markstar » Flex

Twitter Search Demo using Robotlegs and Events

Mark — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:13:42 +0000

I’ve had chance to play with Robotlegs this weekend and have really enjoyed it. It’s really lightweight and you find that you spend more time coding rather than repeating the same tasks like you would do in other frameworks.

The first demo I put together was a simple Twitter Search application, using the Twitter Search API. You can see the demo in all it’s glory by clicking the image below! View Source is enabled so you can download the source and have a play; you will need the Robotlegs SWC to compile though, you’ll find this on the Robotlegs website. If you have any feedback or questions please leave a comment below!

Code Formatting for Flex Builder 3

Mark — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:33:14 +0000

Recently I’ve been introduced to a code formatter for Flex Builder 3 and thought it was worth sharing. The plug-in formats, indents and rearranges both MXML and ActionScript code.

Downloading the plug-in

There is a version of the plug-in available here, but I haven’t installed it from there. Below I’ve included instructions on how to install the plug-in using the software updates feature in Flex Builder.

Installing the plug-in via Software Updates

Launch Flex Builder 3 and go to Help>Software Updates>Find and install…
Check the Search for new features to install option and click Next
Now create a New Remote Site…
Enter the following URL for the remote site and give it a name, such as Flex Code Formatter and click Finish:
http://flexformatter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/FlexFormatter/FlexPrettyPrintCommandUpdateSite
Browse the tree to find the code formatter plugin ( FlexPrettyPrintCommandFeature Feature 0.6.27 ) and click Next.
Accept the license agreement and click Next then Finish.
Click Install All and restart Flex Builder 3. The plug-in is now installed and ready to use.

Using the plug-in

Once Flex Builder has restarted you should notice a new toolbar with some black and white icons. This toolbar gives you access to the following features:

Generating ASDoc comments for the file
Generating ASDoc comment for the current element
Format code
Indent code
Rearrage the code of the file

There will also be a shortcut key set up for formatting code; the default is CTRL+SHIFT+F.

Editing the Preferences

To edit the preferences of the plugin go to Window>Preferences. Then browse to Flex Formatting using the tree navigation on the left. There are a vast array of formatting and restructuring options available, so you should be able to find something to suit the way you code. It is also worth browsing the navigation tree to show the options for Auto Format; this will give you the option to format or indent code when you save.

Using SWC Library assets dynamically in Flex

Mark — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:30:17 +0000

I was working on a Flex project last week that dynamically used assets from a Flash library SWC and came across something I thought was worth sharing.

The application compiled correctly when using the assets within the code i.e. var object:Asset = new Asset(). However, when choosing to use the asset dynamically (with the use of getClassByAlias()) the application threw a runtime error. So, unless the asset was used within the application it was not compiled into the published application.

I found that by changing the link type of the SWC from ‘Merged into code’ to ‘Runtime shared library (RSL)’ I was able to use the asset dynamically within the application without the asset being used within the code.

Therefore, if you want to use Flash library assets from a SWC dynamically ensure that the link type of the SWC is set to ‘Runtime shared library’.

Does anyone have any comments or different solutions?