Now with the project Im working on at the moment this is really a really nice javascript. Click the images and find out. Its Lightbox v2, I remember seeing links around somewhere to this guys labs where he is playing round making a much more involved system with drag and drop images etc. Still nothing new, or hard in the flash world ) but nice to see and just good clean fun. Wonder how it degreades if no javascript is on.

 Infact does anyone here run thier browser with javascript disabled? Im still finding some resistance to flash in some situations, but Ill post more on that tonight. 

So I have been moving onto Ruby on Rails (i know this blog is tettering in the bronk of becoming a dreded "web 2.0" chat site), and I really love it.

The basis of Ruby on Rails, is that it is a programing lanuage (Ruby made by some asian folk) that found some fame when it got some Rails. Rails being a framework which was wrapped around it to very simply hook it all up automajically to the database. It rellys heavily on the MVC OOP patern. Model, View and Controller. Check out an explanation on the WIKI.  So I have been using MVC in flash apps and it works well. Its great in fact. Nicely separated, easily extendable blah blah blah.

The great thing is, if im dealing with alot of something, say users, in the databas, literally 15 lines of code and the framework knows I will probably want to Add, Edit and Delete entries. COOL, it takes care of it all for you. Super quick and extendable. 

This is something I think the future Flex 2.0 might have missed the mark a little on. Maybe because Flex really only cares about the Data it has to work with and has no real connection/control over a database. It requires some coding either in flex or the server side (or both) to add all this add edit and delete functionality. Dont get me wrong I love the new Flex framework and the speed of the new Virtual machine, but maybe the Flex framework was a little to focused on creating a winformsish environment rather than stepping back and saying we have the flash ide, lets build a data manipulation framework, and let the designers style the standard controls, with a really extended css lanuage.

So I am now wondering where are Flex’s rails? Maybe this could be some future AMFPHP/Coldfusion development, but as I mentioned earlier Flex is a client side appliccation and has no real control over the database.

Anyways food for thought, and at 3:42am there aint much thought left in this wee head. 

Goowy for the un-initated out there is what started out as an online flash email system. What it has envolved into is something quite different and I think has become a real success story of what flash can achieve in a larger software product development cycle.

I have watched Goowy evolve from the early days going through the clunkyness of sorting UI, functionality and feature set. It started out simple and sweet. Then it seemed to reach the end of its original framework capabilities and start to feel a little clunky. Next the revised everything and relaunched a whole subset of new features and I guess framework which really lifted the whole site.

Tonight I logged on and tried out the file sharing and instant messaging features. WOW. The instant messaging is nothing new (think meebo etc) but the implimentation feels really nice and seemless and unobtrusive.

I then jumped on and tried out the file system. Goowy has teamed up with Box.net to provide free (and for the mega users cheap) online file storage. Nothing new again but its just how it has been done. Then the features wrapped around this new functionality just feel seemless. So i think this next version of Goowy has passed the "thats cool and ill use it cause it is" stage and has now reached the "yep that actually is nice to use and DOES make my life easier when online" stage. The usage stats are possibly showing this too, lets just hope that Goowy has the right business model to really make it and help forge the way for super slick fully blow online flash applications (wow that could be a web 2.0 term…..ssfbofa hehehe). It has been noted in a few places that Goowy has been agreesivlly marketing themselves and a few comments have been made around the place, but I have not felt abused in anyway yet. Noted the instant messaging does add a “(Sent using goowy web messenger. Check it out at http://www.goowy.com )” to the start of each conversation which is a bit unfortunate, but hey a guys gotta get paid right?

So a big well done to the team at Goowy. TechCrunch has posted an article about the new features which might be of more interest, and they have some pretty pictures. Once I get the ok from the goowy peeps I will venture to update this post with some of my own. 

Heck why fill up my own server with images when Ryan at Digital backcountry has them. 

Well my mustang is coming along well, Scrat the chinchilla is turning out to be the flash Actionscript guru, and some of my orchids are starting to flower (if you knew how good I am at growing stuff you would be amazed too). Things have been mad round here. Business is powering on full speed at BlueSpark and I have been contracting back to my old work till they get the release of Deep Server out of the way. Man is it just me or is it that time just melts away faster the older you get? Have a holiday in Fiji coming up that I am really looking forward to. Ruby on Rails rocks. For the non g33k reader its just another web programming language, but this one rocks sooo much. Its using the fabled MVC patterns and just seems to easy and quick……and it is!!!

First up the mustang. I have the front 4/5ths of the car finished structurally. I have replaced what we here in NZ call the chassis (frames in the States) replace the floors firewall, half the engine bay. Man there isn't a lot of the original car here, but I really cant wait till I get the panels painted up and go for the first roll.

Next is Scrat. A couple of months ago we splashed out for a new coder here at xsive. Scrat the Chinchilla has now become an invaluable member of the team, who much like the rest of us sleeps during the day and goes nuts at night. Hes done with AS 2 now hes banging out AS3

And finally this one is more for my Mum. She gave me some Orchids to try and grow. Now while this would normally be a death sentence for any green leafed being, I actually managed to get one to flower so I'm kinda proud.

Hats off to Ryan Stewart for attempting to keep a bit of a central place for Apollo Questions. For those new to my blog or the world of adobe, Apollo is to be a desktop client to house flash html javascript on the desktop, like a browser…..but focused on allowing RIAs etc to come offline and still have that internet aware state. Read more about it at Ryans Blog. This whole topic is something I really see a need for. Offline caching, desktop interaction….so many more possibbilites. Can you think of some? Well if you can Adobe has set up an email address asking for ideas: wish-apollo@adobe.com

I am saving a few of mine up to do one extra big email   I even got one of the boys at BloginBlack in trouble because I asked if Apollo could be used to make flash widgets. Yes it aparently could be, but Mike Chambers was very adament that Apollo will be much much more.WICKED!!

So var  Apollo:SomeDesktopClient + flash 9:SimplyCool + AS3:AboutTime = some simply wicked oportunities!!

Stay tuned on this one. Oh and also the new Flash player beta 2 and Flex build beta 2 are out at adobe labs if you want to download.