Tag Archive for 'air'

16
Feb
10

Flex 4/Air Unit and Currency Converter

By Jason Langdon 4 Comments
Categories: Air and Flex Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is my first foray into using Flex 4, and it takes off from where I was at with my Converter application (as mentioned here, here and here) back in September of 2006 (shizzer time flies!).

I’ve changed the currency conversion to use Google’s Finance site, which means far more accurate conversions are occurring now.

I’d like to make it so you can select multiple currencies and convert to them all at one time. Also with the ability to remember the settings that you’ve used.

If anyone else has got any ideas about features they’d like to see just leave me a comment.

You can view the web version of the converter here www.wrench.com.au/converter

Please upgrade your Flash Player This is the content that would be shown if the user does not have Flash Player 9.0.115 or higher installed.

Or you can install the Air app by clicking on the install badge if you’d prefer to have it on your desktop.

I’m using Flash Builder 4 Beta 2 to create this app. I’ve had to setup 2 projects to export both the web and Air version of the converter. If anyone’s got any tips on doing this from a single project then that would be appreciated. I suppose if it was a more complex piece of code, then there’d be some benefit in splitting the codebase, as it is this just adds a hurdle in the way of a smooth development process.

I’ve also given up on trying to fix the security issues I was having with accessing an external link on a 3rd party server for the currency conversions (as detailed back in the first three posts I made on the converter). I’ve got a php proxy page on my server instead which calls the google site and then returns the results to the swf. This only occurs for the web version though, the Air one connects directly to Google so is about 250ms quicker on each currency conversion.

15
Dec
08

Flex Builder trace() issues

By Jason Langdon 13 Comments
Categories: Flex Tags: , , , , , .

I’m having a few issues with Flex Builder and Sephiroth’s FlashTracer Firefox extension at the moment. The first issue is that the Design view in Flex actually traces things like:

-> Begin call to AS: getGlobalPoint(Canvas1,-1,-1)
<- End call to AS: getGlobalPoint, Result = 494,409
-> Begin call to AS: showConstraints(false)
<- End call to AS: showConstraints, Result = null
-> Begin call to AS: getGlobalPoint(Canvas1,-1,-1)

Which can clutter up the FlashTracer console. Not only that, it also causes the FlashTracer to choke on the number of lines it is displaying which in turn causes Firefox to crash. Not an ideal way to debug an application.

I set out to remedy my problem this morning. And I managed to stumble across a Java version offering the same functionality as FlashTracer. Flash Tracer (imaginatively named ;-) can be found at it’s Google Code home. As I’m running the Firefox extension in it’s own window, this fits well with my work flow at the moment. So the fact that it’s not integrated into Firefox doesn’t matter for me so much.

Does anyone have any tips for getting Flex Builder to stop its incessant chitter chatter of trace outputs?

Still related to the flashlog.txt file, I’m completely baffled as to why running an Air application locks the log file and stops any other process from writing to it. So when debugging, be sure to close down all your Air apps. Very handy, certainly aids with my workflow when I’m trying to create things in Flash. Thanks Adobe. And I’ve logged a wishlist request and asked a few questions using the usual channels so will hopefully receive a good reason for the file being locked (I’m assuming it’s not just for kicks).

I just realised that the latest version of the Firefox plugin is only 2.2.0 yet on Sephiroth’s page there’s a 2.3.1 version. I’ll install that and see if it resolves the crashing issues).

UPDATE: I just came across SOS Max via Wezside’s blog Ahhh, you’ve gotta love Google! The SOS Max debugger looks very good and I think it probably trumps both FlashTracer and Flash Tracer.

13
Nov
08

Good at writing lists; bad at crossing things off them

By Jason Langdon 5 Comments
Categories: Air and General Tags: , , , , .

I’ve spent a good deal of the last couple days fiddling around with two list applications (they’re both Air apps). The first one, MiniTask takes (as the name suggests) a minimalist approach to task lists. The second one, Simple Tasks V2 is much more complex and has a few of the features that I think would be useful in MiniTask. However Simple Tasks doesn’t appear to be in development anymore, and also unfortunately quite buggy (tasks don’t save sometimes, which kinda defeats the purpose).

The irony of all this is that instead of getting the things done on my list (which is currently just a basic text formatted list in an Outlook task item) I’ve been searching for the perfect way to store my to-do’s. Talk about procrastinating!!

So how do you go about actually getting things on your list done? Is it the way you break the lists down, or organise them, or only have three things in there at once, or plan your day to tackle items x, y and z…?

I’ve even got Getting Things Done on my bookshelf at the moment, but wouldn’t you know it I’ve been procrastinating about reading that too!!!

There’s actually an items on one of my lists (yes I’ve got more than one) to create a time management app. And you guessed it, that hasn’t been crossed off the list yet either.

Sheish!

03
Apr
08

Ready or not, AIR I come!

By Jason Langdon 3 Comments
Categories: Air Tags: , , , , , , .

Sorry about the terrible play on words there (I’ve been taking too many literary cues from the Adelaide Advertiser ;-) but I am pretty excited about travelling to the UK next week and attending the London onAIR conference. Obviously it’s a long way to travel from Adelaide, Australia to the UK for a free conference - so I better get my money’s worth! hehe, no seriously I’m moving over there to play some cricket and try and spruce up my Flash portfolio (if there’s any Flash developer work going around Cambridge, I’d love to hear about it)

So if you’re an Aussie travelling across or already in London planning on attending the conference or for that matter anyone interested in making another acquaintance just leave me a comment. I shouldn’t be hard to miss… I’ll be the bloke with his life’s possessions on his back having come straight from Heathrow to attend the London Tour, and probably a Red Bull in each hand trying to shake off the 16,000 odd kilometres of drowsiness. So apologies in advance if I nod off during one of the presentations having found a nice comfy spot on your shoulder ;-)

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