KM-CODEX

I just added a new version of YaYa (Yet Another Youtube App) to the downloads section called “YaYa Video Poster”. This latest version is targeted to users with Facebook accounts and if you do not use Facebook the original version should be the one you use instead. Both versions are in my downloads section.

Built with Flex 4 (Flashbuilder) and exported as an Adobe Air desktop app, YaYa Video Poster will let you upload any video in  your local library to your Facebook wall and it also lets you add a description for the wall post. The post title is the name of the video itself. When the application opens the first time it will let you login to your Facebook account and ask you to grant it the permissions it needs and once it has those permissions (namely to upload videos to your Face book account) it runs normally every instance after. If for some reason you do not grant it permission the Facebook specific abilities are hidden and it will run like the normal YaYa. Have fun and drop me a line if you have any problems. YaYa will have another version coming out once Adobe Air 2 is released so stay tuned!

Whenever you are watching videos, whether in window mode or full screen mode, clicking the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard will flip forward and back through your active playlist.

As of the 1.1 release, YaYa is now based on Flex 4 instead of Flex 3. As expected the entire app had to be reworked due to the massive differences in the flex frameworks between versions and while many of the changes are behind the scenes and code related, some of more important front end changes users will notice are:

1. The YaYa Video Player is now a Spark Video Player Component – Video controls are much more responsive now and the video player can be switched into a true full screen mode. To exit full screen you simply hit the ESC key.

2. Download ability separated from search results – in the old version you downloaded and tracked the download status from the list of YouTube returns. This did not allow you to perform another search until all downloads were complete. The new version handles downloads differently and you can download items while performing a new search. You can add items to the download cue as many times as you like no matter what else is going on in the app.

3. Cue to master playlist – in the old version the library was it’s own playlist and the YouTube search results were their own playlist. In the new version you cue items from the library or YouTube search results to your “Active Playlist”. Dropped videos and direct loaded videos are also added to the active playlist now so in theory your active playlist can contain items from four possible cue directions. Items can be removed from the active playlist individually or the entire active playlist can be cleared.

4. Papervision now integrated – the panels are now animated with Papervision effects. The Accordion from the old version is gone and now the control bar is on the right of the app and all buttons are active or disabled depending on what is going on around them.

5. Online User Guide added – inside there is a link to view/download the YaYa User Guide.

Screenshots follow:

YaYa’s focus is Flash video, Adobe AIR and local databases. NOT YouTube. NOT Adware.

YaYa isn’t meant to bring your YouTube user account to the desktop. It’s meant to let you enjoy Flash video without overlays or clutter. It isnt meant to draw you in with a hidden agenda of selling ad space, there isn’t a drop of advertising in it (nor will there ever be) other than a link to my site which you can see is NOT heavy on sales.  YaYa is meant to freely let you cue up 100′s of your favorite videos from your Library…send them to the player (and maybe even pump it to a big screen like my friend does in his bar)…hide the controls and let it do it’s thing. Nothing more, nothing less.

Most YouTube apps ALWAYS require the internet. YaYa doesn’t. Once you have some favorite videos downloaded (and you can download up to 50 at a time btw) you can unhook the modem and get your groove on.

Like I said in another article. When it comes to FLV, I want what I want when I want it. With the YaYa library being local I can pretty well guarantee that my favorite videos will be ready when I want them to be whether I’m tethered to the internet or not or whether or not YouTube’s service is available.

YaYa v.9 is now available here and at the Adobe Showcase. This version is a must have if you like the app because it adds a lot of new things and fixes a few others.

Some of the features of the v.9 release:

1. Totally reworked multiple download routine. The list of returns is now repeater based instead of itemRenderer based so when you scroll while downloading, every active download is tracked as it should be and progresses as it should. Refactoring was causing major problems using a renderer and if you scrolled the list while downloading an item things went wonky. Not anymore.

2. Exit awareness during downloads. If you attempt to exit with downloads in progress the app finishes all downloads and library queries before exiting and notifies the end user of such.

3. Library playlist queuing. Now you queue items from the library to the video player. This is more natural. This way you can use the filters to narrow down what you are looking for…select from the narrowed down list and queue them up.

4. Added YouTube username search. You can now search by keyword or YouTube user.

5. Added a new “Hide Controls” mode. Click the box and the entire application window becomes the video space.

6. Display of Publish date (by user request).

7. Search progress indicator. Just a visual so you know the app is searching YouTube.

8. Version check from app. If your version is current you are notified. If not you can download new version.

8. Many background tweaks not worth mentioning.