Peter deHaan

I didn’t have time to post this yesterday, but here is a quick update on all the new entries over at my other blog, Flex Examples, during the past 7 days:

• Checking to see if the ExternalInterface API is available in Flex
• Returning values from JavaScript in your Flex applications using the ExternalInterface API
• Calling ActionScript functions from your HTML templates using the ExternalInterface API
• Setting the background alpha on a Panel container in Flex
• Using a CheckBox to filter items in a DataGrid in Flex
• Setting the border alpha on a Panel container in Flex
• Validating strings using the StringValidator class
• Setting or clearing the application background image in Flex
• Setting a complete effect on a ProgressBar control in Flex
• Changing live dragging on a TileList control in Flex

No real trends this week, although there are a few entries on the ExternalInterface API and the Panel container.

Seems like I’ve had a hard time posting a new “This Week in FlexExamples” post on a regular basis lately…
Anyways, here are a bunch of posts you may have missed over on my other blog, blog.flexexamples.com, in the past two weeks:

• Determining if a check box menu item is toggled in a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Changing the next and previous year navigation icons on a DateChooser control in Flex
• Using embedded fonts in a Flex DataGrid control
• Removing the scrollbar thumb from the vertical scroll bar in a Flex DataGrid control
• Setting the layout direction of a Flex ControlBar container
• Creating timers using the setInterval() method
• Creating timers using the setTimeout() method
• Creating a simple image gallery with the Flex HorizontalList control
• Setting the value of a Flex Progress Bar
• Setting the roll over color and selection color in a Flex DataGrid control
• Detecting when the Flex PopUpButton control is opened or closed
• Setting the selection color and selection disabled color for a row in the Flex DataGrid control
• Disabling user input in a Flex Application
• Creating custom timers by extending the Timer class
• Creating timers using the Timer class
• Creating a custom label function on a Flex PopUpMenuButton control
• Detecting when a mouse leaves a Flex application
• Changing the default sort arrow skin on a Flex DataGrid control
• Aligning items horizontally in a ControlBar container in Flex

I don’t see any real trends, other than the fact I did a brief series on setTimeout() method, setInterval() method, and the Timer class.

Well, it seems like I’ve been neglecting this update for a few weeks, so here it goes. Here’s the list of posts you may have missed over on my other blog, blog.flexexamples.com, in the past few weeks:

• Setting the button link corner radius on a Flex LinkBar control
• Setting the background color and background alpha on a Flex LinkBar control
• Detecting changes in a camera’s activity and status in a Flex VideoDisplay control
• Displaying a webcam’s video in a Flex VideoDisplay control
• Displaying the labels vertically in Flex ColumnChart control
• Displaying icons in a Flex PopUpButton control
• Setting alternating item colors on a Flex PopUpButton control
• Specifying custom named unicode ranges in Flex
• Removing leaf icons from the Flex Tree control
• Getting specific camera instances using the static Camera.getCamera() method
• Removing folder icons from the Flex Tree control
• Scrolling a Flex List control horizontally
• Truncating text in the Flex Label control using the truncateToFit property
• Listening for the link event in a Flex Label control
• Displaying item tool tips in a Flex ComboBox control
• Using a CheckBox control as a list item renderer in Flex
• Displaying a Label control’s text as a password
• Displaying a TextInput control’s text as a password in Flex (redux)
• Setting the width on a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Creating a tool tip on a Flex TextInput control with password masked text
• Adding checkboxes, radiobuttons, and sub-menus to a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Adding a horizontal separator to a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Copying text to the operating system clipboard in Flex
• Creating semi-transparent PopUpButton pop up menus in Flex
• Changing the width of the arrow button in a Flex PopUpButton control
• Reducing the vertical space around a separator in a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu by enabling variable row heights
• Setting the corner radius on a Flex PopUpButton control
• Setting the vertical gap between a Flex PopUpButton control and its pop up menu
• Determining whether a font has specific glyphs in Flex
• Using a DataGrid control as a pop up in the Flex PopUpButton control
• Disabling item roll over highlighting in the Flex DataGrid control
• Preventing a user from selecting an item in a Flex DataGrid control
• Clipping a Flex container’s content using the clipContent property
• Parsing ISO dates with Flex and ActionScript
• Displaying a main icon in a Flex PopUpButton control
• Detecting when the main button on the Flex PopUpButton control has been clicked
• Using the openAlways property on the Flex PopUpButton control
• Truncating the label on a Flex CheckBox control
• Embedding fonts in a Flex application using Embed metadata
• Displaying tool tips in a Flex DataGrid control’s header
• Setting the track color of a Flex ProgressBar control
• Using an embedded font with the Flex ProgressBar control
• Adding icons to the Flex LinkBar control
• Changing the next and previous month navigation icons on a DateChooser control in Flex
• Changing the arrow button skins on a Flex container’s scroll bars

At a quick glance, It seems like I posted mainly on the LinkBar control, the PopUpButton control, the Tree control, and the Camera object.

Happy Flexing!

Here is a list of this week’s entries from my blog.flexexamples.com blog from the past 7 days:

• Indenting a Flex Panel control’s title
• Setting a label’s font weight on a Flex LinkBar and ToggleButtonBar control
• Expanding nodes in a Flex Tree control using the openItems property
• Clearing the video on a Flex VideoDisplay control
• Preventing specific items from being selected in a Flex Tree control
• Determining which item was clicked in a Flex LinkBar control
• Preventing branches from being selected in a Flex Tree control
• Setting the background color and background alpha on a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Aligning labels in a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Setting an item’s font weight in a Flex PopUpButton control’s pop up menu
• Setting the selected index of a Flex LinkBar control

Not too many new posts this week, but we have a couple on the Tree control, LinkBar control, and PopUpButton control.

Here is a list of this week’s entries from my blog.flexexamples.com blog from the past 7 days:

• Clearing a selected RadioButton control in Flex
• Adding icons to the Flex ButtonBar control
• Setting the button corner radius in a Flex ButtonBar control
• Setting the button label text alignment in a Flex ButtonBar control
• Changing the label placement for a Flex ButtonBar control
• Setting horizontal and vertical gaps between buttons in a Flex ButtonBar control
• Determining which button was pressed in a Flex ButtonBar component
• Creating a custom label function on a Flex ButtonBar control
• Determining which button was pressed in a Flex ButtonBar component
• Disabling individual buttons on a Flex ButtonBar control
• Setting skins on the the Flex ButtonBar control
• Setting the data provider of a Flex ButtonBar control to a ViewStack container
• Toggling item roll over highlighting in the Flex Tree control
• Displaying the number of children in each branch of a Flex Tree control
• Setting the border thickness in a Flex Panel container
• Setting the header height on a Flex Panel container
• Setting the child layout direction of a Flex Panel container

It seems that this week was fairly heavily weighted towards the ButtonBar control, with a couple posts on the Tree control and Panel container as well.

Happy 2008! My first post in 2008, and it only seems fitting that its my “weekly”, blog.flexexamples.com update. Here’s a collection of posts that I managed to come up over the past 2ish weeks:

• Removing the drop shadow from the DateField control in Flex
• Customizing the background alpha and background color of the Alert control in Flex
• Displaying a ComboBox control’s inherited styles in Flex
• Changing the Flex DateChooser control’s text alignment
• Changing the header colors of a Flex DateChooser control
• Setting font weight on a Flex DateChooser control
• Changing the Flex ColorPicker control’s swatch panel background color
• Changing the default calendar icon in a Flex DateField control
• Changing the swatch grid background color for a ColorPicker control in Flex 3
• Changing the swatch highlight size for a ColorPicker control in Flex 3
• Changing the swatch border size for a ColorPicker control in Flex 3
• Styling a Flex 3 ComboBox control’s vertical scroll bars
• Changing the ColorPicker control’s nested text field styles in Flex 3
• Toggling the text field in a Flex ColorPicker control
• Creating a custom context menu on a RichTextEditor control in Flex
• Changing the close button skin on a Flex TitleWindow container
• Toggling the close button in a Flex TitleWindow container
• Changing the RichTextEditor control’s style name in Flex
• Toggling the control bar in a Flex RichTextEditor control (redux)
• Changing the text field width for the ColorPicker control in Flex 3
• Changing the preview color width for the ColorPicker control in Flex 3
• Changing the corner radius of a Flex ComboBox control
• Determining a VideoDisplay control’s current playback state using the state property and stateChange event
• Creating semi-transparent ComboBox dropdown menus in Flex
• Changing the padding on a Button control in Flex
• Changing the fill colors of a Button control in Flex
• Changing the fill colors of a ButtonBar control in Flex
• Setting the vertical gap between items in a Flex VBox container
• Styling the Alert control’s status message
• Styling the Alert control’s nested buttons
• Styling the Alert control’s message text
• Styling the Alert control’s title bar
• Changing a Box container’s direction in Flex
• Adding filters to an Alert control in Flex
• Displaying scroll tips in a HorizontalList control in Flex
• Setting alternating colors on a Flex HorizontalList control
• Changing the background alpha of a HorizontalList control in Flex
• Using a timer to change the selected index of a ViewStack container in Flex
• Displaying a TextInput control’s text as a password in Flex
• Changing a VBox container’s background size in Flex
• Changing a VBox container’s background alpha in Flex
• Changing a VBox container’s background image attachment in Flex
• Clearing a selected RadioButton control in Flex
• Creating a resizing ToolBar in Flex

I don’t see any overwhelming trends, but it seems like I did some entries on the VBox container, Alert control, ColorPicker control, and a few on the ComboBox control and HorizontalList control.

And I can’t say it enough, but I’d like to give a big thanks to all the readers, subscribers, and supporters out there. I’ve lots of really great and positive feedback in comments and email, and I’m glad to see that it seems useful to some people out there on the internets.

Looking at the WordPress dashboard, it seems there are currently 411 posts, 735 comments (and at least another 12,000 spams blocked by Akismet as well as a few thousand more caught by other spam plugins). There are also seemingly around 900 subscribers to my RSS feed (according to FeedBurner)! Not too bad for a little site that I started 6 months ago in July 2007.

In what will probably be my last blog post of 2007, here is this week’s posts for blog.flexexamples.com. It feels like somewhat of a short list this week for some reason, but I’ll try and post a few more examples later today. Taking a look at the list, it seems semi heavily weighted to the DateField control and a couple posts on styling the ComboBox control. Enjoy:

• Setting selectable ranges in the Flex DateField control
• Setting a minimum and maximum allowable year in the Flex DateField control
• Changing the background color of the nested calendar in a Flex DateField control
• Changing the current date’s background color in the Flex DateField control
• Customizing the current date in the Flex DateField control
• Alternating item colors in ComboBox dropdown
• Setting the first day of the week in a Flex DateField control’s calendar
• Toggling multiple selection and disjoint selection on a Flex DateChooser control
• Customizing the Flex ComboBox control’s text input styles
• Customizing the Flex DateChooser control
• Customizing the current date in a Flex DateField control

Also, note that most of us at the office will be on holidays until Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008. Happy Holidays, and see you all in 2008!

Time for another blog.flexexamples.com update! Not sure why, but this week was fairly heavily weighted towards working with the DateField control. Head on over and check some of them out:

• Debugging Flex applications using the describeType() method and the ObjectUtil class
• Rotating images using the Rotate class
• Using the DateBase class in Flex
• Creating a double-click-able Button control in Flex
• Setting a custom label function on a Flex DateField control
• Loading cascading style sheets on the fly using the Flex StyleManager class
• Programmatically opening and closing ComboBox controls in Flex
• Creating nonmodal Alert dialog boxes in Flex
• Rounding numbers in Flex using the NumberFormatter class
• Changing the padding between the tabs and content in a Flex TabNavigator control
• Enabling year navigation in a Flex DateField control
• Adding suffixes to month names and years in the DateField control
• Converting between dates and strings using the DateField class in Flex
• Embedding fonts for the Flex DateField control
• Changing the next and previous month navigation icons on a DateField control in Flex
• Changing the icon color on a DateField control in Flex

Seems like I’ve neglected to do this the past few weeks, so here’s an uber-update on all the entries from my “other blog”, blog.flexexamples.com. Quickly looking at the list, it seems we have several on charting, the ImageSnapshot class, the Tree control, the RichTextEditor control, as well as a few others.

Head on over and check some of them out:

• Controlling whether a LineChart should set its base value at zero
• Styling individual FormItem labels using the labelStyleName style
• Changing default line colors in a Flex LineChart control
• Removing the default drop shadow from a LineChart chart in Flex
• Customizing folder and leaf icons in the Flex Tree control using the folderOpenIcon, folderClosedIcon, and defaultLeafIcon styles
• Changing the horizontal grid line frequency in a Flex LineChart control using the horizontalChangeCount style
• Displaying grid lines in a Flex LineChart control
• Alternating background row colors in a Flex LineSeries chart
• Customizing the horizontal grid lines in a Flex LineChart control
• Displaying a PieSeries item’s data when a user clicks an item in a Flex PieChart control
• Setting a custom icon field in a Flex Tree control
• Creating a custom icon function on a Flex Tree control
• Creating a custom label function on a Flex LineChart control’s linear axis
• Taking screenshots in Flex 3 using the ImageSnapshot.captureImage() method
• Creating a custom label function on a Flex LineChart control’s category axis
• Taking screenshots in Flex 3 using the ImageSnapshot.captureBitmapData() method
• Changing a chart legend’s direction
• Displaying a hand cursor when mousing over a Flex control
• Setting specific minimum and maximum ranges for a Flex LineChart control LinearAxis
• Styling individual tabs in a TabBar control
• Aligning data in a Flex LineChart control to horizontal and vertical tick marks
• Alternating background column colors in a Flex LineSeries chart
• Creating a linear gradient fill on a ColumnChart control’s column series in Flex
• Creating a custom scroll tip function on a Flex TextArea control
• Displaying scroll tips on a Flex TextArea control
• Toggling the control bar in a Flex RichTextEditor control
• Setting a status message in a Flex RichTextEditor control
• Customizing the Flex RichTextEditor control’s title style
• Adding a title icon to a Flex RichTextEditor control
• Creating tool tips on the Flex RichTextEditor control
• Selecting multiple items in Flex List and DataGrid controls
• Adding a stroke around a ColumnSeries item in a Flex ColumnChart control
• Creating a radial gradient fill on a ColumnChart control’s column series in Flex
• Animating a Flex PieChart control’s rotation when a user clicks on an item
• Hiding nested controls in a Flex RichTextEditor control
• Populating the nested font family ComboBox control in a Flex RichTextEditor control
• Changing the default column width ratio of a ColumnChart control in Flex
• Setting a ColumnChart control’s item roll over color and item selection color in Flex
• Adding custom labels to a Flex ColumnChart control’s column series
• Changing the selection duration and easing function on a Flex Tree control
• Displaying the default icons from a Flex Tree control
• Controlling a Tree control’s item indentation in Flex
• Alternating row colors in a Flex Tree control using the depthColors style
• Alternating row colors in a Flex Tree control using the alternatingItemColors style
• Changing the open duration and easing function on a Flex Tree control
• Detecting when a user opens or closes a Tree control in Flex
• Dragging and dropping items in a Flex Tree control
• Creating a Flex Tree control with variable row heights
• Toggling a Tree control’s root node in Flex
• Opening nodes in a Flex Tree control using the expandItem() method
• Using the itemDoubleClick event to open nodes in a Flex Tree control
• Setting icons for specific nodes in a Flex Tree control
• Using the isBranch() method to determine if a Tree item is a branch or leaf
• Determining the first visible item in a Flex Tree control
• Determining which Tree branches are open using the openItems property
• Expanding and collapsing Flex Tree nodes using the expandItem() and expandChildrenOf() methods
• Using an Array as a data provider in a Flex Tree control
• Sorting XML documents using an XMLListCollection
• Hiding nested controls in a Flex RichTextEditor control (remix)
• Changing the appearance of the locked column separator skin for a DataGrid control in Flex 3
• Installing the Flex Skin Design Extensions for CS3 from Adobe Labs
• Using the ImageSnapshot class to capture images as JPEGs or PNGs in Flex 3
• Converting an ImageSnapshot object into a Base-64 encoded string in Flex 3
• Setting a default encoder for the ImageSnapshot class in Flex 3

That is a grand total of 64 new entries since November 12th. According to my WordPress dashboard, this brings us up to 340 posts (and 643 comments), in a little less than 6 months. According to Google Reader, that’s roughly 13.3 posts per week. Rock on! A big thanks to all my readers, subscribers, commenters (especially those to help me answer comments/questions), banner clickers, Adobe (for making such a great product), and the rest of the Flex Community.