Flash/Flex Tips and Free Book Drawing – Using Test Projects

– taterboy | September 10th, 2009

Filed under: Flash, Flex, Tips

We will give away 1 free copy of Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation, Making Things Move and Foundation Flash, Cartoon Animation. Details below.

UPDATE

The drawing has been canceled because of lack of interest. I still have the books and will think of another way to distribute them.

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!
Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!
$18.99
Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation
Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation
$21.97

Because Revisions Suck:
Revisions are so common in our business, you can never take them personally. It is even harder when you feel the project you are working on is finished and the client is asking for a whole new feature. This is normally a good time to go to lunch or take a break. It happens, if they are a good client or you are lucky enough to get a change order out of it, it is difficult to say no. Once over the initial frustration and you are able to think clearly, the seemingly impossible chore becomes less impossible. Ideas begin to flow and your mind fills with thoughts like, “Maybe this will not be so bad” or “It should only take an hour or two”; instead of “It would have been nice to know about this sooner” and other things I dare not publish on this blog.

Adding features at the end of a project greatly increases the likelihood of hacking the code. Depending on how the application is designed, it make not be so easy to expand, or the feature they are requesting is such a major part of the whole, that your original framework goes out the window. It is sad but still a fact of life as a developer. So hookup your dummy data, suck it up and let the hacking begin,.

The Tip:
When adding new functionality to an existing (finished) application, try your ideas and experiments in a new Flash file or Flex Project. My Flex workspace has a project named “_Prototypes” ( the underline makes it show up at the top of the project list). In here I can try any idea that comes to mind or build a whole new component from scratch. Using these testing projects will optimize or production in a few ways.

1. Trains us to think more portable or component oriented. If our code can work as an external component, then we may be able to use it in future projects. Take the hit on developing code today that will save time tomorrow.

2. Speeds up debugging. Creating a new component or feature goes a lot faster if you can launch directly to that feature instead of logging in and clicking around the interface just to see if something is working.

3. Speeds up compile time. In Flash compiling all the media assets and code every time you want to debug something can take forever. Compiling just the feature you are working on, will take a fraction of the time.

There will always be a few tweaks, but once we get the bulk of the feature working independently, we copy all the code and/or classes into the final project.

This tip was applied on a project just last week and we came up with a new component that can be shared with our development team. What are some of your tips?

The Contest:
I have two books here, Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation, Making Things Move by Keith Peters and Foundation Flash, Cartoon Animation by Tim Jones, Barry J. Kelly, Allan S. Rosson and David Wolfe. There is only one copy of each book, but if you leave a comment below, you will be entered into a random drawing.

Rules:
Your comment should consist of a tip involving the following topics: Flash, Flex, AIR, Photoshop, Illustrator, illustration, design, animation or AS3 coding. Any flattery about the blog or myself will be hung on my refrigerator, but ignored in the drawing.

Only the comments that are submitted on or before 6:00 PM eastern daylight time, Friday September 25th, 2009 will be eligible for the drawing. The Winner will be announced in a new post on Monday September 28th and also contacted by email. If the winners do not respond within 48 hrs after an email contact has been attempted, a new winner will be chosen.

Now for the legal stuff:
1. You must be at least 18 years old and live in the United States. (I am willing to try an international address as long as there are no issues with customs, violation of trade laws and you are over 18 – the books are in English).

2. Comments must be submitted by 6:00 PM EDT, Friday September 25th, 2009.

3. A winner will be chosen at random using the number generator at random.org within 24 hrs after the deadline.
If you win we will contact you via e-mail. You must respond within 48 hrs of being contacted or forfeit your prize and a new winner will be chosen.

4. When entering your comment, please leave a valid e-mail address where you can be contacted in the event that you are chosen. We can not be held responsible if you do not provide the correct e-mail address or if the e-mail was delivered to your spam folder.

Thanks to all the readers.

***Comments on this site are filtered and monitored. If your comment does not show up within 8 hrs (I have to sleep sometime), please email a notice or your tip using the contact link above.

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4 Comments »

  1. Hey Todd,

    Great tip. I am constantly looking for best practices for developing for flash especially from the management and or building a great interactive department sort of tilt. Not a lot out there that I have found. I have been off and on bugging my friend at Big Spaceship but without much pay off. I really appreciate your tips and love where you are coming from. Just started following on twitter and rss as well. Keep it coming.

    Comment by Michael Oberle — September 15, 2009 @ 8:20 am

  2. Hey your information proved valuable to me. I am a designer by profession and latest up gradation of flash is very important for me. It keeps me updated with the latest designs. Your tips helpes me in a long way by making my work easy and understanding clear. Keep up the good work and keep posting more stuff. This would was interesting and informative. Waiting for more posts.

    Comment by new baby gifts — November 10, 2009 @ 3:09 am

  3. Foundation Actionscript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!
    $19.98 ????

    Comment by News — November 23, 2009 @ 4:00 am

  4. The prices above are pulled directly from Amazon (New starting price) and may not reflect the best price or current deals.

    Comment by taterboy — December 16, 2009 @ 10:29 am

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