Alonzo Hosford's Bitbox

Adobe Flex 3 Resource Module Localization Dynamically Loaded Runtime Locales

Lon Hosford — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:32:26 +0000

I followed the example at Adobe Labs written by Gordon Smith September 25, 2007 to create a basic language localization example that would load the locales dynamically at runtime.

I had some bumps in making the example work in that it did not load the language when launched. This could be due to differences in version Gordon was using or just those nasty timing issue you get in the Flex framework. The basic issue was to add an initialization event handler to the example and the line resourceManager.localeChain=["en_US"]; in it.

However Gordon's tutorial was essential to understanding the geekish implementation of Flex dynamic localization. You have the copylocale utility program to run in the Flex sdk bin folder to set up Flex for each language. I created a windows batch file for it and included in my example. It makes it easy to add a language to Flex at a later date with a simple copy and edit.

Flex uses a separate swf for each language to load them at run time. You create these with command line steps using the mxmlc compiler and lengthy arguments. Since you have to do this everytime a language item changes, I again created some batch files to automate the process.

The completed example is located at Adobe Flex 3 Basic Locales Dynamic Runtime Localization With Resource Modules.

Adobe Flex 3 Runtime Language Localization Embedded Locales

Lon Hosford — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:13:07 +0000

I started to review the Adobe Flex 3 language localization. The site I used to learn is at Adobe Labs written by Gordon Smith September 25, 2007.

My opinion is the localization implementation suffers a geekish solution. So even Gordon's super effort, you get lost in the terminology geeks have used to define the elements of localization features. So I did eventually get through to make my own examples based on Gordon's work.

This example shows how to embed the locale language in the Flex swf. This of course make the Flex swf potentially larger. However if you have a small amount of language or only a few languages, you might find this solution more expedient.

Look it over and download at Adobe Flex 3 Basic Embedded Runtime Localization Locales.

I also followed Gordon's modular version of localization. This allows loading localization data during runtime. Gordon's example has problems with Flex timing when you go to put it to work. I solved the timing issues and will post on that as well with the fixes. But also there are even more geekish aspects to get Flex even set up to do this.

Adobe Flex 3 Amazon Web Services Music ItemSearch Using Cairngorm

Lon Hosford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:44:09 +0000

I am researching the Amazon Web Services API for use in Flex 3.

I reviewed the work of Jesse Warden at jessewarden.com and, I believe since the post is not signed, Charlie Key at paranoidferret.com.

Both were good starters. However they did not meet my needs exactly. But together they worked out to let me build an example in my own style.

My finished work can be found at Adobe Flex Amazon Web Services Music ItemSearch Using Cairngorm.

The example does a simple keyword search on Music using the Amazon ItemSearch API.

For the ancestors to this example see:

Jesse Warden: Flex Example: HTTPService & Cairngorm 2.2

Charlie Key: How to use Flex to get Music Info from Amazon Web Services

Adobe Flex Video Player With Scrubber for Progressive Download and Flash Media Server Streaming FLV

Lon Hosford — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Frustrated finding a good basic Flex 3 video player using the VideoPlayer class and having a HSlider for the scrubber, I decided to make one myself.

I share it with you at Adobe Actionscript Flash Flex Examples.

I tested it with both progressive download and with Flash Media Server 3 at my hosting service Influxis.

It seems to run well. It does auto play each video.

The scrubber bar maintains the play or paused state. So if the video is paused, moving the scrubber bar when released does not start playing the video. Likewise if the video is playing, moving the scrubber bar continues play when the thumb is release.

I designed this not to resize the VideoDisplay when the Application is resized. This is because I wanted to use it for Camtasia screen captures. However adding width and height properties to 100% to the VideoDisplay object resize the video playing.

Flex components used include VideoDisplay, DateFormatter, Panel, ControlBar, ComboBox, HSlider, Label, Button, VBox and HBox.

Enjoy!

Flex TileList (ListBase) binding fails on resize

Lon Hosford — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:08:36 +0000

I often find myself investigating code issues from other programmers. Recently I had to deal with a rather complicated Flex 3 container problem. The problem occurred when resizing an application. The runtime error was

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

at mx.controls.listClasses::ListBase/addToFreeItemRenderers()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\listClasses\ListBase.as:4770]

at mx.controls.listClasses::ListBase/reduceRows()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\listClasses\ListBase.as:3863]

at mx.controls.listClasses::ListBase/updateDisplayList()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\listClasses\ListBase.as:3639]

at mx.controls.listClasses::TileBase/updateDisplayList()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\listClasses\TileBase.as:2357]

at mx.controls.listClasses::ListBase/validateDisplayList()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\listClasses\ListBase.as:3279]

at mx.managers::LayoutManager/validateDisplayList()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\LayoutManager.as:605]

at mx.managers::LayoutManager/doPhasedInstantiation()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\LayoutManager.as:678]

at Function/http://adobe.com/AS3/2006/builtin::apply()

at mx.core::UIComponent/callLaterDispatcher2()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\UIComponent.as:8565]

at mx.core::UIComponent/callLaterDispatcher()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\UIComponent.as:8508]

Trying to reproduce the problem was more problematic. First it is all Adobe Flex code in the call stack.

Second the error would not occur unless you went through a set of steps. First you needed to have enough items in the tile list where to cause vertical scrolling. Then you needed to load a different list of items into tile list that did not require a vertical scroll. After that you resized the application to smaller you get the above error.

The code referenced in the above call stack is Adobe Flex code and the signature of the offending method to the offending line is shown here:

protected function addToFreeItemRenderers(item:IListItemRenderer):void
{
// trace("addToFreeItemRenderers ", item);
 
DisplayObject(item).visible = false;

The error is caused by the item variable having a null value.

The solution we used was found at Tom Van den Eynde RIA Flex Blog entry Exception after TileList resize.

Adding a resize event to the TileList in the complex embedded containers and calling executeBindings() on the TileList object made the problem go away.