Latest News from Rob Rusher

No One is Moving from Flex to HTML5

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:30:00 EDT

The fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is been slung around by profiteers like folding chairs at a WWE event. The haters are still being haters. Nothing new there. But now I see JavaScript companies’ desperate pleas for Flex developers to …

Five Reasons Why My Tweets are Better than Yours

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:45:00 EDT

Writing good tweets is an art form.

Some tweeters use "Shock 'n Awe" and others use humor (that's humour for my Canadian friends.) OT: Should I call them "tweeters" or "twits"? Never mind, let's talk about some of the things you can do to make the most of Twitter.

Adobe Flash Player licensing doesn’t apply to you!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:08:06 EDT

Let me start with the punch line: Adobe’s announcement only applies to browser-based applications that use domain memory IN COMBINATION WITH hardware accelerated Stage3D in Flash Player If you don’t know what these features are, this announcement does not effect you. It’s funny to me how a simple statement gets construed when passed on to even... Read More

Video from 360|Flex 2011 on Flex Localization with BabelFx

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:50:38 EST

One of my presentations on Flex Localization with BabelFx was recorded at 360|Flex in 2011. Zaa.tv recorded a bunch of the sessions at this event and they have recently posted the videos for free. So if you missed 360|Flex, you will find several of the presentation (including mine) very helpful in your quest for mastering... Read More

Tips for submitting to “Call for Papers”

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:22:53 EST

I often get asked, “How did you get to where you are?” To which I respond, “Mediocrity?” The real answer… public speaking, community involvement, not sucking at what I do and genuinely enjoying my work. Now, I can’t help you with all these topics. But I can give you some advice on getting start with... Read More

Adobe Flex is open source… really!!

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:01:39 EST

For years the Adobe Flex SDK has been “open source.” And it was, kinda. But they had never opened it up to the community to help work on the project. Then last 360 Flex 2011 in Denver, Adobe announced that they’d support the Spoon project which would essentially spoon feed updates and additions to the... Read More

Unstoppable force, meet immovable object – DRAFT

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:08:26 EST

NOTE: I have several posts in draft that I’ll eventually get around to publishing, but this couldn’t wait for me to finish. Adobe’s recent announcement regarding the Flash Player plug-in for “mobile browsers” has caused quite a stir. Unfortunately, the intent of the communication was not clear enough for most people. Including most of us... Read More

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-06

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Just turned the laptop on for the first time in over a week. Didn't wear a watch for over a week. That is almost a vacation. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-04

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Yeah! Got my froyo update finally. Immediately installed #flashplayer #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-03

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Wow, what a week! I was asked to speak at three conferences. I'd better get writing. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-02

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Flex 5 code-named Hero: http://bit.ly/aDoxMp #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-25

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Just saw Jennifer Garner at #IAD # 15th on the upgrade list, 5 seats remaining. No upgrade for you! Still love the auto upgrades on @UnitedAirlines. Next time. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-24

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

RT @danielwanja iPhone 4 cancellation fee is $325..so $150 more than before. So the 32Gb is really $624. # Look who's back! Got my notice from @flyclear. Really looking forward to no security lines. http://www.flyclear.com # Anyone try PushButton Profiler on Flex? http://pushbuttonengine.com/2010/06/pushbutton-labs-profiler-open-sourced/ # Working on a memory leak in #openflux coverflow with view states in a custom [...]

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-23

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

RT @agentK @mlabriola Now all we need is an OTA or at least official Android 2.2 on a significant number of devices #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-22

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

RT @mlabriola FlexUnit 4.1 beta 2 is now available http://bit.ly/c35s8a #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-19

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

#ORD causing all kinds of problems to my travel plans. typical summer in Chicago. #FAIL #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-18

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

RT @riacowboy Speaking tonight in Denver with @adamflater on Building Flex Applications with LiveCycle Mosaic: http://bit.ly/aq0w9O #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-17

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Please RT if you agree @unitedairlines please stop charging standby fees, boarding customers earlier = better service & more on time custs. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-16

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

USA vs England in Legos! Love it – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXo2nm2ODF0&feature=youtube_gdata #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-14

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

#iPad emulator written in AIR. Author is looking for a way to disable Flash to make it more realistic. Classic. http://bit.ly/bqzX6e #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-13

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

The canceled U2 party is about to start. I'm already starting to feel numb. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-12

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

“Why Apple broke my heart and Adobe is holding the pieces” http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/2010/06/11/the-lament-of-a-flex-dev... #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-11

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Get in line. I'm still waiting also. RT @pollensoft O Froyo, Froyo, wherefore art thou Froyo? # Finished my first Flex 4 class, whew! Went very well, I think, but the evaluations will tell the truth. #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-09

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

$4 for a glass of love. Thank you Katie Mullins! – Photo: http://bkite.com/609iw # Another day down on first Flex 4 class. I have a lot of modifications to add before I teach it again. #flex4 #adobe # The skinning and CSS features in Flex 4 do rock! #flex #adobe #

Free Flash Builder 4 Licenses

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:19:09 EDT

Adobe gives away free copies of the new Flash Builder 4 Standard edition to students, teachers, and unemployed developers. To apply for your free copy, visit http://bit.ly/FreeFlashBuilder

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-08

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

My point exactly. The HTML5 standard will not be standard. RT @pollensoft http://bit.ly/aeu9aF #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-06

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Stuck in Chicago for the night. Oh, what top do? # Nice! RT @scottjanousek CrApple. The word you use when something bad goes wrong on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. #crApple # I see this all the time. So I'm curious. When did it become okay to respond to text and social networks while conversing with anyone? [...]

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-02

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

I agree. Controlled on a whim is not a very good business plan. RT @pollensoft More Apple ridiculousness. http://bit.ly/9AuSZY #

Twitter Updates for 2010-06-01

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

I love @UnitedAirlines mobile checkin and I really love the automatic upgrades! # Rochester is a hot bed of activity today, just asked to volunteer my seat due to over sold flight. # I think I just saw a pilgrim boarding a flight. Weird. What do they call them, Mennonites? # Why can't the whole airport be this [...]

Flash Player Is Not Open = Big Fat Lie; HTML5 Is the Savior

Tue, 11 May 2010 15:30:00 EDT

The core of Flash Player is the Tamarin Virtual Machine, which is an open source project under Mozilla. While the SWF file format is not fully open, it is documented by the community on osflash.org. Additionally, there are numerous open source products that read and write SWF files. The Flash Player’s product direction has traditionally been heavily influenced by the community and their needs. The core language for Flash Player is an implementation of ECMAScript 262, which is the same specification for JavaScript. Flex also uses CSS for styling of components/applications.

License your Flex and AIR applications

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:31:36 EDT

If you need an easy and affordable way to secure your application against license sharing and ‘keygen cracks’, Zarqon just may be the answer you’ve been looking for. A good friend of mine, Cliff Hall, is most known for the PureMVC framework which was inspired by his his lack of love for the Cairngorm [...]

How to install Adobe AIR on Linux

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:38:10 EDT

Download Adobe AIR from the Adobe downloads. Open a terminal window. cd to download directory chmod the AdobeAIRInstaller.bin to 755 su -m enter password ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

PaaS vs. Managed Virtualization

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:45:00 EST

I've been reading a few discussions on how to more effectively manage development of a Flex project. And the reason many are looking for a solution has nothing to do with Flex, per say, but has more to do with the complexity of our development environments. Using the cloud is a popular BINGO word, but in reality... I think desktop virtualization is the better fit.

List, ItemRenderer, toolTip… oh my!

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:01:02 EST

On my latest project, I was going through several areas of the application adding toolTips to make some of the data that is clipped visible if desired. In doing so, I found out that I needed to use a combination of the different types of tips available. Most components have a toolTip property that you can [...]

Flex 3.4 SDK Error – focusInHandler

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:26:05 EST

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference. at mx.managers::FocusManager/focusInHandler [no source] This is definitely an SDK bug. I was using the Flex 3.5 SDK and then downgraded to 3.4.1.10084. That is when this error magically appeared. Switched back to 3.5, all better.

Build Flex Applications For iPhone?

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:12:00 EST

ELIPS Studio 3 is a cross-platform mobile application SDK based on Adobe’s Flex Builder. But it only works on Windows, so I’m wondering how that is going to work. Check it out: http://developer.openplug.com/index.php/learn/elips-studio-3-flex-for-mo...

Free Flex Training in Denver

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:23:46 EST

The event is Flex Training for ColdFusion Developers A free full-day, hands-on training session, where attendees can learn how to build their first Flex application using the latest Flash Builder 4 beta software. This training is designed to help experienced ColdFusion developers get started in understanding how to add rich UI to existing and new ColdFusion [...]

Adobe MAX 2009 Online

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:15:00 EDT

Watch MAX keynotes, streamed live from Los Angeles-register now. On October 5th and 6th, Adobe MAX Online will feature the keynotes, streamed live, highlighting the newest and most exciting developments in the world of technology. Join 10 minutes early and participate in the backstage behind the scenes action.

On3: Denver’s First Adobe Authorized Training Center

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:31:30 EDT

PRESS RELEASE On3: Denver’s First Adobe Authorized Training Center On3 will help Adobe Software Developers learn to use Adobe Flex, ColdFusion, and Adobe AIR, as well as other web development tools like BlazeDS and mobile phone application development. Denver, CO September 11, 2009: On3, Inc. is proud to announce the opening of its Adobe Enterprise training facility [...]

Going to Adobe MAX 2009

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:15:33 EDT

FITC Mobile Presentation on iPhone Development

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:34:00 EDT

Just finished my presentation at FITC Mobile 2009 in Toronto. And it went very well! I had lots of questions and was able to answer all but one. The presentation was about building native iPhone applications using JavaScript and HTML instead of Objective-C. I’m currently using Titanium Mobile to does this. I’ve posted a slide share of the [...]

Adobe Flash and Flex Accessibility with Screen Readers

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:15:00 EDT

First, yes, screen readers can read Flex applications. And yes, its fairly easy. But, I’ll discuss how in a future post. But, if you’d rather send people to your old HTML version of your site when using a read, there is good news. Flash Player has the ability to detect if a screen reader is running on the client machine, even if JavaScript is disabled and/or the Flex application is not compiled as an “accessible swf”. This is possible with the Accessibility class.

Adobe Flex/AS3 Code Quality Tool (PMD)

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:15:00 EDT

Adobe recently released (August 2009) the Flex implementation of PMD tool which is extensively used at J2EE shops for code quality management. FlexPMD is a tool that helps to improve code quality by auditing any AS3/Flex source directory and detecting common bad practices. The Flex PMD tool is locate on the Adobe Open Source Projects site. http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexpmd/FlexPMD It [...]

Swiz API reference documentation

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:13:21 EDT

Swiz is a framework for Adobe Flex that aims to bring complete simplicity to RIA development. But, until recently, the documentation was limited. But now… Swiz 0.6.2 Actionscript API Reference: http://swizframework.org/ Swiz Framework Site: http://on3solutions.com/swiz062/ Swiz Framework Source: http://code.google.com/p/swizframework/ Enjoy guys. Now start coding!

Fast Track to ColdFusion 8 Classes Added

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EDT

On3 has some excellent ColdFusion Classes scheduled during the next few months to celebrate the grand opening of our new headquarters and training center location on the 16th Street mall in Denver. The new address starting on August 1st will be: Denver Petroleum Building, 110 16th St, Ste 604, Denver, CO 80202. Please drop by [...]

Brand New Adobe Flex Course Scheduled in Denver

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The training covers the Flex client, Eclipse & Flex builder, the Flash virtual machine & how the Flex application development process is designed. It covers Actionscript, how events are handled, and layouts in a constraint based container. The material is similar to the first three days of Flex 3: Developing Rich Internet Applications. However, on the final two days, the course moves into getting data, using E4X Expressions & search, displaying the data and ColdFusion wizards and extensions to code a back end that tightly integrates with the full Adobe suite of enterprise level products and application development toolkits.

Security Soapbox – Decompile Flash/Flex

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:15:00 EDT

Having built/architected/developed/consulted many Adobe Flex applications and being one of the first certified Flex instructors in the world, I've seen a lot of Flex applications. Some good, some bad. But no matter how many applications or who I'm talking to, I always stress the importance of securing proprietary information. By securing, I mean don't put it [...]

iPhone Bootcamp at CFUnited

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:39:35 EDT

Beginning iPhone Bootcamp If you’re a developer who wants to write applications that run on the iPhone, you should attend the Beginning iPhone Bootcamp at CFUnited. The first two units of the course are devoted to learning Objective-C, followed by an intensive iPhone Bootcamp. Beginning iPhone Bootcamp will take you from complete novice to being able to [...]

SuperImage can help with Flex images performance

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:06:57 EDT

I got this Flex question from one of our Flex clients at On3: “Aside from what I read here on image caching… http://userflex.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/image-caching/ do I have other options for improving performance of image rendering for flex? (Ex. I have to render 50+ low res images per page.) I realize for more ‘static’ images you can embed [...]

Adobe Camp in Denver

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:40:22 EDT

One thing I have to say is that the Adobe community is alive with collaboration and events. There are tons of people sharing their work and their ideas on better development with the Adobe products. One more example, the local Rocky Mountain Adobe User Group is hosting a very inexpensive event for the Flash Platform, [...]