Category Archives: Flash 10

iPad2 or XOOM

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The progress of tablets is fantastic. The future vision of how we would use technology seems to be approaching sooner rather than later. I remember as a teenager watching Jean Luc Picard on the Enterprise thinking that seems so foreign. Now it is a part of daily life.  Tablets are doing more than even Captain Picard could have guessed. The hottest of the tablets are the Motorola XOOM and Apples iPad 2. I did a little comparison for my company to evaluate which we would want to purchase and have decided that the XOOM is the clear winner.

Here are the reasons why:

Flash: If you have ever read my blog then you know I am very much into Flash and have been since the early days. The interesting thing is that nearly have of the web is into it also. Over 40% of all websites have  Flash content. The iPad cannot view any of these sites. This is an issue when http://www.FranklinCovey.com, http://www.FranklinCoveySpeakersBureau.com, http://www.theleaderinme.org, and several other FranlinCovey web properties are built in Adobe Flash.

Free Apps: Yes the App Store has more total Apps than the Android Market Place yet the number of free apps for Android is nearly double. You can’t beat free. Native apps for the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS is very limited right now but most of the apps I tested work just as well on Android phones as well as on the XOOM. (SlideIt Keyboard was one exception)

Widgets: I love having my email, calendar, news feeds and many other important pieces of information available without having to click an icon and wait for an app to load. This seems so intuitive to me that I don’t doubt that the iPad will have it in one of the future releases.

Voice Commands: Typing, browsing, opening apps, listening to music and navigating can all happen at the sound of my voice. Being able to say, “Navigate to FranklinCovey” and then having the largest GPS unit imaginable is pretty cool. There are many other Google Voice Actions.

Tabbed Browsing: This is a great feature. It may seem simple to some but being able to see the tabs that I have open and go back and forth is a lot less hassle than the ipad (non-multitasking) method that takes me to a separate screen then having to choose which window I want to manage. The browser acts like the browser on my computer. Did I mention the browser has Flash.

Google Integration: Google maps, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Chat, Google Search, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Navigation, Google Sky Maps, Google Body, Google Goggles, Google Books, Google everything. I love the way it all integrates together to make my life simple.

Expandable Memory: iPad makes you pay $829 for the 64 GB device with 3G whereas for the Motorola XOOM you pay $599 for the 32 GB device and buy a SanDisk 32GB MicroSDHC Card for $70. Note – The expansion slot is not accessible as of the date of this post. This will be coming within 2 weeks I am assured from Verizon. Price: See above.  64 GB Xoom for $670, 64 GB iPad 2 for $829

Website Load Times: Considerably faster on the XOOM than the iPadfrom my testing and from 6 secs vs. 9 secs load times as tested here.

Internet Speeds: Again the trophy goes to the XOOM. Although Verizon carries both devices the iPad 2 is not capable of 4G speeds. The XOOM will have 4G within a month according to the Verizon reps that I spoke with.

True Multitasking: Enough said.

and…. a

Barometer for when I need to check the weather or altitude. 🙂

In summary, even if I were on the Enterprise I would probably still pick the Motorola XOOM with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.Below is a direct comparison chart.

As always – Happy Flashing
Curtis J. Morley

XOOM iPad2
OS Android 3.0 Honeycomb iOS 4.3
Widgets On Page Interactivity None
Display 10.1-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD 1024 x 768
Contrast Ratio 1200:1 881:1
Max Bright(cd/m2) 312 388
Weight 730 g 613g [AT&T], 607g [VRZN], 601g [WIFI]
Dimensions 9.80 x 6.61 x 0.51 inches 9.5 x 7.31 x .34 inches
Color Black [USA], Silver [EURO], Gold [SE] Black or White
Multi-Tasking Yes None
Camera(s) – front, -back 5mpx VGA Webcam – front, 720p Video -back
Processor Dual-Core NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual-Core Apple A5
Battery 9 hrs heavy use, up to 20 days standby 10 hrs heavy use, up to 1 month standby
Adobe Flash Flash 10.2 None
Memory/Storage 32GB 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
Expansion Slot up to 32 GB now 64 GB coming soon None
Carrier Verizon Verizon/AT&T
Connection Speed 4G, 3G 3G
Price $799 3-G, $600 Wifi-Only, £499.99 Euro Wifi-Only $499 16GB, $599 32GB, $699 64GB, $629 16GB+3G, $729 32GB+3G, $829 64GB+3G – all models include Wifi
Web Load Time(secs) 6 9
Tabbed Browsing Tabbed Browsing None
Voice Commands Integrated None
Open Marketplace Yes Closed
Native Apps 1500 65,000
Total Apps 150,000 350,000
Free Apps 66% 33%
Connections gyroscope gyroscope
accelerometer accelerometer
ambient light sensor ambient light sensor
digital compass digital compass
GPS & Cellular location on 3G models GPS & Cellular location on 3G models
barometer None
magnetometer None
Proximity Sensor None
CDMA800 /1900 LTE 700 (4G) HUSPA support
Rx diversity in all bands connection None
3.5 mm stereo headphone jack 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n Wifi 802.11a/b/g/n
HDMI out HDMI out(with adapter)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
mic mic
microUSB 30-pin dock connector port

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ActionScript Error 1050: Cannot assign to a non-reference value.

ActionScript Error 1050 Description:
This Error is rather simple and you will find the solution to AS3 Error #1050 quick and easy. This Flash/Flex error occurs because you have tried (unintentionally I’m sure) to assign something that cannot be referenced later to another value. In other words you could have tried to assign a string in a trace statement to a value. Once the trace statement occurs that value is obliterated and therefore can never be referenced again. I’m sure that made a lot of sense… if not see the examples below. 🙂

Flex / Flash Error #1050 Fix:
Move the equal sign  ( = ) inside of the quotes.

Bad Code 1:

var word:String = “Wrong place for equal sign”;
trace(“AS3 Error 1050” =+ word);

Good Code 1:

var word:String = “Wrong place for equal sign”;
trace(“AS3 Error 1050 = “+ word);

Related Errors:

Flash ActionScript Error 1067 – Implicit coercion of a value of type void to an unrelated type Function. (AS3 Error 1067 is when you try to assign a String to a Number etc…) The above code will give you Flex error 1067 also.

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1050

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

Which Browsers Come Preinstalled with Flash Player?

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Here is the quiz of the day.
Which Browsers Come Preinstalled with Flash Player?

Icons for IE8, Chrome2, Safari 4, Firefox 3, Opera 9

Icons for IE8, Chrome2, Firefox 3, Safari 4, Opera 9

Which Browsers come preinstalled with the Flash Player plugin pre-installed?

  1. Internet Explorer 8 (8.0.7100.0)
  2. Google Chrome 2 (2.0.172.37)
  3. Firefox 3 (3.51)
  4. Opera 9.7 (9.64)
  5. Safari 4 (4.0.2)
Find out the answer after the break.
Break
If you guessed Internet Explorer 8 you would be right.  The way I found this out is because our computer failed and I took it in to get it fixed at EBC computers who did a great job (a little pricey) and replaced the harddrive and installed Windows 7 as the OS.  The first thing I did (after plugging it into our 25″ monitor at home) was to download the various browsers.  I then saw the page on Opera Mobile and wanted to check it out.  Surprisingly none of the browsers (including Opera which was the site I was on requiring Flash Player) had the Flash Player preinstalled  except for Internet Explorer 8.
And here are the screenshots to prove it.
Google Chrome Flash Plugin Screenshot
Google Chrome isn't presintalled with Flash Player
Google Chrome isn’t preinstalled with Flash Player
Safari Flash Plugin Screenshot
Safari Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player
Safari Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player but had a detiled pop-up
Firefox  Flash Plugin Screenshot
Firefox Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player. This was pretty lame.
Firefox Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player. This was pretty lame.
Opera Flash Plugin Screenshot
Opera Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player. The lamest of all.

Opera Browser is not presintalled with Flash Player. The lamest of all.

So what should you do if you run into this scenario?  Go to Adobe of course and Get the Flash Plugin.

Thanks and as always,

Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

Flash for Android

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So it seems that Android has jumped ahead of iPhone again and the launch of Flash Player 10 will be released in October during the Adobe Max confernce.  Flash for Android is a big step for the mobile industry.  Besides running the SkyFire browser on Windows Mobile and Symbian phones this is the first major release to allow Flash 10 content on mobile.  Leave it to Google to be the first to run Flash Player 10 on mobile devices.  Google seems to really have embraced Flash.

Check out the full article at www.tmonews.com

Flash Player 10 will be available on Android

Flash Player 10 will be available on Android

Presenting at E-Learning DevCon – Cognitive Learning

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I am excited to say that I will be speaking at the E-Learning DevCon.  E-Learning DevCon is arguably the best Flash E-learning conference around.  This is one of those hidden gems that people talk about long after they are gone.  Some of the most respected E-learning and Interactive Instructional designers will be at this conference. Sign up quickly because it is filling up fast.

Presentation:

Cognitive Learning


Cognitive Learning Screenshot

Cognitive Learning Screenshot

This lecture will engage you and bring to life aspects of learning that are only now being tapped through technology. This style of learning walks through how technology can take learning from a passive experience to an engaged and cognitive experience. We will look at how the use of video and divergent paths can engage learners like never before. Curtis will show the product that has only been shown at one other conference – the Global Chinese Conference for Computing in Education. Come at let your brain be engaged.

Where:
E-Learning DevCon – University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

When:
June 17th-19th 3:30 P.M.

So sign up for E-Learning DevCon and I let’s make learning exciting again.

Happy Flashing,

Curtis J. Morley

WARNING: Text field variable names are not supported in ActionScript 3.0

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ActionScript WARNING: Text field variable names are not supported in ActionScript 3.0. The variable ‘btnName’ used for an unnamed text field will not be exported.

ActionScript Warning Description:

So I was going back to restructure a project that I had done in AS2 and a previous version of Flash.  I thought I had converted all of the old AS2 code, and components, and naming conventions, etc… when this error popped up.  The error made a lot of sense until I went to fix it.  The image below is what I saw when I went to the place that I thought be the resolution to this error.

Text Field Variable Names not displaying in CS4/

Text Field Variable Names not displaying in CS4/AS3

Flex / Flash Text Field  Variable Warning Fix:
I searched around at other buttons and tried to find something else that might have been it even though I knew that this was the correct text field.  The way to solve this is to revert back to AS2 in your publish settings ( FILE >> PUBLISH SETTINGS >> SCRIPT drop down) and then go back to the text field in question and you will be able to delete the variable name. Don’t forge to return to ActionScript 3.0 after you delete the variable name.

File >> Publish Settings >> Script Option

File >> Publish Settings >> Script Option

and with this option selected you can then delete the variable name as shown below.

Text Field Variable Names not displaying in AS2

Text Field Variable Names not displaying in AS2

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Text Field Variable Warning

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

AS3 Error #1126: Function does not have a body.

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ActionScript Error 1126: Function does not have a body.

ActionScript Error 1126 Description:

I got this error from one of my UVU students code.  And as promised in honor of her I am thusly naming AS3 Error 1126 the Erin Johnson Error.  This error is given, in this case, because a semicolon is used instead of a colon after the parenthesis.  A semicolon in the ActionScript language is equivalent to a period in the English Language which means that if Flash sees the semicolon it says to the compiler finish this line of code and move on. The colon on hte other hand is used to say what Type something is or in the examples below what “Type” of data will be returned when the function is called. In the example below we don’t want to return a type so we use :void (notice the colon). This should help solve AS3 Error 1126.

 

Flex / Flash Error #1126 Fix:
Replace the semicolon with a colon.

Bad Code 1:

function someFunc(event:MouseEvent);void
{
doSomething();
}

Good Code 1:

function someFunc(event:MouseEvent):void
{
doSomething();
}

Related Errors:

ActionScript Error 1084: Syntax error: expecting colon before leftparen. This error is a psuedo error in this case because once AS3 Error 1126 is reslved this error will also disappear.

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1126

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

Speaking at Adobe MAX – Flooglytics

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Flooglytics = Flash + Google Analytics

I am excited to say that I will be speaking one month from today at the FITC Unconference at Adobe MAX.  FITC has always been one of the leading Flash conferences and has expanded to locations all around the globe.

What:

Flash and Google Analytics = FLOOGLYTICS
Flash has always been considered the ugly step sister in the world of SEO and Analytics. Well now Flash takes “Center Stage”. Using Google Analytics data can be extracted from Flash that could never be pulled from HTML. This session will explore the ins-and-outs of how to setup Google Analytics to work most effectively with your Flash files and how to set up Flash to work most effectively with your Google Analytics account. Go beyond just seeing what users did. See what users meant to do or even wanted to do but didn’t. The most important part of the equation is how to refine this gold that Flash and Google Analytics provide. Walk away from this session armed with the tools you need to implement Floogylitics and make your site effective. Combine this session with the MAX session announcing the new developments at Google Analytics and you will be miles ahead of the competition.

Where: FITC Unconference at Adobe MAX in San Francisco

When: November 19th 3:30 P.M.

So sign up for MAX and I will see you on Wednesday.

Happy Flashing,

Curtis J. Morley

ActionScript Error 1184: Incompatible default value of type int where String is expected.

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ActionScript Error 1184: Incompatible default value of type int where String is expected.

ActionScript Error 1184 Description:
This error is quite simple.  It just says that you have the wrong type of data in your parameter initializer.  Or in other words you tried to assign a string where you typed the parameter as a uint.

Flex / Flash Error #1184 Fix:
Match the parameter type to the proper data type.

Bad Code 1:

bob(someValue:uint = “Happy”)
{
trace(someValue);//error 1184
}

Good Code 1:

bob(someValue:uint = 5)
{
trace(someValue);//output 5
}

Related Errors:

AS3 Error 1047

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1184

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley