Sean Voisen: Flash

Pixel Font News Update

Thanks to the continued persistence of Stephen Tallent I've discovered the root of my problem with pixel fonts in Flash. It appears that while most pixel fonts display correctly in static text fields, only certain pixel fonts will display correctly in dynamic text fields. Namely, I've had problems with Tenacity from MiniFonts. It appears that all of the fonts at Fonts For Flash work just fine. If you have any fonts that you know WILL NOT work in dynamic text fields, I would like to know. Maybe I will compile a list.

A New Home

Media Insites, Inc., my company, has finally set up its own dedicated server graciously hosted by the folks over at Rackspace. This means that I will soon be running a "Jabber" server on my own domain and that Eat Orange will soon be moving permanently to eatorange.com. Once my "Jabber" server is up and running I can embed Jabber-enabled Flash chat programs and games directly into the pages here and not worry about the Flash security sandbox. I'll also post the source to an "easy-bake" chat program using Flash JabberConf at this time.

Pixel Fonts in Dynamic Text Fields: Problem Solved

Publish the movie at low quality. This seems like a really stupid solution, but supposedly this is the only way to avoid Flash munging the text beyond recognition. I found this somewhere in the FAQ at Fonts For Flash.

Draggable Pane - A Major Pain

Working on JabberCheckers, a multiplayer Flash/Jabber implementation of checkers, (screenshot available here) has forced me to learn a lot about Actionscript, Flash MX and their various nuances. I've been trying to use the new UI components wherever appropriate in JabberCheckers. Unfortunately, this has revealed many of their (or possibly my) flaws. I love pixel fonts. I intentionally turn Quartz text rendering off in my browsers (IE, Mozilla) because it just blurs small text beyond reason, especially on my LCD display. It would be nice to be able to use pixel fonts in dynamic text fields in Flash. Unfortunately, Flash always finds some way to muck them up. They are only useful in static text fields, which for me means they are not useful at all. In an attempt at compromise, I tried using device fonts. I quickly discovered that device fonts and the scroll pane/draggable pane components don't mix. Maybe someone can help me out on this next one - the draggable pane component. It works fine, but if I use MovieClip.attachMovie to load a pane, click the close button on the pane, and then attach the pane again it breaks. It loses all my formatting from globalStyleFormat, the close button is mysteriously disabled, scroll content is lost, and I get very frustrated. Hopefully I'll figure this one out soon.

Actionscript Tips for Chat Clients

Now that Flash JabberConf (FJC) is released, I thought I would provide a few tips/suggestions for creating a Flash-based chat client. These first few tips deal with the technological aspects of implementing an auto-scrolling text field as a chat window, and the option of pressing the ENTER key to quickly send messages. My techniques involve using the new MX event model and methods of the ever-wonderful TextField object. For the details and actionscript code, read more.

Announcing: Flash JabberConf

I finally finished it. Flash JabberConf (FJC) is an API for Flash MX that I wrote. It should allow anyone familiar with MX and the new event model to quickly create chat and messaging applications in Flash. FJC was written to allow communication with a "Jabber" server running the Jabber conferencing component (also known as group chat). It is essentially an "MX-erized," light-weight version of JabberFlash with the necessary extensions that allow it to easily support conferencing and group chat. FJC is available here in zip format. I'm always looking for ways to make it better, so take a look at the code, try it out, and let me know what you think! There is plenty of accompanying documentation to get you started.

More Fun Flash Ideas

It's a great time to be a member of the Flash community. With such amazing projects as Philter Design's Flash RSS Reader and The Feasible Impossibilities Talking Blog we are really beginning to see the power behind MX. I came up with few ideas that would incorporate both "Jabber" and these new technologies. In the good-natured spirit of sharing, here they are:

A scrolling Flash blog news ticker. This ticker would use a Jabber RSS component (similar to the example in DJ Adams' book Programming Jabber) to push feed data to a Flash-based ticker application.
A talking chat room using the Feasibile Impossibilities technology and my <plug type="shameless"> soon to be released Flash JabberConf API </plug>.

If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch . . .

I spent the last six days or so back at home in San Diego with my parents. It was definitely a welcome escape from the smog-ridden Los Angeles scenery and mayhem on highway 405. My parents' new spa was installed just as I was leaving. I guess I'll just have to head down there again as soon as possible. On the Flash front, I made quite a bit of progress on Flash JabberConf (FJC), an API for quickly programming jabber "chat" or conferencing programs in Flash. It is based largely on Yannick Connan's JabberFlash but I've added the necessary conferencing additions and removed anything unnecessary for conferencing. It should be nice and light weight. I've also "MX-erized" it using the new event model (ASBroadcaster, etc.), and used Branden Hall's SHA1 implementation for the server authentication. Expect this one to be released by Monday.

SVG and Flash Update

Well, it looks like my wishes have been answered - in less than 24 hours! If you look at my post below, I discuss the possibility of using Flash to draw SVG graphics and transport them via "Jabber" to another SVG graphic client, in essence creating a multiuser whiteboard application. It looks like Helen Triolo has written an article over at Actionscript Toolbox about using Flash's drawing API to create SVG! Now, here's another project for the undertaking. I think I'll finish checkers first. [via Mesh on MX]

SVG and SWF: Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

Recently, there has been a bit of a buzz around two different articles at O'Reilly that focus on the merits of SWF and SVG, respectively. Both of these articles very effectively illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each vector graphics standard. Yet, they also seem to hint that there is no possiblility of peaceful coexistence between the two. (If you haven't read the articles, I highly recommend you do so. The first, entitled "SWF Is Not Flash" is available here. The second, "SVG On the Rise," is here.) After working with "Jabber" for a while, I've quickly come to realize the strengths of XML representation. SVG is a very powerful tool. The problem is harnessing the power of SVG inside of Flash. It would open a whole new world of potential if Flash could export/communicate using SVG, but unfortunately this is not the case. After taking a look at the JabberZilla whiteboarding client, I realized that the power of SVG could easily be used inside of a Flash MX application. Using "Jabber" as the transport, whiteboard clients could transmit data back and forth in SVG form. If I draw a circle on the Flash client, this client would call a function that creates the SVG representation of this circle and sends it on its merry way. This would allow a Flash/Jabber whiteboard client to seamlessly communicate with, say, a Java/Jabber whiteboard client. There are limitations, of course. This is mainly because Flash does not natively "speak" SVG. Circles and squares would be easy to implement, for instance, but a series of hand drawn squiggles might be more difficult. This is just an idea, mind you. But I plan on actively pursuing it in the future. If you have any thoughts/ideas on SVG and Flash, I'd enjoy hearing them.

JabberCheckers Update

I took some time out last night to finish up the game engine for JabberCheckers. Fixes include:

Disabling of pieces on other player's turn (using my GameModerator class)
Forced jumping: If a jump is available, you must take it.
Square highlighting: If a jump is forced then the available squares are highlighted. This is also used to enable multiple jumps.
Red moves first ("Fire before smoke.")

As always, the latest version is available here. Flash Player 6 required.

Chatting on Jabber With Flash

I've had some early interest (mainly from "Jabber" developers) in my Flash MX/Jabber Groupchat client. As such I've posted what I have for download here. Please note that this version is very alpha, and currently serves only as an illustration that chat on Jabber with Flash is very real and very possible. Jabber.org does not accept Flash socket connections. Create an account at theoretic.com or myjabber.net or perhaps your own local server to use this. Currently it only connects to the groupchat on jabber.org. Try joining the jdev room and chatting with some of the Jabber folks in there. Have fun! Update: This program uses the JabberFlash API as developed by Yannick Connan, with a few modifications that I made. I plan on writing a pure Jabber Groupchat/Conference API that will probably be a little lighter in wieght than this one.

JabberCheckers Update

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like finals over here at UCLA. This means that work on some of my projects will halt for a couple of days. As for JabberCheckers, I'm completely prepared to take this one all the way through. I hope it serves as a great illustration of the power of Jabber/Flash integration. As far as sending move information between the Flash MX clients, I'm probably going to use the "Jabber" x namespace to send the piece location in grid coordinates. I would send it just in a plain message, but I thought it would be nice for players to chat back and forth. As always, you can play the current single player version (no turn tracking enabled) here.

Controversy

If you're a Flash developer, you've probably been following the latest stream of facts and opinions concerning Macromedia's partnership with Jakob Nielsen, a notorious Flash naysayer who's suddenly "seen the light," so to speak. I'm not going to address any details here (these are sufficiently discussed by Chris MacGregor at Flazoom), but I found it quite ironic that website of this "usability expert" is so ridden with usability issues.

This was brought to my attention by a comment reply to MacGregor's open letter as mentioned above. Go to nngroup.com and see for yourself. A rather complete list of the problems can be found here. Note: NNgroup fixed their site as of June 4, 2002, probably because of all the sudden attention.

Studiowhiz v3 Up and Running

It looks like the new, faster, better, CSS-driven version of Studiowhiz is up and running. I just took a look and everything seems to be in working order. It's a great resource to have around, and it's good to see it back in action. [via PNut's Thoughts]

Flash Checkers: Now With 100% More MX

As you may or may not know, I've been working on Flash mutliplayer games that use Jabber as the communications protocol. My first attempt at a full game is checkers. (I thought about chess. Really, I did. It crossed my mind for a whole 0.01 seconds.) Most of the game engine is complete, and now begins the work on implementing the Jabber code. Click here to launch the current working game engine. Note: Turn tracking is not implemented. As of now players can move twice. Don't cheat!

Flash MX Feature o' the Day

It has only required the spare time of about two days to write a nice working version of checkers in Flash. Beta coming soon. The catch with this checkers game is that it will be multiplayer enabled through "Jabber" integration. Chat with your opponent and send messages to AIM buddies all from the same Flash app!

Writing this little number has really forced me to buckle down and learn all the new MX features. Feature of the Day: Object.registerClass. Object.registerClass allows you to write custom objects and associate them with movie clips in the library. This was very handy when I needed to give a face to my custom CheckerPiece class. Take a look at your Actionscript dictionary for more.

VectorKid

The vector artwork on this site is amazing, and suprisingly realistic. Take a look at the tutorials and make your very own 3D kiwifruit! (Reminds me of my "working days" back on the orchard in New Zealand.) [via JDB]

A Lesson in MX Technology

There's no better way to learn all of the new features of Flash MX than to just start using them. I've begun work on a Flash-based multiplayer checkers game that uses Jabber as the protocol for relaying moves. I've tried to make it as object-oriented, event-driven, etc., etc. as possible. Here are some very handy little MX pointers I learned today:

attachMovie: The attachMovie method now returns a reference to the object that it attached. No more typing eval("..."). Save your CPU and your fingers all at the same time!
Stage: The Stage object is a fabulous new addition. Using the onResize() handler was a great way dynamically resize my checkerboard. The height and width properties helped a bit too.
ASBroadcaster: If you don't know about ASBroadcaster, you should. Check out UltraShock's little number on this bad boy. Stuart Schoneveld's Event Model may be even better!

Flash and Jabber Integration: A Working Demo

For the curious, here is a link to a demo of a Flash client I developed that interacts with Jabber's groupchat capabilities. I developed this using the JabberFlash API. Download the .swf and run it locally, as the Flash security model will NOT allow socket connections to hosts other than this one if you run the .swf from your browser.

Note: jabber.org does not seem to be accepting flash socket connections. Try using your own server or another public server like myjabber.net

Griping About Macromedia

Negativity warning: moderate. First off, don't get me wrong, I love Macromedia products. I always have. I even have old copies of xRes and Director 4 lying around somewhere. Consider this public venting of frustration; frustration that results from the fact that while I love Macromedia, I also love my mac. I don't have a long Macintosh user history (I converted in January), but I'll never go back as long as OS X is around.

Three things aggravate me most:

Why does Flash run so damn slow on the Apple platform? I've got a brand new tiBook sitting next to a 733mHz Pentium III machine, and the Pentium makes the tiBook look like a wounded dog. Granted, Flash 6 player brought a significant speed bump, but it still lags.
Will we ever see ColdFusion MX for OS X? It's doubtful. I'm a big ColdFusion fan (take a look at "Media Insites"), but it makes it hard to develop when you're tied down to a Windows server, especially when you want to take advantage of your tiBook. VirtualPC could do the job, albeit slowly, but developer edition is useless since the virtual machine uses a separate IP. Bah, humbug! I'm starting to turn back to my PHP roots.
No pressure sensitivity support in Freehand 10? What gives? Apparently, since Freehand was one of the first programs released for OS X, it arrived before the sensitivity support codebase and before Wacom had a chance to develop drivers. Can anyone say "patch"?

Whew! It's good to get that out in the open. I'm sure I'm not the first to rant about these problems. At least Flash MX works as designed.

Illogicz Flash Blog

From JDB Cyberspace: Flash blogs: illogicz.com. Illogicz.com is Stuart Schoneveld's Flash weblog.

I've visited this one before, and it's quite impressive. Take a look at Stuart's new rich text editor built with MX. It definitely illustrates the possibilites available with the new TextFormat object.

Jabber + Flash = Fun For the Whole Family

Here it is. This is the first in a series of articles/tutorials on integrating Jabber with Flash. This short little number introduces Jabber to the Flash developer and whets the appetite with a couple of intriguing possibilites. The next article will dive into the fun-filled world of implementation. Enjoy.

The Macromedian Blogs

Macromedia has been getting quite a bit of press lately, including a brief bit in Wired, about their use of blogs to communicate with its developer community. Take a look at this article on Macromedia's site to get a sense of their position on all the hoop-la.

New MX Content Coming Your Way

Take a look at all of the new MX related content over at Macromedia's Designer and Developer Center. I guess its time for a bit more reading. Always playing catch-up. Mike Chambers has the low-down.