Back in the AS2 days, I created a JSFL script that would trace out the code for a MovieClip class based on items on the timeline. This eventually got ported to AS3, and it had become an essential part of my day-to-day workflow. However, there were some critical shortcomings. One was that it couldn’t identify instances of other custom components in your library. It just typed them as MovieClip. And, most importantly, (due to the limitations of JSFL at the time), it couldn’t actually output a real class file.

I have now updated this script, and my new class generator has much better timeline instance introspection and it actually creates the class files for you. To install, download Bumpslide Component Class Generator JSFL File and put it in your Flash commands folder. This will create a new entry in your Commands menu called “[Bumpslide] Generate Component Classes”.

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I was talking to my parents on the phone last Sunday as I do most Sundays, and my dad said that he had never read my blog until just a few days ago. He was impressed, he said, because he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. “It’s like another language from another planet.” Granted, the things I often write about are usually the most arcane and technical things I do. But, I think it’s time to bring it down a notch and write about the simple things that make writing code for Flash more enjoyable. For me, one of the nicest is data binding. This post is an introduction to the concept of storing application state in a Model Locator and using my BindableModel as a way to bind that data to view components.

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I’ve been doing some work lately with the physics engine that is in the Flare data visualization library. This is a very simple little engine that just deals with particles, forces, and springs. The Flare physics package does not include any rigid body mechanics or collision detection, since it was built as a tool for data visualization as opposed to simulation. For the purpose of things like tag clouds and force-directed layouts, this is just the trick. I can’t speak much for the rest of the Flare library, as so far, it really hasn’t met any of my needs. But, definitely check it out. There is great code here.

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I’ve recently updated my application template located in the examples section of my Bumpslide Library. I’ve taken this a step further by packaging this as an archive that is ready to use as a starting point for new AS3 Flash applications.

Download: Bumpslide AS3 App Template
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There’s been a lot of talk about the potential dead end that is EcmaScript 4. This whole thing seems rather rediculous to me. Your tool of choice will most likely not disappear overnight. And, hell, even if namespaces did disappear from AS3, I might not miss it. When I first heard about this, I thought, hey, this might be a good time to start using haxe. See, haxe looks a lot like AS3, and it compiles down to various SWF versions as well as Javascript, and now even PHP. If I need to write a javascript library, using haxe lets me work with a smarter language and compiler and still support all major browsers. I was curious what Nicolas Cannasse thought of all this, and sure enough he has a blog post about this very topic, except he wrote it 9 months ago.

http://blog.haxe.org/entry/25

Update: he has posted a more timely analysis as well…

http://ncannasse.free.fr/?p=82