When is Macromedia going to get around to releasing a fix for the bugs with the documentation auto-update feature, or at the very least release a standalone installer for the new docs? I still can’t get the latest documentation – this is what happens for me:

1) I hit the “Update” button in the help panel, and choose “Yes” from the resultant dialog.

2) Flash displays a dialog saying it is “Downloading file 1 of 7”, it gets to about 2%, then flashes up 2 or 3 other dialogs titled “Downloading help content”, and one titled “Downloading file __ of 7” (usually 5 or 7).

The whole process takes about 2 seconds, and when it completes, surprise – the content isn’t installed.

I was hoping this was just an isolated issue with my old powerbook, but I have exactly the same problem with my new powerbook with a clean installation of OSX and Flash MX 2004 Pro. I even tried jacking in the ethernet cable in case it was just a problem with wireless connections – no go. I’ve heard of similar problems from a others as well. Anyone have any ideas?

I wonder if I can just have another Flash developer who’s updating works send me their full documentation for the time being. Most likely that’s in violation of the End User License Agreement, but I’m getting desperate.

Please Macromedia, working with your new framework is problematic enough without restrictive EULAs and no updated documentation!!

PS. Sorry for all the griping lately. I promise I’ll have some more real content soon.

Sorry for harping on this, but I think it’s important. I just finished re-reading the EULA again, and ran into a possible work-around to the issue of distributing code (maybe), and a host of other potential problems.

All of the problems I’ve found so far are in section 2.f in the F04 EULA, specifically where it describes the terms under which you may distribute Sample Application Code. Admittedly, I’m not a lawyer, but this is how it reads to me:

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DENG, the xTechnologies browser built in Flash has officially been released by my good friend Claus Wahlers, and Mozquito. Check it out, it’s inspiring.

I’m currently working on preparing articles and conference talks, and would love to know “What would you like to learn about Flash?”. I have lots of ideas, but I’d really like to hear what you (yeah, YOU, the person reading this right now – not the next guy) wants to learn.

So put the comment system to a use other than herbal viagra spam, and tell me what YOU want to know!

Since I first blogged about the issues surrounding the F04 EULA, and the restrictions it places on sharing code, there has been a very informative discussion going on in the comments between myself, Nigel Pegg, and a few other members of the community. Nigel has done a great job trying to explain the issue from Macromedia’s perspective (thanks Nig).

The super-condensed summary of this discussion (and my apologies to anyone I misrepresent here) is that developers would like the freedom to distribute and use modified versions of the built-in classes, but Macromedia is concerned this will lead to confusion if they update the component framework internally, and they do not want to see a competing framework emerge.

Now, this issue as it relates to sharing code in the community is one we can debate somewhat leisurely, as it doesn’t have a major impact beyond slightly retarding the growth and learning of said community. The real problem arises when you look at how it impacts real, paid projects!!

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I recently completed a re-write of the mx.events.EventDispatcher class based on my gDispatcher class. This re-write allows me to plug the new class into a project, and have all of the Macromedia components express all of the event capabilities that I built into gDispatcher.

Now, I would like to be able to share this code with the community, as I think it will be very beneficial to everyone, unfortunately, the Flash MX 2004 End User License Agreement prohibits it. I could distribute the new EventDispatcher class, because it is a complete re-write, but in order to make it work seamlessly with UI components, I had to slightly modify the UIEventDispatcher class. According to the EULA, I cannot distribute uncompiled “sample code” even if it is modified, and the built-in class AS files are considered sample code.

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