If you're using the Listbox component in Flash MX 2004, you may have noticed an impossible to remove border around the outside. Well Daryl Hawkins found a quick and dirty fix to get rid of this for a friend's site and has been nice enough to pass it along. Basically you need to dig into the component on your stage and edit the Bounding Box layer. Check out is site for full details.

Latest Katrina update: CATASTROPHIC

SWF2Saver was just released by Vertical Moon software on August 23rd. The program allows you to create custom screen savers and their installers from SWF files for OSX 10.2 and higher. It will convert all versions of Flash up to 7 and allows the creator to even set an end date for the screen saver. They are offering a free trial version for download, so feel free to try it out.

If you are looking for other options, our blog sibling Download Squad recently covered other Flash to screen saver programs as well.

via ActionScript.org

My network guy says firewalls are good. I don't know about that. Lock them down enough and say goodbye to some very cool Flash features. Ok so maybe network security should be more important that building a desktop Flash-based XML reader (ie: RSS, my precious). It seems some Firewalls can prevent your Flash Player on your desktop from having access to the outside world and could put a crimp in my plans for Google Sidebar. Of course this issue may only be for extremely secure networks. Maybe I should just stick with non-loading development... Options exist though these may ruin my movie. According to the Flash-XML FAQ, you could switch what port Flash reads external data from, but this may cause more problems than not getting any data at all. Plus, once the project is deployed to the web the issues disappear, since most web servers seems to be a little more open than most networks. What do you think? For more information on XML in Flash check out the Flash-XML FAQ at the link below.

thanks Microsoft for the image

Google has been releasing new stuff left and right. Sure Google Talk is cool, but what about that new Google Sidebar. Though Sidebar (and Google Desktop) is currently Windows only that will not stop development. Sidebar features user customizable panels and a full API for creating your own plug-ins. Unfortunately that API is based on the Microsoft Windows Component Object (COM) and may be something Flash developers don’t want to deal with. Then how do we get into plug-in development? Via Flash and the ActiveX plug-in display. Sidebar’s settings include a Panels and Alerts box. You can view the ActiveX plug-ins installed on your machine (including Flash) by:

1. Click the menu arrow button at the top of Sidebar
2. Select “Add/Remove Panels…”
3. Check the “Show ActiveX plug-ins…” box
4. Check the box next to “Shockwave Flash Object” (and other plug-ins if you want)
5. Click OK.

Now to add your Flash file to the Sidebar. Click the down arrow on the new panel and select Options to view the Flash panel’s properties. If you’re using an online Flash file type its URL into the Movie URL box (the file path should also work here). Select Quality and other properties to change the display. Click OK and see your Flash in the sidebar. Now you can use a Flash-based RSS reader or a Flash mp3 player or a Flash anything inside your sidebar. Plus Flash developers now have and easy in for all Sidebar users, all we need is someone to make a panel creation plug-in that asks for a URL and automatically inserts our Flash.

Click through for Disclaimer and screen shots via the Wireless Weblog.

Something new in the Flash Platform and definitely not something you hear very often. The ultimate freelance site, RentACoder, has an odd Bid request up. User Meltec Mickie is looking for someone to code in Flash for a him. His project is a "Macromedia Flash-Based Gasoline Pump." The Flash project will display on a LCD on the pump and directly interact with the gas pump's software to display gallons pumped and price, etc. I guess Meltec must own a gas station with extremely high prices and he is hoping to distract the customer from their soon to be empty wallets.

Strange, but for $25 why not? Due September 6!

Today I was trolling the web looking for information about XML and components and came across an interesting list of tutorials not really about the relationship of those two things but covering XML, CSS, and image loading in Flash, plus a couple good Flash 8 how-tos and even a little video. NWebb is a full featured flash blog, portfolio and experimentation site for a European Flash guru whose extended Flash knowledge will help even the newest of the new get into Flash and quickly get up to speed. As you scan through his tutorial list make sure you try out the latest BitmapData how-to and learn a little Flash 8 before it comes out.

Blog sibling Download Squad just wrote up a Jabber client for the web written in AJAX (gotta love JavaScript), but did you know Jabber is easily accessed via Flash as well? For the recent Flash for Pocket PC contest a developer created AniMessenger, a Jabber client for Pocket PC (and Windows) using Flash and has distributed it for free to the world since July 16. If you have a Pocket PC device or even phone you can download the files and install them to access your Jabber based IM services. This means you can easily access the new Google Talk via your handheld anywhere there's an internet connection.

I am currently trying to find a web-based or browser only with no install version of a Flash Jabber client, but so far I have only found non-browser clients like Gush and the above AniMessenger. If you know of of something better feel free to send us the link via the tips page.

So I downloaded Neave's FlashEarth application that we love so much, but not only so I could see how he accessed the maps, but so I could see the easy code too. I was looking to spread some elements around a future project like he spreads the navigation and options in FlashEarth. First the code (edited for ease of use) then the explanation.

At first I saw the project and thought wow that must be hard, but then I saw the code and slapped my forehead (about the spreading at least). Simply put, when the Flash project is streched it automatically re-positions the four elements in the corners of the stage. This way your project is size dependent and not zoom dependent. Oh and one more very important thing:

This needs to be placed at the start of your movie to keep the zoom effect in check.

Most monitors these days have an option to shut off after a while, plus there quality and cost make it less likely that you'll get screen burn, but for creative purposes screen savers can be an interesting way to take up your time. Download Squad (one of our sister sites) found a couple of interesting screen saver generators this weekend for you to try out. First up, Flashsaver. This web based program takes your uploaded SWF and converts it to a small exe to create a Windows based screen saver from pretty much any Flash file. Mac geeks can try out FlashSaverMaker. This download includes simple instructions to re-publish your SWF in screen saver format. Don't be turned off by the site, just remember you don't have to be artsy to code. With these easy to use programs you should be able to convert that neat little Flash-based RSS reader into a screen saver that rivals some of the animated RSS feeds found in OSX Tiger, even on a PC.

Good luck. You can now access a few hundred computer science related (and general tech) books for free via FreeTechBooks.com. The site trolls the web looking for great tech books offered for download, viewing and printing via their publishers. Then they distribute the links to you via a handy-dandy (yes I said handy-dandy) RSS feed.

But what does this have to do with Flash? Well as I argued in the past, a little Comp Sci never hurt anyone. Art majors, Graphic Designers, Flashers, all of us should learn a little code to back up our unbelievably cool design (aka Mad Skillz). Check out the site and crack open a couple Object Oriented design books today to further your ActionScript for the long haul.

via FlashCodersNY.org; image via UT Austin

Ugh, another pun courtesy of FlashInsider (and my dad’s genes). While lurking around the FlashDevils boards I ran across a suggestion to use the _lockroot property in order to fix issues with loading external SWFs that have _root references. _lockroot is one of those interesting, yet small, features that were added to Flash as part of the MX2004 release (I wonder what other interesting script fixes will be in 8). The reference itself was created as a way to fix scope issues. No, not the mouthwash! Scope issues can arise when you create code for SWFs and don’t ever plan to use them outside of their current context or even just rely to heavily on certain coding attributes, like _root. If you are have trouble loading external SWFs that you have no control over, _lockroot can be used at load time to force the external movie being loaded into a movieclip to see its personal _root as only bottoming out inside the movieclip instead of the main SWF. Now developers should be able to use this load those cool games they grabbed from the web and then wrap them inside of weird little web sites of their own.

Tom and Jon are blogging the development process behind a Flash-based racing game they are creating. The blog just started last month, but should be an interesting case study in independent web development. Currently they are working on creating a tile-based map for the game that is read via an array and then mapped out via ActionScript. Subscribing to their RSS feed might be a good way to see how other developers out there create their games and may even help you get those creative processes going.

O.K. I’ll stop ragging on the computer science majors for a little while and show them how to join the Flash fold. Open Source Flash (OSFlash) is a great site filled with all sorts of cool insights into Flash and all things related. Today I was browsing the site looking for something to write and I notice the Comp Sci major’s new best friend, J2AS. J2AS is a Java to ActionScript Converter that is license under the GPL and is currently in open source development. The program takes Java programs and converts them to ActionScript so Java coders can get involved in those really cool RIAs that are popping up around the web. Obviously a coder will need to know some Flash in order to create code that con be converted, but given that Java and ActionScript are both Object Oriented and Java is what most of use learned in school (I majored in CS for a year and a half and minored in it for another year and a half). J2AS is still in the early phases of development but feel free to download it and try it out. Who knows you could become a Flasher overnight.

New Panic is the portfolio website of artist, graphic designer and Art Director Giancarlo Yerkes. Yerkes is a DC raised Italian born Ohioan who has been a professional graphic designer since 1999. In May 2003 one of his sites was featured as the Macromedia site of the day. His portfolio site features a large cardboard box background to tie the web to his print and traditional work. Between major sections a label is ripped off the box and replaced with a new one. The site has a nice flow to is with small animations keeping the user involved but it also has a simple user interface that doesn’t scare off the viewer. In the experiments section the user will find a link to an animated web-comic whose site design was done by Yerkes. This site should be inspiration for anyone looking to start using some of the enhanced video features of Flash 8. Although Yerkes’s site is built in Flash 7 some of the concepts are easily translated to the newer version. Check out the site at the link and get a little inspiration for your next project.

via KingForAWeek

Yes I do read your comments. David R wrote that he had beaten the Time Waster of the Day and left a URL for his site. This quickly led me to his current project, SWFGuard. SWFGuard is a code obfuscation product that takes your dearly held Flash compresses and randomizes the look and contents of the code so a person who downloads and decompiles your SWF won’t be able to easily figure out what the heck is going on in your application. The process is said to take a little while to run through but the developers say: “A small price to pay for protection from SWF pirates.” Obviously someone who wants your code will be able to get it no matter what you do to try and hide it. This program is meant to make that process a lot harder on that someone so that hopefully they will just pick up a couple of good coder books and figure out what you did on their own rather than by swiping you code. I think any good Flasher should be able to look at any project out there and automatically know how the work was made. Given that Flash is easily gotten, there is no reason someone should have to steal your code, unless they are lazy hence the creation of products like SWFGuard and Flash tracking products. SWFGuard is currently in private beta only but is slated for release sometime soon.

via RoRexRobots