My first app (game) Urban Tycoon is now in the app store for $1.99. This is the app that I created / prototyped in flash first. For more info on the game visit http://touchsoft.proboards.com

I didn’t realize that so many links were still being directed to my blog in regards to FUZE IM (The AIR app I was working on last year). A few people have emailed me about it. SO, just to let everyone know, the creators of Facebook’s popular Graffiti app purchased FUZE IM from me. The app is now WaveIM (http://www.WaveIM.com) . I really enjoyed working on the project and it has taught me so much about programming … sadly I no longer have a hand in that project, but I’m glad to see it still going strong.

So again, if you were directed to this site in regards to FUZE IM … the new link is WaveIM.com

Thanks

No, I’m not dead.. I’ve just been buried in Flex work and iPhone programming. And I’m proud to say in less than a week my first iPhone app will be in the App Store. And I did it all thanks to FLASH!!! Now, you may be saying to yourself… “iPhone doesn’t support flash” …. and you my friend are 100% correct. BUT, Flash and Cocoa-Touch are so much alike … I was able to first build my application in Flash (making sure everything worked correctly) and quickly ported it over to iPhone.

I know that may sound strange … but now that Apple is lifting the NDA next week, I will explain EVERYTHING to you. Infact I will start a “Flash to Cocoa” series on this blog. NO! I’m not trying to convert anyone… but, it is always good to expand your skills in other languages… and my friends… cocoa is the closest thing to Flash you will find.

Below are screen shots from my app …. all the UI was made IN FLASH CS3 (seriously).

The company I’m currently working for is doing a major overhaul to it’s internal customer service applications. Their current system is HTML/JSP front-end and Java back-end. I pretty much talked them into using FLEX for the front in.. and they were already planning to use .NET for the back-end.

SO… now I’m at a slight cross roads. Should I use PureMVC which I already know and have used in PERSONAL projects?… or should I use Cairngorm which I still need to learn but I know is widely used?

What are the major differences in these two frameworks? I feel I should stick with PureMVC because I know it.. but what if other developers come on board and know Cairngorm only?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yesterday I decided to take some of what I learned about Degrafa and create an Air App skinned completely with Degrafa. The link below is the .air file… you can View Source by right clicking anywhere in the app. I could’ve taken this example a step further by making the application’s chrome using Degrafa.

MapBuilder - Air File

Enjoy my first screencast: Degrafa component skinning.

Degrafa Skinning Tutorial (part 1) from Mike Huntington on Vimeo.

In my last post I introduced you to Degrafa. Now I want to go a little deeper into what Degrafa can do.

One pet-peeve that many Flex developers have is that the CSS is pretty limiting in some cases.. but on the other end of the stick HTML/CSS developers don’t get access to some of the CSS abilities that Flex developers get. Degrafa brings together the best of both worlds and beyond.

In the following example I take a simple HBox and style it with css defined rounded corners, gradients, and blend mode. I also fill the background with a pattern. As you look at the CSS code, notice I’m using HTML style CSS syntax.

The MXML

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
	xmlns:degrafa="http://www.degrafa.com/2007" width="500" height="400"
	layout="absolute">
 
	<mx:Style source="assets/styles.css"/>
 
	<mx:HBox verticalCenter="0" horizontalCenter="0" width="400" height="300"/>
 
</mx:Application>

The CSS

Application
{
	background-image: Embed("assets/pattern_148.gif");
	background-repeat: repeat;
	borderSkin: ClassReference("com.degrafa.skins.CSSSkin");
}
 
HBox
{
	border-width: "5px 5px 5px 5px";
	border-top-right-radius: 50px;
	border-bottom-left-radius: 50px;
	border-color: #000000;
	background-blend: "normal";
	background-color: "-45deg #FF0000 #FFFFFF";
	borderSkin: ClassReference("com.degrafa.skins.CSSSkin");	
}

Degrafa is a Declarative Graphics Framework that basically allows you to draw shapes and objects in your Flex application using an MXML type syntax. I personally love Degrafa, because it eliminates the need for me to open up Photoshop or Illustrator every time I need to have basic shaps inserted into my app.

But the power of Degrafa doesn’t stop there. There are some powerful CSS enhancements in the Degrafa framework that allows for some very creative skinning in your Flex application (I’ll dive more into that later). You can download Degrafa HERE

To show how simple it is to start using Degrafa I’ve created an app that draws two circles. The code is below..

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
	xmlns:degrafa="http://www.degrafa.com/2007"
	layout="absolute">
 
	<degrafa:Surface horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0">
 
		<degrafa:strokes>
			<degrafa:SolidStroke id="whiteStroke" weight="4" color="#FFFFFF"/>
 
			<degrafa:SolidStroke id="redStroke" weight="6" color="#FF0000"/>
		</degrafa:strokes>
 
		<degrafa:fills>
			<degrafa:SolidFill id="greyFill" color="#CCCCCC"/>
 
			<degrafa:SolidFill id="blackFill" color="#000000"/>
		</degrafa:fills>
 
		<degrafa:GeometryGroup>
			<degrafa:Circle fill="{greyFill}" stroke="{whiteStroke}" radius="140"/>
			<degrafa:Circle fill="{blackFill}" stroke="{redStroke}" radius="100"/>
		</degrafa:GeometryGroup>
 
	</degrafa:Surface>
 
</mx:Application>

HELLO WORLD! Sorry, my blog database was destroyed but I’m back in the blogsphere once again.. and this time I can officially “reintroduce” myself as a FLEX Developer. When I started this blog a little over a year ago I was just starting out as a programmer. Now with my first post on this “new” Blog I’m glad to say I’m now a FLEX Developer for AT&T and they have some big things planned with FLEX!!!

BUT, FLEX isn’t the only thing that’s been keeping me busy… I’ve also been programming with Cocoa / Objective-C. And as of last week I’ve been doing a little .NET work. As in the past I will keep this blog updated with “tech” news and hopefully some good tutorials every now and then.

Glad to be back!!!

- Mike