Testbench and Flash!

OK, I lied: one more obsessive Tic Tac Toe Testbench example. This one's totally worth it, though: an example of a Volity UI written in Flash and JavaScript.

Yessiree. It looks and works much the same as the pure HTML example because it's a port. Code-wise, the only real difference is that there's a SWF file in the mix, and when the JavaScript decides that it's time to update the visuals somehow, instead of twiddling with DOM or CSS, it fires a command into the SWF via an ActionScript ExternalInterface callback. It's not doing anything that isn't standard Flash/JS technique.

This is some truly exciting stuff, and a huge validation for me. I wanted to prove to myself that this actually works! That it does says very good things about the prospects for other embedded-applet-style Volity UIs, too.

Everything's all in up Subversion for your examination, and here is the source zipfile. Now I will carry on and start making the real client.

(And if the Flash looks like butt, it's because it's the very first Flash thing I ever made. Everything I know about Flash programming I learned in the last two days. Props to Chafic & Joey, and a nod to misuba for first mentioning Flex to me a while ago.)

Non-ranty MSIE question

How do you install MSIE 7 without killing your MSIE 6 install? IIRC this is non-trivial. Tell me if the world has changed since I last checked.

I wanna be able to test on both...