Your donations are on their way

Your donations are on their way to help feed those struggling with hunger so I would like to take another moment to thank all the Klok 2 Beta Testers:

Stijn V. E., Brian V., Perisoft, Nick O., Andrea C., Ritual, Kaolin S., Benjamin W., Jan B, Sidney K., Sebastian Z., Adam W., David M., Justin J., Nicole N., Michael P., Jonal J., Thomas S., Zdenek M., Joel W., Ariane D., Karalyn P., Oscar S., Pawel P., Agrobio Products B.V., Brian C., mFace Marketing Solutions, Glenn H., Jay M, Daniel A., Benjamin T., Data Logg, Eric O., Adam G., Blaine E., John B., Alchmi, Helge H., Ross S., Rupert E., Brandon B., Farrell Documentation, Wouter V., Denis B., Stacy K., Ken Y., Phillip R, John S., Jonas N., Exit12, Jordan H., Anders T., Wouter G., Andy H., Hogan & Associates, Anna K., John S., Ofer G., Anthony M., Sean B., Frank J., James T., Charles R., Grade A, Taylor B., Steven J., Hung P., Michael Z., Torgny B., David B., Paul S., Rob H., Mitch F., Jon W., TRR Digital Industries, Liam D., , Shaun D., Blahnik Digital Designs, Don S., Larry M., Octave 2 Media, Stephen C., David P., Malcolm O., Chistian K., Jason D., mcgraphix, inc., , Trevor G., Mark A., Mark A., Betrand P., Steven W., Sofia P., Clifford L., Benjamin H., Ziad W., Steffen W.

Half of each of your donation is going to Feeding America. For more information on how you can help visit their website.

High resolution PDFs from Flex

I was recently working on a mechanism to save some panels (similar to some Dashboard graphics from the Klok 2 dashboard view) created in a Flex application to the user's harddrive by converting them to PDF. The obvious choice for PDF creation is AlivePDF. However, the quality of the resulting PDF was...well terrible. The problem was that instead of trying to recreate every last bit of my app in the PDF, I was just passing a reference to each panel into the pdf.addImage method like so:

pdf.addImage(myPanel)

What this actually does is take a low resolution screenshot (72 DPI) of the component and add it as an image to the pdf. So when you print the pdf, the quality is pretty bad. After some digging I found this post which seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I thought that simply doing this would do the trick:

var image:ImageSnapshot = ImageSnapshot.captureImage(myPanel, 300, new PNGEncoder());

The problem is caused by the fact that Alive PDF doesn't support transparent PNGs which is what is returned when using the PNGEncoder class which is part of Flex.

A little more digging (several hours worth actually) turned up this post which again sounded like my solution. Applying the code fix from that got me almost there. I created my own NonTransparentPNGEncoder which was basically a copy of the built in PNGEncoder with this new version of internalEncode() method:

private function internalEncode(source:Object, width:int, height:int,

transparent:Boolean = false):ByteArray

{

// The source is either a BitmapData or a ByteArray.

var sourceBitmapData:BitmapData = source as BitmapData;

var sourceByteArray:ByteArray = source as ByteArray;

if (sourceByteArray)

sourceByteArray.position = 0;

// Create output byte array

var png:ByteArray = new ByteArray();

// Write PNG signature

png.writeUnsignedInt(0x89504E47);

png.writeUnsignedInt(0x0D0A1A0A);

// Build IHDR chunk

var IHDR:ByteArray = new ByteArray();

IHDR.writeInt(width);

IHDR.writeInt(height);

IHDR.writeByte(8); // bit depth per channel

IHDR.writeByte(2); // color type: RGBA

IHDR.writeByte(0); // compression method

IHDR.writeByte(0); // filter method

IHDR.writeByte(0); // interlace method

writeChunk(png, 0x49484452, IHDR);

// Build IDAT chunk

var IDAT:ByteArray = new ByteArray();

for (var y:int = 0; y <>

{

IDAT.writeByte(0); // no filter

var x:int;

var pixel:uint;

for (var j:int = 0; j <>

{

pixel = sourceBitmapData.getPixel(j, y);

IDAT.writeByte(pixel >> 16 & 0xFF);

IDAT.writeByte(pixel >> 8 & 0xFF);

IDAT.writeByte(pixel & 0xFF);

}

}

IDAT.compress();

writeChunk(png, 0x49444154, IDAT);

// Build IEND chunk

writeChunk(png, 0x49454E44, null);

// return PNG

png.position = 0;

return png;

}

One final change and I finally had it working:

pdf.addPage();

var image:ImageSnapshot = ImageSnapshot.captureImage(page, 300, new NonTransparentPNGEncoder());

var resize:Resize = new Resize ( Mode.FIT_TO_PAGE, Position.CENTERED );

pdf.addImageStream(image.data, ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, resize);

Then I just save my pdf to a ByteArray and use the FileReference to save it.

var bytes:ByteArray = pdf.save(Method.LOCAL);

var file:FileReference = new FileReference();

file.save(bytes, filename);

Keep in mind that although the panels are high resolution, they are still bitmap graphics. So, you will not be able to copy and paste any of your text out of the resulting PDF.

In order for all this to work, I am using 0.1.5 Beta version of AlivePDF, Flex 3.4 and Flash Player 10.

UPDATE: One last note. Because this is generating a 300DPI version of your component, it takes some time. A few seconds for a few page document.

Your New Year's Resolution that you can achieve... Make More Money

Now that 2009 is a distant memory and everyone is settled back into work now is good time to think about a New Year's resolution. I know, I hate them too. However, here's a resolution you can stick to with the help of Klok. Repeat after me... "I resolve to make more money by making sure I correctly keep track of my time and then bill for the time and effort I actual spend".

That's right... Track your time better. Actually bill for your time spent. Make more money. What could be better than that?

Also don't forget that if you track how long you spend on projects, you will be able to more acurately estimate the next one.

Download Klok now.

Or try out the new version of Klok 2.0 by joining the beta.

Klok - Dontate today and help those in need

Don't forget that half of every donation made today (December 31, 2009) will go to local food pantries and shelters to help those in need this winter and help support the development of Klok. Plus when you donate, you get early access to the Klok 2 Beta.

For more details, visit the Klok Beta Program page

Klok is now on Facebook

Some of you may have noticed the "Klok on Facebook" link over on the right. For those of you have not noticed, now's your chance to click on over to the Klok Facebook Page and become a fan now. My goal is to have 100 fans by New Year's eve. Help me get there by becoming a fan now.

New build of Klok 2 adds some long awaited features

The latest build (1.13) of Klok beta 2 includes some of the most requested features such as:

• Added comments to timesheets
• Added preferences for time and date formatting
• Added preference for 24 hour time display
• Added column view to dashboard view
• Added project code column to timesheet
• Window size and position is now remembered between sessions

Get the beta today at http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok/betaProgram.htm

UPDATE: New Klok 2.0 Beta update may require uninstall of earlier beta

I discovered the problem with the latest version of the Klok 2 Beta update. Unfortunately, the issue was required that you uninstall the old version and then install the new version. The issue had to due with the certificate I used to sign the AIR file. The fix for this issue will be in an update tonight. Unfortunately, you will need to uninstall and reinstall again to correct the problem.

If you can wait until tomorrow, I would hold off installing todays update (Klok 2 Beta 1.10) until tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This issue has been fixed in version Klok 2 Beta 1.11. If you have joined the beta program, you can download the latest version from the Beta 2 page.