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Screenweaver 3.1 is available on OSFlash.org.
Be sure to check the online docs.
Foxit Reader is a free reader for PDF (eBook) documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it.
Looking at the speed difference between Foxit and the Acrobat Reader it is comparable with compiling in the Flash IDE or MTasc …
Why do the big companies always blow up their software and make CPU- and RAM-killing monsters?
Google released the beta version of their instant messanger Google talk which supports text messaging and also voice calls à la Skype.
The installation is very quick and the software seems pretty lightweight.
Google talk uses the Jabber/XMPP protocol which is supported by these IM clients.
Gmail-users have a nice addon with Google talk because new messages are notified within the messanger.
I am missing the support of video-communication and other common IM clients like ICQ, MSN etc., but Google talk is still in beta so let’s wait what comes next from Google - what about Google OS 
Today Powerflasher released there Eclipse plugin FDT (Flash Developer Tool). I would have claimed it “No more errors while compiling”. I had the chance to beta-test FDT and my workflow has been changed very much. Now I feel comfortable which is very hard to say for a Flash developer
Workflow:
After installing set and edit the preferences (Window->Preferences->FDT).
Select “New Project->Flash->New Flash Project”. In this project the core-classes (documents & settings\…) are automatically linked in the new project. Then you can create a new directory for your classes. Right click the directory in the Flash Explorer and select “Source Folder->Add to Classpath”.
Run
Select “Run->Run …” in your menu. You will see two new entries: FDT -Flash Support and FDT - MTASC Supoprt. The FDT - Flash Support is for automatic compiling within the Flash IDE. The FDT - MTASC Support, who would have expected, is for compiling with MTASC. The classpathes you defined in your project will be added to the MTASC arguments. In my examples the MTASC Arguments are:
“-swf site/test.swf com/moglimedia/package/TestClass”
(”site” is a subfolder in my project). In Miscellaneous select “Start SWF after compilation” and select the swf which you recompile or compile with “-header” from scratch. After all settings press “Apply” and “Run”. If all went fine all is compiled and the SWF should be loaded in the SWF Viewer.
SWF Viewer: CTRL-F11 - the new CTRL-Enter
I would recommend to change the SWF Viewer Tab to “Fast View”. Right-click the SWF Viewer tab and select “Fast View”. Then you can drag the fast view icon e.g. to the top left. 
Now you can start the last “Run” with CTRL-F11: the swf gets compiled and is opened in the fast view SWF Viewer which opens automatically. Resize the window to your needs. If you finished the preview just click anywhere in your code or press CTRL-W.
Logging
For logging I use the Powerflasher SOS, a Java based socket server gui with nice little features. Which is very helpfull is the colored output so you see a visual difference between e.g. debug-, warning- and error-logs.
Shortcuts
- F2:: Select the current class in the Flash Explorer
- F3:: Show the implementation of a methid, attribute or class
- F4:: Open/Show type declaration
- CTRL-O:: Open QuickOutline
- CTRL-SHIFT-o:: Organize Imports (I love it)
- CTRL-F11:: Start the last run (Eclipse)
- CTRL-SHIFT-r:: Open Resource (Eclipse)
- CTRL-m:: File-Fullscreen (Eclipse)
- ALT-CURSOR Up/Down:: Move lines or block (Eclipse)
Pricing
FDT will cost 199€. Open Source developers who participate in an Open Source Flash project which is hosted on OSFlash.org or Sourceforge will get an FDT license for free.
From my point of view FDT is currently the best way to develop Flash applications. Their claim “pure coding comfort” figures!
What I miss:
- Refactoring (move classes and all import in other classes change automatically
- UML from custom classes and UML2classes
- Better debugging with breakpoints
Screenweaver was asleep but will be back and published Open Source. Check the blog from van Rijkom and also the blog from Darron Schall who iniciated the discussion about the External Interface API and projector-tools on OSFlash.org.
This is damn breaking news because
- the projector tool will be Open Source
- it will support synchronous calls using the Flash 8 External Interface API
- Darron works out a command-line version to compile the code with Microsoft’s freely available C+ Toolkit
- it will probably be the first projector tool which supports Flash 8
- it is planned to make all the stuff cross-platform (PC,MAC, LINUX) using wxWindows and the Flash Netscape Plugin
How the guys like to say it: Pimped
Many thanks to the people behind this great news!
The russion company Art.Lebdev Studio announced a very special keyboard.
“Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.”
It shall be possible to show images and animations within every key. I hope swf will be supported! Imaging a game which works without your common screen and of course several usefull scenarios for this keyboard.
Check http://www.flickr.com/photos/w00kie/sets/180637/
Looks like Mac-Users have more free/creative time then PC-Users
Now that Macromedia has officially announced Flash 8 the examples are growing even faster.
I was very impressed by the examples of Flashguru. I guess the most famous link-list is hosted by Franto.
As promised Macromedia today announced the new releases of there product family. The new Studio 8 will include Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Fireworks, Contribute and FlashPaper and you can also pre-order the new Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8 and Fireworks 8 seperately.
Shipping mid-September isn’t really a final release date but looking on the calendar and expecting it on a Monday September 12th and 19th look promising.
Check the Studio 8 site and Flash 8 site.
via Josh Dura
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