Tooltip Component Depth Issues
In my previous post, Extending DRK3's TextField Component, I discussed adding a Tooltip (FUI Set 3) to the icons displayed to give them more meaning. While it is a very engaging way to build forms in Flash you must be aware of a depth bug in the Tooltip component code that causes the tip to appear as a black box. Fortunately I have a fix for that.

Extending DRK3's TextField Component
I've recently been building some forms in Flash MX for a CFMX Flash Remoting app, making use of the TextField component from DRK3. One thing that I like about the component is the ability to show an icon with the field, especially that you can create your own custom icon. What I saw missing was a tooltip to attach a hint or message to the icon itself so I've hacked at it and the results and code are here.

Necromedia: bringing dead software to life...
Macromedia have had plenty of opportunity to turn the whole Spectra debarcle around and give the source to the community at large. Two years ago I would have been jumping for joy. One year ago I would have been excited by the prospect of reforging Spectra anew with CFMX. But now I'm scratching my head -- who really cares??

Spectra goes Opensource
Macromedia has announced that the full source of Macromedia Spectra will be released under the Macromedia Spectra Software License (based on the Apache Software Foundation license).. The source will be available as a free download with which you can build and redistribute Spectra applications.

LoadMovie & Caching
In developing an application that used loadMovie() to repeatedly call the same swf that CFMX was generating with modified content for each call, I discovered one small problem was that the Flash player was caching content. A quick visit to Prototype, one of my favourite code repositories, gave me a fantastic solution for caching that worked in both the IDE and the browser. If you're not using the site it's well worth the look.

Snazzie Flash Charts via Flash Remoting
Since ColdFusion MX can produce some pretty slick Flash charts with the CFChart tag there's no reason why Flash Remoting apps shouldn't have good looking charting in them as well. Originally built for my MXDU presentation, I've finally gotten around to releasing the CFMX/FMX/Flash Remoting/Charting demo that I had previously produced.

Macromedia.com Home Page Design Tweak?
Err, is it just me or does it look as though there's been another design tweak on the Macromedia.com home...

Blog Google ranks falling
I've noticed a lot of strange results coming out of Google in recent weeks. Things appear to have stabilised now,...

Sydney CFUG: Minutes (June 2003)
Well I thought I might put together a quick note on how the CFUG went last night. Actually a very good discussion on CFMX Admin and a bunch of miscellaneous topics. Herein lies a summary of bits discussed and all the relevant links.

Macromedia Breeze Audio FAQ
One of the things that sets Breeze apart from other presentation platforms is it's audio management. And in terms of the "experience", the audio really makes or breaks a presentation. What follows is an "unofficial" FAQ on common Breeze audio misconceptions and wonderments, originally compiled by members of the Breeze team and annotated by yours truly.

Generating Word Docs with CFMX: made easy breezy
Sam Neff, fellow Team Macromedian, has whipped up a great presentation called "Serving Word". It's a ten minute treatise on dynamically generated MS Word documents using a combination of HTML, XML, and CSS.

CFMX Admin: made easy-breezy
Finished up some training on CFMX administration a few weeks ago. It struck me that there is very little in the way of admin information for CFMX bar a few technotes -- so I put together a humble little Breeze presentation to run folks through server settings and their nuances.

Globalising CFMX
Paul Hastings, Team Macromedian and locales guru, has set up a new little blog on globalising CFMX; cfg11n. Funnily enough, G11N=globalization (11 letters between "g" & "n").

Contentobjectfind: more Spectra tinkering
Out of the box, Spectra uses a couple of tags to do searching of object properties, neither of which are particularly good performance wise. Herein lies the tale of Dan doing battle versus the CFCONTENTOBJECTFIND behemoth.

As flash as a rat with a gold tooth
Microsoft of all peoples have a great little Xbox site with a furry little companion, snuffling and shuffling about the screen providing navigation. Well worth checking in on this running rodent for some novel flash navigation.

Jedi Knight scratches itch and plays with DUMP
Working with deep structures can be a drag if you find yourself waiting for CFDUMP to render all of your data. Don't get me wrong, CFDUMP is a thing of great beauty -- but sometimes you just want a helicopter view of your structure.

Aussie timezone bug in JVM 1.4.1
Running CFMX with JRE version 1.4.1 seems to produce the wrong date/time for Aussies even though the windows time and locale may be set correctly (using getLocal() produces expected result).

Breeze cooking with gas
Well I've been hitting the road selling Breeze, and I've pretty much converted myself :) Read "new-born Breeze evangelist here" and expect my new Breeze category to be populated with my ongoing discoveries and adventures in this area.