Peter Celuch

New mail notification icon for Thunderbird not showing in system tray on Windows 7

Peter Celuch — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:46:49 +0000

Few weeks ago I noticed that whenever I got new mail, Thunderbird wouldn’t notify me of it anymore. At first I thought it was some buggy update (noticed change when going from version 9 to version 10), but going back to version 9 wouldn’t fix my problem. I finally got some time to read endless user forums and one particular got solution for me: Mozillazine forums.

Solution that worked for me:

Locate the shortcut that executes your Thunderbird (Start -> Programs -> Start-up -> Thunderbird)
Right-click the link icon and select “Properties”
Switch to “Compatibility” tab
In “Compatibility mode” section check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”
Select “Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)” from combo-box

I would like to add two more things to make sure you’re all set-up:

Check Windows notification area settings

Right-click on the Task-bar
Select “Properties”
In “Notification area” section, click “Customize” button
Find “Thunderbird” and select “Show icon and notification” in combo-box next to it

Check Thunderbird notification settings

In Thunderbird, select from main menu “Tools” -> “Options”
Select “General” tab
In “When new messages arrive” section, check “Show an alert”

Restart Thunderbird and voila – you should now receive new mail notifications.

Multitransform JSFL Panel for Flash Professional

Peter Celuch — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:22:08 +0000

Another JSFL gadget I created in early 2005 was a panel for transforming multiple items at once, using their own registration points instead of a single registration point for the whole group. You can change scale in x or y axis individually or constraint and rotation. Works for single frame selection as well as multi-frame selection. It was originally designed for Flash Pro 8 and to my big surprise it still works in Flash Pro CS5.5!

Although my previous tools were rendered obsolete since Flash Professional UI improvements, this little gadget’s behavior is still unique. Maybe I should dust off the code and finish the panel. Feel free to leave a comment, tips or suggestions. If there are more then 5 people in the world using this panel I shall revisit the code :)

There are few things you should know before you start using this panel:

Undo feature is not implemented so whatever you do with the panel, you should save your work
Scale and rotation applies to each object individually so if you have two objects, one at its 100% scale, other at 200% and you set 200% with the panel, they won’t get up to 200% and 400%, rather to 200% and 200%.

You can download the panel here: Download Multitransform Panel

Flash JSFL extensions

Peter Celuch — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:55:29 +0000

Few years ago I played around with JSFL and Flash IDE extensibility. It resulted in 3 flash tools for easier drawing and symbol distribution. You can watch demonstration videos, download the tools or download the source code and experiment a bit.

Leaf-line tool

Brush tool for creating long leaf-like shapes. Just click and drag wherever you want your curved shape to go.

Download from adobe exchange: Get leaf-line tool
Play around: Get source

Particle spray

This tool enables you to spray specific MovieClips from library onto stage with single click, setting random rotation, scale, transparency and position.

Download from adobe exchange: Get particle spray tool
Play around: Get source

Stamp tool

Tool for quick deployment of library items on stage. Sets position, size, rotation, name.

Download from adobe exchange: Get stamp tool
Play around: Get source