The good news is that the version that was submitted was only the free/trial version, and there was no full product yet because it wasn't 100% ready. Word from Adobe is that the bug will be fixed this week, and that means I should be posting again this week when the full version is out.

If all goes well, this should be the week where you can start knocking your head against the desk once you start reading the tougher questions Holly and I created for the latest version of Attest It was our goal to make some of them tougher, more subjective and if anything, make Attest harder to pass than the actual exam. So once it's released, as always, let us know what you think as we continue to write new material for the app.

Technorati Tags: ace, adobe flex 4 certification, attest 3, mock exam, practice questions

Here's how Attest 3 is going to work. Instead of maintaining two different applications, Holly and I made it slightly easier on ourselves by combining the free and commercial versions into one. So there's only one download from now on, no more Attest vs Attest PRO, there's only Attest 3. If you run Attest 3, you've basically installed the trial version of the application.

Attest 3 Screenshot

The trial version is going to offer the mini exam feature and upgrading to the commercial version will unlock the full version with the show answers feature, timed vs un-timed, learning mode, etc. For the time being, the free version (trial) is coming out in roughly a week. We're just ironing out some more testing (how ironic for a testing app - ha!) and last minute tweaks.

In the short term, Attest 3 will be released as the free version only. The full commercial version is coming soon thereafter. The app currently runs one mini exam and it will not allow you to purchase until we release the full version through the AIR Marketplace. You should be able to download the app within a week or so and start using it to study. This should be enough to tide you over for another week or two for the full version, but we're on track to have the commercial app ready by mid-August.

We had planned on having Attest out sooner, but believe it or not this will still be the app's earliest release in comparison to the Flex ACE exam's release. Old timer Attest users should be happy this time around

As always, I'll post as soon as there's more.

Edit** I should add that the "trial" that doubles as the free version will not expire. So you can use it for all of eternity or until the Flex 5 ACE comes and I'm late with Attest 4 - ha!

In response to questions of late, yes, new versions of Attest and Attest PRO for the Flex 4 certification are currently in construction deep in the confines of the factory Holly and I are digging up heaps of goodies for Attest and other projects. I can tell you this, there will be tons of new material on the Adobe Developer Center and Attest itself to help you study. From what I've heard, the exam itself sounds tougher than the older ones.

If you haven't seen them already, I'd especially recommend the Learn Flex 4 beta in a Week video series on the ADC. Happy studying! I'll post any new updates as always.

Technorati Tags: adobe, attest, attest pro, developer center, flex 4 certification

Attest PRO

There will be two versions of Attest going forward. The free version, which has been out for most of 2009, gets a bit beefed up with few new goodies in the near future, and the commercial version, called Attest PRO has many new features and content.

Holly and I are still always going to maintain the free versions of Attest for Flex developers to study for the Adobe Flex 3 with AIR certification, and eventually Flex 4, and so on. The current version is for non-commercial use only, so we decided to create a new version of the app, call it Attest PRO, and include a commercially available license for it. We've received many requests for people who wanted ways to help train employees, even have custom exams, and bulk licenses.

For Attest PRO 1.0, we have randomization of questions, the ability to turn on/off the timing per exam, show the answers during an exam if you choose, upgraded results view with better explanations, much more content, and a whole new section to read up on more material for the exam.

See Holly's excellent write up on her blog at devgirl.wordpress.com. You can read more about Attest PRO on it's new website at http://software.pxldesigns.com/attestpro/ check out some screenshots at http://software.pxldesigns.com/attestpro/screenshots
or visit the Adobe AIR Marketplace to learn more and download the app.

Holly and I were privileged enough to be part of the Try/Buy prerelease program to get this commercial version of the app out there. Many thanks to Shikha Bhargava who runs the AIR Marketplace and Randy McFarland and the rest of the AIR team who made the Try/Buy possible!

Important note:

It's my understanding that for the time being, sales on the AIR Marketplace are USA only. I believe they're working on that currently, but I'll post any updates as I get them. This is a beta program, so there may be bugs. As always, if you have any issues with a purchase, or running Attest PRO, please don't hesitate to contact me dave AT pxldesigns DOT com or use the contact form at www.pxldesigns.com

Technorati Tags: adobe flex certification, adobe max, air, attest, attest pro, marketplace, try buy

So to help spread the word and get Flexers linked up with projects, I was looking for an easier way to post the info rather than having to go to forums, etc (which is a big PIA). Turns out Greg Wilson's tblurb.com offers the perfect solution. Greg came up with tblurb as a way to post a larger amount of characters along with Twitter. Since Twitter only allows 140 characters, using tblurb enables you to share large snippets of code or Grannies brownie recipe, or whatever you like.

I was just contacted for a project today that sounded pretty good, and tblurb came to mind as the perfect way to share. So going forward, as I run across the good projects, I'll post them to tblurb through my Twitter account

dflatley

Technorati Tags: adobe, air, flash, flex, jobs, projects, tblurb, work

Both of us are inundated with client work at the moment, but the vote went well and we found the time to get these new exams out. So hopefully, for those studying for the Flex 3 with AIR certification, you'll have much more here in the way of study material. Along with releasing new questions and answers periodically, we plan on implementing most of the other great feedback we received from users when time permits. Until then...it's busy being a Flexer go get certified!

Technorati Tags: adobe, air, attest 1.8.5, certification, exam, flex

We compiled all the feedback we've received and created a list of the top requests. Now's your chance to vote for the feature you want to see most. Holly created this poll based on our list, and we're going to watch the results to decide on which features to turn out first. Eventually, we want all of them done but time is hard to come by, so we're going to be breaking them down into reasonable chunks as we progress.

If you have any other features in mind you'd like to see in Attest, as always, feel free to comment below or follow up on Holly's blog.

Basically, the new features we're looking at break down like this:

• Learning feature - is an un-timed practice exam with a "show answer" feature that provides much more learning material
• Community Area - You'll see This will be the fun stuff.
• Web version - when 2.0 is released, we're going to have the full web version vs the AIR version so you can study online
• More questions/answers - tougher questions with multiple levels in the learning feature and exam area

Ready? Set? VOTE!

Technorati Tags: 2.0, adobe, air, attest, certification, exam, flex, mock, practice

Alas, the two companies have gotten together officially to make developing Flash applications – both on Facebook and off through Facebook Connect – quicker and easier with the ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform.

Adobe's site

Facebook AS3 API on Google code

Technorati Tags: adobe, as3 api, facebook, flex, google code

The entire Tour de Flex application is posted online at Adobe's site todaytoo, so that's two places you can grab great source code and working samples. But the coolest part that you may not know is that you, as a developer, can use the Tour de Flex plugin right inside of Eclipse.

Tour de Flex Eclipse Plugin

When working on Attest, this was a massive help when looking for samples. While you're working, you can simply open the TDF tab inside Flex Builder 3 and quickly search for samples of just about any kind of Flex/AIR code you can think of. When you click on a sample, the actual TDF AIR application will open up along side FB3 so you can see what you're looking for.

The Eclipse plugin was written by Holly Schinsky, who's been going nuts with Flex/AIR community driven applications lately As you may know, she's also to thank for much of the work on Attest. I already knew what a huge help Tour de Flex was for development work, but when Holly mentioned the plugin it really became apparent. I used to comb the livedocs for working samples, but with this plugin it's easier and quicker to find just what you're looking for. So go down load it and give it a whirl!

Try outTour de Flex

1. Tour de Flex AIR install
2. Tour de Flex Online
3. To install the TDF plug-in, add the following URL to your Eclipse software update sites: http://tourdeflex.adobe.com/eclipse

Much thanks to Holly Schinsky, Greg Wilson & team, and Adobe for providing Tour de Flex, and keep the samples coming

Technorati Tags: adobe, air, eclipse plugin, flex, flex examples, tour de flex, tour de flex online version

• Attest was completely rebuilt from the ground up in Adobe AIR
• It's FREE for non-commerical use
• There will be regular updates, bug fixes, enhancements, and errata corrections for future versions.

This version, and all versions going forward are a joint effort between myself and Holly Schinsky of Rich Desktop Solutions, Inc., without whom Attest would still be sitting around deep in the guts of my hard-drive, waiting to be released Holly was an enormous help with writing questions and answers, research, programming, making enhancements, styling, killing bugs, testing, and especially motivation! Many of you will know her from her work on Adobe's Tour de Flex AIR application. She's an awesome developer to work with and we'll definitely be doing more projects together in the very near future. After you go and get certified, be sure to drop her a comment or two and thank her for helping out. Without her help, you may not have seen the next version of Attest until Flex 8 is out You can read more about Tour de Flex and Attest on Holly's blog here.

You can download Attest 1.5 from the new sub-domain software.pxldesigns.com/attest

We're calling this version a beta because we wanted to add more to it, but this was the quickest way we could release the app for the community. Now you have something solid to study with finally, I know haha!

Another boring and brief history of Attest. When I first wrote the application, it was built in Apollo, I mean way back. At the time Apollo wasn't really feasible to release Attest with, so I switched to C#. Bingo bongo done, here it is built in AIR again, which makes things cross-platform, easily upgradable and expandable, any errata can be fixed pronto, and it's free for the community (non-commercial use), not to mention a lot prettier

So for all of you waiting for so long, enjoy! Let Holly or me know of any issues, bugs, errata, etc, and especially any cool ideas you have for the app. We want to hear them all!

Technorati Tags: adobe air, adobe flex 3 certification, attest, mock exam