Kenny Bunch figured out how to send binary files from one machine to another using the new File I/O capabilities in Macromedia Central and the Flash Communication server.
You can see a description and the code here.
Update : Thanks for all of the offers to help test the beta. We are closing the beta for the current round, and will post again when we expand it.
The Central Team is doing a survey on the Central Licensing model. Please take a couple of minutes to give us your input, as it will help us determine how Central is licensed.
You can take the survey here.
Daemon has posted a preview release of their very cool certification exam application named Certifiable.
I saw a sneak peak of this at MXDU, and it is easily one of the coolest, and most useful Central applications available.
You can find more information on Certifiable (including screenshots and FAQs) as well as download the application from here.
Hi. We are now looking for developers who are interested in beta testing the Central Presence API / SDK for Macromedia Central. The API provides access to AOL AIM and ICQ networks for applications running within Macromedia Central.
If you are interested, please send the following information to:
to:
central_aol_beta@macromedia.com
We will contact you in the next couple of weeks if you have been accepted for the first round.
I have released the source for the Central Standalone Trace panel for OS X app that I put together.
The source is in Objective-C (written in X-Code) and Interface Builder.
You can download the source (as well as the app) from here.
I just had my introduction to Central session at MXDU, and aside from running into a problem where my preferences got corrupted (which kept Flash from running for about 10 minutes), everything went great.
Here are the links to resources that I mentioned during my session:
If I left anything out, just post it in the comments. (Btw, the conference is rocking).
Well, after going through the 80+ submission, and then counting all of the votes for the 10 finalists, we finally have a winner for the Central Desktop Wallpaper contest.
Here they are:
In 3rd place, and the winner of a stylish Macromedia Central T-Shirt, we actually have a tie:
http://www.sangles.com/centralContest/central800x600.jpg
Created by "sangles"
http://www.ugoletti.com/download/Plug%20different/800x600
Created by Daniele Ugoletti
In a very close 2nd place, and the winner of a Central tube of goodies:
http://www.airios.com/images/desktops/central/centralflow/800x600.jpg
Created by Abel Rios
And finally, in first place, and the proud new owner of an Xbox is:
http://www.mossyblog.com/centralcomp/centralwallpaper_800x600.jpg
Created by Scott Barnes / Team Mossy Blog
If you are one of the winners, send an email to me at mesh@macromedia.com with your mailing info.
Thanks to everyone who entered and voted. We were completely blown away by the response, and may do a similar contest for Flash in the future.
We have picked 10 finalists from the 80+ submissions to the Central Desktop Wallpaper contest. Since the community made this all happen, we decided to let you help us judge the finalists and pick a winner.
Here are the finalists in no particular order:
Post your vote for the top submission (by it's number) in the comments. The top vote getter from the community will be guaranteed at least a top 3 spot, and will have added weight with the final judges.
Btw, the Central Team has been completely amazed my the response to this. The quantify and quality of the submissions was simply amazing. Deadline for voting is 5 PM PST (-8:00 UTC), February 18, 2004.
Community MX has just released an article about the structure of their CMXtra Central application. It discusses the architecture and who the files are structured, and goes into specific features such as using tooltips, the local file cache and and LCServer.
However, the coolest part of the article is that they have made all of the source code for their CMXtra application available. This is an excellent resource for looking through the code of a complete application and learning how all of the parts fit together.
You can read the entire article here.
As you may or may not have seen, a couple of designers have released some Central desktop wallpapers. Even cooler, is that some of them even released their Photoshop sources files so anyone can modify them:
Anyways, I haven't had a contest since the "Spoof Mike Chambers" contest, so I figured I would hold another one. So, here is the deal, I am holding a contest for the coolest Central related desktop wallpaper. Here are the rules:
The prizes will be:
You can download some Central assets here.
Post links to your entries in the comments.
As Christian posted the other day, we have added some new tools to the Macromedia XML News Aggregator (MXNA). The new tools include:
You can find detailed information, as well as download the Flash libraries and examples from the Tools page at MXNA.
If you are looking for the install badge for the Central DevChat, you can find it here. This page / link will always have the latest info on the chat.
aSH (aka ActionScript Hero) has created and posted a beta SubEthaEdit syntax file for Macromedia Central (and ActionScript 2.0).
You can help test it out here.
CommunityMX has posted the second part of their tutorial on creating your first Central application.
This tutorial is available to CommunityMX members or can be purchased from CommunityMX.com. You can find more information here.
CommunityMX has also updated its Community MXtra Central Application.
CommunityMX.com has posted the first in a series of articles on developing applications for Macromedia Central.
The first article is titled Your First Central Application - Part 1 and gives an overview of Central and getting your development environment ready for Central development.
While you are over at CommunityMX.com, make sure to also check out their CommunityMXTra Central Application.
Jesse Warden has a great post on his thoughts about Central. One of the things he brings up is that he has had trouble explaining the benefits of Central, but once he built an app or two, he just got it.
I have heard this quite a few times (and experienced it myself when I started with Central). Of course, as more features are added to Central, this should be less of a problem. So, i am curious, if you are doing stuff with Central now, what helped you "get it" (i.e. understand it)? If you are not doing Central development right now, what would make you want to?
We have posted some new articles on the Macromedia Central DevNet Center.
The articles are:
Check them out. If you have any suggestions for future articles, post them in the comments section.
Ted Patrick has been posting some icon's created with his Central based Icon Pro application (currently in Alpha). Pretty cool stuff. I just realized that he has also developed a format for saving the icons as ACSII.
Anyways, pretty cool stuff. You can check out the alpha of Icon Professional and Icon Explorer here.
Thanks to everyone who provided their feedback in an earlier post on File system access within Macromedia Central. It was very useful.
We would like some additional input. Specifically, what type of things would you like to do if you had file system access? i.e. how would your application use file system access within Macromedia Central?
A good example might be : I would allow users to upload reports from the Central application to the server (to be shared with other users).
Place your suggestions / thoughts in the comments.
Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. I have been pretty swamped working on a couple of items at work.
There has been a lot of stuff going on over the past couple of days, so I am going to try to catch up in one big post.
Derek Stottlemyer has posted a beta version of his TabSMART Central application which helps teach how to play the guitar.
Ted Patrick has released a beta version of some really cool apps that allow you to make and share icons for Flash applications. You can find more information on Icon Pro and Icon Explorer here.
Ted also posted his thoughts on Central development.
I guess until you write an application, it is hard to see value in Central. I struggled with this on the Central Beta but I now think I get it. Central is about deployment, Central is a platform.
You can read the entire post here.
Vera Fleischer updated her excellent Central sample app and code to include support for notices and Blast.
Daemonite has posted a couple of tips on developing for Central, including this tip on Central DataGrid enhancements and this tip on using Screens in Central applications.
Wow. Lots of stuff going on.
Vera Fleischer has posted some simple sample code that shows a basic Central application. Among other things, it demonstrates how to create a pod, agent and application, how to use LCService to manage communications, how to manage pods, and how to Blast data between applications.
This is a very good example providing all of the basics of a Central application.
You can view the post, and download the code here.
Ethan Malasky has posted some information on how to use ActionScript 2.0 to create Central applications.
We are working on creating intrinsic class files for Central, but until they are ready, this will allow you to create Central applications using ActionScript 2.0.
You can read the entire post here.
The single most requested feature for Central has been File I/O support. So, how would you want File I/O implemented in Central? What would you use it for? What features / abilities do you want?
How would you rank the following in order of importance / usefulness?
Post your feedback in the comments section.
Digital Media Minute just posted a link to the Regular Expression Library which is a repository of Regular Expression expressions (currently with over 450 entries).
This is a useful resource if your are developing applications for Central, as Central has built in support for regular expressions. Of course, it is also useful if you are using one of the community developed Flash regular expression libraries.
You can view the website here.
You can find some more information on Regular Expressions in Central here and here.
Btw, we will be posting an extensive article on using Regular Expressions in Central on the DevNet center very soon.
The Central Team is doing a survey and looking for input about Macromedia Central. Here is the info:
I just noticed that we released a technote describing some undocumented methods of the MDialogBox component included with the Central SDK.
The updated methods include:
You can read the entire technote here.
FYI, we are also writing a more extensive article for the Central DevNet center on how to use the component.
Christian Cantrell has posted a couple of examples showing how to use Central's built in Regular Expression API.
Examples include matching:
You can view the entire post here.
If you have any other good Regular Expression recipies, post them at Christian's weblog.
As you may or may not know you cannot reference _root or _level0 from applications running within Central. This is because the application is actually running within the Central controller which itself is built within Flash (thus _root does not reference your application's _root).
Ted Patrick has posted some information and code snippets showing how to work around this issue if you need to reference the root of your application.
You can view the post here.
I have just uploaded the 1.0 version of the Stand-alone Central Trace Panel for Mac OS X. This is a wrapper for the Central Trace panel included on the Central SDK.
The Central Trace Panel includes the following features:
You can download the application from here.
You can download the source from here.
You can download a windows version of the panel from here.
Note, this is something that I worked on as a personal project, and is not supported by Macromedia. Use at your own risk.
Thanks to Andrew Borovsky for the awesome icon.
A couple of new articles have been posted to the Central Developer Center at Macromedia.com.
The first is an article that I wrote titled:
Using the Central Accordion Tab Component
which, as the title suggests, shows how to use the ever popular Accordion Tab component included on the Central SDK.
The second article is written by Ethan Malasky, and is titled:
Using Notices in Macromedia Central
This article discusses everything you need to know about using, sending and receiving notices in Macromedia Central.
So now you have something to read over the holidays.
If you have used the Central trace panel, you may have noticed the "App Name Filter" text field in the bottom left of the panel. This is used to filter trace messages coming from Central so you only see messages coming from your application.
So, how do you use this? It is actually pretty simple.
Continue reading "Filtering Traces from Central with the Trace Panel"
I just finished an article on using the Central Accordion Tab component. It will be on the Central DevNet Center in a week, but I thought I would go ahead and give a sneak peak.
Below is an excerpt from the article that shows how to manage application views using the component. Note, that this has not been edited yet, so may contain typos, grammar mistakes or code errors. If you have any questions or run into any problems, post them in the comments.
Continue reading "Sneak Peak : Using the Central Accordion Tab Component"
I have created an OS X version of my stand-alone Central Trace Panel. This basically allows you to run the Central Trace / Debug panel outside of the Flash IDE.
Update (12/17/2003) : I have released version 1.0 of the Trace Panel. You can find more information about it here.
We have posted some changes related to Central and licensing at Macromedia.com. We have made some tweaks to the EULA to make it clearer what a commercial application is, and have updated the FAQ with about 20 new questions on licensing and other items.
Finally, you can now buy Central capacity packs in packs of 20 or 100. This significantly lowers the entry point for deploying Central applications internally.
Here are the links:
Updated FAQ
Updated Licensing Description Page
Thanks for everyone's feedback and input.
With the release of the developer release of Central, we are turning our sites on the next version. So, what features would you like to see in the next version of Central?
Post your suggestions in the comments (the more detail the better).
I am lining up articles for the DevNet Center, and was curious what articles developers would like to see written.
So, what Central Development articles would you like to see posted to the Central DevNet Center?
The next two articles will be an introduction to notifications, and how to use the Central Tab component.
Post your suggestions in the comments.
Some developers had reported that they were having problems installing Central. We think that we have fixed the issue (a web server configuration issue), and need to know if anyone is still having a problem.
So, if you could not install Central before, please try now (you can click the Dev Chat install to the right), and let us know if it worked.
If it doesn't work, please post the info requested in the post.
I have released a new version of the Central developer chat. It is still a "beta" version, but I think you can see we have made a lot of progress.
Lots of new stuff in this version, including:
You can install the new version by clicking on the Install Badge on the right of the page.
If you had and older version of the chat installed, you will need to uninstall that version, and then install this one.
Sorry for the upgrade hassles. This is because we released it really early before the final product id's were ready. We now have the final product id, which means that you have to install from scratch. However, future updates will be seamless.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, or find any bugs, then post them in the comments.
Just a quick FYI. The DevChat will be down for a while tonight.
It will be back up in a couple of hours.
Ethan Malasky, an engineer on the Central team, has created a weblog. His first post includes a custom ANT task that he and Mike Williams built to compile their Flash projects from the command line.
This ant task is specific to Central and allows you to install and publish applications into Central. However, you could of corse modify it for any Flash build process.
You can view the post and download the code from here.
We have seen a couple of reports of people having problems installing Central. We are trying to track down the issue and fix it. So, if you have had trouble installing Central, please post in the comments section, with the following info:
Thanks for any information.
Last week at the MAX Keynote, AOL and Macromedia announced that it would be opening it IM (AIM / ICQ) network to Central developers. This is the first time that AOL has ever opened its network up to outside developers. Throughout the conference we showed a number of applications using the Presence SDK (the AIM / ICQ functionality). These apps included an early working version of a Central AIM / ICQ client, as well as an auction application that allowed buyers and seller to directly communicate, and a modified blog reader application that allowed readers to send comments to writers.
Ray Ryan and I also did a number of sessions on the Presence API. Ray is the engineer from AOL who is building the AIM / ICQ API within Central (it is implemented as an Agent). Ray showed some of the apps mentioned above and also went over some simple code examples that demonstrated how to use the API.
I am very excited about this partnership with AOL for a number of reasons. First, the ability to tap into AOL's IM network is super cool, and opens up a ton of possibilities. Right now, everyone seems to be focusing on instance messaging apps and chats, but I like to think of it more as a way to transfer information between clients (with IM and Chat just being one type of message sent). Since the network is open to developers, they have control of what data is sent and how to handle that data when it is received. More on this later...
I am also excited because AOL believes enough in Central to put their weight behind it. From a pure distribution standpoint, this will be a huge win for Central developers, as AOL has millions of subscribers. Couple this announcement with Intel's use and support of Central, and I think you can start to see a pattern emerging.
The AOL Presence API is slated to be available this winter, with the AIM / ICQ application released sometime in the Spring. We will have a lot more information on this in the coming weeks and months.
If you have any questions, post them in the comments.
You can find more information on Macromedia Central here.
I have created a simple shell that allows the Central Debug panel to run outside of the Flash IDE. Among other things, it allows you to set the panel to always be on top, which makes it easy to watch trace information from Central.
Requirements:
You can download the installer from here.
Note, this is something that I did in my own time, and is not supported by Macromedia. Use at your own risk.
FYI, I plan to make a Mac OSX version in the next couple of weeks.
If you have any comments, suggestions or problems, post them in the comments.
FYI, I will be releasing a new version of the Central DevChat a week from Monday (i.e. December 1).
Lots of new features including a new look, connections moved to an agent, support for blast, new commands, and much more.
FYI, the login delays with the DevChat Central application should be fixed now.
Sorry for the hassle.
We have spent a ton of time and effort on the Central SDK, trying to make it as useful as possible.
I thought it might be useful to post a list of everything included on the SDK:
I am about a day late in posting this, but there are a ton of new resources on Macromedia Central at the Macromedia website. Here is a summary:
Just a quick reminder, we will be having a Central Birds of a feature tonight at the MAX conference, at 6pm, in Room 151 A. It is basically an open discussion / Q and A on any and everything about Central.
See you there.
I just noticed that we have released two new case studies on a couple of Central Applications:
There is some good information on the business decisions made for those applications.
Wow! Things have been crazy the past couple of weeks. There have been a ton of announcements coming out of Max. I am too tired right now to list all of them, or point out the ton of new Central related content on the website, but I did want to point that we have released the "Developer Release" of Central today.
What exactly is the Developer Release, and what does it mean? The Developer Release means that Central is ready for developers to start making applications. The API is stable and the SDK is complete. The licenses are final, and you can get all of the license types (including try / buy).
In a word, it means "GO!".
I will post more info on all of the news in the morning. I think I should sleep now. In the meantime, check out CentralMX.com which is keeping up with all of the latest news and announcements.
Congratulations to Eric Dolecki for getting site of the day on Wednesday for the Central application that he put together for the Max conference.
I have been amazed by how many people I have seen using it at the conferences today, and after we updated the news, I must have had ten people come up to me at tell me "It told me there was new news!".
Congrats Eric. Great job.
A lot of people have been telling me they have been having problems logging into DevChat lately. I have also noticed this and we finally figured out what the problem was. The server was moved recently, and it looks like they are blocking some FlashCom ports. Because of this, the Flash Player has to loops through trying to find a port that it can connect on (which ends up taking a long time).
We will release a new version of the chat soon that fixes this problem, but in the meantime, if you wait long enough, it should eventually connect. Sorry for the hassle.
Kevin Hoyt has a great summary of Kevin Lynch's and Josh Ulm Central session titled "Best Practices for Central Application Interface Design".
You can read the entire overview here.
Juts a quick FYI, my session title at MAX has changed to:
Developing with the AOL Presence API in Macromedia Central
And now, Ray Ryan, the AOL engineer who is building the SDK, is also presenting, showing a bunch of demos and codes / examples.
Here are the remaining Session Times:
Btw, we will be giving out copies of the Central Developer Reference Poster at all of the Central sessions, so stop by if you would like one.
The Central Team is hosting a developer get together tonight at the Marriott hotel (across from the conference center). There will be pizza, beer, video games (ps2 and xbox), Internet, programming, chatting and general hanging out. Members of the Central team will be there, as well as members of the Flash engineering team, and some of the engineers from AOL.
The session is Wednesday night (tonight) from 7:30 pm to 1am in the Deer Valley room of the Marriott (across from the conference center).
Everyone is invited.
A couple of people have noticed that there is a new version of Central available, but have run into some issues with it.
Well, here are the solutions:
-DevChat won't install. Beta product ids will not work in the final version of Central. The current version of DevChat has a beta product id, which is why it won't install in the new version.
You can install it with a different product.xml file that works by:
1. Open Central
2. File > Install from URL
3. Enter this URL : http://nbo02.macromedia.com/devchat/product2.xml
We will have a new version of the chat in the next couple of days that will fix this issue. If you have an existing app that has a beta product id, you can get a new product id from:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_productid
You can find a complete technote on this issue here.
-Blog Reader is not installed in the update. When Central updates itself, it cannot install new applications. Since the beta did not contain the blog reader application, it is not installed when Central does an auto-update.
There are two solutions. Uninstall Central, and then reinstall it. Or, wait a couple of hours, and you will be able to install the blog reader from the app finder.
-Central is not prompting to update. That is the expected behavior. Central checks for updates periodically (I think it is every couple of days), and thus everyone won't be prompted to update. You can manually get Central to check for updates by:
1. Opening Central
2. View > Preferences
3. General Tab
4. Click the Check Now Button.
Sorry for the confusion. I meant to post this information before the new version was out, but a combination of factors prevented that. I will be posting a lot more information shortly.
We have released a new Central application for the MAX conference. The app includes resources about the conference, including session information and descriptions, an interactive map of the venue, news and award info. You can also set it up to notify you when your sessions are about to begin.
We will be giving out some Central posters at the MAX conference. The posters are developer reference guides, and really look nice.
You can see a (small) sneak peak here:
Continue reading "Countdown to MAX : Central Poster (sneak)"
The title pretty much says it all. What questions would you like answered in a Central FAQ? Post your suggestions in the comments.
One of the things that I am setting up for Macromedia MAX Conference next week is something that we are calling the "Central Developer's Playground". This is a chance for developers to get together, hang around, play video games (XBOX and PS2), listen to music, eat pizza, drink beer / coke, work on Central applications, ask questions and meet the Central team.
It will be pretty informal, so even if you are not planning on doing Central development anytime soon, you should still stop by to hang around and chat.
The get together is Wednesday night, from 7:30 pm to 1am. More details at the conference.
Intel is giving away a Centrino powered table PC at the the Macromedia Max conference. The contest requires that developers answer questions about the Central related sessions at MAX (i.e. you will need to attend the Central sessions to get the answer to the questions).
You can sign up for the contest at the Intel booth at the conference. Here is the info from Intel:
Visit the Intel booth at the Macromedia MAX event and enter a contest to win a tablet PC featuring Intel® Centrino(tm) mobile technology. While at the booth, learn from Intel and other leading technology companies about the critical factors involved in developing mobilized software applications, including connectivity, power/performance management, offline data management and deployment across multiple platforms. Prize drawing is open only to the attendees of the 2003 Macromedia MAX event in Salt Lake City, Utah. For complete contest rules and eligibility, please visit the Intel booth.
Good luck!
The Macromedia Max conference starts in a little over a week. We are planning a ton of stuff around Central, so I decided to do a week of "Countdown to Max posts". Everyday, I will post information about something related to Central at the Max conference.
The first item is of course all of the Central Related sessions:
Of course, there are a ton of other sessions on Flash, Client / server development and Halo that also apply to creating Central applications. You can see a complete list of sessions, broken down by track, here.
So, are you going to be at Central? If so, post in the comments. I will be there from Monday to Friday.
The guys (and gals?) over at CentralMX.com have published a new video tutorial. This one shows how to set up the Central development environment for Dreamweaver.
This is their second video tutorial, and is a great resource for quickly getting up to speed on the subjects.
You can view the tutorial here.
Josh Dura and I have put together an image that shows the entire Central API hierarchy. Have fun with it.
A lot of developers have been building their first Central apps. So many, that I haven't been able to keep track of all of them.
So, if you have built an application within Central, please shoot me an email with the info. I would like send something your way (while supplies last!).
Send your name, link to your app and mailing address to me at mesh@macromedia.com.
I just noticed that Intel has released a Macromedia Central version of their HotSpot finder. This is a very cool application that will show you all of the Wireless hotspots in your area. Even cooler is that it will cache your results so you can view them offline (when you need a hotspot finder the most!).
You can install the Hostspot finder from the bottom of this page.
Paul Newman from CommunityMX has put together a Central application that provides an interface to the CommunityMX site, displaying the latests articles and letting you search their entire article archive.
This application is based on an existing Flash application that Paul had already built, and he outlines some of the changes he had to make (not many) to make it run within Central.
This is only version .70 but it is already pretty polished.
You can view install the application from CommunityMX here.
The Macromedia Central SDK will ship with a debug panel that runs within Flash (MX and 2004). We will also release a debug application that runs within Central, and can give richer information.
Last night, I put together a simple windows app that wraps the Central Debug Panel. It puts it in its own window, and allows you to set that window to always be on top. So, my question is, is this something that you would find useful? If so, I can release the code for it once Central ships.
You can see a screen shot of it here (png).
Also, if I do release it, I will need a good name for it. Post any suggestions in comments section.
I just noticed that were-here has created a Central forum. There are a couple of posts there, and a pretty useful FAQ put together by aSH.
We are updating the Central Resources page to include this and some other new resources.
You can view the forum here.
I was playing around with Flash MX Pro 2004 last night, and created this simple Central API viewer.
CentralMX.com has posted their first Central related video tutorial. It discusses the SDK, and how to get started with it.
Very cool stuff.
You can find out more information and view the tutorial here.
A couple of people have asked me how to set up a separate RSS feed on their weblogs just for Macromedia Central. If you are using Moveable Type it is actually pretty simple.
Continue reading "Creating a Central Specific Feed for your weblog"
Because applications running within Central use the Central API and because those APIs are not available within the Flash Authoring environment, you have to test and debug your applications within Central itself. This is actually pretty simple, and you can use the trace() statement like your normally would.
Continue reading "Debugging Applications running within Central"
Mike Lyda has put together a couple of testing apps that help you test how your application responds to resizing within Macromedia Central. There are two Central apps included, big app and small app, which are either really big or really small.
You can install them from here.
I just noticed that there is a new Central community site this morning. CentralApps.com just starting to ramp up, but has already listed a couple of apps.
You can view the site here.
The releases notes for the Central SDK beta are included within the SDK zip file. I am posting them here for easier reference.
I have put together a FAQ for the Central Developer (SDK) Beta. This will eventually be posted on our website, but I am posting this here to get the info out as quickly as possible.
I have put together a quick, step by step guide to getting started with application development for Central.
Note that all page numbers refer to the Developing Central Applications pdf included on the SDK.
We have added a new category dedicated to Macromedia Central to the Macromedia XML News Aggregator.
There are already quite a few feeds there, and with the release of the SDK beta today, you can expect there to be a lot of posts over the next couple of weeks.
You can view the Central section here.
We have released the public developers beta . This beta includes a beta version of the Software Development Kit (SDK). It does not include a new version of Central.
Here are the relevant URLs:
SDK Beta
http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_sdk
Feedback on SDK
http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_feedback
Couple of Notes:
The release notes are included within the SDK. One item that was omitted
from the release notes is that the MDialogComponent is not included in the
SDK, although it is documented. It will be available in the final version of
Central and the SDK.
We have also made the beta weblog public. This contains a lot of good
information, although some of it might be out of date. If you find any
errors / out of date info, just post a comment in the comment section for
the item and I will fix it.
http://www.markme.com/go/centralbeta/
Finally, we have created a public mailing list for discussing development for
Macromedia Central. You can join the list at:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_maillist
I will post a step by step guide to getting started shortly. In the mean time, check out Chapter 1 of the the Developing Central Apps PDF included on the SDK.
I have created a new mailing list for discussing the ins and outs of developing applications for Macromedia Central.
You can find more info about the list, as well as subscribe to it here.
Wow. Lots of stuff going on in the Central community the past couple of days. First of all, a new Central community site has launched. CentralMX.com already has a ton of information and news, and has plans for tutorials and forums.
Geoffrey Williams released a beta of his Amazon application. This is a very advanced app and you should definitely check it out. You can see screenshots here and here.
Finally, Mike Lyda release a Central application called FiRe, which is a find and replace utility. Check out the page as he has some good information on how he developed the app.
I expect that we will see a lot more of this type of stuff once we release the SDK. Stay tuned.
We are going to have a chat today in the Central Developer Chat application. It will be today at 11:30 am pst (I think that is -8 utc). It will be around 30 minutes, with the first 20 minutes focused on feedback on Central, and the last 20 minutes general QA.
You can find more information on the chat here. You can install it from the Install Badge on the right.
I'll be speaking tomorrow night at the San Francisco Macromedia User group meeting. I will be showing Macromedia Central and Flash 2004 and answering any questions thrown at me.
I will also be brining a couple of DRKs to give away.
Josh Ulm from ioresearch will also be speaking, so it is definitely worth checking out.
The meeting is tomorrow night, 7 pm PST at the Macromedia HQ. You can find more info, including directions at the SFMMUF site.
We started to hit connection limits today for the chat, so we have moved it to a new server that does not have any limits.
You will have to reinstall the app from the badge (updating from within Central will not work).
Just click the install badge on the right, and start chatting away (make sure to check out the video pods).
Well the Central Chat has been a lot more popular than I expected. Tons of people in it everyday, including a bunch of people from the Central Team.
We have been adding new features daily? Some of the highlights include video pods (thanks Peldi), and screen resizing (thanks Kevin).
We had about 6 or 7 video feeds going today, with about 3 or 4 from the Central Team offices.
Click the installation badge on the left to install the chat, or if you have already installed it, open it and check for updates (Central Dev Chat > Check for Updates).
We are always looking for new features to add, so if you have any suggestions post them in the chat or here.
We have recently updated some of the sessions about Macromedia Central for the Macromedia MAX Conference. Here is a list of all of the Central related sessions:
Or course, there are also keynotes, birds of a feature, etc... I am hoping to get some space where anyone interested in developing apps, learning about Central or just hanging around with other developers, can do so. There will be a lot of people from the Central team at the conference, so it is a good chance to get a crash course in Central from the people who made it.
The conference is November 18 - 21, in Salt Lake City. You can find more info here.
I have been working on using the chat framework that Greg Burch and I put together to build a simple chat application for Macromedia Central. I is not complete, but I figured that people might be interested in checking it out.
You can install it using the install badge on the right (just click install).
I will be hanging around in the chat most of the day and will be chatting and answering questions about Central.
I will also be updating it though the week, so you can either manually check from within Central (Central Dev Chat > Check for Updates), or Central will periodically check for you.
You can access the preferences for the chat from Central Dev Chat > Preferences.
Biggest Known issues:
I plan to write an article discussing the application architecture, and posting the code on the DevNet site.
If you find any bugs, or have any suggestions, post them in the comments.
I am putting together a simple chat application for Macromedia Central. Currently, I am doing some testing on it, but I will release a beta of it tomorrow, and then hang around to answer any questions about Central (or just chat).
You can see a screen shot of the app here.
FYI, I have put together a list of all of the links to discussions / comments on the Macromedia Central Public Beta.
There has also been discussion on Flash Coders, Flash Lounge and CF-Talk.
You can keep up with discussion / comments on Central with MXNA by using the following link:
If you have any questions or feedback on the Macromedia Central Public Beta, you can post them to:
Questions:
http://webforums.macromedia.com/central/categories.cfm?catid=297
FeedBack
http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/wishform/?6213=32
You can find more info on the Central Public Beta, as well as download it from here.
We have just launched a public beta of Macromedia Central in conjunction with Intel's one unwired day. The beta is focused on giving users a chance to check out Macromedia Central before the final version is released.
The public beta includes:
You can install Central from the Central Product page (Windows and Mac)(Flash Player 6,0,65,0 or higher required).
We have also published some more information on Central, including:
It is important to note this is not the public developer beta which we have discussed, and thus there are currently no developer docs. We will be having a public developer's beta in the next couple of weeks which will include documents, tutorials, samples and other resources.
Finally, this is a pre-release version of Central, and thus there are still some known issues. In particular, we have not yet done CPU and memory optimizations.
Check it out. Post any comments, questions, impressions in the comments section.
The Macromedia DevNet center just published an article that I wrote that gives an update on the status of Macromedia Central.
The main points?
The article also shows some new screens of the new ToolTips, and Blast! feature (which allows applications to share data with each other).
You can view the entire article here.
We have also released a new screen shot to our beta. You can view the shot here.
If you have any questions about Central, the article or new screenshot, you can post them in the comments, or in the Central web forum.
If you use a Mac and are interested in checking out the Macromedia Central beta, then send me an email at mesh@macromedia.com. We want to ensure that we have plenty of testing and developers on the Mac platform.
One of the things that Macromedia Central makes extensive use of is the ActionScript LocalConnection object. Below is the beginning of a list of resources I have begun to put together that discuss the LocalConnection object. I figured that it might be useful for some people, so here it is.
If you know of any articles or resources that I missed, then post them in the comments.
Oscar Trelles, commenting on Sean Voisen's post about Central notes that he feels that discussion about Macromedia Central has died down recently and wonders if it is still on track.
Well, considering that Central is still in beta, we have actually been talking about it quite a lot. In fact, I think that we have been more open about Central than any other pre-release product. Of course, the past couple of weeks all of then attention has been focused on the MX 2004 launches (and rightfully so), but now that they are out the door, you will begin to hear even more about Central.
We will be publishing an article soon on the website with an update, but I wanted to post some of the information here in order to get it out as soon as possible. Central is still on track, and development is going well. We were originally aiming for a late summer release, but have decided to push it back a couple of months. Why? Well, we are really focusing on making this as solid a first version as possible, and we needed some extra time for some additional development and usability testing.
We are slowly ramping up the beta, and will be having a public beta in the next couple of weeks. So, if you are not on the beta yet, don't worry, you will have plenty of time to get up to speed before Central is released.
I will also be speaking about Central at the Flash Parade conference in October, and of course, we will have a ton of info and sessions on it at the Macromedia Max conference in November.
As always, if you have any questions, post them in the comments (note, there might be a short delay before I respond to any questions).
Scott Manning of ActionScript.com has posted a report from Mike William's session on Macromedia Central from last week's FlashKit conference. Scott has some new information in his report, as well as a lot of screen shots.
One important tidbit that Scott pointed out is that Central will be out in the next couple of months. We are really focusing on doing this right, and making the first release of Central solid.
You can see the entire report here.
The title says it all, What type of applications do you want to see built for Macromedia Central?
Post you thoughts in the comments section...
The title says it all. What do you want to know about Macromedia Central? Post your questions in the comments section.
Update: We you can see a new Central screen shot at the following sites:
You can find a ton of additional information at the Macromedia Central Development Center.
Mike Chambers is a Senior Product Manager for Developer Relations at Adobe.
Design based on equiX by Marcos Sader
