This causes a concern for the Flash Platform in general, because this shows that existing code is basically held hostage to future Adobe Flash Player updates that may break past deployed code. I would expect Adobe QA to be more rigorous than this.

This issue can be found in the bugbase, but while marked as fixed, it is not:

https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=2941694

Being an inherent player bug that causes problems to past deployed code, this is not something that can be fixed by using “workaround code”.

The problem is severe enough to warrant a quick update to version 10 (or pull 10.3.183.5 from further distribution), but Adobe has chosen to fix it only in version 11 BETA instead. I don’t think this is acceptable.

Consider the following:

[Embed(source="assets/background.png")]
private static const BACKGROUNDIMAGE:Class;

Let’s say that is done within a class named AssetsManager. Then, internally, we actually have a class named “AssetsManager_BACKGROUNDIMAGE” created. The name that comes after the underscore matches whatever you have given to that static member.

We can then write a generic handler function to grab the associated Bitmap image, given the asset name:

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public static function GetImage(name:String):Bitmap
{
	name = name.toUpperCase();
	try
	{
		var cls:Class = getDefinitionByName("AssetsManager_" + name) as Class;
		return new cls() as Bitmap;
	}
	catch (e:Error)
	{
	}
	// ** else return a default 16x16 opaque white square bitmap **
	return new Bitmap(new BitmapData(16,16));
}

Line 3: This is optional, but it is a simple way to eliminate possible naming confusion.

Line 4: Use a try-catch block, because getDefinitionByName() expects the class to exist, but it is possible that during development we have not embedded the assets yet, and this method is crafted to return a default 16×16 opaque white square where the asset is missing.

Line 6: Here it is, concatenating the helper class name, an underscore, and the given name parameter, we get the class name of the embedded bitmap asset.

Line 7: If the class/asset exists, this line will be executed (instantiating and returning the requested Bitmap object), otherwise the try-catch block kicks in.

Example complete class code below:

package  
{
	import flash.display.Bitmap;
	import flash.display.BitmapData;
	import flash.utils.getDefinitionByName;
 
	public class AssetsManager 
	{
 
		// ** START EMBED **
 
		[Embed(source="assets/background.png")]
		private static const BACKGROUNDIMAGE:Class;
 
		[Embed(source="assets/iconfileopen.png")]
		private static const ICONFILEOPEN:Class;
 
		[Embed(source="assets/iconfileclose.png")]
		private static const ICONFILECLOSE:Class;
 
		// ** embed other assets as required **
 
		// ** END EMBED **
 
		/**
		 * Returns a Bitmap display object identified by the specified name.
		 * @param	The name of the bitmap asset to return.  This name must match one of the 
		 * @return	A Bitmap display object.
		 */
		public static function GetImage(name:String):Bitmap
		{
			name = name.toUpperCase();
			try
			{
				var cls:Class = getDefinitionByName("AssetsManager_" + name) as Class;
				return new cls() as Bitmap;
			}
			catch (e:Error)
			{
			}
			// ** else return a default 16x16 opaque white square bitmap **
			return new Bitmap(new BitmapData(16,16));
		}
	}
 
}

The above makes it easy to add more assets later on, compared to just accessing the public static members directly. What is more, if you are compiling a library of embedded images and distributing it as a SWC, this makes it so much easier to modify/update the library, and for other collaborators to use the assets.

After a clean install of Windows 7, trying to use compc and/or mxmlc from the Flex SDK through command line may yield a “System Error” message:

It seems like Microsoft somehow forgot to ship this Microsoft C Runtime Library DLL in Windows 7. When installing some programs, this DLL may be installed by the respective installers. If you encounter this missing DLL problem, the only way to fix it is to install one of these programs, or otherwise grab hold of the DLL from somewhere and place it in the correct folder:

For Windows 7 32-bit, place the DLL in
C:\Windows\System32

For Windows 7 64-bit, place it in
C:\Windows\SysWOW64

WARNING: Do not install DLL obtained from untrusted sources. You can actually copy the DLL from one of your old Windows OS installations. If you want to use my copy, here it is.

To get the tracer to work:

1) Go to Tools -> Program Settings (F10).

2) In the Plugins list on the left of the dialog box, look for FlashLogViewer and click on it.

3) On the right panel, look for the “Start Tracking” property, click on the drop down box and select “OnBuildComplete” (it is set to “Manually” by default).

The output of your trace statements are now shown in the Output Panel after you build your project.

In order to load images from a different domain, the Flash Player will need to read a crossdomain.xml file from the foreign domain (and this file must grant permission to your domain to access the required resources). Typically, you would expect to need to specify a checkPolicyFile property somewhere. In the case of the uiImage component, there is no checkPolicyFile property to set because this would be unnecessary.

In order to load an image from a foreign domain, you would specify the source with a “url:http://” prefix. This prefix is sufficient to let the component know that you are loading from a foreign domain (you would omit the http:// otherwise).

Internally, the uiImage component sets the checkPolicyFile property automatically, as necessary. The rationale here is that, since the flag must always be TRUE for Flash applications deployed over the web (sandboxType is Security.REMOTE) whenever the Flash Player attempts to load resources from foreign domains, we might as well have the component set this automatically rather than having to expose a superfluous API. To be very clear, the checkPolicyFile flag is FALSE by default – the policy file is checked only if the application is deployed over the web (ie application’s sandboxType is Security.REMOTE), because checking the policy file is unnecessary when deployed on the desktop.

A GroupBox displays a border/frame around a group of controls, with or without a caption/title. This is typically done to provide visual feedback to end-users that a collection of controls on a form is logically grouped.

When using the Aspire UI toolkit in ActionScript 3.0 projects, you can use the uiFrame component for the same results.

// ActionScript 3.0
var fruit0:uiCheckBox = new uiCheckBox("Apple");
var fruit1:uiCheckBox = new uiCheckBox("Banana");
var fruit2:uiCheckBox = new uiCheckBox("Orange");
 
var fruitsBox:uiBox    = new uiBox();
fruitsBox.vertical    = true;
fruitsBox.spacing    = 4;
 
fruitsBox.addChild(new uiText("You can choose one or more fruits!"));
fruitsBox.addChild(fruit0);
fruitsBox.addChild(fruit1);
fruitsBox.addChild(fruit2);
 
var frm:uiFrame = new uiFrame();
frm.content = fruitsBox;
frm.x = 10;
frm.y = 10;
 
frm.title = new uiText("Fruits");
 
addChild(frm);

Using the “graylic” theme, the result would be as follows:

Notice that the caption (title) is left aligned by default. You can adjust the alignment by specifying the alignX property:

frm.title = new uiText("Fruits");
frm.title.alignX = ALIGN.CENTER;

Using the “classic” theme with background set to gray, the result would be as follows:

Aspire UI Components
Aspire UI is a library of Actionscript 3.0 (AS3) classes for building flexible and lightweight UI elements in Adobe Flash applications. Key features of the components include easy skinning using PNG image files, automatic tab focus ordering, CSS text styles, and layout management.

This is a pure AS3 library with no dependency on the Flex framework.

For more information, please click here.

You may experiment with the various features by downloading the trial version.

By default, the component uses the following set of colors:

We can define an alternative colors array for the popup palette:

private static const COLORS_CONTINUOUS_TONE:Array = [
0xCCFFFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0xCC99FF, 0xCC66FF, 0xCC33FF, 0xCC00FF, 0xFF00FF, 0xFF33FF, 0xFF66FF, 0xFF99FF, 0xFFCCFF, 0xFFFFFF,
0xCCFFCC, 0xCCCCCC, 0xCC99CC, 0xCC66CC, 0xCC33CC, 0xCC00CC, 0xFF00CC, 0xFF33CC, 0xFF66CC, 0xFF99CC, 0xFFCCCC, 0xFFFFCC,
0xCCFF99, 0xCCCC99, 0xCC9999, 0xCC6699, 0xCC3399, 0xCC0099, 0xFF0099, 0xFF3399, 0xFF6699, 0xFF9999, 0xFFCC99, 0xFFFF99,
0xCCFF66, 0xCCCC66, 0xCC9966, 0xCC6666, 0xCC3366, 0xCC0066, 0xFF0066, 0xFF3366, 0xFF6666, 0xFF9966, 0xFFCC66, 0xFFFF66,
0xCCFF33, 0xCCCC33, 0xCC9933, 0xCC6633, 0xCC3333, 0xCC0033, 0xFF0033, 0xFF3333, 0xFF6633, 0xFF9933, 0xFFCC33, 0xFFFF33,
0xCCFF00, 0xCCCC00, 0xCC9900, 0xCC6600, 0xCC3300, 0xCC0000, 0xFF0000, 0xFF3300, 0xFF6600, 0xFF9900, 0xFFCC00, 0xFFFF00,
0x66FF00, 0x66CC00, 0x669900, 0x666600, 0x663300, 0x660000, 0x990000, 0x993300, 0x996600, 0x999900, 0x99CC00, 0x99FF00,
0x66FF33, 0x66CC33, 0x669933, 0x666633, 0x663333, 0x660033, 0x990033, 0x993333, 0x996633, 0x999933, 0x99CC33, 0x99FF33,
0x66FF66, 0x66CC66, 0x669966, 0x666666, 0x663366, 0x660066, 0x990066, 0x993366, 0x996666, 0x999966, 0x99CC66, 0x99FF66,
0x66FF99, 0x66CC99, 0x669999, 0x666699, 0x663399, 0x660099, 0x990099, 0x993399, 0x996699, 0x999999, 0x99CC99, 0x99FF99,
0x66FFCC, 0x66CCCC, 0x6699CC, 0x6666CC, 0x6633CC, 0x6600CC, 0x9900CC, 0x9933CC, 0x9966CC, 0x9999CC, 0x99CCCC, 0x99FFCC,
0x66FFFF, 0x66CCFF, 0x6699FF, 0x6666FF, 0x6633FF, 0x6600FF, 0x9900FF, 0x9933FF, 0x9966FF, 0x9999FF, 0x99CCFF, 0x99FFFF,
0x00FFFF, 0x00CCFF, 0x0099FF, 0x0066FF, 0x0033FF, 0x0000FF, 0x3300FF, 0x3333FF, 0x3366FF, 0x3399FF, 0x33CCFF, 0x33FFFF,
0x00FFCC, 0x00CCCC, 0x0099CC, 0x0066CC, 0x0033CC, 0x0000CC, 0x3300CC, 0x3333CC, 0x3366CC, 0x3399CC, 0x33CCCC, 0x33FFCC,
0x00FF99, 0x00CC99, 0x009999, 0x006699, 0x003399, 0x000099, 0x330099, 0x333399, 0x336699, 0x339999, 0x33CC99, 0x33FF99,
0x00FF33, 0x00CC33, 0x009933, 0x006633, 0x003333, 0x000033, 0x330033, 0x333333, 0x336633, 0x339933, 0x33CC33, 0x33FF33,
0x00FF00, 0x00CC00, 0x009900, 0x006600, 0x003300, 0x000000, 0x330000, 0x333300, 0x336600, 0x339900, 0x33CC00, 0x33FF00,
];

And then assign the colors array as follows:

var myColorPicker:uiColorPicker = new uiColorPicker();
 
myColorPicker.colors = COLORS_CONTINUOUS_TONE;

Aspire UI Components
Aspire UI is a library of Actionscript 3.0 (AS3) classes for building flexible and lightweight UI elements in Adobe Flash applications. Key features of the components include easy skinning using PNG image files, automatic tab focus ordering, CSS text styles, and layout management.

This is a pure AS3 library with no dependency on the Flex framework.

For more information, please click here.

You may experiment with the various features by downloading the trial version.

In this post, we look at how to get the popup to cast a drop shadow, by simply adding some directives in the “rules.xml” of the theme you are using.

The uiColorPicker component uses three skin assets:
ColorPicker.png
ColorPickerFrame.png
ColorPickerInput.png

The ColorPicker.png is the image that will be used to render the rectangular button. This skin asset is mandatory. If it is missing, the component will not show.

The ColorPickerInput.png is optional, affecting the look of the text input field in the popup palette. This skin is usually pointed to the same skin asset used by the uiTextInput component:

<ColorPickerInput clone="TextInput" prefs="width|74|focusPadding|1|padding|0" />

The ColorPickerFrame.png is the image that will be used to render the background of the popup palette. You can specify styling directives for the popup, such as padding, in the “rules.xml”:

<ColorPickerFrame edge="2" prefs="padding|3" />

Therefore, to get the popup to cast a drop shadow, all you need to do is to add the directive as such:

<ColorPickerFrame edge="2" prefs="padding|3|background|shadow,0x000000" />

The result will be as shown below:

Aspire UI Components
Aspire UI is a library of Actionscript 3.0 (AS3) classes for building flexible and lightweight UI elements in Adobe Flash applications. Key features of the components include easy skinning using PNG image files, automatic tab focus ordering, CSS text styles, and layout management.

This is a pure AS3 library with no dependency on the Flex framework.

For more information, please click here.

You may experiment with the various features by downloading the trial version.

With this update, the uiColorPicker component has been added to the Standard Edition.

In addition, we have streamlined component instance alignment with the following:

(i) new childAlignX and childAlignY properties help to define a default alignment for child objects contained within the same container.

(ii) a new qualified value for alignX and alignY properties – setting the property to ALIGN.FILL will indicate that the object is expected to fill its whole allocated space (horizontally for alignX or vertically for alignY), and therefore alignment does not apply.

(iii) as a result of (ii), it is no longer necessary to define fillX and fillY properties (since ALIGN.FILL and other alignment values should be mutually exclusive).

Aspire UI Components
Aspire UI is a library of Actionscript 3.0 (AS3) classes for building flexible and lightweight UI elements in Adobe Flash applications. Key features of the components include easy skinning using PNG image files, automatic tab focus ordering, CSS text styles, and layout management.

This is a pure AS3 library with no dependency on the Flex framework.

For more information, please click here.

You may experiment with the various features by downloading the trial version.

A Site License grants all developers located at the same site, working for the same organization, the rights to use the toolkit, royalty-free. It doesn’t matter how many developers work at the site, it doesn’t matter how many projects the developers will be using the toolkit in, and it doesn’t matter how many copies of your applications get distributed.

A “Site” is defined as a single location with the same mailing address. In other words, the developers must work in the same country, city, building, and on the same floor. This entitlement extends to temporary and freelance developers working at the site, as long as they remained engaged by your organization.

Aspire UI Components
Aspire UI is a library of Actionscript 3.0 (AS3) classes for building flexible and lightweight UI elements in Adobe Flash applications. Key features of the components include easy skinning using PNG image files, automatic tab focus ordering, CSS text styles, and layout management.

This is a pure AS3 library with no dependency on the Flex framework.

For more information, please click here.

You may experiment with the various features by downloading the trial version.