We have an opening for an ActionScript Developer/Writer. We need a talented and experienced person to work with our Instructional Media team.

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Robert Dominy introduces JavaScripters to Flash ActionScript in this article on www.about.com.

I’m often asked about connecting to .NET Web Services in Flash. Specifically, developers ask me whether Flash supports .NET DataSets. The short answer is no (not yet, anyway). However .NET developers do have options.

Flash engineer and general server-side technology guru, Mark Sheperd, sent me an example several months ago. I thought some of you might find it helpful.

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Greg Rewis and I will be in Las Vegas next week to present the Macromedia seminars (sponsored by RemoteSite).

Greg will be presenting “Macromedia Studio MX 2004 - Live!” and I will be presenting “Deconstructing Great Experiences made with Macromedia Flash and Director.”

Register here.

The event will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel.

I often direct attendees of my seminars to the Flash video center, linked off of the Flash product page. Since it’s burried a bit deap, here’s a link.

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/video/

You can download the free Flash video templates with 1-hour tutorials towards the bottom of the page. Grab the “Synchronized Text/Video Presentation” template and you’ll be subjected to a video of me talking about Studio MX 2004.
Also, watch the short video featurette at the top of the Flash video center. It features Flash PM, Forest Key, talking about effective use of video in Flash. The piece was very nicely done.

This article cracked me up. Apparently there was a glitch in Amazon.com’s Canadian site recently that exposed the true names of people who had “anonymously” reviewed books on the site.

What did the glitch reveal? That book authors had given their own books glowing reviews while using fake names.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-02-16-amazon-reviews_x.htm

So my question to you is, how many of you have done this to your own extensions posted to the Macromedia Exchange? :- )

I’m trying to determine what the best 3rd-party extensions to Flash’04 are. I know many good ones have not made it to the Exchange.

Please comment on the extensions that you have found most useful (components included).

I’ll be at the TED conference in Monterey in two weeks (2/24 - 2/28). If you haven’t heard of TED you should check out the site that Macromedia produced for the conference.

http://www.ted.com

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I remember the first time that I tried using ActionScript to load an FLV into the MediaPlayback component - I could not find the method anywhere. Turns out the method is documented in the Media class, not the MediaPlayback component class. So if you’d like to load a file into a media component just use this code:

componentInstance.setMedia(pathToMediaFile:String, fileType:String);

Your only two options for “fileType” are “FLV” and “MP3.”

I’ve often showed this nifty little method in my seminars and I’m sure many have forgotten exactly how it was used, so here’s a reminder.

All of the Macromedia-engineered UI components implement the Macromedia Halo design standard. The best example of the “Halo” look and feel is www.macromedia.com.

Though the standard glow color for the components is haloGreen, you can use the “setStyle()” method to change it to either haloOrange or haloBlue.

componentInstanceName.setStyle(”themeColor”, “haloBlue”);
componentInstanceName.setStyle(”themeColor”, “haloOrange”);

Also, thanks to Peter Elst for reminding me that any color value will work as well.

componentInstanceName.setStyle(”themeColor”, 0xFF0000); // red

And Hans Omli added that you can change styles globally:

_global.style.setStyle(”themeColor”, “haloBlue”);

To the best of my knowledge, all of the included UI components support “themeColor.” Let me know if you find differently.