Winton DeShong

Web / Flash Development

If you are a MXML and/ or ActionScript developer using Eclipse, you must use FlexFormatter. Head over to sourceforge and grab this eclipse plug-in NOW! Finally, an end to the war between new-liners and same-liners.

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Over the last several months I have been migrating to a different approach for routine backups. For longer than I can remember, I have manually backed up data from my various computers to a centralized Fedora Core Linux file server. My box only required a power and network cable to work. Pressing the power button would start her up and again to begin the shut down procedure. Occasionally I’d SSH in to make sure my RAID was working and to do any necessary updates.

Over time, even that process has become a chore for me. In an attempt to become lazier than I already am, I have been using large external drives with time machine to do routine backups of my primary systems.

Though time machine is a breeze, finding an external hard drive that is reliable hasn’t been so easy. After using a mix match of different enclosures and smaller hard drives I had laying around, I decided to consolidate. I looked around and decided to get the LaCie d2 quadra 500GB hard drive. At the time the quadra was attractive because of the price vs. storage ratio and the fact that I could use several interfaces besides USB.

Sadly, it only took 2-3 months of use for it to FAIL. One day, conveniently when I was going to upgrade the hard drive in my laptop for work, the drive decided it wouldn’t start. So, I talked with support and requested a new power cable. Apparently, it is common for their drives to have faulty power cable. No big deal, two weeks and a reminder to LaCie (they forgot to ship it), I received a new cable. For the time being, all was well.

Again, after about 2-3 months of use, my drive would not start. This time it came with an added bonus, the connection to the drive shot off sparks when connecting the power cable.

So, the next time you are in the market for an external hard drive, I’d avoid LaCie products if I were you. In turn, check out the following external drives that I’ve used:

1. Western Digital My Passport External Hard drives - Perfect if you need a drive that is extremely compact and reliable, but don’t require a fire wire, or esata interface. I’ve had the 60GB version of this drive for over 3 years and it still runs perfect!

2. Macally G-S350SUA Hi-Speed eSATA/FireWire/USB2.0 Storage Enclosure - This enclosure has several interfaces and is relatively light. It comes in two different models depending on if you want fire wire in addition to eSATA and USB. You can actually pair one of these enclosures with a 1TB Seagate drive for less than $200!

3. Western Digital My Book - Finally, there is the My Book. This option is probably the most popular of the three I’m describing. The enclosure is double the thickness of the Macally, or 2nd option, described above, but it comes with a few more flavors.

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I recently stumbled upon a pretty cool project released by Kap Lab called PureMVC Console. The debugging console allows you to track various aspects of your single/multi-core PureMVC applications in a convenient manner. Setup is simple and the developer guide shows you how to easily switch your project between production and debug mode via compiler directives. During run-time of your application, you can hit a simple key command to bring the debug console up. This project is definitely worth a look!

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Problem Summary

File browsing/uploading/saving is a common task. What is the best way to implement file handling while using the PureMVC framework?

Solution Summary

Below I propose a foundation for handling file browsing/uploading/saving in a single-core PureMVC application.

Explanation

In both single-core and multi-core PureMVC applications, I tend to keep all of the FileReference/FileReferenceList event handling in a Proxy. This allows for application/module -wide handling/presentation of errors related to file uploading. It also abstracts the code for re-use in all of your components in the application.

For more, check out my Flex Cookbook post at http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/communityengine/index.cfm?event=showdetails&postid=12706&loc=en_US&productid=2.

Project source files

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Problem

I’ve been migrating to Git for my SCM needs. Using the command line is fine and all, but it would be nice to have a more accessible and streamlined approach. One that works with eclipse/flex builder?

Solution

The EGit project is an eclipse plug-in for managing projects that use Git. Though the project is somewhat new, it has come a long way. It is simple to use and the project is constantly being improved.

Explanation

For more information, see my flex cookbook article at http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/communityengine/index.cfm?event=showdetails&postid=12606&loc=en_US&productid=2.

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Problem Summary

The most common approach to configure your environment to talk to amf services is through a file called services-config.xml and RemoteObject. The problem is that services-config.xml is used at compile-time. This creates annoyances when using multiple developers and/or multiple platforms for development, deployment, etc…

Solution Summary

In my case, I decided to migrate the endpoint-uri from the services-config.xml file into a configuration XML file that is used at run-time. Each site can then have it’s own config file and I only need to compile the application once.

Explanation

For this example, I’m going to assume you already know how to create, load, and parse XML files and feed that data throughout your application. In my case, I created a singleton with a static property of ‘endpointURI’ that can be referenced through the application.

See my post on the Flex Cookbook for more details.

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Problem

Utilizing SOAP web services to communicate with Flex has many benefits, but it’s slow. Using custom XML can be light-weight, but it’s not standard. What is the best route for someone using ASP.NET?

Source

ASP.NET and Flex Source Code [1.8 MB]

Explanation

Instead of using SOAP or your own custom XML solution, I recommend giving AMF a try. Visit http://osflash.org/documentation/amf.

Read more

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For those of you using Textmate and/or Git on the Mac, check out OpenInGit and OpenInTextMate.

For those of you who aren’t…convert now!

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Problem Summary

Almost all of the projects I work on in Flex utilize some form of authentication. So I needed a base flex project that had an authentication wrapper built with the PureMVC Framework.

Solution Summary

Being that I use PureMVC in all of my flash/flex development, I have several base projects on hand to get a project rolling. If you use PureMVC or are interested in getting your feet wet, here you go!

Explanation

For this example, I am going to assume some underlying knowledge of OOP, Flex, and PureMVC. For simplicity sake, I removed any flex remoting specific code (ex. SOAP, XML, AMF, etc…). In another example I’ll demonstrate how to setup projects using both SOAP and AMF based web services.

Requirements:

1. Flex Builder / Eclipse
2. PureMVC Framework (source or SWC) http://www.puremvc.org
3. Understanding of Object-oriented principles.

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In support of the Flex Cookbook, the source code and further explanation will be provided on the Adobe Developer Connection website.
Source code - ADC Flex Cookbook

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For anyone using the Adobe Developer Connection flex cookbook, check out the flex builder/eclipse RSS plug-in at http://flex.actionscript.it/index.php?title=RssPanel_En. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, definitely head on over to the ADC and check it out!

Install path: http://flex.actionscript.it/plugins/RssFlex/

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