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”.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

For a recent project I needed to create 2D barcodes on printouts as a way of encoding a large batch of data. I settled on the PDF417 barcode format since it was well-known and unencumbered by licensing restrictions. This is the same format used on the back of many drivers licenses. There are numerous commercial libraries and barcode fonts on the market, but there was nothing that supported AS3 out of the box. After some research, I decided to port an open-source java library (pdf417lib by Paulo Soares) to AS3. This is the result of those efforts.

Source Code: pdf417lib_as3_src_20080730.zip

Online Demo: PDF417 Barcode Generator
(more…)