I wish this didn’t matter as much as it actually does.

This is easily handled by listening for Security Error Events from the URLLoader and additionally wrapping the load call in a try/catch statement. However, I was surprised to find out that URLLoader has no built-in timeout for altogether unavailable addresses. In most cases, a Security Error would be thrown when a crossdomain policy file fails to load, but that takes about 30 seconds. I’m still a little confused on the details of this, but check out the comments on the URLLoader in the AS3 Language Reference.

Enter URLLoaderDeluxe. I’m sure this has been done before, but I failed to find code out there that was ready to go. URLLoaderDeluxe extends URLLoader and adds an optional timeout value to the constructor.

In addition to handling non-existent or unavailable urls, turns out this aids in dealing with ad blocker plugins on browsers. The ad blocker will basically remap a call to a url it recognizes as an ad server, rendering it unavailable. In these cases, a simple timeout on the call can save you from errors, fail the load, and send the app on it’s way. Jesse Warden wrote on this a while ago, and his solution coincides with what I’ve done here.

Please let me know if this helps, if I’m totally off, or if you know anything else about this.

I’ve written a little bit on remote content loading before. Steven Sacks (via Jesse Warden) has the most straightforward solution and the one that I’ve been using the most: http://www.stevensacks.net/2008/12/23/solution-as3-security-error-2122-with-300-redirects/.

Check out my RuntimeLibraryItem class. This abstract class can be easily extended or instantiated for different types of external assets or just individual items.

For example:
Externalizing my fonts saves huge weight up front, but loading and registering them can be a bit confusing and tedious. My RuntimeFont class is an extension of the RuntimeLibraryItem class and streamlines the external font loading process.

I’ve started to build a library of font swfs for each project by generating a swf for each font with a single exported font library item. So, LucidaGrandeRegular.swf would contain the exported font symbol, ‘LucidaGrandeRegular’. The class LucidaGrandeRegular.as would then look like this:

public class LucidaGrandeRegular extends RuntimeFont
{
        public function LucidaGrandeRegular(autoLoad:Boolean = false)
        {
		var url:String = 'path/to/LucidaGrandeRegular.swf';
		super('LucidaGrandeRegular', url, autoLoad);
	}
}

RuntimeFont takes over from there:

public class RuntimeFont extends RuntimeLibraryItem
{
        public static var library:Array = new Array();

        private var _name:String;

        public function RuntimeFont(name:String, url:String, autoLoad:Boolean = false)
        {
                _name = name;        // save the name of the font to be registered
                super(url, autoLoad); // RuntimeLibraryItem class loads the swf
                library.push(this);     // store this in a static var of runtime fonts
        }

        private function registerFont():void
        {
                // registers with the Font class for use in the application
                Font.registerFont( getClass(this.name) as Class );
        }

        override protected function handleLoadComplete(event:Event):void
        {
                this.registerFont();  // register the font when the swf loads
                super.handleLoadComplete(event);
        }

        public function get name():String
        {
                // utility getter for whatever
                return _name;
        }

}

This turns the font load for LucidaGrandeRegular into something as simple as

var lg:LucidaGrandeRegular = new LucidaGrandeRegular();
lg.addEventListener(RuntimeClassLibrary.LOAD_COMPLETE, handleFontsLoaded);
lg.load();

This is still evolving, but I’ll post sample code in the examples directory soon.


public static function get parentUrl():String
{
if(ExternalInterface.available)
{
try
{
var parent:String = String( ExternalInterface.call(" function(){ return document.location.href.toString();}"));
return parent;
}
catch(error:Error){}
catch (error:SecurityError){}
}
return '';
}


Just be sure you have AllowScriptAccess set to “always” in your embed params or else a Security Error will be thrown by the player.

Supported CSS properties

1. color | color
   
   Only hexadecimal color values are supported. Named colors (such as blue) are not supported. Colors are written in the following format: #FF0000.
   




2. display | display
   
   Supported values are inline, block, and none.
   




3. text-align | textAlign
   
   Recognized values are left, center, right, and justify.
   




4. text-decoration | textDecoration
   
   Recognized values are none and underline.
   




5. text-indent | textIndent
   
   Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
   




6. margin-left | marginLeft
   
   Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
   




7. margin-right | marginRight
   
   Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
   




8. kerning | kerning
   
   Recognized values are true and false.
   




9. letter-spacing | letterSpacing
   
   Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
   




10. font-size | fontSize
    
    Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
    




11. font-family | fontFamily
    
    A comma-separated list of fonts to use, in descending order of desirability. Any font family name can be used. If you specify a generic font name, it is converted to an appropriate device font. The following font conversions are available: mono is converted to _typewriter, sans-serif is converted to _sans, and serif is converted to _serif.
    




12. font-weight | fontWeight
    
    Recognized values are normal and bold.
    




13. display | display
    
    Supported values are inline, block, and none.
    



UNDOCUMENTED


14. leading | leading
    
    Only the numeric part of the value is used. Units (px, pt) are not parsed; pixels and points are equivalent.
    

http://jessewarden.com/2008/11/agile-chronicles-1-stressful.html

As I understand it, Agile development is a process squarely different from the process that an advertising project typically follows. I have had similar thoughts to Jesse’s on working with agencies:

“Working with Design Agencies, there was no process. Not because Agencies are dumb, but rather because the project timelines Agencies have are typically significantly shorter than traditional software or product development. On average, 2 weeks vs. 4 months. While a deadline can stretch to 4 months, you only work 10 man days on it, and of those 10, 5 are done initially, and the other 5 are done over the course of 2 or 3 months on client changes. In short, if you have 5 days to complete a complicated coding project, you’re more focused on getting things done than you are worrying about encapsulation, continuous integration, and frameworks. Writing code on day 1, and wondering who in the heck has time for UMLand test cases. Agencies are deadline driven, whereas in software development, nothing is ever on time.”

I’m going to read on when I get more time. It would be interesting to hear what you think.

I’ve been coming up with my own ways for simplifying the construction of a sequence of tweens, but this utility is by far more flexible and useful than anything I’ve come up with so far.