(Space = fullscreen, Download source, Flash Player 10 needed)

package
{
	import mx.controls.dataGridClasses.DataGridItemRenderer;
 
	public class TruncateToolTipRenderer extends DataGridItemRenderer
	{
		private var textTruncated:Boolean = false;
		private var originalText:String;
 
		public function TruncateDataGridItemRenderer()
		{
			super();
		}
 
		override public function set text(value:String):void
		{
			super.text = value;
			originalText = value;
			textTruncated = truncateToFit();
		}
 
		override public function validateProperties():void
		{
			super.validateProperties();
			toolTip = textTruncated ? originalText : null;
		}
	}
}

Just set the itemRenderer property of your column to the new TruncateToolTipRenderer. Neat!

Update: … and it’s a lot easier if you just set the itemRenderer to mx.controls.Label, because a Label already has truncate and tooltip functionality. As so often in Flex, everything is built in. Lesson learned!

My engine shouldn’t and doesn’t compete with Papervision3D or Sandy3D, nor it has a very user-friendly API, no stunning effects or animation support, but I learned a lot while building it, understanding 3D to 2D rendering, optimizing the code for a few ms of extra speed (AS3 rocks!) or challenge problems with 3D rotations like gimbal lock and their solutions: quaternions. It’s just another 3D flash engine, at least I can say: I made it! ;)

It’s undocumented, there’s still a lot of work to do and it doesn’t have a cool name , but if you want to play around with it or just take a look how I set up this and that, feel free to download the sources (yes, the 3D ribbon example is included). And I’m always interested in what you think about it, so drop a comment or mail.

A shape-based collision detection for bitmaps by Grant Skinner, since the third parameter in hitTestPoint(x:Number, y:Number, shapeFlag:Boolean) only works for vectorimages and I’m using bitmaps as graphics. A Proximity Manager. This small class comes really handy and the principle is so simple. The proximity manager splits the stage into grids and stores for every sprite in which grid they are. So you don’t need to test every sprite against all other sprites, instead you just say: “Give me all neighbours of that sprite”, which saves a lot of loops.

So I had the tools for a nice collision detection, for the collision reaction I converted a simple snooker algorithm to AS3: Snooker Balls. Watch the result:

Move your mouse over me!

// pseudo code
for each(bombs) {
    for each(shots) {
        if(bomb.hitTestObject(shot)) {
            // shot hit bomb...
        }
    }
}

you go:

// pseudo code
for each(bombs) {
    var objects:Array = shotClip.getObjectsUnderPoint(bomb.x, bomb.y);
    if(objects.length) {
          // shot hit bomb...
    }
}

This only works, if you have a seperate clip for the shots. Enough of the talk: Launch!

(Move using the mouse and rotate the gun with cursor keys)

The class “Test” acts as the factory class that’s responsible for the preloading. The Class “Demo” is the main application class. Using the compiler option -frame frameLabel Demo, the class Demo is compiled into frame 2.

Just like in Keith Peter’s Example and my try using an exclude xml, you can preload a pure AS3 application now, but in this case no flex framework classes are compiled into the resulting SWF and there is no need for an exclude xml. Finally!

So, why don’t just try nearly same with a local variable:

package {
    public class Singleton {
        private static var instance:Singleton;
        private static const checker:Object = {};
 
        public function Singleton(initObj:Object) {
            if(initObj != checker) {
                throw new Error("Private constructor!");
            }
        }
 
        public static function getInstance():Singleton {
            if(instance == null) {
                instance = new Singleton(checker);
            }
            return instance;
        }
    }
}

Update: I found another nice solution by GSkinner: SingletonDemo.

If you check out the comments in his post, you’ll find a few solutions, but none of them worked for me. So I generated a XML exclude File, that excludes the whole flex framework. You might want to give it a try: flex_framework_exclude.xml (compile with the option -load-externs+=flex_framework_exclude.xml). It’s still not satisfying, but it’s working…

Here is the workaround: Just create a blank NativeMenu and listen for the display event.

var menu:NativeMenu = new NativeMenu();
menu.addEventListener(Event.DISPLAYING, onRightClick, false, 0, true);
someSprite.contextMenu = menu;

I will post news, talk about my flash experiments, actionscript in general and whatever pops into my mind here.
So, let’s get started!