Second Adobe article published

Adobe has published my second Flex article: Uploading a File with Flex and Java.

Adobe Acrobat's IOError solution

Adobe Acrobat Pro can throw an error if it tries to generate a PDF and the original document contains non-system fonts. The error's actually coming from Distiller:

%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%%
%%[Page: 1]%%
%%[Page: 2]%%
%%[Page: 3]%%
%%[ Error: ioerror; OffendingCommand: imageDistiller; ErrorInfo: DCTDecodeFilter Source error or end in scan 0 8x8 block 71491 ]%%

Stack:

-dict-

%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

Solution? Simple: Under your printers in Windows, right-click Adobe PDF, choose Properties > General tab > Printing Preferences. Make sure the checkbox for "Rely on system fonts; do not use document fonts" is off.

Also, the same thing can happen on the online Acrobat.com tool:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
     at com.adobe.dc2.view.body.library::LibraryCPDFView/createPDFDone()
     at com.adobe.dc2.view.body.library::LibraryCPDFView/updateStatus()
     at flash.utils::Timer/_timerDispatch()
     at flash.utils::Timer/tick()

Unless the document you upload has the fonts it needs embedded within it, it will throw an exception. The conversion server has only so many fonts; there's no way it can have every possible typeface that people might use.

Design inspiration

Some amazing web designs for inspiration: http://wb4d.com/

Get feedback on your designs

A new site promises to provide feedback to design and marketing professionals for their concepts:

ConceptFeedback.com, expected to launch next month, will host an active community of professionals dedicated to offering quick, actionable feedback on marketing concepts. Concepts, ranging from websites and landing pages to logos and advertisements, can be posted for free and reviewed by peers. Registered users will have access to free third-party insight, private concept sharing tools and networking opportunities. (From PrWeb)

Google Code Search

When looking for code examples, don't forget the Google Code Search.

Flex Error 2032: Stream Error

While building your Flex apps, if you run into Error 2032, a great resource is Juda's Blog. It has helped me and folks are continuing to post to it.

Create abstract Photoshop effects

Here are some great tutorials on creating abstract backgrounds in Photoshop: http://www.tutorialmagazine.com/15-best-photoshop-abstract-tutorials. Thanks to Robin Cannon on LinkedIn.com.