Without smoothing, things turn ugly and pixelated. With smoothing turned on, everything keeps looking the way it should, even when resized.

<mx:VBox>
    <mx:script>
	private function smoothImage ( img : Image ) : void
	{
		var bmp : Bitmap = img.content as Bitmap;
		bmp.smoothing = true;
	}
    </mx:script>
    <mx:image id="logoImage" complete="smoothImage(logoImage)" source="images/logo.png" width="100%" scaleContent="true"/>
</mx:VBox>

// we'll scale the first ( background ) image by 50%
var s : Number = .5;

// create a matrix to make the scalilng of the bitmap possible
var scaleMatrix : Matrix = new Matrix();

// apply the scaling to the matrix
scaleMatrix.scale(s,s);

// create a bitmapdata object from an existing bitmap ( "bmp" in this case )
var scaledBitmap : BitmapData = new BitmapData(bmp.width*s,bmp.height*s,false,0);

// draw the content and scale it using the matrix
scaledBitmap.draw(bmp,scaleMatrix);

// we have an embedded asset called "flickr", a flickr logo in gif format
var icon : Bitmap = new flickr() as Bitmap;

// let's place it in the bottom right corner
var ix : Number = scaledBitmap.width-icon.width;
var ij : Number = scaledBitmap.height-icon.height;

// create a matrix for the position of the icon
// note the use of the ix and ij variables in the parameters
var positionMatrix : Matrix = new Matrix(1,0,0,1,ix,ij);

// draw the icon bmp to the bitmapdata
scaledBitmap.draw( icon, positionMatrix );

// add the new, merged, bitmap to your displaylist
var bmp : Bitmap = new Bitmap( scaledBitmap );
addChild( bmp );	

// that's it!

bt being a Button instance
df being a DateField instance
dateLabelFunction returns a formatted date as a string

BindingUtils.bindProperty( bt, "label", df, {name:"selectedDate",getter:function(df:DateField):String{return dateLabelFunction(df.selectedDate)}});

What we are doing here is:
- Bind bt.label to df.selectedDate ( that’s the name:”selectedDate” part )
- When retrieving the value of df.selectedDate use the ‘getter’ function
- The getter function returns a formatted date string

In other words: the string “Other examples are rats, mice,other rodents” will be converted into “Other examples are rats, mice and other rodents”.


var a : Array = ["rats","mice","other rodents"];
var s : String = a.toString(); // returns rats,mice,other rodents
var r : RegExp = /,(?![^,]+,)/g; // the magical formula
s = s.replace( r ,” and “); // replace the last , with and
trace( s ); // rats, mice and rodents


Added bonus points if your also proficient with PHP and / or Ruby on Rails.

Go Go Go!

Get more info on our jobpage: http://workingat.mrhenry.be/


// basic authentication
var encoder : Base64Encoder = new Base64Encoder();
encoder.encode(username + ":" password);
// send xml
var header1:URLRequestHeader = new URLRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/xml");
// authenticate
var header2:URLRequestHeader = new URLRequestHeader("Authorization", "Basic " + encoder.toString());
// accept xml as response
var header3:URLRequestHeader = new URLRequestHeader("Accept","application/xml");

// put your xml in a string: "<ticket><summary>my summary</summary></ticket>"
// generate an XML instance from the string
var xml : XML = new XML( s );
// put the xml in the request instance
request.data = xml;
// use PUT ( could depend on the API you are using, check the docs )
request.method = "PUT";
// use the loader to send the request
var loader : URLLoader = new URLLoader( null );
// wait for the complete event to do other amazing things
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,onTicketUpdated,false,0,true);
// fire in the hole!
loader.load( request );
// take a deep breath and wait a sec
// for the complete event to be triggered


One problem for some people are pictures. Contacts with pictures can’t be synced for the moment, but that doesn’t affect me.

People on Tweakers.net are a bit scared about the privacy issue; who gives you the right to store other people’s contact information online at a third party’s server? That’s a valid point.

The upside of Soocial is the cancel button. You can cancel the account any given time. This makes it perfectly possible to create a big backup of all your contacts using their tools and then cancel the account again. So, no privacy issue there, given they actually destroy all the data off course.

One counterattack could be to make their software open source or to make it possible for people to install the package on their own servers. But is using your own server safer? Sometimes it could be, but a lot of times it isn’t.

Before I pressed the cancel button I took this screenshot to show you the clear cancellation policy of Soocial.

Give it a whirl. Maybe you’ll like it. A lot.

Doesn’t ring a bell? What about those plastic containers you need to cut open, risking the life of yourself and your anticipating surroundings? You just bought something, got all excited to try that new CAT6 cable, but there you have it. Must-get-around-this-hard-plastic-wrapper-within-15-seconds. So you pull out your faithfull Haiku and start cutting away. Chances are high you’ll end up with damaging the newly bought goods ( or the dog who’s trying to get close to the new toys ). Your anticipating starts to diminish soon. People start to leave the room while you are left frustrated.

Always wondered why they were out there in the first place. I setteled on “must be to annoy shoplifters and to stress the owner”. Curious to see the next-gen packaging methods in stores soon.

Read more in one of two flavours: story in Dutch or story in english