De MonsterDebugger is an Air application from De Monsters that comes with a handy set of features. One of its better known features includes editing properties and calling methods at runtime. This alone definitely makes it a nifty little debugger. It also displays xml as a tree that is collapsable and expandable. At times the overall tree structure can be somewhat clunky but it's enough to get me using it. The only catch with these perks is that all your properties and methods need to be public so that they are accessible.

To enable MonsterDebugger in your application instantiate it first like this:
this.monsterDebugger = new MonsterDebugger(this);
this is the reference to the root of the application. This line alone allows to modify methods and properties throughout your application.

To make a trace you would write this:
MonsterDebugger.trace(this, xml);
this is the reference targeted object.

One last thing to consider is that you export the classes needed for MonsterDebugger from the Air application to the client side folder. To do this navigate to the following in the Air app:
File > Export Client Class
Point to the folder that contains all your application's classes

Download the Air application Version 2.51

You aren't allowed to link to external URLs that aren't in th esame domain from the standalone desktop player.

Why? It could be a file that you've download and could take you to a site that may harm your computer.

What you can do:
- Make it an AIR app
- Make it a projector (.exe .app)

In its most basic implementation swfaddress enables developers to deep link their project and incorporate browser functionality into their flash applications. This is pretty clever but it also has some pitfalls if not implemented correctly.

I recently worked on a project that required this functionality and experienced some unwanted behaviour i thought i would share.

- Earlier versions of swfaddress can break flash applications in browsers specific browser. (IE7 + 6)
- Be sure to handle situations when an incorrect URL is entered through the browser
- To err on the side of caution always make your application react and animate AFTER the URL in the browser has changed.

The below link is a folder i created that has the required assets to implement swfaddress in your project. This is version 2.4 and i can confidently assure its stability across all browsers. It contains the AS3 classes and javascript file needed. It does not contain working examples or instructions on the implentation, that can be found at the swfaddress site.

SwfAddress Assets.zip (10.98 kb)

I came across this post on drawlogic.com called AS3 Version of OpenCV for Facial Detection, Web Cam Object Detection, Head Tracking, 3D Library Integration and more with Open Computer Vision Library for Flash. Check out the examples. Using facial recognition to alter the viewpoint and also using it to manipulate a papervision model. There is also a nice round up of what is going on with openCV ports, alchemy and augmented reality.

Hey kids,

If you haven't checked out issue 2 of Lee Brimelow's Flasher Magazine yet I recomend you do.It's lots of fun and I really like the whole punk ethos he's going for with all the references to Thrasher Magazine, and interviewing people who swear a lot and hate on Adobe and Flash.

I think it's funny how he's trying create a cult of celebrity within the Flash community. Maybe he'll want to interview me one day...

Hello, my name is SmashyMcSmashSmash. I am new!

Here are some interesting Flash-releated things from the internet:

Alchemy, a new compiler/code set from Adobe that acts essentially as a virtual machine for C/C++ code, and allows it to interface with Actionscript 3, and play through the Flash Player (flash player 10 only).

A pretty good version of Doom has already been ported using Alchemy, which shows it's power.

Also really cool is FLAR, an Actionscript 3 technology that provides a toolkit for creating augmented reality in Flash, using Papervision to render 3D objects.

 An impressive demo can be seen here. There's a video of it below.

 
After weeks of investigation and discussion we have come up with a way to create a button on the content of a loaded in transparent png.

 You can set a sprite mask to use a bitmap and it will mask successfully so long as both are cached as a bitmap. This is ok but when you put mouse listeners on the sprite it registers the whole rectangular area.

 Next we thought we'd utilize the bitmapData getPixel32 method which returns an ARBG colour when passed in the x and y coordinate. This works great but you can only get 1 pixel at a time.

So then we thought a bit outside the sqaure and rather than create a dynamic hit area over the bitmap, we'd use the stage's MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE listener and get the x and y of the current position then pass that into the getPixel32 methods of each bitmap.

Success however for overlaying bitmaps this method is limited. Now we would need to updated the mouseEnable property on the fly to allow for bitmaps that are being obscured.

So the final thing you would need to do is check to see whether or not the ARBG value is equal to 0. If so enable the mouse add a MouseEvent.CLICK listener to the clip and set the button mode to true. I also use a boolean isActive to avoid adding multiple listeners. Once the ARBG value equals 0 then disable the actions by removing the MouseEvent.CLICK listener set the button mode to false and set mouseEnabled to false.

The reason we use the stage MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE listener is so we can always receive updates regardless of whether the bitmap button is enabled or not. If we set the bitmap button MouseEnabled property once we set it to false we'd never receive mouse events again.

So there we have it, still in it's infancy but nonetheless a solution to a perculiar problem. See the attached AlphaBitmapButton.as to view the workings.

View Example 

AlphaBitmapButton.as (3.76 kb)

So you need to create a video player in flash. There are a few ways to do this but what is the best way to approach it? It ultimately comes down to what you are after and in case you're not familiar with the points below have a read and hopefully it can help make your decision.

FLVPlayback
Pros
- Quick, drag, drop, set parameters on your way.
- easier to skin than previous component versions
- ability to add cue points
- implement standard captioning through FLVPlayback captioning
- access to built in VideoEvents, volume controls with built in full screen fucntionality

Cons
- Filters and effects would be applied to whole component
- difficult to add custom functionality without deconstructing underlying code (can experience unusual results)
- publishes redundant classes that increase file size

Video Class
Pros
- fully customizable video player
- complete control over hadnling events
- reduced file size

Cons
- need to create own handlers to respond to NetStream events (no built-in events on Video class)
- fullscreen hardware acceleration only available in latest flash player
- without latest player video scales to screen size.

Limitations of fullscreen
- You must have version 9,0,28,0 or later of Flash Player installed to use full-screen mode and 9,0,115,0 or later for hardware-scaled full-screen mode.
- fullScreenRect only available in latest flash version. fullScreenRect chooses what part of the screen scales to fullscreen.
- in earlier versions of flash fullscreen was not supported if wmode is set to transparent or opaque

To get around the latest flash player issue include expressInstall so the user has the option to install on the fly the latest player. People without administration rights may have trouble with this as the only drawback.

Also included a link to Flash Video for Professionals by Lisa Larson and Renee Costantini on Amazon.com. It has useful information on how video is handled in flash. I found seeking to be very interesting, where if you scrub the video playhead it will snap to the nearest keypoint in the video. The more keypoints, the more seamless seeking appears.

Other useful links and references:
- Adobe full screen mode article: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/full_screen_mode.html
- Adobe full detection kit: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/download/detection_kit/
- Fullscreen Demos:  http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:Full-Screen_Mode:Demos
- Flash Video for Professionals: Purchase on Amazon

Here is the offical Adobe AS3 Event reference list.

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/.....

Drill down to find just the right event.

Very handy lookup reference.

Enjoy.