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FlashDevelop 2 RC1My new ActionScript editor of choice.
By Mark | March 9, 2006

It’s taken me a while to completely settle with an ActionScript editor… SEPY was my tool of choice for well over a year, but I knew that it had its problems, mainly speed and stability. It has plenty of awesome features, but quickly became way too bloated for just an ActionScript editor. It took too long to open and, what’s worse, it would sometimes take up to 2 seconds for the context sensitive completion to popup… something that should be instantaneous.

The new year then rolled around and Keith Peters mentioned that Sapien was having a sale on their popular PrimalScript editor. I remember them having the same sale the year before and I passed on it, but this time I decided to bite the bullet and *gasp* actually spend money on an editor. At first I was very impressed, the context sensitive completion was instantaneous, it had a nice class explorer, and what impressed me the most (and still does) is the extrememly fast context sensitive help… put your cursor on a keyword and hit F1 and a built in browser will almost instantaneously open up showing the flash (or whatever language you are currently using) help for that keyword. The first thing that annoyed me was that you could compile from PrimalScript to Flash by going into a menu and pressing a button, but you couldn’t make a keyboard shortcut for it… I really just wanted to hit CTRL-ENTER like you do in Flash. What I quickly realized with PrimalScript is that you can make suggestions to Sapien and they are quick to respond, and probably even quick to make changes(although not at all to creating a simple keyboard shortcut for a particular menu item), but since its a commercial product you have to wait for them to make another release of the product until you can use that change.

But luckily enough, right when I started trying out PrimalScript, another ActionScript editor was beginning to get some buzz… FlashDevelop. I downloaded my first version of it on January 12th with the release of version 2 Beta8 and haven’t looked back. What a great app! First of all, its free… you can’t beat that. Second, its opensource, so you can download the source at any point and compile your own version of the app right when they make a change to the app, not needing to wait for an official release. Now these things alone wouldn’t be that great if the app was no good, … but the app is more than just good. The context sensitive completion is instantaneous, the project explorer is fantastic, letting you quickly navigate through the classes in your project, you can press F6 and compile the movie in Flash (or even change that keyboard shortcut to CTRL-ENTER if you so like), press F1 on a keyword and get context sensitive help (although not yet as fast as PrimalScript), and this next one is very nice, press F4 on a class or member of an instance of a class it will open that class (and even scroll to the member you selected) or if you currently have a package selected, the Files panel will browse to that package’s path… very nice addition.

I’ve been using FlashDevelop alone for well over two months at home and at work and can’t look back… it is such a great app, it hasn’t crashed on me once and its still in beta … well until today. Today they have released the first release candidate, getting it ever closer to the official 2.0.0 release.

If all of this isn’t enough, the authors of the software are extremely open to suggestions and will implement those suggestions (if they are good suggestions) in relatively short turnaround, allowing you to build your own copy with the change that you requested as soon as its done. With the new release there’s a new XMLCompletion plugin that allows you to get context sensitive completion for xml and html docs, and if we’re lucky a CSSCompletion plugin might be on its way after my suggestion the other day… keep your fingers crossed, I may not ever have to open that way too bloated Dreamweaver again.

So don’t take my word for it, if you haven’t tried it out yet, get over there now and download the latest version. You won’t regret it.

Download FlashDevelop

Posted in Flash | 2 Comments
Some More Cool Tools …Here's a list of some tools that I use almost every day.
By Mark | January 20, 2006

Since Keith Peters posted the cool tools that he uses, I thought I’d throw mine out there too. A few are on Keith’s list, but many aren’t.
I also decided to point out the Firefox extensions that I have installed that have come in quite handy.

Software:

A.F.5 Rename – easily rename multiple files
Atomic Clock Sync – sync computer time to atomic time
Charles – view all of the HTTP traffic between your machine and the internet and test sites on slower connections
FlashDevelop – my new favorite ActionScript editor
Flash Plugin Switcher – name says it all
FLVPlayer – nice free flv player
PrimalScript – fantastic script editor
TaskSwitchXP – Alt+Tab replacement
TortoiseSVN – windows shell for subversion
TransTypePro – best tool for converting mac fonts to pc (mac software not windows)
Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools – includes tail for windows xp … check out my link on how to use it

Firefox extensions:

Charles Autoconfiguration
ColorZilla
Google Toolbar for Firefox
IE Tab
Live HTTP Headers
View Rendered Source Chart
Web Developer

Posted in General | Leave a comment
SE|PY 1.5Alessandro has released an update to his popular ActionScript editor.
By Mark | December 22, 2005

SE|PY seems to update almost on a weekly basis, adding new features that soon become indispensable. I’ve been extremely busy at work lately and forgot to click on the little “Find Updates” link in over a month, but yesterday I was sitting at home and decided to do a little check, and to my surprise Alessandro’s released a major point release … 1.5. Not only that, but he’s already released two minor point releases since then … he’s now up to 1.5.1.3.

As I was looking through some of the additions made to SE|PY, one really turned my head … he’s added a “Regular Expression Toolkit”. Another great tool ! Regular Expressions are a great resource for anyone working with strings, but they can quickly become confusing. With SE|PY’s Regular Expression Toolkit, you can quickly start playing around with patterns and test them to make sure they are working. He’s even added a library with prebuilt regular expressions for credit cards, dates, email addresses, etc …

It’s true that regular expressions aren’t currently supported in AS2, but they are supported in AS3, so its great to see that Alessandro is already ramping SE|PY up for AS3.

Other additions made to SE|PY since 1.5′s release:

- preferences dialog in the TODO panel to add your own custom items … (BUG, NOTE, KLUDGE, TRICKY, etc)
- updated the layout of the left panel, seems to allow more room
- added XPATH query from selection
- tons of bug fixes
- updates for the MAC
- etc

All in all, this is another great release from an already great program … Thanks Alessandro.

Download SE|PY

Posted in Flash | Leave a comment
Deja Vu – Another Gigantic Multimedia AcquisitionAutodesk acquires Alias... Maya and 3ds Max now under the same company umbrella.
By Mark | October 4, 2005

First, it was the world of web and print with Adobe and Macromedia joining forces, and now its the world of 3D. Autodesk officially announced the acquisition of Alias today. The two giants in 3D graphics are Alias Maya and Autodesk 3dsmax and with this announcement, Autodesk becomes the definitive leader no matter which software package you choose. With no mention of either software being discontinued or merged in the near future, it leads to more speculation on the future of multimedia. For several years, Maya has been the choice for films and television, whereas 3dsmax has been the game companies’ choice. With this new acquisition, it looks as though Autodesk has solidified their grasp on both industries. The next few years will be very interesting with regard to multimedia as a whole. Its extremely exciting and nerve-wracking to think of what Adobe and Macromedia have in mind for the future of their software, and now there is equal anticipation for the future of Autodesk’s and Alias’s software.

To read the full press release of Autodesk’s acquisition of Alias, along with Q+As and more, follow this link: Autodesk and Alias.

Posted in 3ds Max | Leave a comment
GLIC … err … mCOM component set available!!!Metaliq finally releases the long-awaited mCom component set.
By Mark | September 1, 2005

Its about time … http://www.metaliq.com/mCOM/

Posted in Flash | 1 Comment
Trace from the browser, using standard trace()A detailed tutorial on setting up your computer to view trace output from the browser.
By Mark | July 1, 2005
UPDATE (2009-01-24):
  1. Added Vista info
  2. Updated the path to flashlog.txt for Linux
  3. Split Step 4 into two steps
  4. Added optional OSX step for creating aliases
UPDATE (2007-02-09):
  1. Added Linux info
  2. Changed mm.cfg file location for Windows 2000
  3. Made corrections to Step 4
UPDATE (2006-11-17):
  1. As of Flash Player version 9,0,28,0, the default location of flashlog.txt has changed and cannot be modified
UPDATE (2006-01-19):
  1. Changed the property order in mm.cfg
    The original order would sometimes change the name of the flashlog on mac.
  2. Changed MaxWarnings from 100 to 0
    This allows an unlimited number of error messages to be written to the flashlog.
  3. Changed which tail software I recommend for Windows
    I have settled on the tail that is included with Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools.
    It’s native to Windows, easier to install than cygwin, and more stable than Tail XP.

Some great 3rd party debug tools have been released in the past few months that expand upon the standard trace() in Flash. I recently wrote about one of them. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed myself not using these tools as often as I would like because its usually easier and quicker to just use trace(). The biggest drawback about trace, however, is that there’s no way to output from the browser … or is there?

The other day I stumbled upon an article by Josh Buhler at actionscript.org that shows you how to install the Flash Debug Player that’s buried in the application folders of Flash. The Debug Player, along with a text file, allows you to view standard traces from a swf in the browser. Now, if you’ve already read his article skip on down to the bottom of this page because I’ve added a step that will make you even happier. If you haven’t read his article yet, go on what are you waiting for? If, on the other hand, you like step-by-step instructions that get you up and running the fastest, I’ve recapped his process below. I’ve done this on both the mac and pc and can’t live without it now.

  1. Uninstall your Flash Player
    Find the uninstaller here:
    Adobe Flash Player Uninstallers.
    Even though this is the first step, this is the one that you’re going to question the most, should I really uninstall my Flash Player and install the Debug Player? The answer is an emphatic “yes”. The Flash Debug Player is the exact same player with a very nice extra feature.
  2. Install the Flash Debug Player
    Find the installer here:
    Adobe Flash Debug Players
  3. Verify installation of the Flash Debug Player
    Restart your browser and right-click (ctrl-click) on a swf.
    You should have the “Debugger” option in the context menu, like the example below.
    Debugger
  4. Create a text file named “mm.cfg” and save it here:

    • OSX
      MacHD:Library:Application Support:Macromedia:mm.cfg
    • Windows Vista
      C:\Users\username\mm.cfg
    • Windows XP
      C:\Documents and Settings\username\mm.cfg
    • Windows 2000
      C:\mm.cfg
    • Linux
      home/username/mm.cfg
  5. Add the following properties to mm.cfg

    • ErrorReportingEnable=0
    • TraceOutputFileEnable=1
    • MaxWarnings=0

    FLASH DEBUG PLAYERS 9,0,28,0 AND NEWER

    The property TraceOutputFileName is no longer needed in mm.cfg. The default location of flashlog.txt has changed and cannot be modified from the following locations:

    • OSX
      MacHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences:Macromedia:Flash Player:Logs:flashlog.txt
    • Windows Vista
      C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt
    • Windows XP and 2000
      C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt
    • Linux
      home/username/.macromedia/Flash_Player/Logs/flashlog.txt

    FLASH DEBUG PLAYERS 9,0,16,0 AND OLDER

    Add the property TraceOutputFileName to mm.cfg

    • OSX
      TraceOutputFileName=MacHD:Users:username :D esktop:flashlog.txt
    • Windows
      TraceOutputFileName=C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop\flashlog.txt
  6. Test the Flash Debug Player
    Restart your browser and either publish a swf that uses trace() and view it in the browser, or surf around and find out what other people have been tracing in their movies (that’s one of my favorite options).
    The traces have been output from the browser to flashlog.txt.
    Open up flashlog.txt and see for yourself, you know you want to.

And there you go.

I’m sure many of you are extremely happy right now, and you should be, this is a great tip.
But after a few uses, you’re going to get really annoyed opening and closing the text file to view the new traces … if only there was a way to view the text file being updated in real time like the Output window in Flash. Here’s the new step that will make you rejoice.

NEW STEP

  1. View the text file updating in real time

    • OSX

      • Open Terminal
      • At the prompt type:
        cd <path to flashlog's directory>
        tail -f flashlog.txt
    • Windows
      Go to Windows Server 2003 Tools, and download Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools near the bottom of the page.
      Although it says Windows Server 2003 all over the page, its also made for Windows XP.

      • Install
      • Open Command Prompt
      • At the prompt type:
        cd <path to flashlog's directory>
        tail -f flashlog.txt

Browse to a swf online that uses trace() and watch the magic. Terminal and Command Prompt display the contents of flashlog.txt as it changes … its just like having Flash’s Output window, except this one works in the browser!!

Isn’t this great? Like I said earlier, I’ve gotten this to work on both the mac and the pc and can’t live without it now.
If you have any questions about these steps, feel free to email me or comment below and I’ll be glad to help.

OPTIONAL STEP

  1. Create a shortcut to quickly load up flashlog

    • OSX

      • Create aliases

        • Open Terminal
        • At the prompt type:
          cd ~
          ls -a
        • Make sure there is a file named “.bash_profile”
        • If there isn’t, create one by typing the following at the prompt:
          touch .bash_profile
        • Open .bash_profile to edit it
        • Add the following content to .bash_profile:
          alias trace='open -a /Volumes/MacHD/Applications/Utilities/Console.app/ /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/Logs/flashlog.txt'

          alias cleartrace='cat /dev/null > /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/Logs/flashlog.txt'
        • Save .bash_profile
        • Restart Terminal
        • To open up Console displaying the active flashlog.txt file, type the following at the prompt:
          trace
        • To clear flashlog.txt, at the prompt type:
          cleartrace
    • Windows

      1. Create a batch file

        • Create a text file and rename it flashlog.bat
        • Right-click on the batch file and select “Edit”
        • Add the following content to flashlog.bat:
          cd <path to flashlog's directory>
          tail -f flashlog.txt
        • Double-click on the batch file to see it working.
      2. Create a shortcut to the batch file to set the Command Prompt colors and options

        • Right-click on the batch file and select “Create Shortcut”
        • Right-click on the shortcut and select “Properties”
        • To view the Command Prompt maximized change the pulldown under “Run:”
        • To change the colors of the Command Prompt select the “Colors” tab
        • Unfortunately the “Font” tab options are very limited
        • Under the “Options” tab, select “QuickEdit mode” to be able to easily select and copy and paste
        • Tip for copying and pasting in the Command Prompt:
        • Select the text you want to copy and then right-click it, this puts the selected text into the clipboard … now just hit ctrl-v or paste in any other program.
        • Close out of the properties and double-click on the shortcut to see the flashlog with your colors and options.
Posted in AIR, Flash | 64 Comments
NYC, Here we come !We're packing up and moving to Gotham.
By Mark | May 15, 2005

NYC
My wife just got a promotion with her company a couple of weeks ago (congrats debber!) and, since I turned in my 2 week notice to my company on Friday, I can now blog about it … we’re moving to New York City! Well, to be completely accurate we’re actually moving to Jersey City, but we both have jobs in New York City!

Everything’s moving so fast, but I’m so excited! Its going to be completely different then Atlanta … I’m not going to need a car!

I’d love to meet up with some fellow New York flashers once I’m up there, so drop me an email or comment and let’s get together.

Alright … back to the boxes, where did I leave that packing tape.

Posted in General | 3 Comments
FlashPaper Component 0.6I've updated my FlashPaper component to make it compatible with Flash Player 6 as well as 7.
By Mark | April 24, 2005
UPDATE (April 22, 2007):
FlashPaper 0.8 has been released.

I’ve updated my FlashPaper component!

The major change is that it is now compatible with Flash Player 6 as well as 7 (Thanks to Jesse Warden for the suggestions). I also packaged it in an mxp to easily install with the Extension Manager.

The component still uses MovieClipLoader if your movie is exported to 7, but if it is exported to 6 it uses loadMovie instead.
The only difference that you should notice between exporting to 6 instead of 7 is if you are using the onFlashPaperLoaded event. That event will be broadcast at the same time as onFlashPaperDisplayed with Player 6 because without MovieClipLoader it can no longer determine exactly when the FlashPaper has loaded vs displayed. The events still work as expected when exporting to Player 7.

Description:
The FlashPaper component simplifies the process of working with the FlashPaper API and adds functionality either not documented or not provided in the API.

Installation:
- Unzip FlashPaper_0.6.zip
- DoubleClick on FlashPaperComponent.mxp to install with the Extension Manager.

Documentation:
FlashPaper Component Documentation

Download FlashPaper

Posted in Flash | 25 Comments
LuminicBox.Log – Nice Flash debugging toolWhen trace just isn't enough, you need to get LuminicBox.Log.
By Mark | April 10, 2005

There’s been a lot of new debugging tools released lately that expand upon the somewhat dated Trace in Flash. I’ve tried many of them and they each have their advantages, but the one that I have settled on is LuminicBox.Log. The site is in Spanish, but the documentation is in English.
LuminicBox.Log can now be downloaded from here.
LuminicBox.Log is easy to include in your code and just as easy to remove from your final distribution.

//import LuminicBox.Log classes
import LuminicBox.Log.*;

//create logger instance
var log = new Logger("myLogger");

//add TracePublisher if you want to log to the Output window
log.addPublisher( new TracePublisher() );

//add ConsolePublisher if you want to log to FlashInspector
log.addPublisher( new ConsolePublisher() );

//now we start calling the logger methods
log.info("Hello World!");

It lets you log with different levels … Debug, Info, Warn, Error, and Fatal and can trace through objects.
LuminicBox.Log comes with a separate tool called FlashInspector that allows logs(traces) to be sent to its window through LocalConnection, which enables you to log comments outside of the Flash environment … this has been great for debugging many of my recent CDROMS.

You can download LuminicBox.Log here.
Or you can now download from Google Code.

And I have created an exe from SWF Studio that allows FlashInspector to always be on top … you can download that here.

Posted in Flash | Leave a comment
NaturalDocsSEPYI've created a tool for SEPY that outputs NaturalDocs documentation for any class.
By Mark | March 29, 2005

First of all, I love SEPY … I don’t even think I would know how to go back to coding in the Flash IDE.
SEPY makes scripting classes, parsing xml, and pretty much every other aspect of actionscript-writing easier.
Second, I’ve been working more and more on writing my own classes and components and have been trying to find a good documentation tool. I started out using JavaDoc syntax and the free AS2docGenerator tool. A great tool, but JavaDoc syntax is not the most intuitive to write and definitely not the easiest to read in your code.
So then I heard about NaturalDocs on Aral Balkan’s site. I tried it and immediately took to it. NaturalDocs does most of the documentation work for you by examining your code and creating the documentation from it. This allows you to keep your comments inside your classes readable!
OK, so that’s two great tools, but unfortunately they don’t work well together, … at least until now.
I wanted to be able to write my class in SEPY and then click a button and have documentation generated for me immediately. I also wanted the documentation to be generated in the same directory as the ActionScript file.

So low and behold NaturalDocsSEPY.

NaturalDocsSEPY is a windows batch file that can be run directly within SEPY that will do just that.
Read More »

Posted in Flash | 6 Comments

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