Jeff dePascale Blogging on and developing web and mobile technologies

Fosfr .702 BETA release

If you look at the previous posts on my blog and/or the change log on google code for Fosfr, it's pretty easy to add up the hours i've been pouring into making Fosfr stable, effective, and most importantly...useful. There's still a lot left to do, particularly in the case of example files , but the code itself keeps stepping closer to 1.0, inch by inch. Next up is a revamped example microsite - the one that is up there now is painful to look at and doesn't offer much in the way of useful information. That will change soon!

EDIT - I did it already, couldn't stand it: http://www.jeffdepascale.com/blog/examples/fosfrFullSite

And most importantly...a fancy new logo

...and Prequel got one too in the process...

Changes in the .702 Beta release:

-QueryString removed from utils package, url and queryString removed as parameters from ForsfrBaseClass (appeared in both Fosfr and FosfrLite classes). Replaced by URLInfo class in core package, accessible via fosfr.urlInfo in both Fosfr and FosfrLite implementations. 'url' is now a property of this class.

-All classes and packages in the utils package are now never preinstantiated by Fosfr itself, and are either static classes or standalone packages that can be implemented within a Fosfr project.

-New in the utils package, 'JSONHandler'. Simplifies data transfers to and from JSON requests through ExternalInterface calls. Methods allow access to the call function, and a custom event returns data from the callback specified. The property 'callbackAccessible', optionally disables the callback event from dispatching if set to false. All methods wrap ExternalInterface calls in error trapping that provides detailed error information to the fosfr debug instance.

-the 'displayObj' property of Fosfr has been renamed to 'mainSWF' in Fosfr projects and 'liteSWF' in FosfrLite projects. Additionally for Fosfr projects, the 'shell' and 'subSWF' properties of the navigation class have been moved to the Fosfr class itself and renamed 'shellSWF' and 'subSWF', respectively.

-new custom event for navigation loaders, NavLoaderEvent, in the navigation.loaders package. All Event types carry the 'id' property, specifying the uint value of the subSWF cued for load. in the case of ShellLoader, this always returns null. Loaders all return LoaderEvents INIT, PRELOAD_INIT, PRELOAD_COMPLETE, and COMPLETE.

-Revamp of NavLoaderPrototype and in turn ShellLoader and SubLoader, adding additional public property 'autoPreload' and public method 'beginPreload'. Defaults to true, if set to false, allows for actions to be performed before showing the loader. Listen for fosfr.navigation.[loader].INIT, where [loader] is either shellLoader or subLoader. Call in the same object the new beginPreload() method when the actions are complete to start the preload process, which is normally automatically called.

-A number of events have been moved and updated in the Navigation package. NAvigationEvent now only defines two types, SUB_SWF_LOADED and SHELL_LOADED. UNLOAD and UNLOAD_COMPLETE have been moved to the new NavLoaderEvent class, and are exclusively used within the SubLoader class as before. SUB_LINK has also been moved more appropriately to the SWFAddressHandlerEvent class. Both the CHANGE event and SUB_LINK event now pass the property 'address' for the swfAddress data.

-Preliminary documentation at package level, documentation of tracking package.

-Added string constant 'VERSION', specifying Fosfr release number and BETA if applicable. Accessible in Fosfr and FosfrLite projects by referencing Fosfr.VERSION. An automatic debug line also now appears as the first item in Fosfr projects specifying this version information.

-Added new method to Debug, 'setSubHeadText()', which allows for a second line of text below the project name and version on the Debug panel. In Fosfr projects, this line is autopopulated with the Fosfr version information.

-All public properties of debug, tracking, navigation, navigation.subLoader, navigation.shellLoader, and navigation.swfAddressHandler are now editable via attributes of their related XMLnodes, if included in the XML file.

-Additional try/catch statements added to the SubLoader class and ConfigLoader class to transfer error messaging to the debug panel.

-Various minor bug fixes.