I’ve been working on Dwarf little by little and finally built one of the most requested features—unit types. The five available unit types are pixels, picas, centimeters, inches, and percent. Inches have dotted lines for quarter inches and percent always displays 100% on the ruler, but scales its grid to show ten columns and ten rows. At the moment, the units are based on a 72 dpi screen, but I’ll be adding an option to change the dpi, since most screens aren’t 72. If anyone has suggestions for that other than using a list, let me know.

The unit type is selected by clicking the menu at the right of the toolbar. It prompts a context menu with the options. Dwarf remembers which unit type you used last, so it’ll remain the same next time you startup. Along with unit types, I included positions and dimensions in the toolbar. This is mostly for the position, but I thought dimensions look nice up there too. At the moment, the position is in relation to the main screen, but the next build improves multi-screen support. You will be able to specify which screen to relate the position to. This also comes in handy for moving guides from screen to screen.

If you’re already a Dwarf user, start up for the update, or download it from GitHub. And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments.

A recent AIR prerelease drop broke Dwarf. I’m actually not surprised, since it uses a pretty ghetto hack—displaying a transparent window fullscreen and using ‘virtual’ windows. Because Dwarf is such an integral part of my everyday workflow and it’s such a small app, I figured I could easily rewrite it within a day or two. I’ve been on such a code-sharing high, that I started a new Git repository for it where you can find my work in progress. So far, I have a single ruler working with a semi-functional Mac toolbar. Everything should be complete either tonight or tomorrow, so keep an eye out.

On a legal note, the source code is provided under the GNU General Public License (GPL), so you can reuse and modify the code all you want as long as it’s still free. If you’d like to use it for commercial purposes, let’s talk.

About five or six months ago, Twitter decided to enforce the transition. From then on, any application that uses the API must use OAuth in order to see “via [your app]” on tweets published with it—otherwise, it would display “via API.” Since “via” is where apps get probably 90% of their referrals, this was a big deal. Luckily for me, DestroyTwitter existed before that time and Twitter decided not to push the change on the veteran apps. Recently, however, the bad news spread that Basic Auth would be deprecated in June. This means every Twitter app must transition to the pain that is OAuth.

After developing the MAX Companion this past fall and now the more generalized version, I found myself rewriting the Twitter component each time. After a while, the Twitter API code I wrote for DestroyTwitter began to merge with the actual implementation, so it was no longer a standalone library that could easily be used by other projects. These past few months, I’ve been learning a great deal about framework architecture and design patterns. It has led me to realize I need to start fresh.

With all that being said, I’d like introduce a library I started working on two days ago. I call it TwitterAspirin. It’s an AS3 Twitter API library that eases the pain, providing developers with a very powerful tool for communicating with Twitter. Though it’s still a newborn at the moment, I see potential already. The library is built on RobotLegs and uses AS3 Signals instead of events. It’s hosted on GitHub, so the source code will always be available to the public. And, after last night’s commit, its OAuth functionality is complete. Here’s how to use it:

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package {
	import com.destroytoday.twitteraspirin.Twitter;
 
	import flash.display.Sprite;
 
	public class Test extends Sprite {
		// set application consumer key and secret
		public var twitter:Twitter = new Twitter(consumerKey, consumerSecret);
 
		public function Test() {
			// add signal listeners
			twitter.oauth.requestTokenSignal.add(requestTokenHandler);
			twitter.oauth.accessTokenSignal.add(accessTokenHandler);
			twitter.oauth.verifyAccessTokenSignal.add(verifyAccessTokenHandler);
		}
 
		// click the 'Authorize' button to get the request token
		protected function authorizeClickHandler():void {
			twitter.oauth.getRequestToken();
		}
 
		// upon receiving the request token, open Twitter in the browser to authorize
		protected function requestTokenHandler(oauth:OAuth, token:OAuthToken):void {
			navigateToURL(new URLRequest(oauth.getAuthorizeURL()));
		}
 
		// return with the provided pin and click the 'Activate' button to get the access token
		protected function activateClickHandler():void {
			twitter.oauth.getAccessToken(pin);
		}
 
		// upon receiving the access token, verify it
		protected function accessTokenHandler(oauth:OAuth, token:OAuthToken):void {
			oauth.verifyAccessToken(token);
		}
 
		// done
		protected function verifyAccessTokenHandler(oauth:OAuth, token:OAuthToken):void {
		}
	}
}

As you can see, it’s extremely easy to use. Not only that, it provides great flexibility. Many libraries are simple to implement, but don’t allow the developer access to certain aspects of the process. With TwitterAspirin, each method returns the loader involved with the operation, giving developers the ability to listen for errors, cancel the operation, or attain the raw API data. The library also uses loader pools to recycle instances, so you can submit a tweet and, while it’s loading, submit another—you don’t have to wait for the first operation to finish. Then, once the operation is complete, the loader is disposed and returned to the pool, which optimizes performance and memory usage.

I’m really excited to see where TwitterAspirin goes and I have nothing but great expectations. Be sure to follow along with development and fork whenever you like.

So why an XMLLoader class?—because 99% of the data I load with AS3/AIR is in XML format. I stay far from JSON when possible because in AS3 it’s slower than a slug on its day off. XML is native and uses E4X, which lets developers navigate its information just like you would an AS3 tree. I load XML so often, I found myself copying and pasting the same code each time I’d need it—this is the clearest indicator that a class must be written.

Parsing String data to XML poses an issue that many don’t know about. I only discovered it because of the Twitter API. The API is so janked, it sometimes returns the HTML error page instead of the XML response. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for an image tag in the HTML that isn’t closed. This immediately throws an “XML parser failure: element is malformed” error. Using try/catch is the only way to avoid this. That’s why I wrote it into XMLLoader. It automatically handles the data, attempts to parse it, and, if there are any errors, the load stops and dispatches an error signal.

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package {
	import com.destroytoday.net.XMLLoader;
 
	import flash.display.Sprite;
 
	public class Test extends Sprite {
		public var loader:XMLLoader;
 
		public function Test() {
			loader = new XMLLoader();
 
			loader.retryCount = 2;
			loader.includeResponseInfo = true;
 
			loader.openSignal.add(loaderOpenHandler);
			loader.completeSignal.add(loaderCompleteHandler);
			loader.errorSignal.add(loaderErrorHandler);
 
			loader.load("http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=destroytoday");
		}
 
		protected function loaderOpenHandler(loader:XMLLoader):void {
			trace(loader);
		}
 
		protected function loaderCompleteHandler(loader:XMLLoader, data:XML):void {
			trace(loader, data);
		}
 
		protected function loaderErrorHandler(loader:XMLLoader, error:String, message:String):void {
			trace(loader, error, message);
			trace(loader.responseStatus);
		}
	}
}

Speaking of signals, XMLLoader is the first class in DestroyFramework to use Robert Penner’s AS3 Signals instead of events. If you have to ask why, you haven’t been programming in AS3 long enough. Each XMLLoader instance has signals for open, complete, error, and cancel. The class also includes a retryCount property that indicates how many times to attempt to load a URL before calling it quits. Since some APIs can be down one second, then up the next, this feature really comes in handy. It’s mainly intended for handling the beloved fail whale.

The last two features include a cancel method and an includeResponseInfo property. Sure, URLLoader has a cancel method, close, but an exception is thrown if you call close when no operation is in progress. This makes sense, but the runtime shouldn’t close down shop when it happens. XMLLoader instead cancels and dispatches the cancel signal when the cancel method is called, and if no operations are in progress, it simply does nothing.

The includeResponseInfo property is an incredibly easy way to tell the loader to return the response status code and headers upon success or fail. Without XMLLoader, you could get this information with an event listener and the appropriate handler, but it’s far easier to flick a switch. In all honesty, I’ve neglected to retrieve this info using URLLoader in the past simply because it’s such a verbose process. Now that it only requires setting the property to true, I know I’ll use it more often than not.

As always, the source code is available on GitHub. Be sure to keep watch—my account will be pretty active these next few weeks.

I have a number of new DestroyFramework classes ready to document and check-in over the next few days. I plan to get back into sharing interesting and useful things I come across, regarding both programming and design. And, now that I’ve been introduced to MVC(S) and RobotLegs, I have a lot more to talk about—expect a tutorial in the near future.

To add some imagery to this post, below is yesterday’s Destroy Everyday post featuring Andy Mangold. I also included a detail shot because the web-sized image really doesn’t do it justice.

It’s the new year and the best day to start anything. In my search for a hobby off the computer, I compromised and found a semi-off-the-computer challenge. Jen led me to the “Make Something Cool Every Day” concept. It’s a great motivation to consistently produce work while strengthening creativity. The best example I’ve seen yet is Brock Davis’s portfolio on Behance. Surely, I don’t expect to think up ideas as original as his, but I plan to use this as a stimulus to return to photography, print, and any other physical mediums I’ve neglected over the years.

The daily creations will reside on destroyeveryday.com as a Tumblr blog. The service provides a dozen different ways to post content, so “I didn’t have access to a computer” won’t be an excuse for missing a day—believe it or not, you can post content via a 1-800 number. Here’s to the new year and the beginning of a new venture.

AsyncLoop works around a timer limit. The developer sets the maximum number of milliseconds to loop through the process function. Once the timer exceeds that limit, it carries over to the next frame and repeats. The loop can be ended a number of ways, providing great flexibility. A limit can be placed on the loop count, mimicking common for loop usage. The loop can return the AsyncLoopAction.BREAK constant. When using that method, AsyncLoopAction.CONTINUE is used to tell the loop to continue to the next tick. Each loop provides analytics, keeping track of its duration, loop count, and frame count. Here are two ways you can use it:

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// new AsyncLoop(callback:Function, countLimit:int = -1, timerLimit:int = 20);
var loop:AsyncLoop = new AsyncLoop(tick, 1000);
 
loop.addEventListener(Event.OPEN, loopOpenHandler);
loop.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, loopChangeHandler);
loop.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loopCompleteHandler);
 
loop.start();
 
function tick():void {
	// heavy process
}
 
function loopOpenHandler(event:Event):void {
	// loop started
}
function loopChangeHandler(event:Event):void {
	// loop carries over to next frame
 
	trace(loop.duration); // incomplete loop running time
	trace(loop.currentCount); // number of callback calls
}
function loopCompleteHandler(event:Event):void {
	// loop complete
 
	trace(loop.duration); // completed loop duration
	trace(loop.frameCount); // frames needed to complete
}

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var loop:AsyncLoop = new AsyncLoop(tick);
 
loop.start();
 
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickHandler);
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.DOUBLE_CLICK, doubleClickHandler);
 
function tick():String {
	// heavy process
 
	if (loopShouldEnd) {
		return AsyncLoopAction.BREAK;
	}
 
	return AsyncLoopAction.CONTINUE;
}
 
function clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void {
	if (loop.running) {
		loop.pause();
	} else {
		loop.start();
	}
}
function doubleClickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void {
	loop.cancel();
}

I’m really happy with the class and how far it has come since its original form as fLoop. As always, the source code is on GitHub, so take it and run! If you find it useful, feel free to share how you used it, or simply let me know what you think.

The Scale9Bitmap class applies a scale9Grid to a Bitmap. It takes advantage of a technique I used for DestroyTwitter’s window drop shadow, scaling nine Bitmap instances. When developing the MAX Companion, I tried Didier Brun’s ScaleBitmap class, but discovered a costly memory leak in which it instantiates a new BitmapData instance with every resize call. This wouldn’t be a big deal for a once-and-done resize, but as a window drop shadow, memory skyrockets.

I decided to start from scratch and develop a class that is super fast and slim as can be. The Bitmaps are only updated when the BitmapData is set. After that, the only process that takes place is the resizing of each Bitmap—no BitmapData manipulation needed. Setup requires a single method to set the BitmapData and the Rectangle that indicates the stretchable portion of the Bitmap. BitmapData can be changed on the fly and there is a scale property that sets both scaleX and scaleY.

The source code is on GitHub, so feel free to give it a whirl.