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Installing ColdFusion 9 on Windows Server 2008 64bit

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:00 -0000

This blog is slowly turning into a ColdFusion site it seems :-) Blame ColdFusion for that, it's the one application server that I know a bit about and I really like working with.
Today I needed to install CF9 on Windows Server 2008 64bit and I ran into a few issues which forced me to reinstall a few times. I've now managed to install it successfully so here are a two tips that may safe you some hassle if you like me encounter a HTTP Error 404.3 - Not Found.

First off, I was using IIS 7.5. As you may know, you need to install the web server role onto Windows Server 2008 first and it seems that everything labeled IIS6 tools and compatibility tools should be installed as well, so do that first. Then when running the CF installer right click and 'Run as Administrator'. Once I did that it was plain sailing, but not much joy without those two boxes ticked.

Updated Flash Positions at Akamai, US Locations Added

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:59:00 -0000

Very brief update on my recent post in regards due the Flash Senior Solutions Architect roles which Akamai is trying to fill. In addition to Munich position they are also looking for candidates to work in New York City and San Mateo, CA. Please refer to the original job ad for the full job description and apply through that if you think you have got what it takes ;-)

Dynamic Bitrate Streaming Demo

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:57:00 -0000

I'm finally finding a bit of time (at 10pm) to upload a little video demo that had been sitting on my hard drive for a couple of months. The premise was that I wanted to have a play with the new dynamic bitrate streaming feature in Flash Media Server so I grabbed a trailer from Apple's website, fired up Flash Media Encoder and encoded the District 9 HD clip into 3 bitrates to .f4v format: 400kbps (low bitrate), 800kbps (medium bitrate) and 1.5mbits (high bitrate).
Video quality was not my primary goal here (as you can probably see from the footage), instead I just wanted to see how hard or easy it is to get something like this up and running. Bottom line: not too difficult at all.
I've got a copy of FMS 3.5, a dedicated server (UK based) with a decent bandwidth allowance so I figured why not release this into a the wild?
One thing that you should pay attention to is the actual bitrate switching. If your connection speed is very stable then you may right-click the player and choose to manual switching - let me know if you can tell when the delivered bitrate changes, I bet you can't. And that's the beauty of this technology in a nutshell: seamless switching between bitrates. Pretty neat. Note you can also click the little HD icon/bandwidth bar to bring up a console with stats about the video and playback.

I'm sure some of you will ask for sources, but to be honest there aren't really any to share. I just grabbed the Open Video Player and configured it completely via flashvars, so I have not even got a FLA I could show you. As for the video settings I used - sorry but I can't honestly remember. All I recall is that I downsized the clip a bit so the resolution is not the same as in the original source footage, and no other fancy settings were used. As I said I simply encoded using the Flash Media Encoder.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Flex Skinning Problem using SWFs and Scale 9

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:06:00 -0000

I'm saying it's a bug because I think it should work differently to what is happening in my application.
I was trying to create a background image from a Flash MovieClip asset for a Flex UI component (for arguments sake I am using a VBox in this example) and could simply not get the slice-9 grid that I had defined in Flash be picked up in Flex.

I'm using the Flex 3.2 SDK and the only way to get my graphic to scale as expected was to use the original PNG. Anything I tried via the SWF asset would not work, including defining the scale 9 grid in CSS in Flex.

Here's my example app (I used one of Arals' tutorials as a basis). Please view source on my app and tell me why this isn't working, because I do not understand it. What am I missing?

Job: Senior Solutions Architect Wanted at Akamai

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:04:00 -0000

UPDATE: Akamai are also looking for US based applicants.

I've recently received an interesting job posting from my contacts at Akamai and am posting it here as it may be of interest to some of you.

While the ad states a location of Munich they are actually trying to fill a couple of positions which can be based in either London, Paris or Munich.

The descritpion in brief: "Flash/Silverlight Senior Solutions Architects are part of the Akamai Professional Services team and work directly with Akamai's clients to deliver Akamai solutions. You will develop advanced Flash, Silverlight and mobile players and applications. This will include preparation of graphics, working with technical project managers and developers for webservice/backend integration, all the way through final delivery of the completed project for release or deployment."
You can view the full ad here.

Adobe eSeminar: PDF Portfolios for Flex & ActionScript Developers

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:46:00 -0000

I've just been sent information on the following free online event which covers new ways for Flex Developers to work with PDF documents.
In short, you can build a GUI in Flex to skin the PDF and how the user can access the document contents. The PDF can contain images, text docs, or any Flex/Flash content (such as a video player or game). The Flex navigators are the GUI for how the user accesses the content of the PDF.
There is potential that this will offer new revenue opportunities for Flex developers as agencies and company creative departments often use PDFs to distribute their marketing and promotional materials.

The event details are:
Join the Adobe Acrobat User Community on Wed. November 18, 2009 for a free eSeminar on how to create highly branded, custom PDF Portfolio layouts using Acrobat 9's ActionScript API and Flex. PDF Portfolios let you combine Flash/Flex/ActionScript with PDF to redefine what a document can be. If you are a Flex developer and are interested in leveraging your skills in a new and exciting way, this eSeminar is for you.

Overview
Free 60-min Acrobat 9 PDF Portfolios for Developers eSeminar with live Q&A

Date
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Time 10-11am US Pacific (1-2pm US Eastern)

Free Registration
http://www.acrobatusers.com/events/1475/pdf-portfolios-developers

FMS Online User Group: Next Generation of Content Protection - Flash Access

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:17:00 -0000

Very brief post: if you are interested in funding out more about the upcoming DRM features for Flash delivered through a new server called Flash Access then you should attend the next meeting of the FMS Online User Group. It takes place on December 3, 2009 and the time depends on where you are in the world :-)
Check the events page for upcoming details.

Flash Midlands User Group This Saturday (Nov 7th) in Coventry

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -0000

Just a quick heads up for those of you who are a) based in the UK somewhere around the Midlands (then again it's only an hour from Londontown) and b) are interested in hearing me talk about life as a Flash freelancer.
I'll be giving a small presentation with potentially a lot of Q&A which will cover why you would want to start working for yourself, when is a good time to do it, how you go about it, how to find work and a lot of other pros and cons of being your own boss which may help you in your decision making. The session should also be interesting for those who are already self employed. In all it will be a summary of tips and tricks I have learned (often the hard way) over many years.

The meetup is on Saturday, November 7th from 11am at Warwick University. Hope to see you there.

Installing ColdFusion 9 on OSX Snow Leopard with MAMP

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:35:00 -0000

I've had a few issues getting ColdFusion 9 to run under OSX when trying to leverage an existing MAMP install (note: I was not using MAMP Pro. If you are using MAMP Pro then Mike has got some advice for you).

I have not got enough time right now to run the whole install process again and take screenshots along the way but I'll do my best to summarise what I think may help some others who want to use MAMP and CF9 together. I took some hints from this excellent post by Paul Pounder, however my install differed in that I chose a single server installation. Saying that, I think I encountered similar permission issues as the ones that Paul describes. [More]

Creating New Flex Locales in OSX

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:58:00 -0000

When adding localisation support for my Flex applications I often find myself having to create new locales. This process is not very easy and involves some Terminal/Commandline interactions. I'm posting the necessary details here for anyone who needs them, as well as for myself as I constantly have to look this up.
The problem is that the Flex 3 compiler is pickier than the Flex 2 compiler used to be so any specific locales you would like to support need to be present somewhere in the bowles of your Flex SDK directory. In order to produce the missing files and folders one must compile the existing en_US locale for the new locale (say de_DE) one wants to support. On OSX you need to do the following, in Terminal:


// navigate to the specific SDK you are compiling for (such as 3.0.0 in this example)
cd '/Applications/Adobe Flex Builder 3 Plug-in/sdks/3.0.0'

// use the copylocale tool to compile/copy/godknowhatitsdoing

sudo bin/copylocale en_US de_DE

Last step: in your Flex project properties under Flex Compiler > Compiler Options add the new locale so it gets compiled:


-locale=en_US,de_DE -source-path=../locale/{locale}

Here's what it should look like:

Straight forward isn't it? No, not really. It drives me up the wall actually. Now please go and file an enhancement request will you?
By the way, the best (and pretty much only comprehensive) page which explains the localisation features in Flex is on Adobe Labs of all places. Well worth a read.

Fabio's MAX Talk on Encoding Best Practices Now Online

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:43:00 -0000

The title really says it all: Fabio's session titled Encoding Best Practices For H.264 Video Using Flash is - amongst many others - now available on Adobe TV.

I've not had a chance to watch it yet but feel free to leave comments below if you have. I'll definitely put it on my ever-growing MAX catchup list.

Making Sense of Stratus, LCCS and FMS

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:44:00 -0000

There has been a bit of confusion around which one of Adobe's collaborative platforms offers or will offer certain features. In particular many people have asked if a developer always needs to rely on a hosted service such as Stratus or Lifecycle Collaboration Service (aka AFCS aka Cocomo) when wanting to use the new RTMFP protocol which will deliver (partly is delivering already) new and exciting features to the Flash Player.

To clear thing up, Kevin Towes, FMS Product Manager at Adobe, just posted the following information to the FlashMedia List:

STRATUS - this will always be ahead of the curve, providing a way to help us roll out new features that are in Flash player, before we can have a server offering. The service is and will remain as a free non-commercial service from Adobe. This service is not FMS, and has no ability for Server side scripting, or customization.

AFCS/LIVECYCLE COLLABORATION SERVICE - this will be a commercial option for customers interested in building a business that includes RTMFP. We introduced a pricing model, and it has support for the features found inside Stratus 1.0 (supporting Flash player 10.0). Key advantage with this service is the framework, which is an option for developers to get started, and leverage RTMFP to RTMP failover technology. You still will not have access to server side scripting, but there are lots of APIs in the framework to get you going. The goal for this service is to provide developers an option to bring this technology into your solution.

FLASH MEDIA SERVER - we have not announced any new version of FMS yet that will support RTMFP. We did hint yesterday that we'll be updating FMS3.5 to version 3.5.3 later this year to support the new FP 10.1 features - and in a future version after that release - FMS may be one of your options to host a local service to build your own P2P applications - including introductions, and supporting server side programming.

Thanks Kevin, I think this clears things up somewhat.

My First iPhone Game - Built with Flash!

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:11:00 -0000

The time has finally come to lift the lid on this. As you've probably all heard by now, Adobe today announced a brand new feature for the upcoming Flash Professional CS5: Export as iPhone app. Insane! Essentially what this feature will allow you to do is a cross-compilation from SWF to Objective-C - the resulting app is a totally legit iPhone/iPod Touch app which can be submitted to the Apple app Store. In my case that process has already happened, and the app has been approved!

I will post more details about the development process when things have calmed down a little, but for now I'm super exited to announce the immediate availability of my first application for iPhone and iPod Touch: my good old Just Letters game.
I figured this Flash game of mine which stems back from around 2005 would make an ideal candidate for a touch screen device, and I think I haven't been completely wrong with that assumption. Not only is Just Letters one of the first games built in Flash to ever hit the App Store but I have a feeling it is the very first game that use Flash Media Server to provide the real-time features.

In celebration of the launch I am distributing 10 free voucher codes for the US App Store (sorry, the vouchers do not work on App Stores outside the US). The game normally retails for $0.99. Just leave a comment below and I will pick a random 10 later today (leave your email too!).

Please help me spread the word about this game by blogging about it, tweeting or getting your grandma to buy a copy. Don't forget to review and rate it on the App Store too. please point people to the following age when you link to the game: http://www.muchosmedia.com/justletters (muchosmedia is my company, the 'official' developer behind the game).
Last but not least, if you need the game's icon or some screenshots then you can grab a small zip (1MB) from here. It also contains the game description in text format.

Thanks for your support!

Pre-MAX News: Flash Player 10.1 Is A New Milestone

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:14:00 -0000

In what appears to be an on-purpose release of MAX related announcements ahead of the event which starts today in LA, Adobe have announced the latest version of Flash Player: version 10.1. Do not let yourself be fooled by the .1 release as this version is much more than just another point release, it is a huge upgrade to Flash and the entire platform, touching many parts and in particular mobile and media delivery. Justin Everett-Church has a great breakdown of all the new features.

Overview
I'm not quite sure where to start, but I'll have a try:
Flash Player 10.1 can be labeled as a 'real' fully featured Flash Player for mobile. It contains a lot of optimisations as well as new APIs that are directly aimed at breaking open the mobile device market for Flash - I think it's safe to say that the time for Flash on mobile has finally come. [More]

Watch the MAX Keynotes Online!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:04:00 -0000

Brilliant - those of us who cannot make it to MAX this year will have the chance to watch the keynotes live online - just register at max.adobe.com/online/.

MAX will be great this year and I highly recommend you catch the keynotes. I have a feeling there may be some cool announcements coming up...