A library I use quite frequently in AS3 is as3corelib. This library was written by a few guys from Adobe and it provides an assortment of very useful AS3 classes. I recommend checking it out if you aren't already using it. If you've been under a rock, it has classes for encoding JPGs and PNGs. It has Array, Date, Dictionary, Int, Number, String, and XML utility classes. It has libraries for encoding and decoding JSON strings. Anyway, you get the point. I use the library often.

I did notice something the other day that I've been meaning to test. I finally got around to it this morning...

During the development of Flash Player 9 and 10, Adobe has made significant changes to their cross domain security. I've been doing some research on the changes Adobe has made over the last couple of days. This article describes the first major issue I've encountered with the new policy file requirements.

Policy files are used to allow SWFs on one domain (www.siteA.com), to access resources on another domain (www.siteB.com). They are the primary element of the permissions mechanism that the Flash Player uses to determine if a SWF file should have access to resources on a domain outside of the domain where the SWF is hosted. A policy file is a simple XML file that is typically placed at the root of a site (www.siteB.com/crossdomain.xml).

When the concept of Rich Internet Applications was formally introduced, it required developers to start thinking about the web a little differently. RIA's are capable of providing a much smoother user experience, but there are other design changes that we must consider as well....beyond the user interface.

One of the most obvious differences between traditional, page-based web applications and RIA's is that page-based apps generally require page refreshes, while Flex applications don't. This presents new challenges for web developers who have just started building Flex applications. Developers are now forced to change the way they think about the view state.

Do you sometimes scratch your head and ask WTF (I said "frick" in my head. Really.) when projects suddenly fall apart? Suppose you're a project manager. Your team is steadily moving along on a project. There is no indication that anything is wrong, and your team says they're on target to hit their deadlines. Then, all of the sudden, things seem to be out of control with the application, and there seems to be no explanation as to why everything is screwy. Everyone begins to panic towards the end. Features that should have been completed a long time ago still aren't working, developers are sweating profusely, and throwing up in the corner periodically. If your development team seems to have a hard time estimating tasks or consistently misses deadlines, then this article is for you.

Organization, consistency, and having realistic expectations are key to predicting more accurate timelines and avoiding unexpected last minute failures.

Read on.

Cliff Hall hosted his "PureMVC Pirate Radio Conference Takeover" tonight, and I must say it was very cool to hear how the framework is being put to the test in production. Technical (Acrobat Connect) difficulties aside, it's obvious that PureMVC is the real deal.

Thanks guys, for taking the time to talk about how you're using PureMVC.

A very notable aside by Brendan Lee was his plug about the Ribbit $100,000 Killer App Challenge. If you're interested in developing an app on the Ribbit Open Telephony Platform, you definitely need to take note of this developer contest. Cash is good.

I just read a little about the new beta technology that they have released today called Cocomo. It supposed to solve a bunch of problems, like "real-time social capabilities" and "real-time multi-user applications." Features of the Cocomo beta include things like whiteboards and chat.

Ok, Adobe. Help me out here. What's the point? Don't we already have all of those things in Flash Media Interactive Server and Livecycle Dataservices? What problem are you trying to solve exactly? The biggest difference I can see at first glance is that this is a hosted solution, but....we already have that too (ie Influxis). We've had the technology to build real-time apps with Flash and Flex for years now.

I'll investigate a little more, but man this seems a little redundant, and I definitely don't see the value here. Hopefully they aren't planning to ax FMS or LCDS. I would love to know more about where they are going with these different technologies. Sorry, I just don't understand the "big, big deal". They don't seem to compliment each other very well....they're almost in competition with themselves.

Off to learn more...

This is a follow up to my previous post, For Designers: How to Create a Flex Skin.

Ok, so you just received an email from a designer, since they are scared of Subversion, with an attachment of a fresh new glossy Flex skin (just kidding, we must be nice to our designers....otherwise, they will draw degrading cartoons of us). Below are 3 short tutorials on how to apply the skin, from start to finish.

Setting up Flex Builder:

Importing Skins into Flex Builder:

Testing and Customizing Skins: