Adobe MAX 2008: The Future of Flex Builder (Part One)

In this post I will be delving deeper into the new/updated feature set that focuses on the aspect of the “Test & Tune” workflow. Test & tune is the day-to-day development workflow that we are all used to: Navigating our projects, creating new code, documenting, re-factoring, debugging and testing. A lot of these features may seem small but they provide a lot of power and can drastically improve development time and ease frustration that we experience during the development cycle.

Package Explorer

The first test & tune feature I want to examine is the new Package Explorer. Some of you may be thinking to yourself that Flex Builder already has a Package Explorer and wondering why this is a new feature. Well, to be exact, Flex Builder 3 does not have a true Package Explorer, what it has is the “Flex Navigator” which is really just a folder browser. When we use the Flex Navigator we often treat it like a package explorer since ActionScript packages are just folder hierarchies and this is what is represented within the Flex Navigator. The new Package Explorer merges the functionality of the Flex Code Outline panel and the Flex Navigator into one view.

Take a look at the screen cap, first you will notice that the MXML root file is now in a (default package) node within the explorer. From there you can then expand the MXML file data to look at the Classes contained and the properties of the class. Next, you can see that the default view makes the hierarchy a flat layout. For example, the package “com.developmentarc.test” is listed all in one line which means you don’t have to expand to view the structure to access a deep package like you would in the Flex Navigator. If you don’t like the flat layout you can change the settings of the Package Explorer to create the more traditional parent/child structure.

Finally, look at the Flex 4 SWC package in the screen cap. The Flex SDK version for the project is now shown in the Package Explorer. Not only is it shown but you can expand the SWCs to see the content structure, classes and properties contained within. In the screen cap I am exploring the Array in the playerglobal.swc file. This SWC exploration also works with 3rd party SWCs, not just the Flex 4 SDK. These all may seem like small changes, but it makes exploration, creation and modification of existing projects much easier. This also allows for Java Eclipse users to experience a much more familiar view when developing Flex Applications. Good stuff.

Event Auto-generation

During development, creating event bindings and method handlers such as the Mouse click event, is a common task. The event auto-generation is a short cut feature in Design View that allows a developer to quickly generate an event handler for a component. The example they used in the session was adding an event handler for a Button’s click event. From design view the developer would click on the generate handler button next to the on click event field:

When the user clicks this button, the handler function is generated in an <Script> block within the MXML file and the method is then assigned to the Button’s click property. My personal feelings about this feature is that it is helpful for initial development and/or learning of the Flex event handling model, but for complex development I am hesitant to see this as a go to feature. For one, the feature automatically adds the script to the current MXML file. On larger projects I typically avoid having scripts in MXML, this is especially true when following the code-behind pattern. I also feel this is going against the proposed workflow model that Adobe is pushing for Flash Catalyst and Flex Builder integration since your MXML is becoming more layout-centric with Classes for logic.

Overall, its a helpful feature and it makes prototyping, initial development and demoing a lot easier. We will see how this feature matures and how it is adopted by developers in the future.

ASDoc

ASDoc-ing is the process of adding specially formatted comments to your code that enables the ASDoc tool to generate documentation from the code and formatted comments. ASDoc is just like JavaDoc and has been evolving and maturing the the first release of Flex. One feature that has been part of Eclipse’s Java development suite is the ability to see inline contextual JavaDoc notes for specific Classes, properties and/or methods. The next version of Flex Builder supports the same kind of in-context doc hinting for code that has been properly ASDoc-ed.

When a user hovers over a method, property or class in either ActionScript or MXML the ASDoc tooltip will display showing the contextual docs for the specified attribute. In the screenshot above, I am hovering over the “left” attribute of an <FxButton> tag. Notice that the displayed doc notes are only for the “left” property. If I rolled over <FxButton portion of the tag you would see the ASDoc content for just FxButton. Not only can you view content inline, there is now a ASDoc panel that can be added to you workspace layout. This panel automatically updates when you click on a property, method, class, tag or attribute. This way you can have the view up and accessing ASDoc content without having to wait for the rollover event.

The ASDoc feature also works within your own code. For example, if you are developing a custom Class and provide properly formatted ASDocs in the Class, the ASDoc window/tooltip will show your ASDoc notes whenever you reference your Class in the application. The Flex team is also working on a new SWC format nicknamed “Fat SWC”. This Fat SWC will now include all ASDoc notes that are provided in the source code for the SWC compilation. This means that when you use a “Fat SWC” in your project, you will get ASDoc hints for any of the Classes, properties, methods, tags or tag attributes that are contained within the SWC.

New Re-factoring Features

There are two new re-factoring features that were demonstrated during the session, both of which help automate tasks that developers do on a weekly, if not daily basis. The first feature is the ability to auto-generate a getter/setter pair from an existing property.

To use this feature you first select, or apply cursor focus, the property that you want to convert to a getter/setter pair. You can then either right click > source > Generate Getter Setter… or you can choose the Source > Generate Getter Setter… menu option. This brings up the above options dialog where you can decide if the existing property should become private, what the new name of the property should become (it defaults to a single underscore prefix), the name of the exposed get / set method, should it create both the get and set method, or just one or the other and finally where the new methods should be added.

This is one of those at first glance small yet super powerful features. During development there are many times where you need to convert a basic public property to a get/set pair and this helps write the code quickly and elegantly. One other cool thing to note about this feature is its ability to remember your preferred prefix. As I mentioned earlier, the default is a single underscore prefix for the private method. I personally prefer a double underscore prefix for my get/set value properties and when I added that additional underscore Flex Builder remembered this and kept the double underscore when I used the re-factor function again. Very, very cool.

The second re-factoring feature, isn’t really new, its just a lot more complete. When re-factoring the code-base, one of the biggest challenges is the process of moving Classes around to new packages. This may occur for all kinds of different reasons: better project organization, company name changes, project changes, etc. etc. Eclipse (which Flex Builder is built upon) supports the move option, yet in the current release this would just move the resource to the new folder and not update the Class’ package structure and linkage throughout the workspace. If you used the rename function, Flex Builder would handle all the updating for you, so it always felt as if the functionality was half-complete.

Well, now move is finally fully supported. This is great news for those of us that have had to spend five minutes moving resources and then the next hour fixing the compiler errors. Typically the process was move the resource, build the project, look for errors, updating bad references, re-build the project, looking for bad references, rinse and repeat. This can get really ugly when you have 800+ classes (which I have had in the past) and you are doing a massive project re-structure. Not fun, let me tell ya. When you choose to move an asset you get to choose what package to move it to and Flex Builder handles updating all the linkage references and package declarations.

One thing to note, in the current preview build of Flex Builder the package has to exist before you move the resource to it. If I recall, David Zuckerman mentioned that this will change in the future. Even if it doesn’t this is a great feature, one that I want NOW. It would have been soooo nice yesterday when I had to move a ton of MXML classes around and re-link them throughout the project, oh well.

Code Templates

Code templates are more or less self exactly what they sound like. A code template is similar to an email signature in that it provides the ability to auto-fill predefined content when a new MXML, ActionScript or CSS file is created. In a way, we have already been using Code Templates when we generate a new ActionScript class. The provided package structure, class declaration and constructor are all generated by the Code Template engine. The difference is that in the next version of Flex Builder this will all be exposed to you and fully modifiable.

Are you working on a MIT or other licensed project? You can now add the license block to the template code and any new file will have the proper structure. You can predefine code blocks, ASDoc blocks, code layout and preferred structures all within the code templates. You can also use variables that set time, file path, names, etc. into the template. On top of that you can export your created templates, pass them around and have others import the template into their Flex Builder. This is great if you work with multiple developers and want to create better coding standards or if you want to create company or open source project specific structures. Again, a simple yet very powerful feature that is being exposed to us.

Code Navigation

The last Test & Tune feature I am going to talk about in this post is code navigation. Code navigation shows a developer in code view what methods are overrides and implementations of interfaces. It also allows for quick navigation up to the parent reference when the triangle icon is clicked.

This is a nice feature because in the past you had to look at the Interface itself to determine what methods are implemented in the current class related. Overriding was generally easy to see at a glance because of the override keyword but getting to the parent method instance was not so easy. This feature enables both code readability and better navigation within the application.

Well, that is all for now. I have three more topics to write about, two more test & tune and then a look at the new Data service support. I will save those for the final post.

• Design Fidelity / UI Creation
• Data / Service Management

Design Fidelity / UI creation is focused around a Flex developer that is responsible for bringing in the initial design for that application and making it a reality. This process includes layout, skinning, styling, animation and effects creation with the core goal of meeting the required design fidelity for the final product. The second entry point is for the developer that is responsible for the Data / Services management aspect of the application. This process includes creating data services, data model creation and loading management. To be clear, these two separate approaches do not mean they are handled by different developers, this is just a way at looking at how developers approach their Flex development duties.

Because there are the two main entry points for most developers, the Flex Builder team is first working on new and improved features that focus on these two areas. There is also a general initiative to work on improving general day-to-day use in Flex Builder, re-factoring management and debugging of Flex applications (they called this process “Test & Tune”). This general initiative covers both the design and the data aspect of application development.

I am going to be breaking this article into three separate posts. This first post will cover the workflow and new features added to Flex Builder for the Design Fidelity aspect of development. Post two will cover the overall day-to-day use features that are being updated/added and how the Flex Builder team is improving the “Test & Tune” workflow. The third post will look at the data services features that are being added to the Flex Builder 4 (Gumbo). One thing to note is that this session was a mini sneak-peek of Flex Builder, and there is a chance (albeit very small) that some of the features discussed in the post may not see the light of day (or change drastically). Also, all the screen caps in the posts are from the MAX Preview release, so there is always a chance that the UI and functionality shown will change. Okay, let’s get to it!

Design Fidelity Features

Theme Management The first new feature they examined is Flex Theme management and installation. Themes are not a new concept, they have been around since at least Flex 2 (I can’t recall if Flex 1/1.5 supported them, I think they did). A Theme contains style and skins assets for every Flex SDK component and is applied to your application during the compile process. The idea behind a theme is that you can apply a unified style across your application without having to go in and skin each component yourself. If you are familiar with WordPress, its the same concept as their themes; all the functionality stays the same but the look and feel can be drastically different.

The Theme market for Flex appears to be growing, but adding a theme to an app requires making compiler argument changes to make sure the theme’s assets are loaded and compiled into the generated SWF or AIR application. This means that the Flex Builder developer has to configure the project properties in the tool to make sure the Theme is applied. I have personally not used Themes in my applications due to the fact that all of the projects I have worked on have design teams and/or unique design requirements, but I have played around with themes in the past.

The Flex Builder team has seen the growing popularity of Themes and they want to make Theme installation a much easier process. Themes are packaged as SWC files that contain all the CSS and style assets. When a user downloads the SWC file to their machine they can then choose to install the theme into Flex Builder. To install a Theme, the user chooses the Import Theme… option which allows the user to point to the Theme file. The theme is then imported into Flex Builder and it can be selected from the new Theme management dialog.

You can access the theme management dialog by clicking on the “Manage Themes” link above the UI component panel in Design View. This dialog shows all the currently installed themes and a thumbnail of what the theme looks like. You then select what theme you want to apply and this updates the complier options for you and rebuilds Design view using the new theme. It also sounds like they are working on streamlining theme creation and how they are distributed to make theme use easier and more popular.

Catalyst and FXP Support

The next Design Fidelity workflow feature is the ability to handle importing and exporting of Flash Catalyst project files. Flash Catalyst is a new design/development tool by Adobe that is centered around creating and styling Flex applications. One of the most challenging processes of Flex development is applying complex custom UIs into your final application. The goal of Catalyst is to allow a designer or developer to import assorted creative asset formats, such as Photoshop files, Illustrator files and Fireworks files and then quickly build Flex UIs using the creative assets’ contents (layers, symbols, etc.). Once the layout / styling is done the Catalyst user can save their Catalyst built application as an FXP file and pass this on to a Flex developer to wire it up to data services and functionality. The FXP file created by Catalyst is a zipped version of a Flex Builder project which means that a Catalyst user can share their work with a Flex Builder developer or visa versa. This gets us into the new FXP feature and workflow being added to Flex Builder 4.

Flex Builder 4 has the ability to import an FXP file and then create a project within Flex Builder from the FXP file. This imported project has all the structure and content that was created inside Catalyst. From there the Flex Builder user can begin adding functionality to the Catalyst generated project, such as data binding and data service management. As the project moves along there will come a time where the UI will need to be modified. At this point the Flex Builder user can export the Flex Project back into the FXP file format and pass this to the Catalyst user. The Catalyst user can then open the FXP file, make the UI additions and then hand the FXP back to the Flex Builder user.

At this point, when the Flex Builder user imports the updated FXP it recognizes that the project already exists and provides the option to allow the user to merge the Catalyst changes into the existing project. When the user selects merge, the project conflicts are then highlighted in red within the project view and the user can then right click on the conflicted files to show a merge tool view that enables the user to determine what changes to bring into the project. This current workflow is in its very early stages and I assume that it will be both improved and changed as development/testing/feedback is provided.

The focus of the FXP support within Flex Builder is to help create a better streamlined workflow between the design and development aspect of Flex. My example above assumes that your Catalyst and Flex Builder user are different people, but this workflow can be used by a single person going between Flex Builder and Flash Catalyst. As both of these products move forward in development I expect to see a lot of discussions around integration, workflow and best practices for planning and structuring your Flex projects.

That’s all for now… The next post for this article will cover the new Test and Tune features that are being added to Flex Builder.

We finally got loaded and on the runway at 12:30pm the next day but we then got an announcement that a passenger on the plane didn’t have enough medicine to make the flight and the doctors felt it was a life threatening risk, so we had to roll back to the stand and have the passenger exit. This caused another hour delay while the passenger was deplaned. Due to this new delay we missed our 7:50am flight from Heathrow to Milan, and we had to take the 9:50am. Luckily we made that one and finally got into Milan around 1pm Monday afternoon. We were supposed to get in at 9pm Sunday evening. Joy.

Just to add salt to the wound, British Airways managed to lose Aaron’s luggage. Of course we had to wait for all the luggage to come out before we figured this out and then Aaron had to go report it missing. It ended up that it never made it out of Heathrow. Of course both Ashley (Aaron’s wife) and my luggage made it so how they only lost his is mind boggling. The “wait for the luggage” delay made us miss our train from Malpensa (airport) to Codorna (train station in Milan) and we had to wait another 40 minutes for the next train. At this point we just started laughing and sat back and got our first espresso from the airport bar.

We got to our hotel around 4pm and by that point we had no interest in exploring the city. We were hungry but all the restaurants are closed from about 3pm till 7:30pm or so. The typical meal structure for a Milanese is to go to a bar after work, grab a light snack and coffee and then eat dinner around 9pm. We were so exhausted by that time we just decided head over to the conference, register, get our passes, head back to the hotel to call it a night and get room service for dinner. There was no way I could make it past 7pm after a trip like that.

The next day, Aaron and I got up early, ate breakfast at the amazing breakfast buffet the hotel put on (seriously one of the best I have had) and then headed over for our first 9am session. The session went very well, it was standing room only (150+ people) and the audience was very receptive to what we had to say. Aaron was told by multiple people it was the best session they had had so far. By this point, we were totally tech/conference burnt out (North America MAX was intense) so we decided to bail on the conference till our next session at 2:45pm and meet up with Aaron’s wife Ashley. We caught the Metro down to the Duomo, scoped it our and then wandered the central part of town for a few hours. We got a nice lunch and found a fantastic street market that sold all kinds of goods and foods.

We then headed back for our 2:45 session which went over well, but as usual we had a bit of push back from a few designers (I still owe you all a full post on our session, more on this to come I promise!). Outside of some heated discussions with a few designers, the session went very well and we headed back out for more exploring and dinner. That night we met up with Ryan Stewart, Mark Anders, Jim Corbett, Doug Winnie, Ted Patrick and many many other Adobe employees (and fellow hangers-on) for the classic after sessions hotel bar drink-a-thon. We had some killer conversations and Enrique Duvos introduced us to the local drink, the Negroni. Its like a martini but they add Campari to give it some kick and flavor. Doug said it tasted like a combination of shag carpet and wheatgrass, but Aaron and I loved them. Thank you Enrique for showing us the way… next time you are in town we will take you to the Redwood room for Negronis on us.

The next morning we hit the Naviglio Grande Canals and then headed back to MAX to join Doug Winnie for his “Flex Project Workflows” session. Doug built his session around a project that we all worked on together. Aaron and I chimed in on points that we learned over the lifespan of the project and talked about how Flex Gumbo and Catalyst would change the way we operate in the future. After the session Doug was all done with his responsibilities for MAX and we all headed to the Brea district for dinner.

Doug headed back to the States the next morning and Aaron, Ashley and I headed off to a city tour that we had booked. We got to tour the Castello Sforzesco, we had a chance to see “The Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci, we got a peek inside the Teatro alla Scala and we toured inside the Duomo. It was a great guided tour and I snapped a ton of pics of the city. We then grabbed some amazing pizza for lunch, walked the shopping district and drank Pina Coladas at Cova (I ordered Panna Cotta, the waiter heard Pina Colada, sigh). We headed back to the hotel for a nap and then went back to the Brea district for Indian food at the Curry House. We were kind of burnt out on Pizza and Pasta by that time.

Aaron and Ashley headed out the next morning to meet some friends in Switzerland (damn I am jealous) and Heidi Williams (of the Flex Builder team, and my old boss) and I happened to have the same flight so we headed off to the airport to go home. The flight home was uneventful (minus the cold) and I am back home trying to recover from jetlag. Nothing like getting up at 4am wide awake. I have posted a few choice pics from the trip that covers our time in Milan and MAX Europe and I can’t wait for our next adventure!

[ Photo gallery available in blog post. ]

Aaron and I have a TON of notes and thoughts that are being worked on, all thanks to MAX North America. I am sure we will have even more coming from MAX EU. We will both be working on a ton of new posts over the coming few weeks and at the same time we are in the process of getting our DevelopmentArc site proper (don’t forget client work and other assorted projects we are working on too!). More to come on that later. So, for those of you in/from the States that celebrate T-day, enjoy! For those of you that don’t, no worries, you can laugh at us as we Americans stumble around in a triptiphane induced food coma.

Oh, and for those of you that read this blog for Flex/Flash/Technology info, read up on my newest obsession while I am away: Degrafa. Degrafa is short for “Declarative Graphics Framework” and it is a set of Classes that enable you to create simple to complex graphical content using MXML instead of having to write a bunch of ActionScript graphics calls. But that is just the tip of the iceberg, you can actually make component skins (states and all!) using their framework. Its rare for me to get this excited about a new framework, I am usually super hesitant about jumping in, but after a demo at the MAX Birds of a Feather, and now getting my hands dirty in it, I am super impressed. Good work guys!

• Visual Effects
• Animation
• Graphic design

Justin feels that if the 20th century was the century of graphic design, the 21st century is the century of motion graphics. Everything around us is moving. Go to an airport and you will see LCD screens with motion everywhere. In Dubi, they are building the Podium building which has a 33 story LCD screen. Look at Time square, it is all motion… There is a reason for this, if the ad stands still, it is lost in the motion, it can not stand out. Adoption of motion in thw world is due to the fact that the eye tracks movement, and having static advertising does not attract the eye.

Motion Graphics in projects often attempted to be bolted on at the end of a cycle instead of instead of starting as the core of the project. Adobe is now considering motion as the heart of their new marketing strategy because motion is playing such an important part in attracting attention. Motion Graphics can help create and define a brand.

Examples And Points To Focus On

Contrast

• Girl Effect – Man vs. Magnet: Contrast can be very important. Black white orange, yet powerful. The text itself is moving but without the motion the impact is lost. The pacing of the text breaks the old standard of showing text by moving changing it quickly, yet we don’t lose the message due to the contrast and pacing.
• Sundance – Write Light: shows content by using light to create motion. The contrast between light and dark… it can be text or in this case people. It can be synthetic or live action. In this case the video uses live action as graphics.
• Peter Saville – Optical Illusions: Simple animation with dark and light yet creates a powerful motion. The key to this is the dimension of time and how the fourth dimension changes content

Typography

• Simon Robsin – Taking Liberties: The example uses text and layout to make points of the audio narration.
• Telavisa – Des Madrugadus: The ability to set tone and pacing can be achieved using type, fonts and color.

Repetition

• Flicker Mood: Rhythm and repetition can strengthen a statement.
• Shake Out: The video was essentially a powerpoint video (bullet points) yet used motion graphics to hit home the points.
• Cost Of War – Good Magazine: The video is based around numbers and how much the Iraq war is costing us. Elements of the video are used over and over to tie in each point and repeat the message. Both of these examples could be boring presentations, driving home points yet the message is stronger by leveraging motion.

Continuity / Discontinuity

• Rob Chu – The Ronin: The piece uses sound and editing to blend the imagery together and make a statement.
• Freelances Union – Life Long Friendship Society: All done with still images in place of live action, yet the statement still works to the humor and proper stitching/editing.

2.5D – Flat Images in 3D space & 3D

• Rob Chu – Black Day: The idea of taking still images that are familiar and then sliced into layers and the placed on a z order depth then animated creates a rich sense of motion and spatial experience.
• Shilo – Burma Emergency: Using matte painting mixed with true 3D which creates a huge sense of depth without having to create a huge complex 3D space.

Highlights

• Flash Catalyst’s (codenamed Thermo) ability to directly import PSD, AI, PNG files, maintain their complete layout structure and content yet the output is a Flex App. Aaron and I will blog a lot more about Catalyst, its current feature set for the public preview and how we see it changing workflows within a project and the community.
• Flash Alchemy, an Adobe Lab technology that translates C/C++ code into ActionScript 3. Alchemy demo’s included the classic Quake port example shown last year, a NES ROM emulator, OGG file reading / playback and encryption functionality using standard open source libraries.
• Dreamweaver CS4’s ability to “freeze” an Ajax application in Live View and the inspect the current state of the application’s JavaScript and the CSS/HTML layout.
• RMFTP – A new video / audio protocol within Flash Player 10 that supports the ability to enable peer-to-peer communication without the requirement of FLash Media Server as a single point of contact / distribution.

Full Notes

• As usual, the 2nd session is all fun and games. They have a hysterical kick off presentation using a “spy theme” where they are looking at new “tech”, very much the Bond meets Q to see the new toys.
• Ben Forta is showing an AIR application that controls home lighting / control. The AIR app is the front end UI to the growing popularity of “smart homes” that have automation systems throughout the house.
• Doug Winnie is stepping up in the “Design Lab”. Go DOUG!
• Looking at Flash / InDesign integration. ID can export XFL which is imported into Flash Authoring. Fully editable. XFL is an XML file format that represents Flash content. This is similar to FXG but is Flash Authoring specific. I am not quite clear on the differences between FXG and XFL, but as I learn more I will share.
• Demoing bones support in Flash CS4 and the ability to save animation presets.
• PSD now has the ability use the image resampling tech demo’d last year. What this means is that you can scale an image vertically or horizontally and Photoshop has the ability to intelligently scale the image to retain scale ratio of core elements within the image. The example they used is the ability scale a picture horizontally of surfers at the beach and the surfers are not scale/skewed but the water and mountains in the background are resampled to manage the scale. Really hard to describe in type, you have to see it fully grasp how amazing this is.
• PSD can now automask out all soft areas across multiple layers, create masks and then resample into a single image. The use case was having a series of photos that each had a section that was slightly out of focus. The new feature enables the user to select all the images and then intelligently blend them to create a seamless and in-focus image.
• 3D image loading and control with in PSD. Can paint on, can add 2D images as skins to 3D content
• Ryan Stewart and NJ are demoing Flash Catalyst
• FC shares the same FLex Project, able to load PSD and keeps all layers and content from the PSD, Aaron and I are doing a presentation on this topic so expect a set of post all around Catalyst.
• Introducing project Alchemy is a conversion/translation application that takes C/C++ code and converts it to AS3, demoed SHA1 SHA2 conversion, zork ports (yes ZORK!)
• They used alchemy to create an OGG vorbis player, a RAW conversion app that imports and decodes RAW files. They then used the PNG conversion from AS3CoreLib to export the RAW file to PNG on the desktop. All alchemy runs cross frame so that it does not affect the rendering of content. This means that as the Alchemy code is running the rendering engine and continue to display and update the screen. This is very important for heavy proccessing like reading in a RAW or OGG file.
• rendering PDF in Flash using C++ code that has been converted.
• They then showed a quake port for AIR and NES Rom emulator
• They are now demoing Flex Builder 4. First import of Catalyst FXP.
• Now showing Cold Fusion Bolt IDE which is an Eclipse Plug-in. Code hinting, completion, coloring, query awareness for Cold Fusion.
• FB4 has the ability to read PHP and CF backend APIs and exposes the API inside FB. This enables FB to handle mapping through the UI.
• FB4 finally has the old Network Monitor feature back! The monitor is like a built in proxy that enables debugging and network communication within the Flex builder IDE. I worked on the Flex Builder 1 version when FB was built on top of Dreamweaver. It was a killer feature that was pulled during the Eclipse port and kept being cut. So glad to see it back in action.
• Ensemble is a new plugin for Visual Studio which enables Flex and .NET integration with an AMF C# application tool.
• Showing AIR using Ajax and Ajax productivity in DW4
• DW4 has the ability to freeze an Ajax application and then you can edit the content / CSS
• Demoing how Google and Adobe are working on the virtual user and the headless player. (more on this later, we have tons of notes from the Flash Internals sessions)
• Flash Media Server (FMS) 3.5 enables dynamic streaming which enables the ability to change resolution on the fly. This can be user or system driven. The amazing part is that when the res change is requested, such as from 420p to 720p video does not lose the current position or even stops playing (if you have the bandwidth)
• They have a new Flash video encoder then enables the ability to toggle quality and provide multiple on-the-fly resolution streams for live content
• They are enabling the ability to pause live streaming video from the Flash Media Server and enable a DVR experience.
• Flash Player peer-to-peer Flash Player communication for video and audio streams using a new protocol called RMFTP

• NYT is working on an amazing AIR app to deliver news content in a very slick and intuitive UI.
• Adobe is working on Flash Player 10 for the iPhone. Its not ready yet, but they are officially working on it.
• AIR 1.5 is now live and supports Flash Player 10 content, it also is the first production application to use Webkit enabled with SquirrelFish

Full Notes

• Shantanu is talking about changes in the market and looking for a seamless experience across all devices. From handheld to TV interfaces.
• Enterprise is changing due the driving forces of web 2.0 interactivity and clients now want the same UI and experiences with large enterprise applications.
• Multiscreen experience is the near future, and will become much more demand
• The Flash Platform is the focus on the idea of the multiscreen format and content delivery. Because the player is available on so many platforms it enables rapid development that can create a unified experience across multiple devices.
• Code name “Thermo” is now called Flash Catalyst
• Flex Gumbo / Flex Builder 4 / Catalyst preview builds are available to the attendees.
• Shantanu is showing how the Flash platform is being used by education and non-profits. They are showing an example by using Bono’s “Project (Red)” and how Flash and AIR are creating a new form of branding and name awareness which is benefiting Project (RED).
• Kevin Lynch (CTO) is coming up to talk about the main tends that are transforming software.
• Client and Cloud computing is growing and now becoming a blend of both technologies. No longer is it just client
• Social Computing, software is becoming less of a solo experience but a group experience
• Devices and Desktop: multiple platforms that we are delivering to.
• The Flash Platform is enabling content (video / audio / data) to be delivered to your audience in a constant method.
• Kevin is demoing Hobnox, which uses Flash Player 10 to create an interactive experience to make music
• Showing 3D / Audio interaction built by gSkinner demoing audio waveform analysis and rendering the audio changes as a 3D animation.
• Showing PixelBender in Photoshop.com and how they have custom effects that can be applied to the image.
• MLB just announced they are planning on using the Flash Platform for the 2009 season. Now all 4 major american professional sports now stream video via Flash.
• AIR is now launched as version 1.5 which has Flash Player 10 and the first production version of Webkit with Squirrelfish. AIR 1.5 now enables encrypted content within the local SQLLite engine.
• Due to the new text engine in AIR 1.5, NYTimes is looking at AIR as a way to deliver to content. This will be releasing a next generation news reader application that can render content true to printed form. The app downloads and caches the day’s new paper (enabling offline access / reading) and will continue to check out RSS feeds (when online) for new content. As the application scales the content re-renders in a layout that best suits the content (including thumb-nailing of images). Columns wrap, words hyphenate the way you would expect. Keyboard shortcuts enable content navigation and access. The app introduces a browse feature that allows for quick navigation of articles by showing a thumb-nailing system for articles that is similar to an image navigation system. The app supports video and text advertising and also all of NYT video access. The app even has the daily crossword enabled so that you can complete it.
• Kevin is now showing an AIR app that is running on a Linux handheld device that is actually running the NYT app. SICK!
• Ann Lewnes and Maria Shirver (First Lady of California) are coming on stage to talk about the California Legacy Trails, which is focusing on education and integration of new technology. The goal is to show and inform people about the history in California and develop online “Legacy Trails” like the ones created in Boston. Focus on women of history, mission trails, wine trails, movie trails, and enable people to create their own trails. These trails are meant to be read online and then they can be walked or driven. Such as an Author trail that shows you their homes and cities. They are using Flash now (just launched this week) and plan to have an AIR app in 2009.
• Back to the cloud. Adobe is showing a new Flex app called “Tour de Flex” which enables users to learn about Flex and the APIs. It also shows the AIR APIs and cloud APIs with code examples. This is not only Adobe cloud services but 3rd party services. This includes realtime code examples and how it works in the Flex language. Now showing Amazon, Twitter and Salesforce.
• A head of salesforce is talking about how Enterprise is expensive, hard, all about upgrades and where “innovation goes to die”. This is changing very quickly due to technologies like Flash and AIR but also the back-end is changing to a new model. The backend is now becoming more selective about what you want to use instead of having to install and manage it all.
• The movement is moving towards remote services that eliminate having to run your own server system. Pay as you use is becoming the new focus and also enables public APIs to build applications for your clients on top of the cloud platform. This removes the management of the infrastructure and enables better innovation.
• Kevin is now shifting over to talking about social computing. Such as collaboration within Flash platform applications.
• Nigel Pegg (an old cohort of mine @ Macromedia) is on stage to talk all about CoCoMo. CoCoMo is a new Flex / server technology that allows realtime collaboration so that as one user interacts in with the app the other viewers can see the interaction (sharing cursor). CoCoMo also enables webcam video streaming and realtime audio through the Flash Player and the application. This is not screen sharing (passing bitmaps), the data that is being sent over the line is only mouse position or graph zoom levels. This is important because secure / sensitive data does not have to be sent over the wire and can be kept locally in the application. CoCoMo comes with a client SDK / Component set that then is integrated into a cloud service that is provided by Adobe. Realtime features include video/audio (which can be peer-to-peer or through the cloud depending on security needs) file sharing and other UI interactions. The platform is now available as a free beta service.
• Adobe is announcing Adobe Wave. It is a desktop app that enables subscriptions to notification data from services such as Facebook or twitter. The tool has the ability to add new services support a common notification API. Another example is the ability tie into Evite’s notification system to inform you with a desktop alert when someone updates the evite or responds to the invitation.
• Kevin is now moving over to Devices & Desktops. Mobile phones are more then 50% of the online / web enabled devices. PCs are only a small portion of the internet bandwidth. They are seeing a trend of people (younger generation) skipping the computer and going to the mobile as the first web enabled device they use. Adobe is now pushing the concept of “Mobile First” which is about thinking about creating content for mobile apps before building / designing PC based applications.
• Adobe is looking at a browsing the web on moblie devices and enabling Flash on the platform. They are looking to not port Flash to a mobile version but to use the full version on the high-end mobile devices. Kevin is showing a Nokia phone running Symbian using Flash Player 10. The content he is showing is not mobile content, but the full SWF loaded from a site, currently NYTimes. He is now showing a Window’s media player using Opera running the lastFM website using Flash Player 10 to play audio content from the live website. He is now showing the full YouTube site on a mobile device.
• Kevin just showed the iPhone but they ARE WORKIJNG on a Flash Player it, although its not running.
• Kevin is now showing an Android phone that is using Flash Player 10 on the OS. Google is fully supporting Flash in the Android OS.
• Kevin is now showing FlashLite on other devices. The current workflow makes the user launch FlashLite and then navigate to the Flash application and then they user has to launch it. The actual application experience is good but getting to it is not. They are working on a new technology called the FlashLite deployable application. This enables a distribution system to enable create stores or even host your own application on your site which enables download and installation.
• Kevin is demoing an interactive Samasung device that is aware of devices. For example, he points the device to a TV and able to push images from the handheld device to the full screen device. he then pointed to another screen and was then able to send images to the main screen. Another person joined the demo and showed how multiple handhelds work together, This works for audio and video and multiple devices can be pointed to the same screen and shared. Kevin is now showing a game and both handheld devices interact with it.

Before we headed over to the meet and greet, Aaron and I put the finishing touches on our session presentations and got a look at our brand new business cards. We are proud to announce our new firm, DevelopmentArc. We will be working hard on the new site (its very much a placeholder) but we have some interesting plans and announcements once we get the site live. Keep an ear and eye out for it.

If any of you are planning on attending MAX, look me up and please say hi. I am always looking forward to a good tech conversation. I am hoping to blog a fair bit from the conference, when time allows and I will be taking notes as usual. I will try to convert the notes to posts over the coming weeks when ever I can sneak in some tim. An interesting point I just read about is that all the MAX sessions will be posted on AdobeTV a few weeks after the conference is complete. I have been throughly enjoying the 360|Flex and Ajax Experience video posts they have been sharing. Lots of amazing content. So I am sure there will be a TON of new content once MAX is done.