Blueprint – a plugin for Flex Builder to access online examples

I’m happy because my friend Bogdan and his team (it is a team from Adobe Romania) launched the Blueprint project. It’s still on beta, thus you can find it on Adobe Labs.

Here is the description from the product page:

“With Blueprint, Flex and Flash developers can now query for sample code just as easily as they use auto-complete. Blueprint brings the power of the entire Web inside of the Flex Builder 3 Development environment and provides sample-centered search results that allow the user to quickly look through many different examples from many different websites including documentation, blogs, and forums.”

And below you can see some screenshots of Flex Builder on my system.

This is how you access the new feature:

I placed the cursor after showFlexChrome, and clicked the Blueprint icon. The results appear shortly thereafter.

Enjoy!

MAX 2009 site

The site for MAX 2009 is live. You can check it out here. It is unbelievable how fast time passes. I feel like just yesterday I was preparing for my 2008 MAX sessions :)

I guess I’d better start to work on my sessions! See you there.

There is a US$200 discount for those who register by August 10.

May 25, 2009 | Filed Under Conferences | Leave a Comment

New version of FLVPlayback component

We just launched a new version of the FLVPlayback component for Flash CS4 and Flex (v2.5.0.15). This release has a lot of bug fixes to make it more robust for dynamic streaming (multibitrate) and DVR.

There is a new Devnet article that discusses these features: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/ (Understanding live DVR by David Hassoun).

Finally, we have a new DVRCast application that makes it easy to add DVR lives streams. More details here, and you can download both tools from here.

May 25, 2009 | Filed Under Flex | 1 Comment

Berlin Trip

I’ll be in Berlin for most of it. I’ll do presentations at Webinale (Introduction to Adobe AIR boot camp), at International PHP Conference (Flex and PHP: the beginning of a beautiful friendship), and finally I will do a talk on Flex 4 and Flash Catalyst for the local Flex User Group.

If you are there and you want to talk to me, just drop by.

May 23, 2009 | Filed Under Conferences | Leave a Comment

Adobe Developer Day – Boot Camps papers

I promised yesterday that I’d make them available. You can grab them from here: http://corlan.org/bootcamp. Enjoy!

PS. Don’t forget to tell us if you want to do it again, and what other topics you are interested in.

May 20, 2009 | Filed Under Presentations | 9 Comments

Win a Flex Builder 3 license

On Tuesday May 19th, we’ll have the Adobe Developer Day event. I will bring with me 5 posters (APIs for Flash/Flex) to give away. If you manage to hang two sheets in a pub, you’ll win a Flex Builder 3 license. Hurry up, because only two people will be the lucky ones.

UPDATE: We have the two winners. Because I’ve seen such an enthusiasm, there will be a third winner. So hurry up to catch last license.

May 17, 2009 | Filed Under Conferences | 2 Comments

About the rebranding of Flex Builder into Flash Builder

What’s this all about?

The next version of our IDE, Flex Builder, will be called Flash Builder 4. This summer, we will make available a public beta for Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst (check Adobe Labs from time to time, because this is where we will make them available).

At the same time, we will not change the name of Flex Builder 3. This will stay as it is now. Furthermore, the names of the Flex framework, and the Flex SDK, remain unchanged. The same goes for Flash Professional, which remains unchanged.

Why we are doing this?

This has happened to me more than once. When I ask people at conferences “Who’s a Flex developer?” many people are unsure how to answer. Why? Because some of you are using the Flex framework, to create Flex or AIR applications, and not our IDE (Flex Builder), some of you are using Flex Builder, but without using the Flex framework (you use ActionScript 3 to create Flash applications). Thus the uncertainty.

Of course, the correct answer is this: anyone who uses the Flex framework, is a Flex developer. It doesn’t matter what tools you use to create these applications. At the same time, any Flex application gets compiled into a SWF file, which is played by the Flash Player. The same happens with the applications written using ActionScript and not the Flex framework.

So looking at it from this perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense. Have the developer tool that is used for creating Flash/AIR applications with or without the Flex framework called Flash Builder 4.

What’s next?

We are working on the next versions of our tools and framework. As I said, this summer, on Adobe Labs, we will launch the beta versions of Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder 4. Both of these products will work with the upcoming version of our framework, Flex 4 (codename Gumbo).

I’m really curious about your feelings. Please feel free to drop a comment, if you wish!

May 16, 2009 | Filed Under Flex Builder | 16 Comments

Adobe Developer Day 6 days to go

In less than a week, the Adobe Developer Day event will start. The event takes place in Bucharest, Romania on May 19th. It is an excellent opportunity to learn about Flex and Adobe AIR are, video, and RIA in the enterprise. There will be Adobe evangelists, including Ben Forta (director of evangelism), and engineers from various teams in the Romanian office (including people from AIR team).

We have a surprise for all the developers who live in Romania. But, I guess you’ll have to come in person to find out what this surprise is.

All you have to do is to click on this link, and use the widget at the bottom of the screen to register (the event is free)!

May 13, 2009 | Filed Under Conferences | Leave a Comment

SpringSource and the Adobe Flash Platform

On May 14th there will be a eSeminar on the new integration between BlazeDS and Spring. This will make it easier for Java developers to create enterprise RIAs using the Adobe Flash Platform and Spring.

May 12, 2009 | Filed Under Flex, Java | Leave a Comment

Adobe AIR and the Polish Finance Minister

The Polish Finance Ministry created an AIR application to facilitate annual tax declarations by Polish citizens. Using this solution, people can fill out and send the declaration from the comfort of their home, instead of using the regular mail or going in person. The application also makes sure that the declarations was actually successfully sent to the server. And because it is an AIR application, people can use it on Win, Mac OS, or Linux.