Google Maps API for Flash
Posted by wjptak in Uncategorized on January 28th, 2009
Google Maps API for Flash is avaiable for developers. Recently it was updated to be compatible with Adobe AIR.
You need to sign for API key, which is simple procedure, and also the case with Yahoo! Maps. Than you can download SDK for Flex, go through nice step-by-step tutorials and use API Reference.
The Google Geo Developers blog is source for many articles that you might find very useful, you will find there news, tips, examples and more.
At Adobe Developer Center you will find a nice article, written by Pamela Fox from Google, about “Creating a driving directions Flex app using the Google Maps API for Flash“. Article will take you through the topic of geoapps with nice introduction and well explained code.
I must admit, this will be very helpful for many of us.
Best regards,
W.
Yahoo! Social Applications with Flash
Howdy,
Not so long ago RIA developers community added Adobe Cocomo to their toolbox. It’s great when you quickly need to add voip, video conferencing, real time sharing or chatting to your application (and way more…). Speacially that it comes from reliable source (and I believe Adobe might be considered as such vendor 
).
However – the story of those kind of RIAs has just began. Yahoo! was always keen to Flash platform developers. Lately I have discovered and tested in brief their latest product added to the Yahoo! Flash family called YOS – Yahoo! Social Applications.
I don’t want to copy their own description about the product itself but it’s worthy to summarize some of the functionality that those APIs bring.
- You can develop social applications using your own server or to use Yahoo! solution, called YAP – Yahoo! Application Platform. This is something useful, as you are not bound to use only one source of the platform, you can use your own.
- It’s pretty lightweight – you need to add ca. 55 kB swc to your libs.
- It’s easy and clear – check out those examples to see some of the source code lines.
- YSQL. Something that allows you to access data directly using sql-like queries. Yes, you need to have at list minimum knowledge of sql, but this feature brings you nice functionality. You’re not bounded to what vendor gives you in his API.
- And the last – it’s free. I haven’t found anything in the web that would indicate change in this area – which is also important. Specially if you deliver a RIA social platform to your customer and vendor change the rules during its life period.
To summarize – we will be given with more and more of social web tools for RIAs. It’s nice to see that it makes that kind of buzz and we can hear response to it. I’m already looking forward to make some commercial projects using those APIs.
Cheers,
W.
Adobe Genesis
Posted by wjptak in Uncategorized on July 12th, 2008
I really recommend you to find out more about bussiness mashup project coming from Adobe called Genesis. The platform will be distributed in the first phase as SaaS (Software as a Service) as AIR package. Users will be able to use number of modules, it might be the case that they will differ in their costs so the project can be developed further.
In Adobe words:
“So what is the goal of Genesis? With Genesis we try to significantly improve the daily work of information workers in the enterprise. I have been working for the last 15 years on various enterprise software solutions. (…) Talking with many customers it became apparent that end users continue to be frustrated about the many information silos and that useful internal information, like Business Intelligence data is not being utilized because it is to hard to access it. Additionally the state of collaboration tools in most enterprises is still limited to email and voicemail.”
Solution? Adobe Genesis If you would like to qucikly find out about the project, go for this link.
I am actively working with B2B applications and I have to admitt that this project might become something really usefull.
Have a nice weekend,
W.
Flex Challange 2008
Big apologies for dissapearing. I was extremely busy last month, lots of coding, meetings, getting more interesting projects etc. I’ll try to catch up with all the interesting stuff in both RIA and Flex community and projects.
One thing is extremely interesting and I cross my fingers for everyone who has organized this event – FlexChallange 2008 Edition. This one is very worthy, will prove some things, for example will show how big is the community in Poland.
I really cross my fingers for this one.
Cheers,
W.
Upcoming events
Howdy,
There are some important upcoming events in Polish Flex community:
- FlexCamp, 1st July 2008, Cracow, Poland. I will be on the spot, probably showing some of our work done with Adobe Flex and AIR. Make sure to check this site (sorry, Polish only).
- AIR Tour Europe, 6th July 2008, Warsaw, Poland. There are some great names from the community to come, like Serge Jespers, Mike Chambers, Lee Brimelow and more… Anyway, see you on the spot. You may want to see event’s website.
There are some nice things going on around, so keep your fingers crossed
Cheers,
W.
Flex SDK Coding Conventions by Adobe
Howdy,
Adobe has published document called “Flex SDK Coding Conventions“. A very long list things to read about, including:
You can compare it to the version created by Fabio Terracini and enhanced by me. I will look forward to enhance my own document of some stuff figured out by Adobe and then adding more advanced topics, like testing, some design patterns etc.
Cheers,
W.
And the Webby goes to…
Well, it’s great news – my project, Vattenfall Home Energy Calculator, has received Webby Awards Honoree 2008. The project was among the best in the category “Rich Media Advertising: Business to Consumer”. Client is happy, Making Waves sales guys are drinking champagne and me – well, I’m just proud to see my work there
I was responsible for all the Flex part in the project (read about the project in the showcases part of my website). The team was great (thanks all to you guys!!). We have created this project in Making Waves Poland.
I was delighted to read:
It’s never easy to stand out in a crowd, but successful Interactive Advertising does just that. In it’s first year, the Interactive Advertising Winners, Nominees and Honorees show how a great idea and solid technical execution can successfully work hand-in-hand on the Internet.
As a result of the superior quantity and quality of sites entered, the 12th Annual Webby Awards recognized sites and teams that demonstrated a standard of excellence.
Of the more than 10,000 entries submitted to the 12th Annual Webby Awards, fewer than 15% were distinguished as an Official Honoree. This honor signifies an outstanding caliber of work. Congratulations to all of our Official Honoree selections!
What are Webby Awards?
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.
The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes members such as musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, R/GA Founder and Chairman Robert Greenberg, Virgin Atlantic Chairman and Founder Richard Branson, and The Weinstein Company Co-Founder Harvey Weinstein. Members also include writers and editors from publications such as The New York Times, Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, The Los Angeles Times, Vibe, and WallPaper. The 11th Annual Webby Awards received over 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states and generated over 750 million media impressions worldwide.
Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Internet as a tool for business and everyday lives, the 11th Annual Webby Awards expands the mission of the Webby by honoring excellence in over 100+ Website, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile categories.
Thanks again to all who made it possible!!
Cheers,
W.
Flex 4 Gumbo more details
Adobe has published more even information on features of Flex 4 codenamed Gumbo – read original information here. As subtitle says, the news covers now part “Design in mind”. Yes, graphical design.
First thought – great news. Applications made by Flex developers often have standard skin layout without any changes, even through CSS. Therefore it seems that we’ll see Thermo launched with Gumbo.
Second thought – can’t wait to see if there will be some more mature features for developers. We need to await for more details on “Accelerated development”, “Horizontal platform improvements” and “Broadening horizons”. Better refactoring, better tests, better code hinting? Maybe – not confirmed, yet. There were some rumors about adding Cairngorm code generator into Flex Builder. That would be nice.
Microsoft prepares really big offensive with Silverlight. Simple: Adobe has more experience with design, Microsoft with development techniques. What I believe Adobe can do is – catch up with the framework itself to meet up the standards while adding even more design pimp-my-app features. Like Thermo.
Cheers,
W.
Usability in products
I must admit it gives a lot of thoughts how to design applications, that in a special way includes RIAs….
Flex 3. Finally here.
Finally after HUGE delay I have received my own copy of Flex Builder. You can compare that package has involved as well
BTW, I have received Flex Builder 2 more than one year ago with the highest security possible when it comes to software. I had to sign that I won’t be using it against anyone with terrorist purpose (God, why are you doing this to us America?). So that’s why you can see “Military” sticker, as it was categorized as military product due to some algorithms used in Flex and Eclipse.
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