Adobe Max 2007 Conference - Day 3
XML 101
Robi Sen, Senior Partner at Twin Technologies
Spry is Adobe's open source Ajax framework. Not a presentation language. Just a way of formatting text. XML is easy to read by a computer and easy to read by a human. Why use it? Clear separation of data, meta data, and presentation, W3 recommendation, easy to read and understand, easy to extend, great tool support, used by many applications and platforms. When to use it? For a common way of sharing data, storing data (but not a database) as a flat file, RSS, ATOM, XHTML, WML, Abstraction layer. Don't use it when you need to operate in a low bandwidth environment, when you need fast or high performance, when you are dealing with data that should be in a relational database, when XML's various benefits are not actually requirements for your project. Has root and child tags. Showed examples of XHTML and RSS. XHTML is a standardized form of HTML that is very strict in order to play well with all browsers. Showed how he uses Cold Fusion to save data as XML. Talked about XML nodes and tags. Everything is a node. Attributes are children of nodes that are simple properties of that node (name, phone, width, class, etc.). Generally don't need to comment since it's pretty readable as is, but comments are done like standard HTML comments. All nodes must be closed, it should have a single root node, should be properly nested (
Introduction to Flex
Tom Ortega, Flex Developer, Workday, Inc.
silvafug.org has breeze tutorials on Flex. Uses Flex Builder as an IDE. Flex is component oriented. Uses AS3. States are different page layouts, effects, transitions between states (fades, pushes, etc.). Components - can be skinned to give your application a new look. Flex Builder is a complete IDE with debugger. First, start a new project and specify how you want your application to access data. Basic mxml file is created automatically. Can switch between Source (code) and Design (interface) by clicking a button. You can drag and drop coponents onto the blank interface. Double-click to edit component attributes. Changing "lyout=verticl'" will automatically apply layout defaults to the interface. Buttos and label tags are nested in the mxml code. He demostrated creating a olgin form for an app. Added a Submit button and a cluck function for it. He then created a function in a CDtat tag.
public function changelabel():void;
{
formlabel.text = username.test;
}
]]>
Although this presenter didn't do a very good job of presenting, I think I got enough out of this to get started with Flex.
How to Shoot, Edit, Encode, and Author Video for the Web
Shooting - 3CCDs is better. Use HD if you really need to get detail, like in close-up shots of a flower, for example. Onboard mic is only good for about 5-10 feet from the camera. Next best thing is a shotgun mic, which can be aimed at the speaker, or use wireless mic or handheld. Use a tripod for steady shots. Fluid head has smooth operation for pans and tilts. Keep backgrounds simple to not only keep the subject the primary focus, but it will also render better for the web if the background is less complicated. White balance manually to get proper skin tones. Aim the camera at a white card and manually adjust the white balance on the camera after zooming in to the card. Properly expose your subject with lighting so as to not lose information either in the lights or darks, which could be unrecoverable. A Neutral Density (ND) filter will block out light when the light is too great. Adobe OnLoaction - PC app that helps you with lighting in the field. Key light is main light, fill light brings up detail opposite of the key light. Light background separately. Don't break the 180 degree rule. Do not shoot 2 subjects where they appear on the same side of the scrreen. Use balanced audio cables (most XLR cables are balanced) to avoid noise. Keep sound level out of the red zone on the VU meters. Record 2 channels - 1 normal and one low, so if someone ends up shouting, you can switch to the lower level.
Encoding - avoid long transitions and fades. They don't compress well. Break up the video to make it more user friendly. They only download what they need to see. Captions - more accurate at encoding time instead of relying on actionscript which may not hit a keyframe at the proper time. You should de-interlace after editing or while encoding to preserve detail. Should try to shoot in progressive mode to begin with. Keep an ear for interactive sound bites that might be useful later. MovieStar will support h.264 and AAC audio. Will scale much better across many mediums. Talked about general encoding options, which were pretty much review for me. Captions are now supported via XML file in Flash video via FLVPLaybackCaptioning and FLVPlayback components in tandem. The XML file is linked externally to the FLVPlaybackCaptioning component just as the FLVPlaybackComponent is linked to the external FLV file. You must use a Flash document that is based on Actionscript 3.0 to use these components. Once compiled, the captions play below the Flash movie.
Building Applications using Actionscript 3.0 for Air
Grant Skinner, Chief Architect/CEO gskinner.com
Cross-plaform deployment via ".air" file or through "badge install". Leverages your experience with HTML, Javascript, AJAX, MXML, and Actionscript 3.0. Script bridging allows you to bridge the gap between actionscript and javascript. Free download of AIR tools. Air is based on Central 2.0, which was a miserable failure for Macromedia. They're not making the same mistakes with AIR. There is full access to the file system (no sand box), no shared interface, applications appear as standard applications to the user. and a much more robust API. AIR is NOT a robust desktop programming environment (yet). Slim subset of APIs to work with, it's not extensible via libraries. Many online services are migrating to the desktop using AIR. Casual gaming is becoming popular as well. Installations and kiosks are also a good use of AIR. The support market can also benefit from AIR. New components and libraries could be more easily distributed. Showed some examples of new AIR apps: DiggTop (sharing top news stories), gTimer (synching timetracking data).BuzzWord (document handling), RichFLV (displays que points and keyframes of Flash videos). AIR can create apps that have a clear window so it looks like they're on your Desktop.
To start using AIR:
Download and install the Flash CS3 update for AIR, create a new FLA and set the publish settings to Adobe Air 1.0. The AIR API consists of a new set of libraries for actionscript 3.0. Used Air Application and Installer Settings to make the window transparent. ID should be your domain name. Set the Window Style to Custom Chrome (transparent). He went through some of the code for an app he was building. Showed how it could interact with the screen properties, how to do a drag/drop event, how to check the content type of a flle that is dragged, so you know whether or not to accept the drop or not. Showed that he could get it to create a new file on the user's computer from a file dropped on the interface.
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