The property ‘htmlText’ is gone in spark TextArea. It was obviously making life too easy

A work around is to use the spark.utils.TextFlowUtil and shove the html code in it. It formats it for TextArea to display.

This example goes a step further and shows how to add more to an existing TextArea with HTML in it.

// Required: spark.utils.TextFlowUtil
// output is a <s:TextArea />

output.textFlow = TextFlowUtil.importFromString(output.text + htmlSourceToAdd + "<br />");

arno.org has a great article on how to reduce the CPU usage in your air apps. The meat of it is essentially not using ENTER_FRAME (duh), and more interestingly dropping the framerate to once every 10 seconds (0.1) once the air application goes in the background (minimized/hidden).

Read the full article at arno.org

JSWOOF is a pretty neat JSON parser. It’s lightweight and about a third faster than the corelib JSON encoder/decoder.

Here is a great little site I stumbled upon today.

It’s called java2s and it’s basically example source code (snippets) of many languages, organized by topic.

Here is the Flex / Flash / Actionscript category.

Do you know other ones (categorized)? If so, let us know.

Before, I wrote about How to save one or more objects to file using this class.

Today it’s time to read it and bring back the object in Flex.

The class

package com.idletogether
{
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.filesystem.*;

	public class Opener
	{
		public static var file:File;

		public static function openFile() :void
		{
			file = new File();
			file.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, dirSelected);
			file.browseForOpen('');
		}

		public static function dirSelected(e:Event) :void
		{
			// this will be our object back
			var dat:Object = new Object();

			var fileStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
			fileStream.open(file, FileMode.READ);
			dat = fileStream.readObject();
			fileStream.close();

			some.object = dat.data;
			some.other.object = dat.structure;
		}

	}
}

How to use it

Simply…

import com.idletogether.Opener;
Opener.openFile();

This example is very basic, but it is kept simple for the sake of being easy to understand. From there you can build up a much more tailored system. This should get you started.

Use the Expressions panel of Flex and add a ‘watch’ to the variable ‘dat’ to see what came back in and if it is in good form.

HTH,
Cheers.

The class

Feel free to use it for free or commercial projects.

package com.idletogether
{
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.filesystem.*;

	public class Saver
	{
		public static var file:File;

		public static function saveToFile() :void
		{
			// pick an unused extension
			file = new File("/filename.ext");
			file.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, dirSelected);
			file.browseForSave('');
		}

		public static function dirSelected(e:Event) :void
		{
			// this object will get saved to the file
			var dat:Object = new Object();

			dat.data = some.object;
			dat.structure = some.other.object;

			var fileStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
			fileStream.open(file, FileMode.WRITE);
			fileStream.writeObject(dat);
			fileStream.close();
		}
	}
}

How to use it

It’s a static method to be called so, simply…

import com.idletogether.Saver;
Saver.saveToFile();

This will prompt the user to pick a destination and will suggest the file name “filename.ext”.

Please note that you can’t save DisplayObjects straight to file using writeObject. It’s a limitation.

From here, find out how to get the object back into flex in the next post.

HTH,
Cheers.

This is a really cool demo of a desktop / web app called TileUI.

I have to say, however, that I will stick to Finder for day-to-day work, huh.

More info here

Please note that the concept has already been seen in a yet-to-be-released application seen here.

(Thanks Raz-L)

In the fast changing world of the internet, it’s important to keep track of what’s going on.

Here are the 5 apps that really got my attention recently.

Pownce - Share everything

Not only Pownce includes Digg’s master Kevin Rose, but it’s also a very promising app.

The basic idea behind Pownce is sharing, everything. At this stage you can send messages, links, files such as photos and events.

It’s currently under a slow expanding public beta (invite only).

Picnik - Powerful photo editing online

Picnik is not the usual Flex app. It runs a kick-ass set of features for images editing and it looks gorgeous.

Saffron - Beautiful UML Modeler

There has been a lot of buzz around Saffron. Pretty much any blog about Adobe AIR has featured it, yet it’s not even alpha! I think the screen grabs just look amazing and people are dying for a proper (free?) UML editor.

We keep in touch with Saffron and we hope for a public alpha, soon.

Warehouse - Comprehensive subversion browser

Their tag-line says it well: “Finally, A Web-based subversion browser that doesn’t suck.”

Warehouse supports multiple repository access, makes easy to manage users and brings the convenience of browser bookmarks to subversion. A bliss for regular or amateur subversion users.

Aviary - Take the artists online

Aviary is working on a set of applications that will bring “people who create” online. All types of artists will have access to creative tools, online.

The amusing part is that it’s with Adobe products that Aviary plans on reducing Adobe’s user list!

Keep in touch, subscribe to our RSS feed for fresh news and in-depth reviews!

Saffron Modeler is an absolute gorgeous Air application. It’s an UML Modeler, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
It’s currently in teasing version… That is we’re waiting for the first alpha! Coming soon…

Create simple book looking applications with this full-on Flex component. The source is now available!
Check out The FlexBook component and the source. Also with Adobe Air as ApolloBook.

Matchmine is a Flex/Air application that recommends media based on your tastes. The application seems to be an early beta and I have run into some bugs, but it looks promising.
Check it out at http://www.matchmine.com/

Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. You’ll create a network of the people you know and then you can share stuff with all of them, just a few of them, or even just one other person really fast.
Pownce is made in Adobe Air and is currently in private beta.
Check out http:// www.pownce.com/