Randy Troppmann

in a Flash application has been an issue that I have not got around to solving until recently. Grant Skinner explained how to preload class based Flash apps in his blog post “Internal Preloading in Flash MX 2004″. The problem with the Yahoo! map component arises when you try to use the PanTool and the compiler claims that this class is unavailable. It seems that the PanTool class is not getting loaded at the right time. Playing around with this I found that instantiating the PantTool object in the map init event handler seems to work. Download the source FLA to see the whole setup.

import com.yahoo.maps.tools.PanTool;
map.addEventListener(
com.yahoo.maps.api.flash.YahooMap.EVENT_INITIALIZE,
onInitMap);
function onInitMap(eventData) {
map.addTool(new com.yahoo.maps.tools.PanTool(), true);
}

is a quest I have been on for a while. When in 2000 I created my first flash movie I quickly realized that creating my own GUI elements is not easy. I have been inspired by the work of others and tried many things in the interactive work I have done in Flash since. I use to change my winamp skin weekly and enjoyed looking through the hundreds of user-made skins available. Finally, after much effort and carpal tunnel syndrome, I have designed the perfect button:

This work predated and influenced the current RUNNINGMAP interface. It is very simple and slightly sculptural which gives the buttons a tactile feel and makes them look clickable. I think buttons should look clickable which means that I don’t favour the in-vogue flat one-dimensional look of some ajax based web apps. You should not have to hover over something to see if it is a button.

at the Yahoo! Gallery which showcases hundreds of applications that use Yahoo! technologies.

Am I the only one who thinks its inevitable that the town of Two Hills, Alberta will get a Hooters franchise?

We just got back from Disneyland (first time for me) where my wife, 8yr old daughter and I spent marathon days exploring the parks. It was an awesome time and a nice break from work.