Wednesday 01 September, 2010
Spread the word, an iPad app built in Flash!
Near the end of June, I started a little experiment, just for fun, which would just immitate fridge magnets. I wanted to make it a multi-user experience. So everybody hitting the page would see the changes that are being made realtime. I built the first version and was quite happy.
But a few days ago, it struck me: I can just use the code I used for that experiment and port it to the iPad using the iPhone Packager (which comes with Flash CS5). So I did!
Although I had to change some of the code (loading settings files, etc), I was actually able to build this application rather quickly. I also added a multi-room feature, so everybody can have their own fridge with magnets 
So you can now actually leave your boy/girlfriend a message on a virtual fridge (with no food in it) and then mail him/her the link! He/She can then rearrange the letters and leave you a message in return; Fridge-magnet style! That’s geeky, right!? 
About the application
‘Spread the word’ is both an iPad and a browser application.
The clients are built using Flash Builder (for the browser app) and Flash CS5 (iPad app). The multi-user support is a Red5 application.
‘Spread the word’ online
You can view the application in the browser by hitting the following URL:
http://spreadtheword.nocreativity.com
If you want to have your own fridge, just add ‘?myOwnFridge’ (replace ‘myOwnFridge‘ with a name of your choice). For example
- http://spreadtheword.nocreativity.com?test
- http://spreadtheword.nocreativity.com?mySecretRoom
- http://spreadtheword.nocreativity.com?imOnAHorse
‘Spread the word’ for iPad
Currently the iPad application is only available though my Cydia repo. I will however be trying to get it into the Apple App Store (I know about 3.3.1, I’m still giving it a shot 
). The app also supports rooms, so feel free to go crazy (but be nice, there’s kids on the internet )
If you want to install the iPad application you need a jailbroken iPad. If you haven’t added my repository to your Cydia sources yet, follow these instructions:
- Open Cydia on your jailbroken iPad
- Go to the ‘Manage’ tab
- Tap ‘Sources’
- Tap ‘Edit’ in the upper right corner
- Tap ‘Add’ in the upper left corner
- Fill in the following URL: ‘http://nocreativity.com/cydia’
- Tap ‘Add source’
- You’re done!
To install Spread The Word for iPad, do this:
- Open Cydia on your jailbroken iPad
- Go to the ‘Sections’ tab
- Find the ‘noCreativity’ section
- Tap on the application (there’s only one in that list right now, so you can’t do anything wrong from this point on )
- Tap ‘install’ in the upper right corner
- Tap ‘Confirm’ in the upper right corner
- When the installation is done, exit Cydia. Spread the word should be installed now. Have fun!
Credits
Eventhough I created this app myself, I owe a big thank you to Eugenia Furman for letting me use her beautiful letters. Those are actually real letters, which she created herself. They’re for sale on Etsy. They’re really awesome. Make sure you go and check out her other work. I totally love it!
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[...] these applications, but there’s still a lot of work involved to make it happen. (I know since I ported an existing browser app to the iPad, just last [...]
Cool stuff!
Thumbs up!
How long does a room stay alive, after zero activity?
Thanks, Davy!
)
Rooms should stay alive forever (or until I delete the SharedObjects on the server
Hoe laat je die red5 online werken op je server?
Very nice, die server shizzle!
@Jarne: Heb nen Red5 server draaien online
very nice.
Although – magnets can be dragged so far right ( by extending browser window ) – that they get lost…. these kinds of social experiments are really nice… Nice one!
@Karim: Thx buddy! Will add a few updates later tonight, fixing both this and a few other issues
Thanks again!
omg this is so fun!
Thx, Sarah! I’m glad you like it!
1 small little thing… it could use a resize handler (for the non-ipad users
) so that it resizes the letters on window resize.
I’m in the middle of pushing a few updates (browser and iPad version). One of the changes is that you can’t drag the letters outside 1024×768 anymore
Ah good idea!
I’m trying to arrange them alphabetically
Hi Ronny,
Wondering if you could briefly help with an issue on publishing for iPhone/iPad.
I’ve been trying to publish the IPA file from CS5 (on Mac) without luck.
If I set my Java version to Java SE 6 64-bit (in the system’s Java Preferences), CS5 will crash at the end of the publishing process (I see the process bar get to the end, and then boom!).
If i set the default java version to J2SE 5.0 32 bit, I get a dialog right after clicking /publish saying “the digital certificate is invalid”.
I think I did the certificate/provisioning process correctly, so not sure if I should do it again (i’ve already done it like half a dozen times), or maybe the issue is related to wrong java version or something….
Thanks in advance, and congratulations for such a good blog
Hi Daniel,
my Java settings are done like this:
http://shots.nocreativity.com/b87d3f7d6eb6d54251c1b99380d10c72.jpg
I had that crashing thing at the end too, but it went by itself.
Ther certificate thing can’t really be done wrong, you just download it from the Apple site and point to it in Flash CS5.
Good luck!
Firstly, before I start love the site, design and topics – great reading and right up my street!
Now, dude, how the hell did you make a full screen ipad app from Flash CS5 ?
I can use the ipad OS settings to publish an ipad app but thats no good for my ipad – i want full screen (not the pixelated “2x” iphone version) !!
Is there any way of publishing full screen ipad native apps from flash through cydia (AppSync) – ?
Also when trying the iphone Flash made apps i can’t seem to use video without the “Publish” failing – any ideas ?!
- Sorry – i meant i can create and publish and sync iPHONE apps but not full size iPad apps…. any ideas?!
And video?
okay so i did an app that works put it on the ipad and it works but when i take the filename.app folder from the ipa and put it in the Applications folder the icon shows but if i try to open it it just gets stuck on a black screen i don’t know what to do