in a rush

While teaching a Flex class recently, I had several students encounter this error in which their application would error out with the following: “Error #2148: this error did not allow to read data from a file XML”
This seemed rather strange because the XML file was surely there, but something else was up. So we started [...]

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Because Flex Builder 2 is build on Eclipse instead of Dreamweaver, everyone is new to using the IDE. Many of the keyboard shortcuts that you may be used to no longer apply, so I thought I would list out a few things you can start using immediately.

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Although there are many ways to setup a server for production, there is a common theme. On reboot, it should come up running all the services necessary without human intervention.

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In order to achieve this goal with a Flex server running on JRun, you can simply add that server to your Windows Services panel and set it to start automatically. "Okay… how do I do that?", you say.

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“When you create a SharedObject, Macromedia Flash Player creates a new directory for the application and domain, and creates an empty *.sol file that stores the SharedObject data. The default location of this file is in a subdirectory of the user’’s home directory; for example: c:/Documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Macromedia/Flash Player/web_domain/lso.mxml.swf/. While usually predictable, the location [...]

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How ’bout that new Eclipse plug-in for Flex 2?! Well, if you”re like me, you can’t wait to use Eclipse to do your Flex 1.5 development. Recently, I ran into a few guys I worked with on the recently released Flex application for Weight Watchers. With great enthusiasm they shared with me that they had gotten Eclipse to compile Flex 1.5 applications. With their permission, I’ll share with you now how to do this for yourself.

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Macromedia Flex is composed of two distinct pieces; a set of pre-built components known as the client-side framework, and a set of runtime services that allow Flex applications to integrate with back-end systems. The client-side framework is a series of ActionScript class that you utilize in MXML or ActionScript. Did you know that you can create your own ActionScript classes and reference them the same way?

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When teaching or consulting Flex, you will often be asked for examples of how to do “xyz”. Here are few links that will help.Flex and CF:
Integrate Flex with CF security
File Upload:
File Upload in Flex/Flash in Internet Explorer
File Upload Using Flex/Central/Java
Architecture Ideas:
Cairngorm and an associated Breezo that will help explain the design patterns.

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If I were to create a Top 10 List, which I don”t, this would definitely be my list for “Why you have to upgrade to Flex Builder 3.” I actually got this list from Ted Patrick and enhanced it a little.
Top 10 List:

With the new code model, search, refactoring, auto-complete you will code 3X [...]

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I”m very excited that Flex 2 was finally released, but not for the reasons you may think. I”ve been working with Flex 2 since the alpha version, so I”ve gotten very familiar with it. So much so that I upgraded my instructor certification from Flex 1.5 to Flex 2.
All you code monkeys, myself included, should [...]

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In Flex, you use a validator to ensure the values in the fields of an object meet certain criteria. You can assign each field of an object to a single validator. I”ve used the mx.validators.Validator class, which is an ActionScript class that you can extend to add your own validation logic as I have below. I also added a <mx:Model> tag to hold the error message that will be displayed if the validation fails. The model can then be populated with error messages that are maintained outside of the Flex application.

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