I recently created a new class in the Flex Library Project that houses my core codebase. The Library Project is set up to automatically compile a SWC when it builds, this SWC is then imported in to any other projects that require the core by referencing the SWC in their build path (pretty slick little workflow). Only this time, the projects referencing the core SWC couldn’t find the class I had just added. Fail.

After trying all varieties of refreshing, cleaning, closing/opening the project, quitting/restarting Flex 3, I was beginning to wonder what had actually happened to my class. How had it gotten swallowed up in the gears of the Flex compiler?

The problem ended up being not with the new class, or the compiler, but with the .flexLibProperties. This is the XML file that stores a list of classes to include in a SWC. By default, it’s hidden from the list of files in your Flex project so you have to “un-filter” it from the Flex Navigator panel.

To do this:
• Click the downward-facing triangle icon in the upper left of the Flex Navigator panel.
• Now select “Filters…”



• Then un-check the box next to “.flexLibProperties” and the file magically appears in your project file structure.

My new class was notably absent from this list, so I included it using this syntax:

<classEntry path="core.path.path.ClassName"/>

After building the Library Project again the SWC was recompiled, now complete with my new class.

http://blog.yakitara.com/2009/10/unofficial-google-wave-notifier-for-mac.html (Download Link)

It’s still quite primitive, but very functional. The app sits in your Mac’s toolbar and lights up when you have new blips on a wave, displaying a number of total un-viewed blips. This simple functionality has allowed me to actually pay attention to Google Wave, turning Wave from a novelty into a tool.

Big brother mouse is watching…

SizzlingKeys runs as a plugin with a pref pane in System Preferences. Its functionality is solid and reliable and it can set shortcuts for essential iTunes functions and ratings. It also includes extras like assigning global keyboard shortcuts sleep, system lock and screen saver. If you’re looking for a very stable and functional iTunes controller, give SizzlingKeys a try.

An external iSight webcam provides the video, a local SWF handles the logic and a projector displays the magic. The Actionscript used to accomplish this combines a few simple concepts:

• Webcam – A WebCam class manages interaction between the Camera class and the rest of the app. The camera’s video feed is passed into a Video object using the attachCamera() method.
• BitmapData – The Video object’s display is then drawn to a BitmapData object using the draw() method. For each frame of the camera’s video feed this BitmapData object is merged with the previous frame’s BitmapData using two filters: a color filter to highlight the pixels that have changed color value; and a blur filter to manage precision (and thus performance). The resulting image is then scanned, pixel by pixel, and pixels above a certain color threshold are recorded in a Point object and pushed into an array.
• Particles – A particle is then created and placed at every Point in the array. The Particle object contains a display object and an update() method with logic that handles how the particle changes and animates over time.

The result is multiple swarms of particles emanating from your shadow as you move in front of the camera. You can check it out for yourself here if you have a webcam, or you can watch the video below. The quality isn’t the best, but considering the lighting conditions it gets the point across: