So I moved to a Mac when I got my new job in November working at Clearspring and I quickly started missing FlashDevelop as I chugged away in the built-in Actionscript editor in Flash CS3. I've used FlashDevelop for Actionscript coding at home on my PC and have sworn by it, so much so I actually installed Parallels on my Mac but didn't like the work flow it created. And so began my quest to find a Mac equivalent of FlashDevelop. If you are reading this looking for the same thing, let me save you the weeks of searching, it's not out there. At least not for free, but there is hope.

I've read on numerous threads about how people are using Flex Builder for their Actionscript editing and how much better it is for coding/debugging. I started to investigate how easy it was to set things up and came across Ted Patrick's post on "Using Flex Builder for Flash CS3 Coding" and Joshua Bloom's post on "Using Flex Builder to edit and debug Flash Applications." Seemed simple enough, so I recently bit the bullet and bought Flex Builder 3 and must say it was well worth the purchase. If you want to see for yourself, go download the 30-day trial and run through Mike and Joshua's posts on setting it all up. You won't go back to the built-in editor in Flash ever again, and if you do you'll miss your new little friend dearly. Read More »

Adobe just released a new Adobe AIR Update Framework that will aid developers in building AIR applications that can "periodically check for updates based on an interval or at the request of the user." The framework will also provide capabilities The framework comes with a default user interface developers can use to alert users of updates ready for download, confirm the user wants to check for updates, displaying information on availability of updates and showing progress and error information.

Developers can also create their own custom user interface to use with the update framework as well.

On a related note, Adobe also announced the launch fo the AIR Cookbook site where users can share and find answers to problems.

I just did an image search for screen shots of older versions of Adobe Flash and stumbled on this gem of a site. I was particularly fond of the Flash Splash Screens and Corel Draw Splash Screens sections.

Take a walk down memory lane, laugh and wonder how the hell we ever got anything done 10 years ago. Enjoy!

So I've been meaning to write some posts related to experiences I've had and things I've read as they relate to the iPhone. However, I never actually got around to it. With the latest news out of the Adobe camp, as reported by Wallstreet Journal and CNN, regarding the development of a Flash Player for the iPhone has stirred up some old feelings, which at this point can no longer be ignored. So with that said I'm going to combine into one post. Read More »

Just completed an Actionscript 3.0 Language file for GeSHi. Pretty simple to put together, but fairly time consuming going through the Actionscript 3 documentation at Adobe.com and parsing through all the functions, classes, keywords, etc.

I should have the file up and ready for download soon. I still have a few tweaks to make so that everything parses correctly. Namely, reverse ordering the keywords. I'll have to write an automated script to do that. However, for now you can see an example of it in action. Just check out my Actionscript 3.0 — Full-screen Centered Flash post.

I'm using the CodeHighlighter plug-in on my site which uses GeSHi 1.0.7.17.

***UPDATE***

I've included the AS3 Language file here: GeSHi AS3 Language File v0.5