Just a quick note - the source files from my talk at tonight’s Adobe Usergroup SA meeting can be downloaded here.
You can download the Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder betas at labs.adobe.com (as well as a lot of other great stuff).
Anyway questions - let me know in the comments.
Enjoy!
Jassa
So the other day a friend of mine asked me if I’d ever needed to set an FLVPlayback component to start with the volume muted (and the mute icon set to muted). I hadn’t, but I got thinking about it and after a little research found the easiest way to go about it is to extend the FLVPlayback class and add the functionality yourself.
There are two parts to this. Firstly, we need to create the custom class. As you can see from the code below, all this needs to do is import the necessary classes and extend the FLVPlayback component. Then all I’ve done is added a setter so that you can choose whether or not you want to start the FLVPlayback component “muted”.
package {
import fl.video.UIManager;
import fl.video.flvplayback_internal;
import fl.video.FLVPlayback;
use namespace flvplayback_internal;
public class ExtendedFLVPlayback extends FLVPlayback {
public function ExtendedFLVPlayback() {
super();
}
public function set startMuted(v:Boolean):void{
if(v) this.uiMgr.dispatchMessage(UIManager.MUTE_ON_BUTTON);
}
}
}
Secondly, we need to create an instance of the player so we can actually use it. All we need to do here is create an instance of the ExtendedFLVPlayback component, give it a skin, and then set it to “startMuted”. Finally, give it a source to load in and add it to the stage.
var foo:ExtendedFLVPlayback = new ExtendedFLVPlayback();
foo.skin = “SkinOverPlayMute.swf”;
foo.startMuted = true;
foo.source = “someFLV.flv”;
addChild(foo);
There are a few things to note here. Firstly, you’ll need to have a copy of the FLVPlayback component in your library. Secondly, you’ll need to include a skin SWF. You can find the generic Flash ones in your Flash application folder under Common > Configuration > FLVPlayback Skins > Actionscript 3.0.
That’s about it - hopefully it helps someone out there. These little things that aren’t native settings can be a pain but with a little tweaking they’re easy to get over.
You can download the source files here (CS4 and CS3).
*UPDATE* - I’ve included a CS3 FLA in the ZIP file as well now.
Enjoy,
Jassa
Well it’s been a while since I last posted, and it seems I’m only posting when there’s a new issue of FFD out that I can plug - and seeing as that’s only once every two months, I’d say that’s fairly slack on my part! I guess the main reason for my lack of activity here is that it’s just been really busy. What with a busy project schedule, webdu and a new issue of FFD out I haven’t had much time for anything else.
I’ll start with the June issue FFD Magazine. It’s packed with great articles, tutorials and reviews as usual and I’d recommend checking it out. It’s available online or in Borders (and other major bookstores) in the US. Not sure if it’ll ever make the sunny shores of Oz but one can only hope…
This time round I’m extended my introduction to using Flickr in conjunction with Flash. The end result is a Flash based portfolio that is managed via a Flickr account. Much the same as the talk I gave at the AUGSA meet back in March, though a little more in depth.
Mike Chambers in his Burger King shirt at WebDU.
Webdu was amazing this year - the whole ordeal is run so smoothly and the atmosphere leaves you wishing it didn’t end so soon. I caught up with some old friends, and met a lot of new people. Highlights for me included:
I’ll see your Rob Rusher, and raise you a Minty Hunter!
So apart from that it’s been non-stop work. Lots of nice projects on the go, and a really nice “internal” project which should see the light of day (in some form) in the coming weeks.
Jassa
The April issue of Flash & Flex Developers Magazine is out and it’s well worth a read. This issue is packed with loads of good tutorials (connecting to your Wii from Flash, OOP in AS3 etc), reviews (numerous books and software) and an interview with Adobe Platform Evangelist, Lee Brimelow. Oh and buried in there somewhere of course there’s my introductory tutorial for getting started with Flickr in Flash. Be sure to order a copy online, or grab one from you local bookstore!
Jassa
This is just a quick post for those of you that were at the AUGSA meet this evening. You can download the basic source files here. You’ll need to add your own Flickr API key, secret and username. I’ve included the additional classes except for the as3corelib. You can download them all here though:
AS3 Core Library - http://code.google.com/p/as3corelib/
AS3 Flickr Library - http://code.google.com/p/as3flickrlib/
Bangersandfash Additional Classes - http://code.google.com/p/bangersandflash/
If you have any questions, just drop me a line or leave a comment below. You can check out the skinned version of the portfolio here.
Jassa
A fair bit has been happening of late, which is a lame excuse for not updating this blog but it’s an excuse none the less.
On Friday 13, I left the good people at Via Media to pursue a freelance career in Flash/Flex Development. I’ve been working at Via Media since it’s inception in mid 2007, and I’ve been involved with the most of the people there for a number of years prior to that. I’m thankful of my time there, and I wish them all the best…
…but the show must go on. The main reason I left Via was to take some time out to catch up on a bunch of AS3 stuff that I’ve been meaning to get on to for a while, and to get up to speed on a heap of APIs that I just haven’t had the time to get acquainted with. So now it’s full steam ahead with that, as well as some freelance Flash/Flex work. (So, if you need any AS3 development done, drop me a line).
Other than that, I’ll hopefully be writing more for Flash & Flex Developers Magazine as it’s now bi-monthly. I’ve written another ‘Getting Started..’ article about the Flickr API for the April issue, and should have something for the June issue too. Shout out if you want any certain topics covered and I’ll see what I can do!
What else… oh WebDU tickets are now on sale - and they’re discounted till the end of this month so go and grab one. Should be an awesome year with a great lineup….I’m noticing a certain Google trend.
Finally, I should have a portfolio site up soon-ish. Your own site is always the hardest to do, but we’ll see how it goes…
Jassa
***UPDATE***
This project has stopped working as it is part of a developers account - not commercial.
***
I’ve been a bit lazy on the blogging side of things so I thought I’d kick off 2009 with a new post. I spent a few hours with the Ribbit API over the xmas break and I’ve created a little AIR app I’m calling QuickDial. As the name suggests, it lets you call people from a favorites list..quickly. It’s really simple - I even used the Spellr interface since I wasn’t feeling all that creative on a stomach full of seafood and beer - and easy to use. You basically add a contact, give him/her a name and a number (be sure to use international and area codes), and then it’s stored locally. To dial you just start typing the name of the contact and you’ll be presented with a list of similar names from your contact list. Hit enter on the keyboard to dial, or delete to remove the contact from you list. That’s it!
If you’re a Flash/Flex developer, I strongly recommend you check out the Ribbit API. There is a lot of documentation and handy examples on the developer’s site, and there is even a competition running at the moment with a 100k up for grabs.
Click here or on the image below to install the QuickDial AIR app to your desktop, and leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Jassa
Just a quick note - I’ve got an article coming out in the next issue of Flex & Flash Developers Magazine (which I believe will be out in December). The article is titled Getting Started with Google Maps in Flash is centred around using the GoogleMaps API from the Flash IDE. The lineup for the articles in this issue looks pretty sweet so be sure to check it out when it hits the stores.
I’m hoping to write an article for the next issue (if I can get it in on time!) but I’m still undecided as to what topic to cover… At the moment it’s heading towards an introduction to Papervison3D, though I wouldn’t mind doing something on the AS3 Flickr API.
Thoughts?
Jassa
I’ve finally found some time to spend on my ImageTip class (a class that adds tooltip style images to words in an AS3 TextField). Check out the demo here.
At this stage you can setup imagetips with either a set image source (url), or a comma separated tag list that will pull the most recent relevant image from flickr.
You can find the class files here, along with an example FLA. Additionally, you’ll need to download the as3flickrlib classes. You’ll also need to include your flickr API key and Secret. You can find these parameters in the FlickrTip class.
If you have any suggestions/requests, just leave a comment below. This is totally a work in progress so I’ll just adding to it when I get the time. I’ll be implementing more flickr options next (tags from a selected user/group), and hopefully YouTube/FLV integration after that. I’ll also add CSS parameters to style the links.
Enjoy…
Jassa
After playing around with calling AS3 functions from a html TextField in Flash I’ve decided to create an image tooltip class. As you can see from this basic example you just need to put the word you want to add the tooltip to in a custom ‘imagetip’ tag, and then set some attributes.
In the example above I’ve only set a path to an image but I’m hoping to extend it across Flickr so that you can pull popular images tagged with that that word, or pull tagged images from a particular public user account.
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to look at it over the coming week or two - but I’ll post it up here as soon as I have something of substance!
Jassa