Monthly Archives: August 2008

Heeeee-lariouos – Design Minstrel sings about Flash

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Matt Maxwell Sings at Flash ForwardAll right you Flashers. Stop banging your heads because of the latest Flash Error and go spend a little time with Matt Maxwell. Matt understands your pain and even sings about it. Once you hear Matt’s lucid tomes you will be blown away at how well he understands your pain.

Matt recently sang one of his Songs about Flash at Flash Forward to a crowd of raving fans.

This is my favorite:
Flash Song by Matt Maxwell – Long Preloader

Matt is a phenominal designer, Flasher, interactive 3D website creator, and a stinking funny performer.

Check out his stuff:

www.MattMaxwellDesign.com

www.designmnistrel.com

Hopefully this will give you a break from those wicked Flash/Flex/AS3 errors and give you a good laugh.

Happy Flashing,

Curtis J. Morley

Teaching Flash again at UVU

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Utah Valley University For everyone that has wanted help with their Flash now is your chance to get it. If you have ever said, “Man! I wish I could just ask Curtis this question in person.” sign up for DGM 2870 at the newest University in the Nation, UVU. The class is going to focus on ActionScript Fundamentals and will have a syllabus that looks something like this. I started teaching over 8 years ago and was the first person to teach Flash in Utah. I spent most of my time teaching at UVU (then UVSC) and had a little stint with SLCC (Salt Lake Community College) and then a few years teaching in the Masters of Information Systems at the Largest Private University in the nation, Brigham Young University.

Flash CS3 IconNow I am back to my roots. I am excited to start teaching College Flash again. I will cover ActionScript Fundamentals using the book by Rich Shupe. Arrays, External AS, functions, conditionals, interactivity, usability, Object Oriented Programming, and mobile will be taught. I will be using GoCourse as my LMS/Content Creation Tool/ Grading system for enhanced learning for my students and easier teaching for me.

Super Smash BrothersThe class is extremely fun. It is also a lot of work but the reward is fantastic. I don’t know if it is quite as fun as Super Smash Brothers Melee Theory and Practice taught by Brian Mazur, Mike Blejer and Quentin Jones at Oberlin College (Don’t believe me? Click the link and scroll to the bottom under “Physical Activities and Games”) they also list Stilting as a 1 credit course.

Stilt JumpingAlthough we wont be walking on stilts or playing Nintendo for 2 hours we will learn how to create kick-butt applications, games, widgets, mobile applications, and websites with ActionScript. So go to UVU.edu and sign up today for the night class (7:30-8:45 p.m.).

Flash Error #1180: Call to a possibly undefined method myCustomClass.

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ActionScript 3 Error: 1180: Call to a possibly undefined method CustomClass.

ActionScript 3 Error #1180 Description:

One reason for this this error is because you are using the name of the variable that you are assigning to the Class rather than the Class itself.  Adobe also states that this error will only display when “Strict Mode” is turned on.

Flex / Flash Error #1180 Fix:

Make sure that when you instantiate the Object that you are using the Class name and not the variable name.

Bad Code:

var myCustomClass:CustomClass = new myCustomClass();

Good Code:

var myCustomClass:CustomClass = new CustomClass();

Links:

http://www.flashcomguru.com/index.cfm/2007/4/17/Flex-Builder-2-to-write-AS3-code-for-Flash

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1180

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

AS3 Error #1051: Return value must be undefined.

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ActionScript 3 Error: 1051: Return value must be undefined.

ActionScript 3 Error #1051 Description:
This error is popped up when you have specified the return type of a function as “void” and then returned something like a String, Number, etc…

Flex / Flash Error #1051 Fix:

If you need to return something from this function then simply specify the return type properly.

Bad Code:

function bob():void
{
return “message”;
}

Good Code:

function bob():String
{
return “message”;
}

Related Errors:

Flash Error 1067 (If you specified a return type of int, uint, Number, Array, Bitmap, etc…)
Flash Warning 3590 (If you specified a return type of Boolean)
Flash Error 1046 (If you specified a return type of Button)

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1051

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley