We will be giving out some Central posters at the MAX conference. The posters are developer reference guides, and really look nice.

You can see a (small) sneak peak here:

You can download a PDF of the poster here .

We won’t have tubes for them, so if you are interested, make sure to bring one for the poster (or pick one up in Salt Lake City).

I was playing around with Flash MX Pro 2004 last night, and created this simple Central API viewer.

How much code did this take?

var myTreeDP = new XML();
myTreeDP.ignoreWhite = true;
myTreeDP.load("central.xml");

pBar.indeterminate = true;

myTreeDP.onLoad = function()
{
  myTree.dataProvider = myTreeDP;
 	pBar.indeterminate = false;
	pBar._visible = false;
}

handleTreeEvent = function(evt)
{
	var node = myTree.selectedNode;

	XML.prototype.ignoreWhite = true;
	var x = new XML("<xml>"+node.toString()+"</xml>");
	var n = x.firstChild.firstChild.attributes;

	var des;
	var fSig;

	if(n.isBranch == "true")
	{
		des = "";
		fSig = "";
	}
	else
	{
		des = n.tiptext;
		fSig = n.object + n.text;
	}

	description.text = n.tiptext;
	sig.text = n.object + n.text;

}
myTree.addEventListener("change", handleTreeEvent);

Pretty simple stuff.

Because applications running within Central use the Central API and because those APIs are not available within the Flash Authoring environment, you have to test and debug your applications within Central itself. This is actually pretty simple, and you can use the trace() statement like your normally would.

There are two main steps to testing and debugging within the Central environment. The first is publishing a new SWF directly into Central. This is possible once you have installed your application into Central. The second is viewing runtime debug / trace information from the application.

I have put together a quick, step by step guide to getting started with application development for Central.

Note that all page numbers refer to the Developing Central Applications pdf included on the SDK.

1. Download and install Macromedia Central.
2. Download the Central beta SDK
3. Install the Central Components from the SDK (components/) (page 12)
4. Install the Central Debug Panel from the SDK (Utilities/DebugPanel) (page 17)
5. Create a new FLA (you can use the Authoring Templates on the SDK (Utilities/AuthoringTemplates)) (page 13)
6. If you didn’t use the Authoring templates, set the FPS to 21 (that is what Central runs at).
7. Open File > Publish Settings > Flash. Set to publish as “Flash 6”. If you are using Flash MX 2004, set it to optimize for “Flash Player 6,0,65,0”.
8. Make sure “Omit Trace Actions” is not checked.
9. Add the following functions to your Application onActivate (page 103), onDeactivate (page 104), Central.initApplication() (page 144). (If you use the template, these are already added) (page 14)
10. Add initialization code to onActivate and clean up code to onDeactivate.
11. Add a graphic to the stage so you can tell whether or not it loads into Central.
12. Publish your movie to create a SWF file.
13. Get a development product id from http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_productid (page 15)
14. Create a product.xml file (you can use the one from the product id page). Make sure it includes your product id and the application tag (page 15).
15. Copy the product.xml file and your swf file into a separate directory.
16. Copy the install badge from the SDK (Utilities/InstallBadge/installer.swf) into the same directory as the product.xml and SWF files (page 15).
17. Copy the directory to a web server (local or remote).
18. Load the installer.swf file into a web browser via the web server.
19. Install your application from the badge.
20. Once it is installed into Central, you can then publish directly from Flash into Central (page 16).
21. Find the location where you application files were installed by Central. On Windows this will be similar to: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Macromedia\Central\DOMAINNAME\APPNAME . On Mac, this will be similar to: Hard Drive/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Macromedia/Central/DOMAINNAME/APPNAME/
22. Open the Publish Settings Dialog (File > Publish Settings).
23. Set the file to Publish into the directory located above. Make sure that the file is published with the same file name that was installed by Central.
24. Save the settings, by clicking OK.
25. To test your application, you must publish it (File > Publish). This will compile the SWF into its application directory within Central. You can then view the updated application file by switching to Central and reloading the application by switching to another application within Central and then switching back. If you are testing a Pod, you must close the pod and reopen it. If you are testing an Agent, you must restart Central.
26. You can now use trace statements in your app to debug apps running within Central (page 17)
27. Open the debug panel in the Flash Authoring Environment. In Flash MX it is located in the Windows > Central Debug Panel menu. In Flash MX 2004 it can be located in the Windows> Other Panels > Central Debug Panel.
28. Make sure that “Omit trace actions” is not checked in the public settings (File > Publish Settings > Flash).
29. Add debug.enabled = true to your application. This will enabled debugging.
30. Add trace statements to your application. You can pass in various data types including strings, objects and arrays.
31. Test your application within Central. Any trace statements encounter during the applicationÂ’s runtime will be printed out into the Debug Panel within the Flash Authoring Environment. If they don’t appear, close the debug panel and re-open it.

You can find more info on Macromedia Central here.

I have put together a FAQ for the Central Developer (SDK) Beta. This will eventually be posted on our website, but I am posting this here to get the info out as quickly as possible.

General

What is the Macromedia Central Public Developer Beta?

The Macromedia Central Public Developer Beta is a public beta of the Macromedia Central Software Development Kit (SDK). It is intended to give developers a chance to begin learning about developing applications within Macromedia Central.

Wow. Lots of stuff going on in the Central community the past couple of days. First of all, a new Central community site has launched. CentralMX.com already has a ton of information and news, and has plans for tutorials and forums.

Geoffrey Williams released a beta of his Amazon application. This is a very advanced app and you should definitely check it out. You can see screenshots here and here.

Finally, Mike Lyda release a Central application called FiRe, which is a find and replace utility. Check out the page as he has some good information on how he developed the app.

I have been working on using the chat framework that Greg Burch and I put together to build a simple chat application for Macromedia Central. I is not complete, but I figured that people might be interested in checking it out.

You can install it using the install badge on the right (just click install).

I will be hanging around in the chat most of the day and will be chatting and answering questions about Central.

We have just launched a public beta of Macromedia Central in conjunction with Intel’s one unwired day. The beta is focused on giving users a chance to check out Macromedia Central before the final version is released.

The public beta includes:

• Pre-release version of Macromedia Central
• Weather Application
• Movie Finder Application

You can install Central from the Central Product page (Windows and Mac)(Flash Player 6,0,65,0 or higher required).

We have also published some more information on Central, including:

Oscar Trelles, commenting on Sean Voisen’s post about Central notes that he feels that discussion about Macromedia Central has died down recently and wonders if it is still on track.

Well, considering that Central is still in beta, we have actually been talking about it quite a lot. In fact, I think that we have been more open about Central than any other pre-release product. Of course, the past couple of weeks all of then attention has been focused on the MX 2004 launches (and rightfully so), but now that they are out the door, you will begin to hear even more about Central.

Probably the biggest announcement from this morning’s keynote, was Macromedia Central. Macromedia Central is a desktop environment for running rich, occasionally-connected applications.

Kevin showed how simple it was to install Central through the Flash Player (completely seamless to the user), and then install and run applications within it. It took a total of about 5 seconds to install Central, install an application and then have that application running within Central.