Our last day at Max was like this. In the text bellow you can find news and interesting things that we considered that worth mentioning them here.

1. Using the Text Layout Framework (Justin Everett-Church)
   • new text engine parallel with the TextField engine
   • text blocks can contain: text, groups that can contain images
   • inline images with events
   • ligatures
   • for flash developers: download am MXP file that will install it in Flash
   • for flex developer: use Gumbo
   • the root of all is TextFlow
   • TextFlow contains more paragraphs
   • TexfFlow is XML
   • set TextFlow and Bounds, give those to TextLineFactory and paragraph lines will result
   • new SelectionManager and EditManager classes available
2. Breathe AIR into Your Brand (Tom Krcha)
   • sign you applications
   • update framework
   • encrypt locally saved data
   • encrypt database (sqlLite)
3. Flash Security: Why and How (Jim Corbett)
   • Five Rules:
     1. Use least privilege
     2. Validate input
     3. Deploy HTTPS consistent
     4. Prototype early
     5. Keep track of security changes
   • Client-side scripting
   • Server-side scripting
   • Local SWFs
   • Recent changes
     • no access to FileReference from JavaScript
     • HTTP “Content-Disposition: attachment” used to allow only download and not directly play
     • for policy files in subdomains a master policy file on the root is needed
4. Looking ahead to the Next Version of Flex – Spark (Matt Chotin)
   • Presentation made by Ely Greenfield
   • Spark, new code name for Flex platform
   • Designer/Developer workflow
     • separation of code and markup/skin
     • many new classes and components
     • new effects
     • new way of using states: first declare the states only and then in each component is explicitly set in which state it should appear
     • new animation classes
     • new MXML 2009 (xmlns=”http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009″)
     • new <Declarations/> tag
     • everything seen in Spark is in a Group
     • new object ordering mechanism
   • Framework evolution & Productivity
     • 2 way binding <FxTextInput text=”@{data.firstNmae}” />
     • enhanced CSS: id selector, descendent selector, first two combined
     • data-centric development
5. High performance AIR Applications (Mihai Corlan)
   • Sean Christmann from EffectiveUI (http://www.craftymind.com) held the same session at MAX San Francisco
   • optimizing can be done in: images (big image or lots of small images), sound, video, large datasets, 3D, search, retrieving data from server, response to user input
   • need of metrics: quantifiable, consistent, meaningful
   • to measure memory usage use Activity Monitor (Mac) or Process Explorer (Win)
   • if an application response is under 100 miliseconds it will be percepted by the user as a fast application
   • optimization process: measure -> analyze -> modify (repeat until satisfied)
   • code optimizations: vectors instead of arrays, thin constructors, etc
   • Flash Player works with mp3 files at 44khz bit rate thus if in the application we use mp3 with other bit rate the flash player will re-sample it taking processor and memory
6. Structuring your team to get work done (Neil Middleton)
   • tech lead: quality, performance, reusability, maintainability
   • user experience expert: Photoshop, Flash, Expert in UX, Understand Usability, Understand Flex
   • quality control: unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, user testing
   • business analysis: what we are building
   • management: resources, time/speed, materials/tools, efficiency
   • common issues:
     • poor requirements
     • poor project planning and risk planning
   • explaining SCRUM
   • summary:
     • make sure you have the right people for the job
     • break your work in a manageable chunks
     • don’t block yourself into a corner constraining every aspect
7. Maintaining Security with Adobe AIR (Mihai Corlan)
8. Working with Flex Builder and Zend Studio For Eclipse (Miti Pricope)
   • to install Flex Builder and Zend Studio for Eclipse in order to be able to debug both PHP and Flex:
     • Install Zend Studio first
     • Get Flex Builder for Eclipse plugin and save it on computer
     • in Zend Studio got Install extension and browse to the location of the Eclipse plugin
   • Eclipse know file link which is similar to Unix link but is just on the Eclipse level
   • to have code hinting in a project the libraries must be added to include files paths

For some sessions listed above (Flash Security, Spark, etc) dedicated articles will follow so please keep an eye on us. Photos available bellow.

How &#038; when to use it

Inner insights

Jim Corbett

Mihai Corlan

Miti Pricope

New Text Engine

Security table 1

Security table 2