oddhammer

Just posting this because maybe it will help someone...

I decided to try using a TextLayout component in a SWF loaded into a rather large Flex app that has been in development for some time.. well.. it blowed up.

Main Thread (Suspended: VerifyError: Error #1014: Class flash.text.engine::ContentElement could not be found.)

Here's the weird part...
- The SWF worked fine when viewed directly in the browser (as expected).
- If the SWF was loaded into the Flex app which was launched by "run" or "debug" from FlexBuilder... it broke (as expected, see error above).
- If the SWF was loaded into the Flex app which was viewed directly in the browser ... it broke (as expected, see error above).
- If the SWF was loaded into the Flex app which was launched by "Profile" from FlexBuilder.... it worked (aaahhhh?)

That last one threw me for a loop because the problem was the Flex project was set to compile for Flash Player 9 and the SWF being loaded in with the TextLayout is dependent on some Flash Player 10 tricks. So why then did it work when I did a "Profile" from FB? .. somewhere there must be a setting or some documentation for this (the profile feature probably relies on something FP10 specific) but I'm not looking for it since I'm beyond the issue now.

Anyway, the solution of course was just to set the Flex project to compile for Flash Player 10...

Here’s what it looks like when I click on symbols in the library in CS4..

Those could be symbols of cars, monkeys, baseballs..  it doesn’t matter.  I get horizontal lines. 

It’s been this way for a while and I’ve just been avoiding the inevitable reinstall and kind of enjoying the little bit of chaos that this brings into my workspace.  It’s time for it to end though.  I need to see what I’m about to drag out onto the stage instead of it being a surprise.  heh.  My library is a box of chocolates.. I never know what I’m going to get until I drag it to the stage.

I have a little Linksys BEFSR41 firewall/router that I use at home.. and have a few machines behind that. One of the neat features of the Linksys is that it can do port forwarding.  So if a request comes in on say port 80 you can forward that request on to a particular machine behind the firewall.  The limitation I’ve found on this is that it only forwards to one IP address. 

I have a little Linksys BEFSR41 firewall/router that I use at home.. and have a few machines behind that. One of the neat features of the Linksys is that it can do port forwarding.  So if a request comes in on say port 80 you can forward that request on to a particular machine behind the firewall.  The limitation I’ve found on this is that it only forwards to one IP address.  So if I’m running a Windows 2000 server and want to run a bunch of web sites off of that server I have to use the “Host Header” technique to determine which web site the server should serve up for each request (requests for all of the web sites come in on the same IP address). 

Now Win2k server can disntinguish which web server should handle each request three ways:  IP address, Host Header, or Port.  Since the Linksys will only forward one port to one IP address the only solution I’ve been able to find is to have the different domains for the different web servers mapped to unique ports.  So if you send a request to ABCDEF.com your request would be forwarded to 192.168.145.12:80 (port 80)but if you send a request to FEDCBA.com your request would be forwarded to 192.168.145.12:84 (port 84).

Obviously if you have access to your own DNS server you can handle this yourself.. but if you need a DNS service here’s one that is capable of converting that domain name you have around into an IP address AND a port number:
http://www.dynu.com/
http://www.no-ip.com/

The only catch.. you’ll be paying each year for the service.. 

I’m out at the Flash Forward 2003 film festival and conference and sat through the keynote address by Kevin Lynch yesterday morning.  He gave a sneak peek of a new product named Central they’ll be releasing “this summer”.

I’m out at the Flash Forward 2003 film festival and conference and sat through the keynote address by Kevin Lynch yesterday morning.  He gave a sneak peek of a new product named Central they’ll be releasing “this summer”.  Macromedia put out a press release on the web about it here and have a new section on their site about it here.

My reaction?  it’s a paradigm shift.  the applications he demonstrated included a financial forcasting app that could be used offline to view complex charts and data.  When the user reconnected to the Net the data was updated.  He also showed a “hot spot” locater being created by Intel that will give you specific locations of wi-fi points.  It can be used either offline, or if you are online the locations listed link to a map so you can see where the addresses are.  Lynch also announced that Macromedia has released a Flash 6 player for the PocketPC2002 and showed it playing back video in a Flash clip.. and the video looked good..  very cool.