Wednesday, May 29, 2002

A Lesson in MX Technology
There's no better way to learn all of the new features of Flash MX than to just start using them. I've begun work on a Flash-based multiplayer checkers game that uses Jabber as the protocol for relaying moves. I've tried to make it as object-oriented, event-driven, etc., etc. as possible. Here are some very handy little MX pointers I learned today:

• attachMovie: The attachMovie method now returns a reference to the object that it attached. No more typing eval("..."). Save your CPU and your fingers all at the same time!
• Stage: The Stage object is a fabulous new addition. Using the onResize() handler was a great way dynamically resize my checkerboard. The height and width properties helped a bit too.
• ASBroadcaster: If you don't know about ASBroadcaster, you should. Check out UltraShock's little number on this bad boy. Stuart Schoneveld's Event Model may be even better!