OK, so there's no such (official) thing as Flash Builder 4 for Linux (unless you know how to use "the Internet" and something called "Google"). Despite Adobe's reluctance to give us the "choice" (ahem) of OS to use, some clever people have figured out how to get most of FB4 to work on, in my case, Ubuntu.

Here are some tricks I had to use to get it really humming:

Problem: Packages Missing
(OK, this one's just me being stupid)
Use View: Package Explorer, not Navigator

Restore Control-Shift-R
(Most annoying bug in FB4!)
Windows -> Customize Perspective -> Command Groups Availability:
De-select "Flash Navigation"
Restart Eclipse
If this doesn't fix the problem, go back into Command Groups Availability:
Select "Java Coding"
[You may need to re-save the Flash perspective to enable these]

Restore Flash Context Menu
(i.e. right-click on project and see Flex options)
Windows -> Customize Perspective -> Shortcuts
Add Flash Builder

Restore Context Menu Icons
(Actually turns out to be an Ubuntu thing:)
Issue these commands in your terminal:
gconftool-2 -s -t boolean /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons true
gconftool-2 -s -t boolean /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons true

Let me know if you have any others...

Flex Camp 3 Toronto is an afternoon/evening event for RIA developers and anyone else interested in Adobe Flex. We've engaged some world-class presenters for this event, including Adobe's Lee Brimelow and Renaun Erickson.

Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro, there will be hands-on as well as lecture-style demonstrations that are designed to engage you.

Please note that we will be charging a modest $25 CAD fee (includes GST) to offset the costs of food and first-class venues. We'll also be giving away copies of FDT Pure to every attendee, as well as a chance to win a full license to Flash Builder 4 Premium!

The event is filling up quickly. If you're interested in attending, we recommend that you sign up soon!

Head over to http://www.torontoflex.org to register.

Here's my preso from MAX 2008. If you save the attachment you'll have the cheat sheet that was distributed at the session (until we ran out;)

Let me know if you have any questions or additional tips to share!

Our next meeting will be on Thursday December 4th, 2008 at Oakham House on the Ryerson Campus, starting at 6:30pm:

Oakham House
Room: Oakham Lounge
55 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 1E9

http://www.oakhamhouse.com/pages/directions.php has directions and parking information.

The evening's theme will be MAX2008 Goodies. We'll look at new product announcements, betas and other news that comes out of the San Francisco MAX conference the week of November 17th.

If you're planning to attend MAX and would like to help present, just drop me a line.

As always, don't forget to register free at www.torontoflex.org so we know how many people to expect.

If you're interested in presenting an application or topic in the future that would be of interest to the group, let us know and we'll try to get you some time at an upcoming meeting.

Thanks,
Oliver

I'll be presenting at a couple of CF/Flex seminars at the end of the month, along with Rick Palmerio, my New Toronto Group cohort.

These introductory sessions are aimed at the decisions makers, the suits, the money people. If you're trying to sell the ColdFusion or Flex platforms within your organization, this would be a great place to send your boss.

Registration is FREE and attendees will receive a free copy of Flex Builder!

[EDIT:]
CANCELED: OTTAWA:
Adobe Systems Canada
343 Preston Street, Ottawa, Algonquin Room
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008
9:00am – 11:00am
Continental Breakfast served at 8:30am
Register here

TORONTO:
Oakham House
63 Gould Street, Toronto, ON Canada
Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008
9:00am – 11:00am
Continental Breakfast served at 8:30am
Register here

The next meeting of the Toronto Flex User Group will be held on October 23, 2008 at Oakham House (Ryerson campus).

This time around, we've got two User Group members presenting. As always, if you're interested in presenting something at a future meeting please contact me via the website.

Please visit torontoflex.org for more details and to sign up. It's free!

Here's an enhanced version of the Flex ComboBox with type-ahead functionality. It's evolved over several projects and is stable so I hope others might find it useful.

You can use whatever data provider you need; the filter works against the data in the labelField property. The data provider can be a simple list of strings (as per the example) or complex objects.

Right-click to view and download the source. Feel free to use this in your own projects, make any changes you want, and tell your boss that you created it;) Enjoy...

ComboBox with Type-Ahead [new window]

The first Gumbo Downloads are ready to download at opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Download+Flex+4.

Time to start reading and hacking. I'll post more here when I discover anything cool.

[Addendum: Flex SDK 3.1 and Flex Builder 3.0.1 appear to be out as well]

The title says it all. I'm glad to see Cairngorm opened up this way. Hopefully we'll see more frequent updates and improvements. There are already some good items in the bugbase (below); if there's something you would like improved about Cairngorm, now's your chance!

New Cairngorm Home

Cairngorm Bugbase

Alister's Announcement

Steven's Announcement

Flash Switcher is a Firefox add-on by Allessandro Crugnola for those developers concerned with Flash Player versions. I tried it a while back when it was Windows-only.

It's now got Linux and Mac capability as well and works with FF3!

Get Flash Switcher

Also check out his Flash Tracer if you haven't already.

Thanks Allessandro!