It is hard to deny that the Google Maps API has a lot of built in functionality to it. I enjoyed writing the last article and I felt it was time to get into it a little more. In my last last article on the API, I focused primarily on how to add a marker to the map and also how to create a custom infoWindow. This article’s main topic will be on how to plot PolyLines on a map, how to get the distance between them, and using Markers to had a little bit more usability to your application.
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Marcel Flex, Google Maps API, tutorial Actionscript, Flex, howto, tutorial
It can be sometimes difficult to see why someone would want to create an immutable class. We as programmers LOVE to be in control of things, which is what immutable classes limit us to. So what is an immutable class? An immutable class is a object who can not change once it is initialized. All values of that object are fixed and will not change throughout the lifetime of that object. While it may sound like something we dont want, in this article, I will discuss how to make an object immutable and I will also talk about when to use and not use them.
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Marcel Best Practices, Learn This, Opinion Best Practices, howto, Learn This, tutorial
Google Maps has proven itself to be one of the best mapping systems on the internet. We have also seen a great number of google maps mashups take place (Everything some Subway maps to where is the cheapest gas). I only felt it would be nice to have an intro on how to use the google maps API with in Flex. On that note, it has been four posts since I have done a How-To article, so this is even more fitting. Within this tutorial, I will just go over some basics on how to add and edit Markers on a map and keep track of them in a grid.
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Marcel Flex, Google Maps API, tutorial Actionscript, Flex, howto, tutorial
For some odd reason, work allows me to handle phone screens and interviews. Each time I give an interview, I try to do three things. First I ask them about general programming questions. This might be OO questions. It might be methodology questions. It might be design pattern questions. Next I like to ask them more specific technologies questions, such as questions “how do you do ABC in Flex? Java?”. Lastly I want to know what they do in their spare time. What books they read? Do they code outside of work? How they go about researching new technologies? Etc.
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Marcel Best Practices, Learn This, Opinion, tutorial Best Practices, howto, Learn This, tutorial
Whenever Flash 10 came out a few months ago, they made a pretty big change to the security model which did not allow events to send files. Everything had to be handled by human interaction (AKA: MouseEvent.CLICK). Unfortunately that means that you now have to support both Flash 9 and Flash 10 in your flex/actionscript code. You never know when someone is going to upgrade to flash 10 to use your application. The problem is that in a business environment, it’s poor taste to require a business to upgrade everyone to Flash 10 to use your software. In fact, a lot of times, that upgrade is not even an option. If you compile something in Flash 10 though, your clients are greated with a nice message of ‘You must upgrade your Flash player in order to use this’. What we need to do is maintain binary compatibility with Flash 10, however not require it.
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Marcel Flex, Random Notes, tutorial Actionscript, Flex, howto, tutorial