The Problem
The problem arises when you create an ArrayCollection from some data, and it only has one item. For some reason this is not classified as a collection (I guess by definition you need more than one of anything to make a collection) and therefore when you create your ArrayCollection to use as a DataProvider, it throws and error as it believes the ArrayCollection is null.

Consider the following block of code:

private function handleResult(e : ResultEvent):void
{
_myArrayCollection = e.result.item as ArrayCollection;
}

In this instance, if e.result.item is a single item the debugger will throw a TypeError.

The Solution
To overcome this, we simply need to check if indeed the data we’re trying to use to create our ArrayCollection involves multiple items. I’ve found the easiest and most failsafe way to do this is to check it against a type. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say the data source for the ArrayCollection is an Array of Strings. All we need to do is check if the the data is a String. If it is, then we know there’s only one item and we can create our ArrayCollection using the ArrayCollection(source:Array) constructor. If it isn’t a String, we can assume it is a group of items and can therefore cast them as an ArrayCollection.

private function handleResult(e : ResultEvent):void
{
_myArrayCollection = (e.result.item is String)
? new ArrayCollection([e.result.item])
: e.result.item as ArrayCollection;
}

Like I said, there are a few different ways of doing this so have a look around and see what works best for you.

So, I sat down with my accountant last week and we went through the numbers for 2009  - 2010. This means that I quit full-time employment in favour of freelancing almost 18 months ago. Being a gun for hire in the sometimes-dangerous-but-never-boring world of freelancing can be daunting. How much work will I get this month? Will this proposal be worth the time I’m putting into it? Bottom line is, there are no guarantees. You win some, you lose some. And for the most part, you learn by trial and error.

On the battlefield that is the day-to-day landscape of a flash/flex gun-for-hire, I’ve come to rely on a few applications that have saved me a lot of time. And at the risk of sounding cliche: time == money. Some of them are specific to the type of work/development I do, and some are more general. But they all help.

Five time saving apps I wouldn’t go to war without… in no particular order.

• Harvest – www.getharvest.com. I only started using this in the last 3 months but it has improved my general time management dramatically. I’m only using it’s time tracking and invoicing features, but those alone are worth the US$90 per year. When you’re up to your neck in code trying to meet endless deadlines (oxymoron?) the last thing you want to be doing is trying to remember how much time was spent on each section of each project, when the next invoice can be sent out, if the last one was even paid etc etc. With Harvest, one quick look at the dashboard will tell you the status of a project, the remaining budget, any outstanding invoices etc. And the best bit – it looks pretty. It’s also a great tool for analyzing which project areas are more profitable, which ones are slowing you down, and so on and so forth. There are a host of other features that I haven’t really had the time to check out, but even if you use it for time tacking and invoices alone, it’s worth it. There’s an iPhone app and some desktop widgets to boot!
• Quicksilver – www.blacktree.com. I’m lazy. I hate having to browse with a mouse/trackpad trying to find files. As the slogan suggests, with Quicksilver you can “act without doing”. Any application, folder, document, whatever, is only a couple of keystrokes away. And it’s not just for browsing to files – you can move, upload, or search within a file just as easily. And it’s super responsive – sometimes I can swear it’s thinking for me.
• Google Apps - www.google.com/apps. It’s cheap, it looks nice, and it shits all over my old exchange server. There really isn’t much more to it.
• FDT – fdt.powerflasher.com. If I had to make an estimate on how much time this saves me compared to using other code editors, I’d have to say somewhere in the realm of 50%. I’m talking purely about physically typing out code here, but still, that’s a A LOT of time that can be used instead on planning, or debugging, or where ever else it might be needed. I really have to hand it to the Powerflasher team on this one – it’s refactoring is awesome; it’s Quickfixes are the shit; it’s like the Quicksilver of code editors. Sometimes I even wonder why my trackpad is there. I have to admit, I’m still using FlashBuilder for Flex applications (though I hear the MXML support is pretty fantastic in version 4, I just haven’t had time to check it out myself), but for pure AS3 projects you just can’t go past FDT. Sure, it’s fairly pricey, but you’ll make up for that pretty quickly in the time you’ll save yourself by using it.
• Robotlegs – www.robotlegs.org. I heart Robotlegs. I’ve used it on a number of projects now and as far as a lightweight MVCS framework goes, this is as good as it gets. It’s saved me a lot of time during planning and testing, it’s helped keep my code nice and clean/manageable, and I haven’t even used a lot of it’s features. It’s a winner.

So there you have it. They are the tools that make my work a lot easier. If you agree, disagree, or have better/more tools or methods to share – leave a comment.

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

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:

• Codewars
• Both Keynotes
• The lunch time Flash Focus forum with the Microsoft infrastructure guys
• Mike Chambers on Advanced Desktop Development
• Michael Labriola on data binding in Flex
• Phil Douglas on PureMVC
• Michael Plank on simultaneous Desktop/Web development
• Being part of this year’s card game – thanks Minty
• Chatting to other Flash/Flex users over a many beers
• Free drinks at Oscars.

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

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

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