ActionScript Scraps

This FLV Info tool enables you to view embedded MetaData without needing to play the video. Just like the SWFInfo tool I blogged about last year, using this tool you select your FLV file using the FileReference class and then you can view all you need to know about your Flash video : duration, width, height, videodatarate, framerate, videocodecid and stereo values.

It works by converting the loaded FLV data into a ByteArray and then searching for the string values associated with each metadata value. Then it reads either a double-precision (64-bit) floating-point number from the ByteArray, or in the case of 'stereo', a Boolean value. Also it will tell you how the videocodecid number translates into an understandable string value (i.e. VP6, H263 or AVC).

duration, width, height, videodatarate, framerate, videocodecid, stereo

Twitter has different crossdomain.xml policy files for the root domain and the 'search' subdomain. This is great news for Flash developers wanting to use their data.

http://twitter.com/crossdomain.xml
http://search.twitter.com/crossdomain.xml

I just managed to get TortoiseSVN connecting via SSH to my new subversion repository but it wasn't easy (MediaTemple (gs), Windows XP).
Once the repo had been set-up I could connect via PuTTY without any problems, however trying to get TortoiseSVN to connect proved more difficult.

Here is a great tutorial "How to use TortoiseSVN to access Mediatemple subversion over svn+ssh", however everything worked for me apart from gaining access via TortoiseSVN. Every time I tried to connect I would get this error message: "Network connection closed unexpectedly."

Eventually I discovered that the PuTTY Configuration 'Default Settings' must not have any user entered data stored in it. The only way I could get this to work is to create a new Saved Sessions value and store my data in there. Also rather than putting my username in with the address (as done in the example above), I entered my username into Connection -> Data -> Auto-login username.

i.e. Settings for new Saved Session:

Session -> Host Name (or IP address) : s#####.gridserver.com (##### your gs number)
Connection -> Data -> Auto-login username : serveradmin@yourdomain.com

Then using PuTTY + Pageant I was able to connect using TortoiseSVN.

Here is a brilliant post 'Zooming in Flash & Flex' on how to use the transform Matrix to zoom and rotate DisplayObjects. Daniel Gasienica writes well and has some great examples demonstrating to correct way to apply these transformations to your clips.
Using this method saves you messing around with the Point class and localToGlobal / globalToLocal methods. This solution is elegant and efficient.

http://gasi.ch/blog/zooming-in-flash-flex/

I've just launched my new portfolio site. This is v3.0 of sitedaniel.com, and takes a more minimalist approach to the design than the previous versions. This site is powered by ActionScript3.0 and XML, and uses some fun BitmapData effects.

link

This is a fun 'Flip' Clock that is counting down the days until Xmas.
It is AS3.0 and chooses images randomly from a large set.
Online for a short time only!

This was an uncomplicated build: an eight-page microsite built using AS3.0 with XML driven data and limited animations.
It came together quickly and I'm happy with the end result.

Production Express

Here is a great post about how to make sure your XML loaded over HTTPS in Internet Explorer doesn't fall victim to a nasty bug.

If you're getting Sandbox Security errors but your crossdomain.xml file is set up correctly then you might need to alter the header values in your server response. This really is a weird bug and could have taken a long time to get to the bottom of.
Something else to note is that Fiddler2 interfered with the crossdomain.xml loading and caused this error to recur.

Due to a breach at my hosting provider, this blog has been temporarily out of action for the last 3 days. I had to basically do a clean install of WordPress because of some lax security at my hosting provider. It has been a pretty frustrating experience and has left me considering moving to another provider.
Everything is back to normal now, and hopefully they will ensure this doesn't happen again.

Have a local SWF but no FLA? Need to know the width, height, swf version, actionscript version or framerate?
You can use this tool to load in your SWF and find out everything you need to know.
It works with Flash Movies using ActionScript 2.0 or 3.0 and will tell you instantly all the information you need to know about your SWF.

swfVersion, actionScriptVersion, frameRate, width, height