Homepage snippet archive

This is where I dump all the little snippets that are moved off the homepage.
NOTE: some of this content may be outdated.

New article: Strict Typing and the Communication Classes
Brian Lesser goes into great details when he walks us through some issues many developers face when using AS2's strict typing with the NetConnection, NetStream, SharedObject and other communication classes.
Check out Brian's article

New tutorial: Flash Communication Server-Side framework
Another competition entry from my friend Fernando. This tutorial (it's more of an article actually) will give you a real insight into some of the benefits of the flashcom framework. Fernando demonstrates that you can build on a solid foundation for your apps without having to use the clientside components (if you don't want).
Server side framework tips and tricks

New tutorial: Extending simpleconnect
This tutorial was submitted as part of our T-Shirt competition. Janu explains how the simpleconnect component can be extended to support multiple protocols and ports. Source file is included.
Check out the simpleconnect tutorial
And the winner is... (tutorial competition)
Actually there are 4 winners. The guys from Influxis have sent me some more T-shirts (with a slightly different design) and I am glad to say that all 4 tutorial authors will be sent a T-shirt shortly. The winners (Fernando, Janu, Art and Rene) have also been informed via email. The turnout was a little poor but hey, 4 tutorials is better than none. All tutorials will be published over the next few weeks. Thanks guys!

Edison (the next Flashcom release) is happening!
Just in case you have missed the live sneak peak of possible features in Flash Communication Server 2 at MAX and also haven't yet checked out the recorded session then here's the summary: Chris Hock confirmed that a new release is in the pipeline, that there will be a full release (but we don't know yet when) and he listed a lot of exciting features that might or might not be included in that release.
Read my full summary here

Video and Camera Tips
Bill Sanders is the man of a thousand cams. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating - he only owns 10 different ones :-) Check out his recommendations and experiences with several pieces of hardware in combination with Flashcom Server.
Read Bill's tips

Flashcomguru launches coMMChat
Finally we have a working chatroom on flashcomguru.com - and it's about time as the site is now up and runnign for almost 10 months. I won't bore you with long speeches but direct you to the room - here it is.
Log on to coMMChat

Buraks releases GUI for flvmdi
If you work with progressive flv files then you are likely to have used Buraks flvmdi tool to inject some metadata. Maybe the commandline version scared you - in which case good news: there is now a GUI frontend. It's free and runs on Windows. Nice one Burak.
GUI for flvmdi

Proxus FLV Player
The Proxus Player has been updated and so has this review. A good piece of kit and very useful for deploying applications that implement progressive video delivery.
Check the review

Macromedia revamps Flash Video Dev Center
I cannot say that I didn't see this coming: Macromedia have updated their Flash Video Developer Center and added some new tutorials whilst updating some older ones. They have also announced the upcoming Flash Video Kit which you can get free of charge by registering your copy of Studio MX 2004 by the end of September (also available for purchase at $99).
Visit Macromedia Flash Video

Tutorial: configure multiple vhosts
I have just added a new tutorial covering the configuration of additional vhosts on Flashcom Server Professional Edition. The server admins amongst you may find it useful and any feedback would be highly appreciated.
Read the tutorial

Flashcom Live Docs online
Macromedia have recently made some Live Docs available covering a variety of topics on Flash Communication Server. There aren't many comments available just yet but hopefully this will change in the near future. The comments are sometimes the most useful part of the whole documentation.
Live Docs

Video chat on TTR2
I have just deployed another copy of my ameegos chat application to a friend's site. Go and visit TTR2.com if you feel bored, I hang out there sometimes.
Visit.

Offbeat Multiuser Server - free download
Strange but today was the very first time I have come across this Java and XML based Socket Server - and it sounds very interesting indeed.
According to the website this server can be used to create:
    - Data driven applications (ie. intranets)
    - Communication applications (chats, real-time data sharing...)
    - Games
    - Monitoring applications
    - Controlling applications
Offbeat is currently in beta and free to download. Note that it does not support video or audio communications (FCS is the only server that supports this at the moment in Flash) but the feature set is still very strong. I recommend you give it a spin.
Offbeat Multiuser Socket Server

Essential Actionscript 2 now shipping
I admit I haven't actually bought a copy yet... But this must be high on anyone's list of Actionscript related literature. If you fancy some in-depth reading then order a copy from Amazon, here's the link to Amazon UK.
Go buy it.

Recommended reading
I have just been sent a copy of Phillip Kerman's latest book titled Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Rich Internet Applications. Having read about half of it already I wanted to say that the two chapters on Flash Communication Server are a really good read, especially if you are new to FCS.
Phillip covers the client and application object in detail before turning to more advanced topics. This book isn't a complete how-to for FCS but it certainly holds some great pieces of information - not only on FCS but Flash in general. I enjoyed the chapters about dynamic data and the book covers not only loadvars and XMl but also a good deal on Remoting. It's also very interesting to see how other people work with Flash and the procedures on debugging Flash apps are just one of many golden nuggets in this book. I recommend you add it to your Flash library - literally ;-)
Buy it at Amazon.

Running IIS and FCS on the same server
A new tutorial is now live. Read it here.

FCS Hosting list and tools added
I have just added a list of all FCS hosting providers known to me to this page. There are also a few tools available such as a port tester and bandwidth checker, courtesy of Pritham. It totally rocks.

Authoring components updater for Macintosh
Macromedia have just released a Flash communication Components Updater for Macintosh. You can download them here but it might be a good idea to wait a week or so before installing so Macromedia can iron out any bugs should there be any.