work with functions as objects. Learn how to create "overloaded" functions by using the arguments object. Even learn how a function can reference itself and how to call a function using a different calling scope.
Managing Intervals in Flash
by Danny Patterson - 30-Nov-04
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Since its introduction in Flash Player 6, the setInterval and clearInterval functions have been used widely by nearly all Flash developers. They added the ability to delay the call of a function or simply repeat a function call at a given interval. However, many times I have run into Flash developers that continually have problems with intervals in Flash. This article will talk about some of the common problems developers have with intervals. Then it will give a simple example of how to manage the intervals in your own applications through the creation of an IntervalManager class.
Flash Component Series: Tree - Part 1
by Joey Lott - 12-Nov-04
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There are many uses for the Tree component in Flash MX 2004, but you have to know how to use it first. In this series of articles on the Tree component, you'll get a chance to learn the basics through to the advanced. Part 1 looks at the commonly-used properties and methods of the Tree component and how to get started.
The Flash Component Series:
Flash Component Series: Tab Bar
Flash Component Series: Data Connection Wizard
Flash Component Series: Flash Remoting 2004
Flash Component Series: MenuBar
Flash Component Series: Tree - Part 1
Flash Component Series: Tree - Part 2
Flash Component Series: Creating an Editable DataGrid
Flash Component Series: PopUpManager
Flash Component Series: ComboBox
Flash Component Series: RadioButton
A Critique of FCS 2.0 Sneak Peek at MAX
by Robert Reinhardt - 10-Nov-04
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During the Macromedia MAX 2004 conference in New Orleans, members of the Flash Communication Server product team hosted a group discussion about possible features for the next major release of the product. In this article, I'll be describing Comm Server's current role in the Macromedia product line and outline a list of features that I'd like to see implemented in the next release.
Tweening Effects Using Math and ActionScript in Flash
by Derrick Ypenburg - 08-Nov-04
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Using basic math equations with ActionScript in Flash can open up a whole new realm of effects and interactivity for your projects. Math and ActionScript can create realistic effects such as gravity and inertia for moving objects. Math and ActionScript can randomly populate video game interfaces, create random movement, placement and interactivity with objects. In other words, being comfortable with using math with ActionScript can open up a lot of doors for us in our projects.
This article introduces basic math in Flash for programmatic tweening of objects. I'm going to cover a basic programmatic tween with an easing effect. The math used will tween an object and ease it out to a nice stop. The premise of this article is to give a basic math lesson and show how to apply it to the motion of an object using ActionScript.
Using Flash Remoting with PHP: AMFPHP
by Joey Lott - 19-Oct-04
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Flash Remoting is the way to build Flash applications that interact with a business tier on the server. It is fast, efficient, and scalable. In this article learn how to use the free AMFPHP Flash Remoting gateway in order to get started building more sophisticated applications.
What's New in Flex 1.5
by Paul Newman,Joey Lott - 18-Oct-04
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Today, October 18, 2004, Macromedia announced the upcoming release of Flex version 1.5, the presentation server and application framework that enables enterprise developers to easily create Rich Internet Applications.
Experimenting with Flash MX: 3-D Sound
by Derrick Ypenburg - 11-Oct-04
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Experimenting with Flash in your spare time is a great way to come up with new concepts and ideas. It's also a therapeutic way of purging yourself of any lingering ideas you don't have the opportunity to use in you client work. No idea should go to waste. Experimental sections on your site show forward thinking, talent and unique pieces a viewer does not have the opportunity to see in your professional work.
This experiment uses the volume and pan properties of a Sound object to create "3-D" sound based on the position of an object. This experiment can be applied to a gaming environment and music promotion where the user can interact with audio.
Using the Singleton Design Pattern in Flash
by Danny Patterson - 24-Sep-04
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Design patterns are standardized solutions to solving common programming problems. The Singleton design pattern is one of the most widely known design patterns; and it's also one of the simplest. It's used to insure that a class is only instantiated once. The pattern also provides a global point of access to the sole instance of the class.
This article explains how to use the Singleton pattern within Flash and it gives a real-world example of how it can be used.
Dealing with Scope - Using Delegate
by Joey Lott - 23-Sep-04
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If you're having difficulties with scope issues in ActionScript 2.0 classes, read this article. Even if you think you already know everything there is to know about scope issues, read this article. If you're trying to use LoadVars, XML, MovieClip or any other event handler-based datatype within a class, read this article.
Creating Custom Component Cell Renderers
by Joey Lott - 09-Sep-04
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Custom cell renderers provide a way to enhance and change the functionality of List-based UI components in Flash. In this article, you'll learn the basics of how to implement a custom cell renderer using two sample Flash documents. This will enable you to implement custom cell renderers in other projects.
Director and Flash: The Right Tool For The Right Project
by Rob Williams - 03-Sep-04
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Flash is a fantastic technology, but is it really the best multimedia tool for every project? Director, for most, is a dinosaur that doesn't fit the modern world of the web, but is it really obsolete? An interesting look at the two multimedia technologies provides some unexpected answers to these far too common questions.
Using the XFactorStudio XPath Classes in Flash
by Danny Patterson - 27-Aug-04
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Any developer that uses XML should become familiar with XPath. What is XPath? XPath is a W3C standard for defining parts of an XML document. XPath uses expressions to search for matching nodes within an XML document. This article will cover some of the basics of XPath and how you can use XFactorStudio's XPath classes inside your ActionScript code. This article will not attempt to cover all the syntax involved with XPath.
Macromedia Announces: The Flash Video Kit for Dreamweaver
by Adrian Senior - 17-Aug-04
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Macromedia announces the Flash Video Kit. A new Dreamweaver extension that provides you with a hassle free way to implement video into your web pages.
See how you can get this extension and bring your clients products to life with streaming video content.
What's New in FlashPaper 2
by Kim Cavanaugh - 02-Aug-04
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When Macromedia first introduced the FlashPaper printer feature with the roll out of Contribute 1, the technology was exciting, but limited in scope. Yes, you could gain some significant advantages over printing documents to the Web, particularly PowerPoint files, but beyond providing you the capability to reduce file sizes and print to a more web-friendly format; FlashPaper was somewhat limited in what it was able to do.
In this article we’ll take a look at the new features that have been added in this latest version of FlashPaper and demonstrate the ways that the program may be of value to a web publisher.
What's New in Flash MX 2004 7.2
by Paul Newman - 27-Jul-04
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Today, Macromedia released the Flash MX 2004 7.2 updater. This updater includes over 120 fixes and changes, making Flash the Lee Majors of software: better, faster, stronger.
In addition, the Flash team added over 400 new code examples to the documentation, increasing the percentage of entries with examples from 43% to 98%. Read on to learn more about what's new in Flash 7.2, and how to obtain and install the updater.
The RIA Technology Toolbox
by Joey Lott - 16-Jul-04
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Rich Internet Applications, or RIAs, are the wave of next generation applications being developed today. However, you may be wondering what RIAs are, what purpose they serve, and what technologies are used to create RIAs. Furthermore, you may have heard of some of the technologies, but you may not have yet understood what each techology does and how they fit together. In this article, you'll get a chance to learn more about RIAs in general as well the different technologies used to create them.
Case Study: Using the New Flash Remoting Classes
by Paul Newman - 15-Jul-04
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Recently, one of our subscribers made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He created a ColdFusion component (CFC) that sends mail using CFMAIL, and queries an Access database. But he was having difficulty getting the data into Flash, and sending the results of a contact form to the CFC. He offered to send me the database, CFC, and FLA source file if I could use the new Flash Remoting classes to tie it all together.
In this article, you'll learn how to call methods on a Flash Remoting service and return the results to Flash MX 2004 components. Includes coverage of the following Flash Remoting classes: Service, PendingCall, RelayResponder, ResultEvent, FaultEvent, Log, RecordSet, DataGlue.
Support Files: ColdFusion component, Microsoft Access database, Flash document, ActionScript file.
Using ActionScript Creatively: The Talking Car
by Derrick Ypenburg - 06-Jul-04
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Using Flash and some modified electronics, I wired a Flash movie to my car to tell me when my oil light comes on. Warning: This article voids vehicle warranty.
Introduction to Flash Development for PDAs
by Derrick Ypenburg - 22-Jun-04
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This article introduces the basic skills for Flash interface
development for portable devices, such as the Pocket PC and Sony Clié.
Using Flash Resource Manager
by Paul Newman - 17-Jun-04
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How to install and customize Mike Chambers' Flash Resource Manager to view and search Macromedia documentation, web sites, and more.
Understanding Model-View- Controller (MVC)
by Joey Lott - 02-Jun-04
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Design patterns have gained a lot of popularity in the ActionScript arena — especially Model-View-Controller, or MVC for short. While MVC has benefits, one of the difficulties is that there doesn't seem to be any simple, clear tutorials that explain what it is, and how you can implement it. This article does just that. By the time you have read this article you will have a good introduction to the basics of MVC.
Dispatching Events in Flash
by Joey Lott - 26-May-04
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In this article, you'll learn how to implement event-dispatching in your applications using the mx.events.EventDispatcher class. This enables you to create ActionScript 2.0 classes and v2 components that properly dispatch events. You'll also learn how to register listener objects that listen for events and respond to them accordingly.
Regular Expressions With ActionScript
by Joey Lott - 13-May-04
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Regular expressions are a powerful feature of many programming languages. And in this series you'll get a chance to learn how to start using regular expressions with ActionScript.
Understanding Try/Catch in ActionScript
by Joey Lott - 03-May-04
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Learn how to use error handling with ActionScript. In this article, you'll get a chance to learn about using try/catch/finally statements in your ActionScript code in order to best deal with errors that may arise.
Creating a Comical Music Video in Flash and Fireworks
by Kim Cavanaugh - 23-Apr-04
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Learning about software doesn't always have to be a grind. Sometimes, in fact, doing something frivolous and fun can be just as instructive as doing more "serious" work. In this case, my desire to make a silly music video in Flash featuring some of the partners at Community MX led me to learn some valuable new skills in Fireworks and Flash, and also resulted in a fun video to share with the world.
Using ActionScript Creatively: The Microphone Class
by Derrick Ypenburg - 19-Apr-04
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Explore and experiment with new ways for users to interface your work. In this example, a cat alarm is built in Flash that detects the sound of a kitten attacking an innocent tree and plays a sound to chase the kitten away.
Printing Flash 7 Content - Part 1
by Joey Lott - 07-Apr-04
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Learn to print with Flash MX 2004 and Flash Player 7. In this first part in a series on printing using the PrintJob class you'll learn the basics of managing printing - opening the print dialog box, adding pages, and sending it to the printer.
Organizing ActionScript Data - Part 3
by Joey Lott - 05-Apr-04
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This, the third part in a series on working with data structures in ActionScript, looks at the application of associative arrays and creating custom data structures. This article looks at the application of associative arrays and creating custom data structures. Includes a drag-and-drop example using an associative array to keep track of items.
Organizing ActionScript Data - Part 2
by Joey Lott - 26-Mar-04
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Part 2 in a series on data structures in ActionScript looks at data providers.
Organizing ActionScript Data
by Joey Lott - 19-Mar-04
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Data is an unavoidable part of ActionScript. And the more complex your Flash application, the more data is involved. But just because you're working with more data, doesn't mean working with that data has to be more difficult or complicated. Learning the proper structures for organizing your data, and when and how to use those structures, can be very beneficial.
In this article you'll get a chance to learn about the different structures for keeping track of data in ActionScript such as arrays, associative arrays, and objects. Obviously there are as many ways to work with data as there are applications. But there are some basic patterns that you're likely to notice frequently. This article looks at how to work with data in the context of those scenarios.
Preloading Components in Flash MX 2004
by Joey Lott - 25-Feb-04
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Want to know how to preload .swf content that uses v2 components? In this article, learn how you can accomplish just that with only a few steps.
Practical Advice for Using Text in Flash - Part 2
by Joey Lott - 10-Feb-04
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In this second part of a series on text in Flash, learn how to apply formatting so that you can create a much more interesting visual presentation of your textual content. Since Flash provides you with more than one way to apply formatting, you'll get a chance to learn the advantages and disadvantages of three techniques: using the TextFormat class, using HTML text fields, and using CSS in Flash.
Coding for Flash with PrimalScript
by Paul Newman - 03-Feb-04
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With the introduction of ActionScript 2.0, Flash MX 2004 makes creating and extending classes easier than ever. However, the Flash IDE is not ideal for working with ActionScript 2.0 classes.
In these three video tutorials, you'll learn how to use Sapien PrimalScript to code for Flash. The first video explains how to set up workspaces and projects in PrimalScript. The second video shows you how to use PrimalSense and the class browser. The final video explains how to integrate a command-line compiler with PrimalScript, so you can publish your SWFs with the touch of a button.
Practical Advice for Using Text in Flash
by Joey Lott - 30-Jan-04
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Text. If you work with Flash, you're going to work with text from time to time. Maybe even a lot of the time. So it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with some effective techniques to accomplish your text-related goals. In this article, you'll get a chance to learn about some ways to do a variety of things with text — applying formatting, ensuring the viewer reads the text in the correct font, setting exact dimensions, and more. In Part I you'll specifically get a chance to read about choosing the correct type of text, as well as how to ensure that the text displays in the correct font.
Extending MovieClip/Creating Components - Part 2
by Joey Lott - 28-Jan-04
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In Part 2 of this article, you'll learn about advanced Flash component topics such as creating inspectable parameters and live previews.
Extending MovieClip/Creating Components - Part 1
by Joey Lott - 20-Jan-04
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In this article, you'll learn how to create MovieClip subclasses using ActionScript 2.0.
Macromedia Announces Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS)
by Robert Hoekman Jr - 16-Dec-03
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Macromedia and VitalStream team up to offer a Flash video delivery solution to the rest of us. No FlashComm required.
Flash Video Without FlashCom
by Joey Lott - 24-Nov-03
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Flash MX 2004 and Flash Player 7 allow you to load and playback external video content without having to rely on a server-side technology. This great new feature allows you to add video content to your Flash applications in powerful and dynamic ways. Read this article to find out more details of the whats, whens, whys, and hows of video in Flash.
Macromedia Announces Flex
by Ray West - 17-Nov-03
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Not going to MAX? We have the lowdown on the latest announcement from Macromedia. Learn the early scoop on Macromedia Flex (previously Royale).
Macromedia Flash MX 2004...7.1
by Joey Lott - 10-Nov-03
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Macromedia will be releasing an updater for Flash MX shortly. Get the inside scoop on the 7.1 updater for Flash MX 2004 and what you can expect.
Community MXtra for Macromedia Central
by Paul Newman - 30-Oct-03
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This Macromedia Central application enables you to search for articles on CommunityMX.com, browse content using a calendar, and maintain a list of favorites.
Choosing the Right ActionScript Tools
by Joey Lott - 27-Oct-03
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Have you struggled with trying to figure out the best way to accomplish some of the common ActionScript tasks? Have you wondered why there seem to be so many ways to do the same thing? Could you sometimes use some clarity about which option is best? In this article, you'll find out the best way to handle button events, perform repeated actions, load SWF/JPEG content, load data, and name text fields properly.
The New Flash Player 7 Security Model
by Matthew David - 22-Oct-03
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You need to be paranoid in today's programming world. Very paranoid. Safe security is the only solace and in this article you will learn how to tighten down the security within your Flash movies.
Bye Bye Quicktime
by Tom Green - 14-Oct-03
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Does the release of Flash 7 make 3rd party media apps such as Quicktime, RealPlayer and Windows Media unneccessary?
Snowboarding game with Flash
by Matthew David - 10-Oct-03
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Games are a lot of fun. In this game you will build a simple snow boarding game. The concepts for the game can be used for any game you develop with Macromedia Flash.
Interview: The Future of Flash MX
by Paul Newman - 09-Oct-03
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A conversation with Macromedia Flash senior product manager Lucian Beebe about the current and future direction of Flash MX 2004.
Playing With the Context Menu - Part II
by Mustafa Basgun - 29-Sep-03
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In the previous article, Part I of the series, I mentioned that context menu can be customized in Flash Player 7 by using the latest version of Flash, MX 2004. This time, I'm going further and will play with this new feature in a slightly more complex way!
Flash Remoting in Flash MX 2004
by Tom Muck - 26-Sep-03
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Many people are wondering if Flash Remoting still supported in Flash MX 2004. The answer is “Yes”, however I think the next few months will be a transition period. The latest Flash Remoting components from Macromedia still utilize ActionScript 1.0 code, but the good news is that everything still seems to work. In this article I'll try to answer a few of those questions that have appeared since the release of Flash MX 2004 and Flash Professional.
Timeline Effects Gotcha in Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX 2004 Pro
by Tom Green - 25-Sep-03
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Timeline Effects in both versions of Flash MX 2004 are a great feature. But sometimes great features don't always work as you would expect them to. In the case of artwork imported into Flash, there is a gotcha with regards to Timeline Effects. Kim Cavanaugh and I have found a workaround that will allow you to import artwork into Flash and apply the Timeline Effects without incident.
Controlling the Halo Theme for Flash MX 2004 Components
by Matthew David - 22-Sep-03
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In this article you will learn how to programmatically skin Components in Flash MX 2004. You will add several Components to the Stage and through ActionScript, programmatically control the look and feel of the Components.
Playing With the Context Menu - Part I
by Mustafa Basgun - 11-Sep-03
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One of the important new features in Flash MX 2004 is the ability to customize the context menu. With this new version, we can now play with the menu you get when right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Macintosh).
Exploring the Behaviors Panel in Flash MX 2004
by Kim Cavanaugh - 08-Sep-03
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You know you're out there. You're an accomplished Dreamweaver user who really wants to be able to offer more Flash content to your clients. Problem is, as good as you are at getting Dreamweaver to produce pages that sizzle, getting over the learning curve with Flash is just darned difficult. The interface is so different and the number of panels you have to open and things that you have to do just to create interactive elements in Flash has always been a bit daunting, so you keep shying away from Flash as a result. Macromedia knows you're out there too, and in Flash MX 2004 they've added a new panel just for you--the Behaviors panel. Sound familiar? Well, that's the idea, giving you a functionality similar to the Dreamweaver Behaviors panel that makes the creation of simple (and even fairly complex) actions as easy as applying the behavior to an object within the movie.
Exploring Timeline Effects in Flash MX 2004
by Kim Cavanaugh - 03-Sep-03
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Flash MX 2004 introduces a whole new way of creating sophisticated effects in a snap with the new Timeline Effects feature. With these new tools you can create either animated effects with the Blur, Expand and Explode effects, animated transformations with the Transform and Transition effects, or static effects such as a drop shadow. Regardless of the effect that is created each of these features is easy to apply with the help of a live preview panel that allows you to see the effect before it is applied to the selected object. In this article we'll look at the interface for applying Timeline Effects and see some examples of the kinds of things that each allows you to create.
Overview of Flash MX 2004 Professional
by Mustafa Basgun - 02-Sep-03
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I was very lucky to have a chance to preview the latest version of Flash, Flash MX 2004 Professional. In this article I'll go over some of the new features that the folks at Macromedia have cooked up for us in this version. Let's get started! But, please keep in mind that I am going to walk through generally from the developer's perspective; focusing on the professional version.
CSS in Flash MX 2004
by Matthew David - 26-Aug-03
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One of the new features in Flash MX 2004 is the support for Cascading Style Sheets, CSS, in the Flash Player. In this article you will learn where and how to apply CSS formatting in a Flash movie.
Online Game Development with Macromedia Flash
by Matthew David - 28-May-03
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In this article you will be given an overview of the approach you need to take when building games with Macromedia Flash.
Suffix Abbrevations to make your code easier to write
by Matthew David - 26-May-03
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Naming conventions are important for any program that you create. This is certainly important for ActionScript (especially when you start to work with ServerSide ActionScript with Flash Remoting and Communication Server).
In this article you will be presented with the official list of suffix extensions you should place at the end of your ActionScript objects, arrays, and components.
Flash Remoting 101
by Tom Muck - 23-May-03
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When you hear the term "Flash Remoting", you might be wondering what exactly is being referred to. Macromedia's latest push towards the Rich Internet Application has at its core the Flash Remoting technology. This article will give you a brief introduction and show you the necessary requirements to getting it up and running on your machine and your web server.
Flash MX 3D Design
by Matthew David - 22-May-03
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3D is the new big "thing" for Flash. In this article you will learn how to construct a 3D model with just ActionScript. By the end of this article you will understand what you need to fool Flash (a natively two-dimensional tool) into thinking it is a 3D modelling tool.
Flash Remoting with .NET - Using the Custom Control
by Peter Ladka - 19-May-03
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Flash Remoting for .NET provides a powerful tools to allow you to use .NET to power you "Rich Internet Applications". This article will show you how to use the Flash custom control when passing data back and forth between your flash movies and .NET applications.
The Science of Color
by Stephanie Sullivan - 12-May-03
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How many times have you stared at that blank canvas trying to figure out just where to begin? If you know your business, your audience and the psychological effect you want to have on them, you're well ahead of the game. This article discusses ways to make a color plan and creatively and harmoniously blend your color palette.
