Read the full article at arno.org

The ROTCAPTCHA (PDF, 1.4MB).

It’s a CAPTCHA based on image orientation.

The ROTCAPTCHA system requires users to adjust randomly rotated images to their upright position. This is a task most people will be familiar with given the state of early digital cameras, etc.

This system has many advantages, such as being language independent and support many input sources.

Via the Google Blog.

Via kotaku

It’s called java2s and it’s basically example source code (snippets) of many languages, organized by topic.

Here is the Flex / Flash / Actionscript category.

Do you know other ones (categorized)? If so, let us know.

Today it’s time to read it and bring back the object in Flex.

The class

package com.idletogether
{
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.filesystem.*;

	public class Opener
	{
		public static var file:File;

		public static function openFile() :void
		{
			file = new File();
			file.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, dirSelected);
			file.browseForOpen('');
		}

		public static function dirSelected(e:Event) :void
		{
			// this will be our object back
			var dat:Object = new Object();

			var fileStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
			fileStream.open(file, FileMode.READ);
			dat = fileStream.readObject();
			fileStream.close();

			some.object = dat.data;
			some.other.object = dat.structure;
		}

	}
}

How to use it

Simply…

import com.idletogether.Opener;
Opener.openFile();

This example is very basic, but it is kept simple for the sake of being easy to understand. From there you can build up a much more tailored system. This should get you started.

Use the Expressions panel of Flex and add a ‘watch’ to the variable ‘dat’ to see what came back in and if it is in good form.

HTH,
Cheers.

Feel free to use it for free or commercial projects.

package com.idletogether
{
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.filesystem.*;

	public class Saver
	{
		public static var file:File;

		public static function saveToFile() :void
		{
			// pick an unused extension
			file = new File("/filename.ext");
			file.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, dirSelected);
			file.browseForSave('');
		}

		public static function dirSelected(e:Event) :void
		{
			// this object will get saved to the file
			var dat:Object = new Object();

			dat.data = some.object;
			dat.structure = some.other.object;

			var fileStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
			fileStream.open(file, FileMode.WRITE);
			fileStream.writeObject(dat);
			fileStream.close();
		}
	}
}

How to use it

It’s a static method to be called so, simply…

import com.idletogether.Saver;
Saver.saveToFile();

This will prompt the user to pick a destination and will suggest the file name “filename.ext”.

Please note that you can’t save DisplayObjects straight to file using writeObject. It’s a limitation.

From here, find out how to get the object back into flex in the next post.

HTH,
Cheers.

<mx:DropShadowFilter id="dropShaText" distance="1" angle="45" blurX="0" blurY="0" alpha="1" color="0x111111" />
<mx:Label text="Hello world" filters="{[dropShaText]}" />

Essentially when a news breaks out or a product is being launched, Google will take several days to aggregate the information said about it, while Twitter Search can reveal nearly instant opinions.

The barriers is also lower as a Twitter account takes a lot less maintenance than a blog account. Writing a post on Twitter can be done while on the phone and virtually takes no time.

However, because it is instant feedback, it also implies that the ‘review’ of the news, product or subject in the tweet is obviously right off the bat, and might not be polished / thought about. People could change their opinion and post again in 10 mins.

Twitter, which I used to hate, is starting to take a very important place on the net and I’m mature enough to admit it and embrace it. That said, it is still a gezillion of idiots fantasizing about their life, writing about their pets or the latest battlestar.

The project is at a very early stage but it already looks solid.

It doesn’t do much at the moment but they’re confident that Bespin will eventually be highly extensible and easily accessible to users.

More info in this post and here.

It’s freaky to see that there are comments posted every 2-3 seconds, sometimes faster.

The app is beta but it’s browsable. Each comment is shown on one line and is clickable. From there you can read the blurb about the Digg post and/or visit the site straight from Digg Mob.

If you need or know someone who needs a senior Flash/Flex/AIR developer with experience, please don’t hesitate to forward my details.

I’m open for freelance and contract work, remotely or on location anywhere in Australia.

I’ve been developing and designing websites and web applications since the late 90ies and I’ve been full-time Flash-ist for 6 years. I started as a Web Designer. With experience on both sides, I manage my time efficiently and take care of a project from specifications to deployment.

Cheers
Nicolas

It’s not an Apple app store, for sure, but it should help promote your Air applications out there.

It’s not the easiest read, but it has some great insight, and hey, can’t beat a free ebook.

Beta features will include real-time error checking, code-completion, import, export, tabs, and saving to Amazon s3.

Still in heavy beta.

This easy snippets shows how to capture ‘new’ or Control+N or Command+N on the Mac.

stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, keyDown);

private function keyDown(e:KeyboardEvent) :void
{
        if(e.commandKey || e.ctrlKey)
        {
                switch(e.keyCode)
                {
                        case Keyboard.N:
                                // do stuff
                        break;
                }
        }

}

The form

<mx:Form x="0" y="90" width="100%" height="100%" id="form1" creationComplete="resetForm()">
	<mx:FormItem label="Email" width="100%">
		<mx:TextInput width="100%" id="txtEmail" change="validateUs()" />
	</mx:FormItem>
	<mx:FormItem label="Password" width="100%">
		<mx:TextInput width="100%" id="txtPassword" displayAsPassword="true" change="validateUs()"/>
	</mx:FormItem>
	<mx:FormItem width="100%">
		<mx:Button id="btnLogin" label="Login" width="85" height="25" click="loginUser()" />
	</mx:FormItem>
</mx:Form>

The validators

<mx:EmailValidator id="val1" source="{txtEmail}" property="text" required="true" />
<mx:StringValidator id="val2" source="{txtPassword}" property="text" required="true" minLength="2" />

The script

private function resetForm() :void
{
	btnLogin.enabled = false;
}
private function validateUs() :void
{
	btnLogin.enabled = (Validator.validateAll([val1,val2]).length == 0);
}