Flash 10 debug installation
Flash 10 is out! I promptly installed.
I then found out that the Flash install that Flex Builder uses was gone. It was replaced by the new, improved v10 Flash player which did not have any debugging capabilities (to keep the file size low).
I quickly started to scour the internet to find out how to get my debug version of Flash 10 installed so I could quit slacking off and get back to work. I found a few posts that pointed to an SVN repository where I could get the new debug goodness. However, the page timed out and never responded all day.
Another quick search pointed me here : http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html
I have downloaded files from here before to get back my debug Flash player after I updated from Adobe’s site. It’s a nice bookmark to have, especially if you ever have to try and find a specific version of the Flash Player for troubleshooting web apps. The first link said it was an update for CS4 (released today I believe), but it contains the Flash Player installer so get it anyway. I downloaded it, unzipped it, and proceeded to open up the debug folder which had a DMG installer that took care of the rest. It even has the standalone Flash Player (debug and release) in it!
Happy browsing.
Toggle hidden file viewing in Mac OS X
My one regret with OS X’s Finder is that I have found no easy way to toggle viewing hidden files and folders. In fact I was so perturbed that I went and wrote a small application to toggle hidden file and folder visibility when ran.
There are a couple of sites out there that show the way to do it, but none are that graceful. They require the user to force restart Finder (which is not desirable) and they usually call upon the use of Terminal and typing out the full command.
Not satisfied with a simple answer, and trying to avoid actual work, I decided to write up an AppleScript that would toggle the visibility of hidden files and folders from “on” to “off” every time you clicked it. I then packaged it up in a pretty little application, and even gave it a custom small icon so you can drag it to the right side of current icons in a Finder window and it looks pretty sharp. I got the icon idea from here.
Here’s the application! Hope it helps you out like it did for me.
And for those out there that like code:
Local folder syncing in Aptana
So I have started using an Eclipse modification called Aptana for my PHP/Javascript projects and really enjoy it so far. I’m very new to the software, but it seems easy to use and works with Adobe AIR.
The only problem I have ran into was trying to setup a local file sync. FTP syncs worked great, caused no headaches, and shouldn’t cause anyone else a headache either. However, I wanted to sync two folders on my machine and unfortunately the process left a lot to be desired. I ended up running into configuration problems and had to clean my configuration from the Help menu a couple times.
Thankfully, I ended up finding a workaround and subsequently posted it in the ASAP Aptana Issue Tracker to try and help anyone else until it receives a fix. It’s pretty easy to do, has caused no problems since, but requires a bit of tinkering to fix without any instructions.
Here’s how I did it, I hope it helps someone else:
I wanted to sync a folder called services to the services folder in my project. My project was already added to the project view at this point.
I went to the file view and selected the services folder (not the one in my project) that I wanted to sync to, right-clicked it and chose “Create new sync connection…”
Next I chose to “Add new project shortcut” and selected the services folder inside my project. Now hit the cancel button. If you then look in your Sync Manager pane, and click the drop down arrow and select “Show Local Sync Targets” you will see your new addition. However, you cannot use it yet.
Restart Aptana.
Now go back to the file view, right-click the services folder you want to sync (not the one in your project) and this time select the project shortcut that you previously made.