How to distribute your Flash CS5 iPhone apps via Cydia

Ever since Apple announced that they won’t allow any Flash CS5 compiled iPhone apps into the App Store, creative Flash developers lost their one chance to deploy their existing knowledge to the iPhone.

However: since Adobe released Flash CS5 with the iPhone packager anyway, we can actually deploy iPhone apps created in Flash CS5. The only thing we can’t do is to submit these apps to the Apple App Store (in fact we can, but they will reject them anyway, so why bother?)

However: We can distribute our apps using Cydia! Okay, it’s not the same, but you’ve got to start somewhere!

Setting up a Cydia repository is actually pretty easy. There’s a great tutorial right here!

There’s a little problem though: Flash CS5 creates an .ipa file. In step 3 of that tutorial you’ll need to put your application in the Applications folder. That application is actually an .app file, not an .ipa file. (I’ve tried it using the .ipa file; it doesn’t work )
Getting the .app file is pretty easy:

1. Rename your .ipa file to .zip
2. Unzip the archive
3. Your .app file is in the extracted Payload folder

That’s it! You can now create your own Cydia repository and distribute your rejected iPhone apps to the (jailbroken) masses using Cydia.

Have fun!

Fixing the NetStatusEvent.info.code ugliness in Actionscript 3

Everything in AS3 is pretty straight forward once you get your head around it but the guys at Adobe seem to have become sloppy when they wrote the NetstatusEvent structure.
Ever since I got started with Red5, remote shared objects and all kind of different remote animals about 3 years ago, I ran into this ugly ‘NetstatusEvent.info.code‘ thing which is basically just a string. In order to know which one it is you have to use a switch statement to figure this out using real strings (instead of class constants) (which looks like the following).

private function onNetStatus(e:NetStatusEvent):void{
	switch (e.info.code){
		case"Netconnection.Connect.Success":
			trace("You connected!");
		break;
		case "Netconnection.Connect.Closed":
			trace("You disconnected!");
		break;
	}
}

As a very lazy developer, I tend to think that comparing strings like this is just crazy. And ugly! So I made my life just a little better by creating my own class that holds ‘InfoObjects‘ with the ‘code‘, ‘level‘ and ‘meaning‘ properties. That way you can just compare the ‘event.code.info’ to a class constant. No need for copy-pasting codes from the Adobe site, or debugging your code in order to find you made a typo in one of those strings…

I ran the table (listing all of the NetStatus codes) through a simple XML parser and ended up with a very neat Actionscript class (which I’m sharing, so it’s up for grabs! Download link at the end of this blogpost!). Using it looks way more natural!

private function onNetStatus(e:NetStatusEvent):void{
	switch (e.info.code){
		case NetStatusInfo.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_SUCCESS.code:
			trace("You connected!");

			// returns the code property (same as 'toString()')
			trace(NetStatusInfo.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_SUCCESS.code);

			// returns the level property
			trace(NetStatusInfo.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_SUCCESS.level);

			 // returns the meaning of this status change
			trace(NetStatusInfo.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_SUCCESS.meaning);
		break;
		case NetStatusInfo.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_CLOSED.code:
			trace("You disconnected!");
		break;
	}
}

However….

Why isn’t this just event based? Right now the Netconnection dispatches a NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS. Most people find this very acceptable. I, myself, tend to think it’s funny. The classname (NetStatusEvent) is pretty darn clear about the fact that the event triggered is related to the netstatus… Duh?!
Anyway: after having listened to that event and having caught it, we now need to evaluate the event.info.code property (which will return a string like ‘NetConnection.Connect.Success‘)… Why is that??
Why not just dispatch NetStatusEvent.NETCONNECTION_CONNECT_SUCCESS? Wouldn’t this be more consistent with the rest of Actionscript?

It would only make life better:

1. No more copy-pasting of ‘codes‘. They’re just constants in the NetStatusEvent class.
2. No chance of runtime bugs because of typo’s made in the string itself. The use of constants makes sure the compiler knows when you’re doing something horrible, and allows him to throw that error right in your face!
3. Auto-completion! Because life should be made easier by computers; not harder!

I think that an implementation like mentioned above would be pretty cool (and perhaps more logical). At least to me…

Download

Feel free to use, modify, marry this class (and pass it on onto your children) if needed. If I overlooked anything or there’s a better way of doing this, feel free to ping me and I shall correct myself asap!

Enjoy!

Download: [download id="6"]

I've said it for a long time, just didn't quite make my point

I just finished reading an article on Drawar.com about how Smashing Magazine killed the community. I have been thinking about what you’re about to read for some time now but it never occurred to me that Smashing Magazine was one of the reasons why everything changed.

Let’s start in the beginning (because there’s a lot of things to cover here).
I’ve been reading Smashing Magazine for more than 2 years now. I started reading in their very early days as ‘Smashing Magazine’ (Before, it was a smaller online magazine with a different name).

They actually caught my eye with very very interesting articles that focussed on one topic. Every article covered ways to do things and things you shouldn’t do, in a very specific aspect of (web) design.  That content was of great value since it was on-topic and very high-end.
However Smashing Magazine’s content  not only caught my eye… Lots of people started reading it on a regular basis and subscribing to the RSS feeds. That’s when they really started making money, and therefor stopped actually writing ‘real’ articles and started going down the ‘lists‘ road. At that point, it only took me about 2 weeks to stop caring about Smashing Magazine (besides when they linked me). I still check the site every now and then, but honestly: If an article starts with a number I don’t even read the rest of the title. It’s all they’ve been doing ever since…

The worst part: Lots of other site have been doing it too, just because Smashing Magazine prove the concept works. I myself have only published 1 single post like that in the 2 years I’ve been blogging. And hell: I’m proud of it!
And the more I actually talk to other people about this issue, the more I realize the very people we write for think the same way. They don’t want a list of whatever. They want your secrets. They want to know why you did something the way you did it. They want to know why you prefer ketchup instead of mayonaise. They want a personal opinion. If they want a list, they’ll just Google whatever it is they need. Google lists everything by default anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

Open Microphone pt 1

If you’ve come by here a few times you know I have been experimenting with computeSpectrum and webcam motion detection. At a given moment I wanted to combine the 2 of them in order to use voice commands in order to make stuff happen on the screen. That would be pretty badass, right?

However I soon learned the microphone feed didn’t go through the SoundMixer of the Flash Player, therefor would would not be able to be analyzed. There was a workaround with FMS/RED5 and bouncing the stream off the server but that’s rather overkill (not to mention the lag). Read the rest of this entry »

FlashFocus reloaded (part 1)

Those who know me personally have undoubtably noticed a serious increase of FlashFocus activity in the past few days, and today I’m happy to announce that FlashFocus started the long awaited update.

FlashFocus went down for scheduled maintenance on Friday, June 12th. The team worked for 3 days straight in order to be able to present a new FlashFocus running from our new server over at our sponsor Easyhosting.

The work the team did during the past 3 days was the first big step in order to be able to roll out a lot of new features in the coming weeks.

If you speak Dutch and you’re intrested in Flash, Flex, Air, After-Effects or any other Adobe product, don’t hold back to join the biggest Dutch-speaking community on the web. Ask your questions, share your knowledge, show off your coolest projects.

Register on FlashFocus
Follow FlashFocus on Twitter
Join the FlashFocus Facebook group

Design. Technology. Cool shit.

The well-known slogan of FITC!

After having held successful events at Toronto, Chicago, Winnipeg, and Hollywood, last year FITC came to Amsterdam. I don’t have to tell you that Amsterdam was at least as successful as the other events. And in a little less than 2 weeks, FITC Amsterdam will kick off for the second time!

Only a few days ago FITC announced that the Amsterdam event was already sold out. Again. And I’m one of the lucky ones to go!
Also, no different than last year, Adobe Max Award winner Thomas Joos created an event guide for your mobile phone. Make sure you check it out!

I’ll be attending FITC for the first time, so I’m very excited.
I’ll be there with Jeroen Beckers, my FlashFocus colleage. If you’re there make sure to come by. I’d love to meet you guys (and gals)!

Soooo… Who’s coming?

<head> revisited

Man, I can’t believe it’s been a week already since the first edition of <head> kicked off. This event was so freaking amazing, I don’t even know where to start.

Okay, let’s just start right from the beginning. At first I didn’t really feel quite comfortable about the ‘online room’ concept. I remember having these meetings in Connect rooms, and believe me: those are horrible memories. Fact is: When I entered a room, 2 attendees were already there and they were having this conversation…

Attendee 1: Hmz, aren’t we kinda early?
Attendee 2: Yea… True… Oh well, at least we’ve got good seats, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Cool quotes from the <head> conference

Yea yea, there we go: My first English post on my blog. (Feel free to correct me whenever I make stupid mistakes )

UPDATE: I’ve added some more quotes from day 3! <head> speakers rock!

UPDATE 2: Added some more cool quotes!

I attended the second day of the <head> conference today. At 10PM (Brussels) I tuned in on the session about Red5, presented by Chris Allen and Keith Peters. We had a lot of fun, and the session was pretty awesome (even though Chris was fighting the Red 5 server, and Adobe Connect most of the time).

During the session Chris and Keith went off, throwing out all of these crazy quotes, and I promised everybody I’d post them on my blog. Afterwards somebody (I think Patrick Welfringer) told me not to forget to post this, and asked me the URL. So here you go: Cool quotes from the <head> conference! Read the rest of this entry »

<head> conference staat voor de deur

Morgen is het zover: De lang geanticipeerde <head> conference (voormalig Singularity) gaat van start. De eerste sessies trappen af om 18 uur lokale tijd.

De <head> conference is de eerste online conferentie op grote schaal. Organistator en oprichter, Aral Balkan, heeft hier maandenlang naartoe gewerkt. Aral heeft altijd al een aparte blik op het web en de community gehad. De <head> conference is het zoveelste project waarbij Aral de grenzen verlegt en de aanpak 180° omdraait.

Aral is in mijn ogen een van de tofste, spannendste en inspirerendste sprekers op conferenties en festivals als deze. Morgen zien we of hij ook zo goed kan presteren als organisator.

Als ik mijn ervaringen van de laatste 6 maanden op het internet, reflecteer op ‘s werelds eerste online conferentie, dan zal (volgens die ervaringen) de applicatie, waarmee de ‘bezoekers’ naar de sessies kijken, op het eerste moment van belasting plat gaan. Overbelasting is tot op heden namelijk regelmatig niet goed voorzien, laat staan überhaupt verwacht.
Een schoolvoorbeeld van ‘overbelasting’ is natuurlijk Twitter. Twitter is in 2006 en 2007 waarschijnlijk meer onbereikbaar geweest dan welke andere webservice op het internet. Ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik in de laatste maanden een ongeëvenaarde verbetering van de service zie. Tegenwoordig komen Failwhales veel minder voorbij, dankzij heel wat optimaliseren van de serverscripts.

Als Aral zijn huiswerk gedaan heeft zal hij geen Failwhale nodig hebben. Ik  hoop voor het alvast voor hem.

To Aral and your fellow colleagues: I’m really looking forward to the <head> conference and I wish you guys the best of luck.

Adobe Usergroup meeting en CS4 impressies revisited

Zoals vele anderen, ben ik gisteren naar de Adobe usergroup meeting in Gent geweest. Het was een speciale avond, want gisteren werden voor het eerste echte CS4 versies vertoont.

Deze keer was het op een nieuwe locatie. Het zag er echt leuk uit. Leuke inkomhal, mooie trap (ja, hoor: It matters), goed verlicht. Alleen de presentatie zaal leek me op het eerste gezicht een grap te zijn. Het was een lange zaal, maar niet erg breed (wat een beetje vreemd leek op het eerste gezicht).

Men was erg to the point, en dat vanaf het begin: De Adobe sprekers begonnen bijna meteen met CS4 demo’s allerhande te tonen. Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, InDesign, Dreamweaver en Flash (dat zijn de enige die ik me nog kan herinneren).

Zelf ben ik best wel goed te spreken over de nieuwe features van Flash CS4 (basic 3D, advanced tween tool, live video previews) en Dreamweaver CS4 (SVN, Javascript auto completion, Javascript interpreter in de IDE) en CS4 in het algemeen (application frames). De voorstelling zelf vond ik wat minder geslaagd.
Men had voor het eerst gekozen om alle demo’s met de producten rond een filmproject te maken. Dat hield in dat men Flash Lite sites voor die site demonstreerde, trailers maakte, en websites bouwde allemaal rond die (onbestaande) film. Ik vond de uiteenlopende demo’s die telkens op zich ‘een project apart’ waren net iets fleuriger (neem dit maar letterlijk op. De film in kwestie leek namelijk op een typische ’90 detective film, in duistere wijken van New York. Veel kleur was er niet te bespeuren.)

Daarna was het tijd voor een glas champagne (waarvoor dank, Boulevart) en een kingsize CS4-cake (die prachtige chocolade vlekken op de grond maakte). Een goed moment dus om even een babbel te slaan met de eerste beste ongekende, gekende en bekende.

Toen we weer in de (smalle) presentatieruimte zaten was het tijd voor Aral Balkan. Het is niet de eerste keer dat ik Aral on-stage zie, dus ik weet wel dat ik een humor geladen inspirerende sessie kan verwachten. En ook deze keer ontgoochelde hij niemand. Beter zelfs: deze sessie was echt een presentatie om U tegen te zeggen. Het was in feite al jammer dat niemand dit op video heeft vastgelegd, want het was echt plezier om naar hem te luisteren.

Achteraf was het tijd voor wat eten. Gezien ik honger had, mocht dat ook wel. En het wachten was het waard: Het was echt VERDOMD lekker. Ik ben altijd onder de indruk als eten (dat voor zo’n massa mensen tegelijk wordt klaargemaakt) niet naar plastiek of karton smaakt. Het was echt restaurant kwaliteit (waar menig restaurant een voorbeeld kan aan nemen).

De usergroup managers hebben deze keer toch echt wel indruk op me gemaakt. Strak werk jongens want dit smaakt naar meer .