A blog about User Interface, User Experience, Design, Flash, Product management and all that goes in between.

I am working on a new project that requires serverside development, using Apache, MySQL and PHP. However I didn’t want to change my current personal webserver configuration – the one that comes with OS X, and I remembered my friend Eran’s tip about MAMP – an independent standalone webserver, but never got to download it.Then, few days later, Aral released SWX PHP 1.0 (remember SWX?), and offers a very convenient way to start playing with SWX in minutes, using no other that a MAMP bundle, already configured with a useful Start Page linking to the SWX Service Explorer & Data Analyzer , can’t be simpler than that.. try it out!Great work Aral! I liked the Screencast explaining how to set it up, Aral simply explode you with knowledge : )

I also find the SWX icon very amusing in my dock..

The last Adobe Flash Player update, (Aug 21, codenamed “Moviestar”) integrates H.264 video and High Efficiency AAC audio codecs, as well as multi core support and full screen mode with hardware scaling.So flash will soon deliver HD quality videos, good news : )Flash is probably the best video platform today, as it combines the customizable interactivity of flash scripting and advanced streaming and playing abilities.The recently updated YouTube player is a great example, developing the video playing experience by improving the most difficult part – selecting the video out of the endless inventory without too much effort by the viewer. In the new player when the video you watched is over, relevant videos are offered, very aesthetically and in the same location, without visiting the flickr website or even leaving the page. nice.YouTube new player interface:

Few days ago John Grden released Papervision3D Component for Flash CS3.I wanted to try Papervision3D (actionscript 3D engine, check this out!) for some time now, and didnt have the time, with this cool shortcut I simply couldn’t resist..This component adds a panel for controlling properties of ‘Papervision3D COLLADA Scene’ component, properties such as the Source 3D file (collada = .dae), Camera settings and Model rotation or scale. The component also enable design-time rendering in Flash IDE, which is great! Flash and 3D are combined, in one native IDE. cool times.
check this vid out: (Sorry, the vid is no longer available)
Beside Flash components sweetness I still need the 3D modeling to be done on my Mac, I am not fluent in the 3D modeling world, but Blender is free and easily imports and exports Collada files, I guess it can give answer to my simple demands..

Great things are happening recently! SWX is a new data exchange format for flash, by Aral Balkan, basically delivering the data in swf format, so the flash is actually using a native loadMovie() function to load the data.Passing data to and from flash has been evolving for a long time now, recently it seems like it even accelerated. I am really happy with this one, cause unlike other solutions, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to set it up (this means it is simple if you had doubts), and implementing this method looks simple enough to become very popular.I like the concept of passing data in swf format, but I wonder, are these data swf files cashed in users machines?I will keep track of this for sure.

Be warned, I will discuss ActionScript in the following words, you may want to eat something before reading any further. Any way, this may not be “hot news” but will still open my ActionScript category From time to time when I have more than one flash site open and they play sounds or music, I get confused which window produce what music? Since I am using a Mac where all the windows sounds just blend, it is really hard to tell.I expect flash authors & developers to handle this issue, especially in flash website, by adding a script that will stop the sound in the flash when the window is loosing focus. This is an example of a need for communication between flash and the scripting environment, invoking JavaScript functions from flash and vice versa, actually it’s also relevant in applications embedding flash player, and maybe Apollo soon?.
I will start with legacy methods:
The good old Flash Methods is pretty simple but very limited, all it can do is set/get a property in the flash object, or send flash few basic commands. The other direction – invoking JS functions from within Flash was done using fscommand that can pass one argument, so by using some kind of formatting (heard of Jason?) enabled passing few values in one string. However, fscommand does not return any value to flash, and therefore required using listeners for utilizing in more complex applications.
The new method:The External Interface Class Is a more matured method for communicating between ActionScript and the environment, available for flash version 8 and above, all major browsers.

From ActionScript, you can do the following on the HTML page:
Call any JavaScript function, Pass any number of arguments, Pass various data types (Boolean, Number, String, and so on), Receive a return value from the JavaScript function.
From JavaScript on the HTML page, you can:
Call an ActionScript function, Pass arguments using standard function call notation, Return a value to the JavaScript function.

It works by registering a function for external use by the browser, the registration is done using the ExternalInterface class and basically dedicates a unique name for each function.
This example shows an event (Page loosing/getting focus) that triggers a function in flash (stop/play sound), you can download sources here.