DataGrid with flexible row height

In one project I needed to have a data grid cell present some hierarchical data and I thought I could just use a tree control as the item data renderer for that grid column.

This what I got:

As you can see if you open the trees, the data row is not adjusting and you simply cannot see the child nodes.

A special tree control had to be made and used as the data renderer, to get me to the correct result, as shown below:

The code for this customised tree control can be seen [...] Continue Reading…

Potential Threats Through Softwares

Although this hasn’t much to do with RIAs, you might find it important.

Account stealing trojans are now entering our computers through Adobe Flash Plug-ins as well. While internet users are increasingly becoming aware of security, attacks on computers are becoming ingenious and malicious by the day. One form of such attacks targets vulnerabilities in softwares.

The usual anti-virus softwares only perform scans to discover whether a system has already been compromised. They don’t notify us when a critical security vulnerability has been discovered in, say Adobe Flash Player. Potential threats do not come within their purview, though such a day might [...] Continue Reading…

Adobe or Microsoft?

RIA technologies over the past few years have been getting increasingly competitive, thereby introducing more and more features much to our delight.

Yesterday, it was announced that the increasingly popular online game Line Rider would be migrating from Flash to Silverlight. A very encouraging announcement for Silverlight. This could influence other game developers in the world.

And last week BBC dumped Microsoft for Adobe a little more. Instead of using desktop apps created by Microsoft-backed Skinkers, BBC decided to switch to in-house production using Adobe’s Flex and AIR. The previous applications “only work on Windows, are built out of a variety [...] Continue Reading…

Time-delaying Cairngorm Commands Execution

In cases where data are edited in a Flex client and subsequently have to be saved on a server, one has to manage the frequency of those server calls.

One way of doing this, is adding an extra step, for the user to save the changes made. So image you have an editable data grid, presenting some objects you want to persist on your server. User edits data but then has to press the ‘Save’ button for the changes to be saved. This way you can aggregate all your changes into one server call, instead of making a call for [...] Continue Reading…

Passpack DESKTOP With Adobe AIR

Adobe AIR is slowly becoming a choice even for “serious” applications. Passpack, the online password manager, has recently launched two offline versions — Passpack DESKTOP and Passpack Offline. I have only tried to use the former because it is built with AIR. The other version is essentially the same wrt features.

There are two things that I don’t like about PassPack DESKTOP: the CAPS being more in number than small letters in its name, and the absence of offline help pages. There are two things that I like about the software: its perception of the strength of a password, and [...] Continue Reading…

Adobe Suppressing Little Helper Like Apple Did

I’m surprised, puzzled and concerned by Adobe’s act to go after its freelancing technology evangelist by hinting trademark infringement. This happened to an Adobe AIR promoter FreshAIRapps.com, an Adobe AIR application showcase blog by James Whittaker. Apparently, Adobe is not happy about Whittaker’s use of the name “AIR” on hist domain name. According to Adobe:
Adobe® AIR™” is a trademark of Adobe that may not be used by others except under a written license from Adobe. You may not incorporate the Adobe AIR trademark, or any other Adobe trademark, in whole or in part, in the title of your Developer [...] Continue Reading…

Flash on 64-bit OSs

Long ago, people belonging to the Linux community filed a petition to Macromedia, Inc. through PetitionOnline requesting them to release 64 bit Linux Flash and Shockwave players.

In a technote affecting Flash Player 9, Adobe addressed the issue a few months back: Adobe is working on Flash Player support for 64-bit platforms as part of our ongoing commitment to the cross-platform compatibility of Flash Player. We have not yet announced timing or release dates.

Tinic Uro, an Adobe engineer working on Flash Player, once mentioned that “it is not a question of ‘recompiling’ the source code, there is lots of generic [...] Continue Reading…

One Year of Flex Camps

I wish all Americans a Happy Independence Day. Let us hope that the economy woes will soon vanish.

Last July, the Adobe Flex people conducted their first Flex Camp in San Francisco. Ever since there have been several camps held even outside USA: Romania, Italy, Canada, Singapore, Portugal, Poland.

Every Flex Camp is filled with talks, presentations, and products demos. These camps are hosted by Adobe and attended by experts of the Flex community — inside and outside Adobe — and offer everybody a fun-filled chance to learn, network, and gain exposure. Often, there are also hands on events conducted to [...] Continue Reading…

b.Tween Bridges Gap Between Adobe and Apple

Adobe Flash Player is not yet on Apple iPhone. But Flash Lite apps can now be ported to iPhone or iPod Touch.

Thomas Joos from Boulevart and Emanuele Cipolloni from Barefootsoft have successfully ported a Flash Lite project, the “Rock Werchter Mobile Guide”, to the iPhone taking advantage of all the oppurtunities the iphone UI has to offer.

Below is the cool video demo of the final result.

They used b.Tween, which in turn uses eyeGT, for porting the app. eyeGT, or Enhance Your Experience Graphical Toolkit, is a highly efficient graphic renderer, capable of handling vector graphics and bitmaps. b.Tween is [...] Continue Reading…