ActionScript 3 courses in central London

Date: Friday 12th December 2008
Time: 19:57
Category: ActionScript 3.0
Views: 242
Comments: No comments

We have a full Applied ActionScript 3.0™ course scheduled for January 2009 and are scheduling another one for February. Courses take place in central London and class sizes are kept small. If you would like to reserve a place please let us know as soon as you can.

ReferenceError: Error #1056: Cannot create property on…

Date: Friday 12th December 2008
Time: 14:06
Category: ActionScript 3.0
Views: 612
Comments: No comments

When you’re exporting an SWF associated with a document class file, you might have a few instances of MovieClips on the stage as well. These are acceptable as instance properties of your class even if they are not declared within it, by virtue of this checkbox:

Like us, you might prefer to declare any such visual instances in the document class file, so you untick this checkbox and enter code such as the following in the class file:

/***************************************************
Instance variables
***************************************************/
private var image:MovieClip;

You compile the movie and receive the error:

ReferenceError: Error #1056: Cannot create property image on MyProject

The solution to this problem is to be sure that you declare the member as public, not private, in the instance declaration:

/***************************************************
Instance variables
***************************************************/
public var image:MovieClip;

Your SWF will then compile successfully and you’ll be able to reference the asset on the display list.

How to repair an Outlook PST file for free

Date: Monday 1st December 2008
Time: 18:02
Category: Other
Views: 1,036
Comments: No comments

Windows Vista is sensitive to unplanned shutdowns – if one occurs while the system is booting or exiting, then it can have the result of corrupting your user profile. You may find that when you restart your machine it spends some time listing files and attempting repairs. You will see words like “widow”, “orphan”, “fragment” – all words we don’t like to see.

In the worst case of all the machine will fail to boot at all following this. In the second worst case it will boot into a “temporary profile” because your usual profile was so badly corrupted it could not be loaded. If these situations happen to you, contact us – we have been there.

In a less severe case, your profile will load and most, if not all, of your files will seem to be present and correct. This might be until you attempt to load your e-mail. Then you may receive the following message from Outlook 2007:

Outlook didn’t like the sudden shutdown, and your PST file has become corrupted (the PST file contains all of your e-mail, contacts, calendar etc).

If you have a very recent backup of your PST file (we recommend True Image) then you don’t have a problem. If not, the first thing you need to try is running Scanpst.exe, as the dialog suggests.

In what some may call a typical “Microsoftism”, there is no information regarding where Scanpst.exe is located, and it is impossible to click “Help” on Outlook, because when you click “OK” the program exits. Not entirely helpful.

On Vista, the file is actually to be found here:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\SCANPST.EXE

Scanpst.exe is also known as Microsoft’s “Inbox Repair Tool” – a misnomer, because it can repair far more than your Inbox. Before running it, you should make a backup copy of your PST file (even though it is faulty). You will find it here:

C:\Users\[Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst

You’re now in a position to run Scanpst.exe. When you launch it you’ll see the following:

Browse to the location of your PST file and hit “Start”.

The program will attempt to go through 8 stages of repair. If all goes well, it will repair your PST file (you can accept changes) and you’ll be able to load it again.

If the PST file is too severely corrupted, Scanpst.exe will instead present an error message. There are a number of possible messages. The one we will deal with here is:

This may happen after step 6 completes. In this case you have no choice but to press “OK”.

You can try running Scanpst.exe again, but it is unlikely to complete, and the PST file will probably still not load into Outlook. At this point you have a more serious problem on your hands – but while you have the file at all, all is not lost.

There are more sophisticated programs which attempt PST file repair. You will see them advertised across the Net. Two are:

• Stellar Pheonix Outlook PST Repair
• DataNumen Advanced Outlook Repair

You can download demos of these programs, run them targeting the problematic PST file and they will more than likely recover many of the messages. However when you open the repaired PST file in Outlook the body of those messages will be replaced with urges to buy the program. Only then would the content be unlocked.

Furthermore, many of the mails these programs recover might be placed in “emergency” folders, named for example “Recovered Group 1″ and so on. The programs may not be able to recover all your data, you may have missing Contacts, your views will have changed, calendar items may no longer be colour coded. They are salvage programs that do the best they can. They also – and here is the rub – come at a price: a license is approximately $280, which isn’t cheap for independent users.

The above programs may be the best you can do, however there is another thing to try first, much simpler than using these and which may repair the file much more effectively, and for free.

Using a hex editor, you can open up a binary file and examine it at a byte level. If you alter a single byte of a PST file in the manner, it may enable Scanpst.exe to overcome its problems and repair your PST file without issue.

Choose a free hex editor from this list. One that we know works adequately is frhed. Install the program and run it. You’ll be presented with a screen like this:

Choose File » Open partially… and select your Outlook.pst file. You’ll be presented with a window like this:

You can see here that we’ve highlighted much of the size of this 111Mb PST file. We’ll then hit delete, as we need only open the first 1117 or so bytes. When ready, hit “OK”.

You will now see the actual binary code of the PST file, looking something like this:

The first value you see in this file is probably “21″. If it isn’t, it doesn’t matter. Try changing that value to “00″ (you can just type it in). Then select File » Exit, and save your changes when prompted.

Now, run Scanpst.exe again on the edited PST file. This time it may be successful. If it is, you will be able to open the file once again in Outlook and you should find it nearly exactly the same as before it became corrupted.

If this worked, then using a hex editor just saved you your data and nearly $300. If not, still all may not be lost. It might be possible to salvage some data from your PST file using even more advanced (but accordingly more expensive) methods.

The moral, of course, is to backup every day. But if for some reason you couldn’t, we hope this article helped you save your data.

Disclaimer: Follow procedures suggested in this e-mail at your own risk. Orland Media is not liable for your data. Third party sites and software are not in any way guaranteed by us.