Flip book using the nice component built by Ruben Swieringa

I've created a mini-site for a family member using the flip book component built by Ruben Swieringa:

http://klepsydra.vdeprojects.com.

What do you think? Would it make sense to build a Flex-based CMS solution for creating this type of projects? Do you think there's a demand for a CMS to build this type of mini-sites?

Why is it called Flash Catalyst???

Why are the project names always better than the names the marketing department can come up with???? Thermo is now called "Flash Catalyst". Can someone explain to me why "Flash" had to be added to the name? "Flash Catalyst" imports Photoshop, Fireworks and Illustrator files and 'converts' them to Flex projects. I don't see any "Flash" in this... Why not simply call it "Adobe Catalyst" (or Ca in short)? My guess is that we'll end up in a similar naming soup like we had with the data services thing. That one has been renamed in the past as well (and I hope it will be renamed once more because the current situation is also far from logical). My 2 cents of course :)

Focus in all cases

Have you also noticed that Flex draws a focus border around its components when you give them focus using the keyboard (by using the tab button)?

Great but why is the focus border not drawn when using the mouse to give a component the focus?

The solution is simple: extend the existing components and force the border drawing yourself:

<mx:CheckBox
      xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
      focusIn="onFocusIn()">
<mx:Script>
//
// Support to draw the focus border on focusIn
//
private function onFocusIn(): void
{
      this.drawFocus(true);
}
</mx:Script>
</mx:CheckBox>

Discount code for Adobe Max in Milan

It seems that those who haven't registered yet for Adobe Max can get in for less than those who registered a month ago. Interested in knowing more? Just contact me.

"Classes must not be nested" error

If you ever come across the "classes must not be nested" error (and/or the "internal build" error) then you're in trouble :) There are different possible causes for these errors. In my case it was because I was referring to a none existing component from within an itemRenderer. A good list with a number of potential causes can be found on http://rjowen.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/internal-build-error-or-classes-must-not-be-nested-error/.

FileReference events not firing?

If the UPLOAD_COMPLETE_DATA event (or any other FileUpload related event) isn't fired after a succesful upload then you need to check whether your page returns something. It's enough that it just returns for example 'OK' but it at least has to return something.

Certified Adobe Flex Developer

I've waited and waited but it seems that the Adobe Flex 3 certification exam won't come before the release of Adobe Flex 4... Therefore I finally decided to do the Adobe Flex 2 certification and guess what: I passed :) It was a nice bunch of questions, some on UI, some on application design (even some UML) and some on data services. Most of them were 'practical' question but of course some are less 'obvious'.