moxie & me

Posted on December 2, 2007 by chad.
Categories: Flex.

“moxie & me,” it sounds like a chick flick. Hell, with the amount of time i spend with Moxie…

Builder 3 (aka “Moxie”) Beta 2 is engaged in a user-friendly direction. Unlike my relationships. Adobe is all over their bug database. Moxie’s current character flaws are worth noting:

  • Pre-Moxie workspaces will act irreverant. Import all old projects into a fresh workspace.
  • When your project clearly isn’t building, turn off “Project/Properties/ Compiler/Generate HTML wrapper file.” Then click “Apply” and turn it on again. Sometimes it works. Other times you need to make a new Project.

Not bugs but some tips to save you time:

  • When drawing shapes programmatically: create a UIComponent rather than a Shape, Sprite, or something else that you’d think would work.
  • this
    1. var loader:Loader = new Loader();
      var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/images/image1.jpg");
      loader.load(url);
      this.rawChildren.addChild(loader);

    is not as correct as this

    1. var loader:Image = new Image();
      loader.load("http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/images/image1.jpg");
      this.addChild(loader);
  • Skinning the MenuBar points:
    1. You can apply styles for the submenu to Menu, including borderSkin, fontSize, paddingLeft, and now in build 187191 if openDuration=0, you can skin showEffect.
    2. The submenu doesn’t exist until activated from the MenuBar. myMenuBar.addEventListener(MenuEvent.MENU_SHOW, setSubMenuProperties); You can then alter additional properties and add filters, masks, …
    3. If your user group is expecting MenuBar RollOver to show the menu, you must play Houdini. Listen to anyone having a MOUSE_OVER:
      1. menubar.getChildAt(j).addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, menuItemRollover);

      Redirect the event:

      1. e.target.dispatchEvent(new MouseEvent(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN));

flex bug makes 9-slice seem slippery

Posted on June 29, 2007 by chad.
Categories: Flex.

an especially relevant bug to anyone skinning, 9-slice is non-operative on bitmap assets imported from flash. this lost me a couple hours while skinning tonik.

SearchCoders Dashboard: apollo app integrates as3 dev’s

Posted on June 23, 2007 by chad.
Categories: Flex.

Find code & commentary.  Provides mail list tracking, RSS feed pulls, Search, plus Chat about /Apollo/Flash.

editing page content without leaving the page

Posted on June 15, 2007 by chad.
Categories: UI.

we should have immediate user feedback working on our flash sites.  ely greenfield’s flex controls provide one means to the end.  his classes allow on-page field editing.

navigation via landscape

Posted on by chad.
Categories: UI.

although posted as an example of easy charting in . i like macro view & zoom for user navigation.

a landscape component, with several examples, shows landscape navigation through its flickr image search.  press “go.”