http://svn.hat6.com/hat6public/itemRenderersExample/trunk

ItemRenderer With Just Text

ItemRenderer With Icon

http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-16147

Second is just a tooltip fix, but EVERY fix committed is a testament to the power of Flex+Open Source!!!!!!!!

http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-16475

So, the code isn’t there yet, we’re waiting for 1.0, which should be finished in the next couple weeks. But I’ve invited all of the members that want to participate to take a look at the code, and if they get really excited about it, they can even contribute and fix one of the bugs that are still outstanding. This invitation is NOT restricted to my user group members, anyone can join, just contact me (dusty (dot) jewett -at- gmail (dot) com).

One thing I promised the members was a bit of guidance, so I’m linking to Laura’s Flex 360 talk about Mate. Unfortunately, the talk on Degrafa hasn’t been posted yet, but there are plenty of examples on the site.  AMFPHP has been around for a long while, but I’ve enjoyed Sephiroth’s tutorials. I’ll be explaining specific things in our user group meeting on the 13th, and while we don’t have the cool setup that Flex360 did, I should be able to come up with some sort of recording of it.

I started out with a Kind class (think CollectionEventKind) that had the types as strings… but then I had to figure out how to store the regular expressions to make them easily accessible… Then I remembered that while everyone just uses Strings, static const vars can be any class, including it’s own class. So I came up with this class that you can use constants, or locate a specific constant. Code after the fold.


package aero.panasonic.training.model
{
import flash.utils.Dictionary;
import flash.utils.describeType;

private static function mapKinds():void{
var description:XML = describeType(MediaKind);
for each(var cXML:XML in description.constant){
var m:MediaKind = MediaKind[cXML.@name] as MediaKind;
lookup[m.title] = m;
lookup[m.label] = m;
allKinds.push(m);
}
kindsMapped = true;
}
public static function getMediaKind(input:String):MediaKind{
if(!kindsMapped) mapKinds();
return lookup[input];
}
public static function getAllKinds():Array{
if(!kindsMapped) mapKinds();
return allKinds;
}
}
}


In my code, I have a piece that gets all of the MediaKinds, then checks each file against each kind. I can filter, I can create drop-downs, all from one class. The getMediaKind() function lets me effortlessly create my ValueObjects from XML. The toString() writes out the title, making my XML human-readable.

Instinctively, I want to take this farther and create a base ‘Kind’ class that has this all in it. It turns out that static properties/functions aren’t inherited. The properties and functions are still in scope, however… so it may be possible to write a generic function that takes a class, creates a lookup for that specific class and passes it back down the line, allowing the allKinds() function to return ALL of the static definitions for the class and it’s super-classes. Anyways, that’s too much for my head at this point, but maybe someone else will take the bait

First, download Switchboard.

Second, add Switchboard to your libs.

Third, use this script:

private function openFile(f:File):void{
Client.init(super.applicationID);
var message:Message = new Message();
var script:String = "var runScript = function(fileName){\n" +
" var theFile = new File(fileName);\n" +
" if(!theFile.exists) return false;\n" +
" theFile.execute();\n" +
"}\n" +
"runScript(\"" + f.url.substr(7) + "\");";
message.body = script;
message.target = "bridge";
message.onError = function( msg: Message ) : void {
// put the error message into the result box
trace("Error: " + msg.body);
}

message.send();
status = “Opening ” + f.name;
Client.close();
}

This opens up bridge, then uses Bridge to run the “execute()” command that ExtendScript (or whatever they’re calling it) has available.

Now… while this is neither simple or elegant, it gets the job done. I’d rather use Merapi, but my app has to ship before Merapi can go stable.

I’ve added all of our source code to the repository, including the code from the Seattle 2007 Code Jam (which is unfortunately unfinished…).  We’re heading towards a 1.0 release for the Second Harvest food bank, then after 1.0 we’ll be abstracting some of the pieces, so that it can be a plug-n-play widget for any organization that wants to offer a slick location-based-search. (Though it WILL be tailored to non-profits)

The code is free to download and try out.  We don’t have documentation on how to set up the AMF-PHP yet, but it’s coming… it shouldn’t be too hard, however. We have 7 open tickets as of this post, so feel free to dig in and help us release 1.0.  If you work on one of the tickets, let me know… I’ll add you to the project as soon as you have code to commit.

flash.system.Capabilities has everything you need.

<mx:Canvas visible=”{Capabilities.isDebugger}” /> will give you a canvas that is only displayed when you are debugging. You can check the flash player version, check to see if audio is enabled, many other things that can really tailor your application to enhance the user experience.