Prior to Flash CS4, using Flash’s project panel to manage your project files was a bit of pain to work with. For those who have used it before, I am sure you have felt that same pain.

With the acquisition of Grant Skinner’s gProject Panel, Flash CS4 now provides a much improved project panel. When managing multiple projects, the new Flash project panel allows you to do so much more quickly and easily.

The new Project panel helps you do the following:

• Create, manage, and visualize projects
• Switch between project folders quickly
• Open files for editing
• Create files and folders
• Test and publish project files
• Bind external resources to your project

Working with the Project panel in Flash

Dan Carr recently wrote an article which provides an overview of the Project panel in Flash CS4 Professional and includes a tutorial to help you begin using the tool quickly. The tutorial guides you through the creation of a photo gallery slideshow project from a series of supplied assets.

It is definitely worth the read if you’ve never used the Flash project panel before. Even if you have, this article provides some handy tips and tricks on enhancing the use of the Flash Project panel.

Free Update to Flash CS4 Project Panel

Grant was kind enough to release an update to the Project panel with new features that will get some very excited.  Learn more about this update!

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about the Project Panel
• Project Panel tips and tricks

Debugging your Flash applications can take some getting used to.  Especially, if you’ve never used a debugger before. Having the right tool to aid in debugging your Flash Applications can save a boat load of time.  Also when debugging, the debugging tool used should provide easy access to your ActionScript data with little of a learning curve. An innovative debugging tool that I have been pretty fond of lately has been De MonsterDebugger.

What is De MonsterDebugger?

These days my ActionScript 3.0 debugger of choice has been De MonsterDebugger.  De MonsterDebugger is an easy to use open source debugger for Adobe Flash,Flex, and AIR created by the guys over at De Monsters.  Not only does it provide an Adobe-styled familiar interface, but it comes in a convenient Adobe AIR Application.  It’s impressive list of features make it a tough debugger to compete with.

DeMonster Debugger comes with an impressive set of features:

• Can be used with Adobe AIR applications
• Can be used with Adobe Flex applications
• Can be used with full screen Adobe Flash applications
• Trace strings, numbers, objects, arrays, XML and even custom classes
• Trace the complete structure of multilevel objects
• Trace messages in custom colors
• Explore your live application
• Edit properties at runtime
• Run methods and get the results at runtime
• Application is lightweight
• Auto update
• Look and feel of Adobe CS4
• Customizable interface
• Highlight display objects
• Client class included
• Example application included
• FDT templates included

The one feature that is probably missing from it’s feature set is probably the ability to step through break points, but hey, I won’t be picky. It is still a great debugging tool and best of all it is open source!

Check out the video rundown on De MonsterDebugger!

Be sure you check out this video created by Lee Brimelow as he demonstrates some of the coolest features this slick debugging tool has to offer.

Additional Resources:

• Download the AIR application
• Learn more about De MonsterDebugger
• Spread the word

Who wants to win a FlairBuilder License?

Earlier this week, I introduced a new, innovative prototyping tool called FlairBuilder.  I was happy to help Cristian Pascu get the word out about his new application.  If you are one of the many that has downloaded the trial, I’d love to see what type of wireframes you’ve come up with.

After many trial downloads, Cristian and I decided to provide an opportunity to earn yourself a free license of FlairBuilder. Cristian was kind enough to giveaway 5 FlairBuilder licenses to those willing to participate in this contest.

How do I participate?

We would like for you to create a 2-3 wireframe flow based on a new or existing website or project.  This is not only a great opportunity to really experience the excitement surrounding FlairBuilder,it is also an opportunity to win yourself a license.  Once you’ve created your wireframe flow, use the comment section below to link to it from your own server using the live online viewer.

Submit an URL like this:
http://www.flairbuilder.com/viewer/?url=YOUR_OWN_URL_HERE

The rules…

• The rules are simple.  All that we ask is to submit something that you’ll be proud of.
• You must leave a valid email address when filling up the comment form.
• Contest ends May 25, 2009, after which comments will be disabled.
• Winners will be selected by Cristian himself

Can’t wait to see the results.  Have fun!

The community’s cry for a simple guide that would quickly go over some of the most felt changes from AS2 to AS3 has been heard.  Adobe has recently added a new resource to the ActionScript Center called the ActionScript 3 Migration Cookbook.

There you will find a quick introduction to migrating to ActionScript 3.0 from ActionScript 2.0.  It is targeted at designers and developers who have some experience scripting content within Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. It does not require an understanding of object-oriented programming.

Along with this resource of common AS2 code into AS3 conversions is a a downloadable PDF version which basically takes this section of the Devent site and dumps it into a portable version. Overall, this is a nice guide that can provide that helping hand during the first stages of the migration over to AS3.

Download the ActionScript 3 migration cookbook

With the growth of intense Flash applications that handle sensitive data like user names, passwords, account data, etc, HP looks to increase awareness of common security vulnerabilities that can be found in today’s Flash applications.  Earlier this week, HP announced the release of its security tool called HP SWFScan.

What is HP SWFScan?

HP SWFScan is a free security tool for Windows that helps developers find security vulnerabilities in applications developed with the Adobe Flash Platform.  SWFScan helps you find, fix, and prevent security vulnerabilities in your SWF applications and deliver more secure code without having to become a security expert.

How does it work?

SWFScan will decompile the targeted SWF file and analyze the source code to see if it can target any potential security vulnerabilities.  It will also perform a static analysis to understand their behaviors as this will help identify vulnerabilities that lie under the surface of an application and are not otherwise detectable with traditional dynamic methods.

If you’ve ever used a SWF decompiler, then the interface of this application will feel right at home.  If you are interested in learning more on SWFScan check the article on Adobe Developer Center.

Download HP SWFScan