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ComboBox Bug

2007-07-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

So here is the situation, you want to display data in a ComboBox and make sure the user chooses something from the dropdown. You do not want the first thing showing to be real data as this could cause the user to leave it as is and also void your validation routine. So, you decide that you will all a blank as the first position by adding an empty value to the Array that is the dataProvider for the ComboBox like this:

private var dataP1:Array = [”, ‘one’,'two’,'three’,'four’,'five’,’six’,’seven’,'eight’,'nine’,'ten’];

Doing this exposes a bug within the ComboBox where the value will be replaced by a blank space on each repeat of the rowCount property. The example below has the rowCount set to 3 which is why you see one, two and then a blank where three should be. If you were to change the rowCount to , the blank would then show where the five and ten should have been.

A workaround is to use an blank space instead of an empty string in the first position of the Array like this:

private var dataP2:Array = [’ ‘,’one’,'two’,'three’,'four’,'five’,’six’,’seven’,'eight’,'nine’,'ten’];

However, all of this mess can be avoided by simply using the prompt property to add the blank space at the top of the ComboBox. It should also be noted that the blank space added by the prompty property actually sits at a selectedIndex of -1 while the workarouns above would have the blank space at a selectedIndex of 0. This doesn’t effect then functionality of the ComboBoxbut should be taken into consideration when validating.

Cairngorm 2.2

2007-07-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it Cairngorm 2.2 was posted on Adobe labs on Friday.

Here are the key changes:

Removed dependency on Flex Data Services (fds.swc) - externalised to Cairngorm Enterprise
Flex SDK SWCs are no longer linked into Cairngorm.swc (produces a smaller cairngorm.swc)
Added support for setting remote credentials
Fixed bug with Web services not loading the WSDL (no need to call loadWSDL() explicitly)
ModelLocator interface has been deprecated. Added com.adobe.cairngorm.model.IModelLocator
Added deprecation metadata for compiler support
Added dispatch() helper method to CairngormEvent class
Commands are now added to base Controller with weak references
Added removeCommand to FrontController
Made commands protected in FrontController (was private)

Flex 3 will be Open Source

2007-07-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is correct, Flex 3 (or pieces of) will be open source and licensed under the Mozilla Public Licence. Here is what is involved:

Tools to be Open Source

MXML Compiler (mxmlc, compc)
AS3 Compiler
Flex Command Line Debugger
View Source Utilities
Web Tier Compiler Modules
Automated Testing Framework

Libraries to be open Source

Flex Core Components
Flex Apollo Components
Graphics Tags Libraries
Themes (Halo)
RPC Libraries (SOAP, HTTP, Remoting)
FABRidge
SDK automated test engine
SDK Build Scripts and Automated Tests

Closed Source (In SDK)

Saffron/FlashType Library
Core Player API Definitions
Core Apollo API Definitions

Closed Source (Out of SDK)

Mercury QTP Plugin
Charting Components
Flex Builder
Flex Profiler

Closed Source

Debug Flash Player
Release Flash PLayer
Debug Apollo Runtime
Release Apollo Runtime

What will happen?

Sometime in June: Infrastructure to support open source goes live

Public bug database
Public daily builds available (Moxie)

Second Half 2007

Flex SDK 3 is released under current closed licence
Open source Flex SDK goes live
Phase 1 governance model implemented*

Sometime on 2008 (6 to 12 months after Phase 1)

Phase 2 governance model implemented*

Phase 1: Welcome Active Contribution

Public access to Flex SDK Source
- Source moved to public repository
- General public has read-only access to latest source
- Source, builds, license, etc. hosted by Adobe
- Alternate access to project through 3rd party host (SourceForge, etc)
Anyone can contribute to the Flex SDK
- Require copyright assignment
- Submitted through public bug database as attachments to bugs/enhancement requests
- Contributions must be accompanied by automated tests

Phase 2: Deeper Community Involvment

Sub Projects will be considered
- Proposed and owned by external deveopers
- Must be cleanly seperate code
- Hosted in the public repository
- Distributed alongside Flex SDK
External contributors will be considered for core Flex SDK project
- Based on activity level, dedication and alignment with Flex SDK Philosophy

Here are two videos of interviews with members of the Flex Team about the open sourcing:
http://scobleizer.com/2007/04/25/adobe-opensources-flex/

This is exciting news and is sure to really speed up the development of the Flex platform.