Knowing how AIR interacts with the local SQLite database helps as well. Essentially there are three parts to an AIR database setup:

• The SQLite database
• A class to interact with the database
• Classes to hold the results of a database query

The SQLite database

AIR uses SQLite for a local/offline database.  SQLite is a very easy db to work with, but its pretty Mickey Mouse in a lot of respects.  For example there is no true auto-increment feature so the developer has to handle record id generation him/herself.  Also there are no foreign keys which means that most relationships between tables must be handled by the calling application.  How can you call yourself a relational database when the major function for controlling relationships does not exist?!

One tool that anyone working with SQLite databases must have is a database management tool. Sometimes you just need to have a look at what is going on inside the database itself.   There are a few out there for SQLite, but one of the most useful is a simple plugin for Firefox.  SQLite Manager has many useful features including a simple SQL execution tool, that will make your SQLite development much easier.  Go get it!

The nice thing about using the built in SQLite database is that you don't need to mess around with a lot of connection properties.  You just point to a .db file (or create one) and away you go. You can concentrate on working with your data instead of trying to find the database.

Database Interaction Class

To make life easier I re-used a standard J2EE pattern for database connectivity - the Data Access Object (DAO).  A DAO is nothing more complicated than a class that acts as an interface between the AIR app and the database.  This way all db interactions (connection, queries, inserts, etc.) can be centralized and the rest of the AIR application doesn't need to deal with the db trivialities.  The db structure can also be changed without having to rewrite the entire application.

The first thing that I needed to do was to connect to the database - actually before that I needed to check if the database exists and if not then create it.   I did this in the constructor for the DAO class as it only needs to be done once.

//private vars
private var _dbExists:Boolean;
private var _dbConnection:SQLConnection;
private var _createFlyTypeTableStmt:SQLStatement = new SQLStatement();

........

public function LocalDAO(){
   _dbConnection = new SQLConnection();

   // Add event listeners to react when database connection is opened.
   _dbConnection.addEventListener(SQLEvent.OPEN, openSuccessHandler);
   //_dbConnection.addEventListener(SQLErrorEvent.ERROR, openErrorHandler);

  // The database file is to be stored in the user's application (UserData) folder.
   var dbFile:File = File.applicationStorageDirectory.resolvePath("FlyData.db");
   trace("Database file location is: " + dbFile.nativePath);

   //Check if the database has already been created.
   _dbExists = dbFile.exists;

  //Open the connection.
   _dbConnection.open(dbFile);
}

The nice thing is that if the FlyData.db database file does not exist then one will be created for me. 

The openSuccessHandler listener will wait until the db is opened (or created and opened).  If it is newly created then I want to create the tables in the database as well.  The listener will then call a method called initDatabase that will fire a bunch of CREATE SQL statements. Most interactions with the database happen via a SQLStatement, through which you pass standard SQL queries as strings.  The SQLStatement is pointed to the correct database using a SQLConnection object.  

/**
* Success handler for _dbConnection
**/
private function openSuccessHandler(event:SQLEvent):void
{
    //We have an open handle to the database file.
    //Next, we need to create the tables if this is a new database
    if(_dbExists){
          trace("Application Database already exists.");
    }else{
         trace("New Application Database, must generate tables");
         initDatabase();
    }
}

private function initDatabase():void{
    _createFlyTypeTableStmt.sqlConnection = _dbConnection;

    //Create the database tables
    var sql:String = "CREATE TABLE `Material` (`MaterialID` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL, `MaterialName` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,`Color` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL, `Size` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`MaterialID`))";
    _createFlyTypeTableStmt.text = sql;
    _createFlyTypeTableStmt.execute();

//more create statements follow .....

Great, now the database exists, has been connected and I know for sure that I have a table structure.  Next I need to be able to select and insert records.

Query Results Classes

You need to have a place to put the results of a search.  In Java you have a result set that you can parse for specific db columns.  In AIR the execution of an SQLStatement returns an array of objects.  The objects must match the structure of the query exactly (and I do mean exactly).  Therefore, for all practical purposes, you need to have a class for each database search - one for each table (or one that matches multiple tables in the case of a join).

The next thing to do then is to create classes for each of the possible searches.  In my case this means that each table will need a corresponding class.  For example I have a table called Material that has a MaterialID, MaterialName, Color and Size.  I therefore need a class that has all of those elements:

package components.dataStructures
{
   public class Material    {
      public var MaterialID:int;
      public var MaterialName:String;
      public var Color:String;
      public var Size:String;

   public function Material(){
   }

  }
}

When I perform a query against the Material database the result will be mapped into an array of the class Material:

public function getMaterials():void{

    _dbMaterialStatement.sqlConnection = _dbConnection;
    var sqlQuery:String = "SELECT * FROM Material";
    _dbMaterialStatement.itemClass = Material;
    _dbMaterialStatement.text = sqlQuery;
   //SQL calls are asynchronous so a listener for the results is required
    _dbMaterialStatement.removeEventListener(SQLEvent.RESULT,onDBMaterialSelectResult);
    _dbMaterialStatement.addEventListener(SQLEvent.RESULT, onDBMaterialSelectResult);
    _dbMaterialStatement.execute();

}

In AIR, database calls are asynchronous.  This means most calls to the db will involve the setup of a listener.  This can be a bit of a pain because its difficult to just setup a method to make a call and return a value, you have to setup a listener to wait for the call to be executed.  This leads to many, many listeners floating around and , take my advice, you need to make sure you remove the listeners when they are not needed.

private function onDBMaterialSelectResult(event:SQLEvent):void{
   var result:SQLResult = _dbMaterialStatement.getResult();
   if (result != null){
       MaterialData = result.data;
   }
}

Guess What Class I Am

As I said earlier, because SQLite does not implement a proper auto-increment feature, you must do it yourself.  Shouldn't be too hard - get the MAX of a column, add one and Bob's your Uncle.   Something like:
"SELECT MAX(MaterialID) FROM Material"
should work fine. That works, but there is an important little trick.  AIR returns the result of all db queries as an array of objects, you must specify what those objects are, usually by setting the SQLStatement's itemClass property.  Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work too well for the MAX function.  I thought that MAX should return an integer, or at best a long - but it doesn't. Setting the code to:
_dbMaxStatement.itemClass = int;
didn't work.  With much use of the Flex Builder's debugging tool, I determined that the MAX statement was returning an "id" class.  Okay, what the heck is an id class?  I can't just set
_dbMaxStatement.itemClass = id;
because I don't have the class "id" anywhere in my code - and I couldn't figure out its package designation. I tried recasting the result to an integer and it didn't work either. This all got very frustrating until a colleague pointed out that you can set the returned class type in the SQLStatement text itself. This lead to the following code:

_dbMaxStatement.sqlConnection = _dbConnection;
var sqlQuery:String = "SELECT MAX(MaterialID) AS id FROM Material";
_dbMaxStatement.text = sqlQuery;
_dbMaxStatement.execute();

var result:SQLResult = _dbMaxStatement.getResult();
var myint:int = result.data[0].id;
MaterialMax = myint;
trace ("***** MaterialMax: " + MaterialMax);

That little "AS id" makes all the difference in the world.

Prepared Statement

The one other thing that I wanted to mention is the use of variables inside a SQLStatement.  Since the statement is essentially a string, you could write it like:
var sqlQuery:String = "INSERT into Material (MaterialID, MaterialName, Color, Size) VALUES('" + material.MaterialID + "','" + material.MaterialName + "','" + material.Color + "','" + material.Size + "')"; The problem is that keeping track of the quotes and commas quickly becomes a nightmare.  Fortunately there is an easier way.

In Java there is the concept of a "prepared statement" in which a question mark is substituted for a variable entry in an SQL statement.  ActionScript has the same concept although it uses an @ symbol and a variable name instead of a question mark.  Using this method the same SQL command can be written as:

var sqlQuery:String = "INSERT into Material (MaterialID, MaterialName, Color, Size) VALUES(@MatID, @MatName, @MatColor, @MatSize)";
_dbMaterialStatement.text = sqlQuery;
_dbMaterialStatement.parameters["@MatID"] = material.MaterialID;
_dbMaterialStatement.parameters["@MatName"] = material.MaterialName;
_dbMaterialStatement.parameters["@MatColor"] = material.Color;
_dbMaterialStatement.parameters["@MatSize"] = material.Size;

This makes the code much easier to read and maintain.

Conclusion

Using the above methods I created the other tables, classes for holding results and DAO methods for querying and updating the database.  The next step will be to wire the database stuff back into the display objects that I created earlier.  As you may recall I had setup some temporary data sources that were hard coded.  I now want to use the real objects as returned from the database.

While at MAX, I learned about the 'Tour de Flex' website. I'm excited about the resources that are offered at Flex.org, but the Tour de Flex tool is especially focused and useful.

First, the site allows you to download the Tour de Flex AIR app. This is a tool similar to the Adobe Flex 3 Component Explorer. The Tour de Flex version is expanded, with 200 component examples, covering core components, data access, data visualization, mapping. and many others. Because it is an AIR app, the tool can also demo components and language features only available in AIR. There is also a listing of custom components, effects, skins, and other content created by the community.

One of the features I'm most excited about is the listing of Cloud APIs

A few clicks brings up example code for a bunch of online APIs. Viewing how to get started with Ebay, Amazon, or Google Maps is a great way to help an idea get off the ground. Even better, there's examples for some of the services that Adobe offers, like Acrobat.com and Photoshop.com. Way cool.

The tool also includes a download option, which creates a zip of the source code for the example you choose to download.

Another great feature is the Tour de Flex plugin for Eclipse. With this installed, you can browse the 200 examples from within your IDE. Having an example to look at often makes it easier to implement a component you haven't used before, or one you haven't used in a while. With this, there's no need to go looking around on the web for example code.

Check out the Tour de Flex page for more detail.

And from our friends on the Flash Authoring, and Flash Platform Evangelism teams:

• Flashthusiast (Jen deHaan): Lists of keyboard modifiers in the Flash CS4 motion model - lets you do more stuff
• Daniel Dura: Another TwitterCamp Update
• The Flash Blog (Lee Brimelow): Download Tour de Flex right now!
• The Flash Blog (Lee Brimelow): Flash and Flex Project Builder application
• The Flash Blog (Lee Brimelow): New tutorial on customizing Flex Builder
• The Flash Blog (Lee Brimelow): Win $100,000 doing Flash development!

Finally, a bunch of post-MAX wrap-ups, and session notes/files:

• Ted On Flex (Ted Patrick): MAX 2008 NA Session Recording
• Adobe MAX Blog: MAX 2008 NA Session Recording
• AIR Team blog: MAX Session: Maintain Security With Adobe AIR
• AIR Team blog: Oliver Goldman's "High Performance AIR Applications" MAX 2008 slides now available
• Kevin Hoyt: MAX 2008 Review and Content
• James Ward - RIA Cowboy: Duane's World: Road to MAX 2008 Europe with James Ward
• Adobe MAX Blog: Duane's World: Road to MAX 2008 Europe with James Ward
• FLEXing My Muscle (Raghu Rao): The MSRIT Mojo - Flex Bootcamp [Day 1] and The MSRIT Mojo - Flex Bootcamp [Day 2]
]]> Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:33:40 +0000 adobe air air performance air applications performance air team blog supports adobe air max session max flex This Week's Top Posts (11/26) http://softratty.com/article/cc13727a7c8bc82f214ba7ba3a32eeae http://softratty.com/article/cc13727a7c8bc82f214ba7ba3a32eeae License: GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

---

Changes:
The Jetty/Continuation implementation of Gravity was broken, while Tomcat/CometProcessor didn't scale well on heavy load. A new experimental feature has been added: Producer/Consumer should now automatically reconnect (and resubscribe) when the webapp is reloaded. Tide is now compatible with Seam 2.1. Additionally, there is new experimental Tide integration with plain EJB and Spring. A GlassFish security service and TopLink persistence support were added.
]]> Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:48:35 +0000 data services granite data services experimental tide integration tide public license toplink persistence support j2ee application servers license glassfish security service Granite Data Services 1.2.0 RC1 (Default branch) http://softratty.com/article/d13c4e4c073a4da3e84018e753b4f058 http://softratty.com/article/d13c4e4c073a4da3e84018e753b4f058 Tour de Flex is a desktop application for exploring Flex capabilities and resources, including the core Flex components, Adobe AIR and data integration, as well as a variety of third-party components, effects, skins, and more. Tour de Flex has three primary purposes:
• Provide non-Flex developers with a good overview of what is possible in Flex in a “look and see” environment
• Provide Flex developers with an illustrated reference tool
• Provide commercial and non-commercial Flex developers a place to showcase their work



One of the objectives of Tour de Flex is to provide a place for developers to showcase their work. They are always looking for new samples to add. You can follow the instruction and complete the sample submission form in order to submit your own Flex work.

Requirements: Flex
Demo: http://flex.org/tour
License: License Free

Related Posts

• Showcase Point is a Showcase of CSS, Flash Galleries
• Soundsnap - Platform to Find and Share Sound Effects
• 2D Fisheye Menus Component with Flex
• ASP.Net Ajax Control Toolkit
• Flare - Visualize Charts and Complex Animations on the Web

Sponsors

Dreamhost: Get $50 Off with Coupon Code: WEBAPPERS




]]> Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:01:44 +0000 provide provide flex developers developers flex flex capabilities non-commercial flex developers core flex components provide non-flex developers tour Tour de Flex - Explore Flex Capabilities and Resources http://softratty.com/article/25ebede579002610ecaf34155699897a http://softratty.com/article/25ebede579002610ecaf34155699897a DefineFont4 Embedded Font Subsetting in Flex Gumbo First of all, you need to set up Flex Gumbo for use in your development environment. There are some instructions for doing so here: using the beta gumbo sdk in flex builder 3.

First, I'll show you the code for embedding a full font with DefineFont4:

[Embed(source='C:/WINDOWS/Fonts/AdobeArabic-Regular.otf', cff='true', fontFamily='_AdobeArabicFull')]
private const AdobeArabicFullFont:Class;

Note the cff='true' attribute. This is necessary to specify DefineFont4. The fontFamily is a user-specified value that will be used later to refer to the embedded font.

The unicodeRange attribute is the key to subsetting. It accepts a comma separated list of Unicode values. There are two methods for specifying these values: individual (U+0627) and ranges (U+0625-U+0630). I recommend BabelPad for converting your text into Unicode for use in selecting the unicodeRange values.

[Embed(source='C:/WINDOWS/Fonts/AdobeArabic-Regular.otf', cff='true', fontFamily='_AdobeArabicSubset', unicodeRange='U+0627,U+0644,U+0625,U+062E,U+0627,U+0621')]
private const AdobeArabicSubsetFont:Class;


The following is the full code for my subsetting example. The TextView component is a Gumbo instance of Text Layout Framework. I have included three of them to demonstrate the difference in specifying device, subsetted, and fully embedded fonts. Note that the embedded fonts all include the fontLookup="embeddedCFF" attribute and reference the fontFamily that was specified above to select the appropriate font.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FxApplication name="Subsetting Example" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009">
<layout><HorizontalLayout/></layout>
<Script>
<![CDATA[
[Embed(source='C:/WINDOWS/Fonts/AdobeArabic-Regular.otf', cff='true', fontFamily='_AdobeArabicSubset', unicodeRange='U+0627,U+0644,U+0625,U+062E,U+0627,U+0621')]
private const AdobeArabicSubsetFont:Class;

[Embed(source='C:/WINDOWS/Fonts/AdobeArabic-Regular.otf', cff='true', fontFamily='_AdobeArabicFull')]
private const AdobeArabicFullFont:Class;
]]>
</Script>

<TextView id="deviceFont" fontSize="28" fontLookup="device" fontFamily="AdobeArabic-Regular">
Device: &#x0627;&#x0644;&#x0625;&#x062E;&#x0627;&#x0621;
</TextView>
<TextView id="subsetFont" fontSize="28" fontLookup="embeddedCFF" fontFamily="_AdobeArabicSubset">
Subset: &#x0627;&#x0644;&#x0625;&#x062E;&#x0627;&#x0621;
</TextView>
<TextView id="fullFont" fontSize="28" fontLookup="embeddedCFF" fontFamily="_AdobeArabicFull">
Full: &#x0627;&#x0644;&#x0625;&#x062E;&#x0627;&#x0621;
</TextView>
</FxApplication>

Output from this SWF looks like this (image edited to fit on the page):

Notice how the 'Subset:' text is using the Times New Roman as a fallback font. The necessary glyphs were not included due to the subset. The coolest part about this example is that the Arabic text is using ligatures to display itself properly, and you didn't have to worry about that when choosing the values to embed!



Building a Font SWF for use in any Flash Application

This was an important technique used for the 'World Language' portion of the 'World Class Text Tour' on our labs page. While the application was being built in Flash CS4, it was necessary to use DefineFont4 subsetting in order to embed the glyphs used in all 10 of the language samples and show off all the features that enable all of those complex scripts to look fantastic. It's extremely simple to build a Font SWF, in fact, just remove the TextView components from the example in the previous section and you have a Font SWF ready to be used in any Flash app.

Using a font SWF in a Flex/AIR application: There is already a great explanation of this over on Flex examples: embedding fonts from a flash swf file into a flex application.

Using a font SWF in a Flash Profession CS4 application: As I mentioned above, the 'World Language' portion of the 'World Class Text Tour' on our labs pages used DefineFont4 embedding for all of the languages. Their app is a great example of how to use a font SWF in a Flash CS4 app and we've made the source available for download: World Language Source Code. It makes use of the Font.registerFont call in order to make the embedded fonts available for use in TLF. The code for the font SWF is also included in that ZIP file. Please feel free to post in the comments if you'd like to see us do a more in depth explanation of how this is working.

Also - for general information about font embedding in Flash Professional CS4, check out page 6 in our Flash CS4 Component Overview.]]> Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:04:19 +0000 font flash swf file swf font swf opentype font fallback font font swf ready flash flash app Embedded Font Subsetting Using DefineFont4 http://softratty.com/article/4d7819f5a8972c9362a97dbb571132e8 http://softratty.com/article/4d7819f5a8972c9362a97dbb571132e8 I wanted to take a few minutes today to respond to Stefan Richter's thoughtful posting from last week, responding to our announcement of the Public Beta. I've always followed Stefan's blog pretty closely, and he's definitely on my "top Flash devs I'd like to have a beer with" list. So when he's got stuff to say about Cocomo, I listen.



Reading through Stefan's post, there are a few nuggets that were really satisfying (to me, and yes, I crave validation..).

"Having taken part in the Cocomo pre-release program I have had the opportunity to use the technology first hand and the team at Adobe (many of which are familiar faces) have done an incredibly good job. The platform cannot be faulted from a technical standpoint."

Thanks Stefan! More than anything, I've been focusing on the API architecture, designing the approach we take in exposing the Cocomo platform to developers. Hearing that someone at Stefan's level of experience with FMS thinks we've got a good technical foundation, to me, is nerd manna. To extend the pat-on-the-back-fest for one more quote (then we'll get to the real deal, I promise), I thought this was particularly gratifying - he describes how Cocomo development differs from FMS development :

"A key differentiators is the fact that Cocomo is a pure client side framework, meaning the developer has no access to the server side code. This is not a big issue since Adobe is aiming to provide all required functionality without the developer requiring access to any server side logic."

For me, having been in this game a pretty long time, I can remember when an idea like the above ("no access to server side code!") was laughable, something to be derided. Seeing the world slowly come to accept this idea has been a sea change that we're happy to be sailing in.


But let's not get too caught up in ourselves - Stefan has some pretty pointed commentary around Cocomo's positioning with regard to FMS :

" What concerns me are Adobe's efforts to push further into the domain of their own developers, and potentially competing with them on a playing field on which the referee may be playing for the opponent. I'm not yet convinced whether Cocomo will open more doors than it will close, and it is clear that any application built using Cocomo is competing with applications that were previously built with FMS. Undoubtedly this will drive some developers away from FMS since Cocomo is now the suggested way to build collaborative applications."

I'd like to hear something more clear on this from Stefan, but I can at least offer my point of view [disclaimer, I work for Adobe, but I am not Adobe]. I just don't see how Cocomo constitutes "competing with developers". If Cocomo is the right platform for an application (which it won't always be), then the developer has a choice to use Cocomo or not (be that FMS, LCDS, etc). At no point are we intending to get in that developer's way - we're not about taking away the option to purchase licenses of our server products! I don't anticipate a sudden flight away from FMS - there are tons of great products out there using FMS, and most will continue to do so.


The "referee" analogy seems really emotionally charged, but doesn't fit imo - I don't think there's a competition going on for developers' share of money. If a developer chooses Cocomo, she'll make money. If she chooses FMS, she'll make money. In some cases more, in some cases less, depending on the situation. So I think there's a difference in when you would choose which platform - but they're just tools in a toolbox. To parry with another weird analogy - this is like saying that the invention of socket wrenches hurt everyone who used open-ended wrenches; they do similar jobs, after all.




So, although the use cases have some overlap, I think that the situations and audience we're trying to reach with Cocomo are different than the ones FMS reaches out to. I think there will ALWAYS be a place for FMS - places where server side scripting is required, or a hosted service is unpalatable, or where really customized requirements just don't fit with Cocomo. But the flipside is also true - there will be developers who would honestly never consider putting real-time collaboration in their applications (or even using Flex, period), because it isn't cost effective for their use case or because it was something they weren't familiar enough with to try. These are devs for whom Cocomo is a natural fit.

This is an important point. We'd like to lower the barriers to real-time collaboration, and hosting the service is a piece of that which can't be ignored - it makes some things *really* easy. But in lowering the barriers, it also raises expectations, which I think has the potential to benefit *anyone* doing work in the rtc space; once rtc becomes more common, there will be more demand for it. If you're a kickass FMS dev, you'll most certainly be a kickass Cocomo dev, and for projects where Cocomo makes sense for you, you'll have yet another tool in the toolset to get what you need done. Even if you never want to touch Cocomo, increased demand for rtc will still find its way to you.

I'm sure I haven't fully answered Stefan's concerns, but I look forward to hearing more from him on the subject - ultimately, the team we're both playing for here is "people who want to make the web more immediate and social", and I don't see how recruiting more players hurts our chances of winning.


]]> Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:53:56 +0000 cocomo fms cocomo constitutes cocomo platform developer chooses cocomo developer cocomo pre-release program touch cocomo kickass cocomo dev Of Referees and Wrenches : Cocomo vs FMS, Redux http://softratty.com/article/97fab0c42b3ca77019cdc7f6eb093e67 http://softratty.com/article/97fab0c42b3ca77019cdc7f6eb093e67 License: The Apache License 2.0

---

Changes:
The Java UI has been replaced with a Flex 3 UI. The admin interface is also programmed in Flex 3 now and uses Google's app engine, so there is no need for installation. Using Salvation Focus is now as easy as including a Flash application on your Web page.
]]> Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:00:37 +0000 salvation focus flash application application license people apache license web site app engine pray Salvation Focus 0.9.1 (Default branch) http://softratty.com/article/2418fc971ab0d1b90b5c11cea780ff40 http://softratty.com/article/2418fc971ab0d1b90b5c11cea780ff40 actionscriptexamples.com/) a few months ago, but have been holding off on posting the URL until I got some content posted. Well, content has gone a lot slower than planned, but I think I finally have enough entries where the site may be useful to somebody out there.

The ActionScript Examples blog mainly focuses on ActionScript 3.0 solutions in the Flash Authoring IDE (Flash CS3 and CS4 specifically). My Flex SDK and Flex Builder specific examples will continue to be posted on blog.flexexamples.com. There are also a few interesting examples of using the Flex SDK compiler in Flash CS4 though, so there will definitely be a bit of overlap between the two blogs.

And since I love using unordered lists, here's what I've posted about in the past nine months since I first set up the blog:

• Loading FLV files in ActionScript 3.0 using the NetConnection and NetStream classes
• Loading text files using the URLLoader class in ActionScript 3.0
• Loading URL encoded variables into a Flash application using the URLLoader class in ActionScript 3.0
• Decoding URL encoded strings in a Flash application using the URLVariables class in ActionScript 3.0
• Using the ExternalInterface class in ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0
• Creating transition effects using the TransitionManager class in ActionScript 3.0
• Loading external MP3 files in ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0
• Displaying a dynamically loaded MP3 file's ID3 information in ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0
• Dynamically loading an image in ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0
• Dynamically loading external XML files using ActionScript 3.0
• Positioning a dynamically loaded image in ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0 using the MovieClipLoader class and Loader class
• Overriding the default framerate for a tween in Flash
• Using embedded fonts with the ComboBox control in Flash CS3
• Using embedded fonts with the DataGrid control in Flash CS3
• Using embedded fonts with the Button control in Flash CS3
• Dynamically adding cue points to an FLV using the FLVPlayback control in ActionScript 3.0
• Creating data grid columns using the DataGridColumn object
• Sorting data grid columns numerically in Flash CS3
• Determining the current sort column and sort order on a Flash CS3 DataGrid control
• Calling ActionScript functions from JavaScript using the ExternalInterface API in ActionScript 2.0
• Determining which classes are automatically imported in Flash CS3 and Flash CS4
• Using the Flex SDK with Flash CS4
• Embedding images into a Flash document using the [Embed] metadata
• Copying a dynamically loaded image’s pixels to a new Bitmap instance
• Embedding fonts in Flash CS4 using ActionScript
• Using JSFL to determine your current Flex SDK path in Flash CS4

For lots of information about using the new Motion Editor features in Flash CS4, check out Jen deHaan's blog, Flashthusiast, and for more information on Flash+Flex integration from Tareq AlJaber on the Adobe Flash Authoring team, check out his blog at http://flashauthoring.blogspot.com/.

]]> Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:14:59 +0000 blog actionscript flash flash document adobe flash actionscript examples blog flash cs3 actionscript functions flash cs4 New ActionScript blog - http://actionscriptexamples.com/ http://softratty.com/article/948950adafe6a235576a912db15f3b54 http://softratty.com/article/948950adafe6a235576a912db15f3b54 The team behind the very impressive Google Maps API for Flash recently addressed a popular feature request that involves extending support of their API's to Adobe AIR.

Dmitri Abramov posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog:

There were both technical and legal challenges blocking AIR support in our API. AIR has a different security model, which required a number of changes to the "internal plumbing" of the API in order to implement our delayed-loading model, where the actual implementation of the map's functionality loads dynamically from Google's servers once the application launches. Also, our Terms of Service used to specify that the Maps API could only be used for online web applications.

Now that both the API and Terms of Service have undergone a facelift, we are releasing the first version of the API that will allow Flash/Flex developers to bring Google Maps to the AIR runtime.

This is great news for Adobe AIR developers looking to build on Google's mapping API's. The team has also put together a great tutorial that shows how to take advantage of this functionality from Flex Builder. Our thanks to the Google Maps API team for making this possible!

]]> Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:28:00 +0000 air adobe air maps api api air runtime adobe air developers google google maps air support Google Maps API for Flash now supports Adobe AIR