Screencast # 2 - Scrolling HBox without scrollbars (Flex 3)

In this screencast we'll be looking at how to scroll an HBox in Flex 3, without having the scrollbars present. I'll also show you how to get a nice animation effect when doing the scrolling.
Source code below the video.



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Screencast # 1 - Filtering ArrayCollections

In this first screencast I take look at loading XML data into an ArrayCollection, avoiding some common pitfalls and then doing live filtering on the data shown in an DataGrid.
Note that this is my first sceencast and my native language is not english, so this is just me getting my feet wet so to speak.
Source code below the video.



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Quicktip: Searching an ArrayCollection fast and easy

Let's say your Flex project needs to maintain a large amount of data, like all the userdata from you big ass site. You can use several datastructures in Flex to store complex userdata, from XML to linked lists. However, perhaps the most useful and easiest structure is the Flex native ArrayCollection. This structure gives you a lot for free, for instance.. searching for stuff.

Let's say you have all of your users in "usersCollection" which is an ArrayCollection. A user object may contain things like "firstNamename","lastName", "email", "address" and so on. Now, what if you need to find a specific user like "John Rambo". Then you'll need to search both the first and last name fields. You could of course traverse the entire collection using a loop, checking every iteration. Hang on, there is a faster way using a cursor (it's kinda lika a struct pointer if you're a C person).

First you need to sort the collection

var mySort:Sort = new Sort();

mySort.fields = [new SortField('lastname')];

usersCollection.sort = mySort;

usersCollection.refresh();

Then we create the cursor, pointing to the first item in the collection at init.

var cursor:iViewCursor = usersCollection.createCursor;

Now, we need to search both first and last name, so we create a searchobject.

var sObj:Object = {firstname:"John",lastname:"Rambo"};

We are now ready to do the actual search by using the findAny method of the cursor.

if(cursor.findAny(sObj)){

//We found him

}else{

//John Rambo is lost again

}

In order to get to the user we found we utilize the current property of the cursor.

var foundUser:Object = cursor.current;

Do keep in mind that the cursor is now pointing to the user found, so if we want the next user in the list we can simply go "cursor.moveNext()"

Why should you use this method? It's more flexible, it's faster and uses less resources than the traditional iterative loop approach.

Adobe Flash becoming an "Ad tool" full time?

As reported by Ryan Stewart, Adobe is altering the name of the next version of Flex Builder(code name «Gumbo») to «Flash Builder». Seeing this in correlation with the new «Flash Catalyst», I can't help wonder where this leaves the Flash authoring tool.

Adobe Flash has for some time been struggling with a bad rep for being the tool "which is used for creating annoying banner ads". This view does hold water in many cases, adding insult to injury the fact that many Flash sites are poorly built and tend to leave users with a crashing web-browser. It seems like Adobe are segmenting out Flash as a cowboy tool, fronting Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder as the tools for creating "real" RIA applications and "robust" rich interactive web sites. On the other hand this may not be their intention at all, however I do believe it will be the result following this strategy.

I base this assumption on two things in large. One is the fact that the Flash authoring tool becomes more or less redundant with the introduction of Flash Catalyst, seeing it from a designer standpoint. As for developers, the Flash authoring tool has never been the first choice to put it in subtle terms. The second argument bases itself in the evolutionary direction in which rich internet applications are heading. Current trends shows that rich web-sites and RIA applications grow ever more complex, at the same time users are demanding a more friendly UI, conformity in the experience and short load times. Flex and Catalyst performs advanced tasks better..

Adobe Flash authoring is a tool for creating interactive animations, but has been used for everything else in the past years. I do not think the Flash authoring tool will die, but it's role will diminish, leaving Flash Catalyst as the main designer tool for rich content and Flash Builder as the developers choice.