in a rush

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.

[Read more →]

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.

\r\n

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.

[Read more →]

Creating FlashPaper documents on the fly is simple and easy once you have the right tools. The right tool is the FlashPaperConnect .dll. I found a version in Contribute. Read more to see how I used ColdFusion to generate FlashPaper documents on the fly.

[Read more →]

Being a developer is a tough job. We”re constantly under pressure to get some piece of code working as soon as possible. When we”re in a pinch, we often come up with some wacky workaround (aka refactor candidates).

While working on a recent Flex project I found a code sample that someone created because they were having trouble getting the useHandCursor to work.

[Read more →]

“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 [...]

[Read more →]

One limitation of the Model tag is that if you supply one instance of a child tag in an <mx:Model> tag, there is no way for Flex to know if you intend it to be an array or a single property instance. You can work around this limitation by using an <mx:Object> tag instead of an <mx:Model> tag and declaring an <mx:Array> tag inside the <mx:Object> tag. As an added benefit, you can then dynamically add to the object creating an array of objects.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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?

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

ColdFusion logs, when installed on JRun, can be modified so that you can separate out log information by log level. This will allow you to find log entries easily.

[Read more →]