That's cool, dk3d - very clever.

FYI: According to our understanding, we're doing everything necessary to prevent the browser component from doing caching. There's something very strange going on.

Most people know, but you may not, that I am the guy who wrote the library GUI in Flex. SM wrote the server. We wrote it in Flex for lots of reasons, none of which matter to you, of course. But since you are not aware of the design requirements (which go beyond Poser, by the way - Manga studio will be getting this GUI, too) it's not fair for you to assert that we've "sunk so low" by writing it in FLASH. It's not written in FLASH, anyway - it is written in Flex. FLASH is just the engine that executes the application. I would have written it in WPF, but it has to run on MAC as well as PC, so that's not an option. I would have written it in Python with wxPython, but it has to run on other applications besides Poser that don't have embedded Python, so that's not an option. There are many more reasons.

You certainly are in the right to be unhappy that there are problems. But don't muddy the waters with your opinions about technology unless you want to spend hours and hours discussing all the requirements. It's much more complicated than most people think.

Anyway ...

The files are produced all the time, even when you're doing nothing, because the GUI is polling the Poser server, asking it if it has any news, such as we're in the setup room and it should only show figures, or that you've selected a prop, so the "save a prop" button should be enabled.

The polling happens 4 times per second. It is done with an HTTP POST, which means it should not be cached, because it is a command, not a simple request for information, and so the response is expected to be different every time. The response header also includes a no-cache directive, which means it should not be cached. Yet it is. Beat us up all you want, but we've done the right things to prevent it. We're looking into also setting an immediate expiration on the content - another thing that is known to prevent caching.

We will find the problem and fix it. But we are not going to abandon Flex here. I'm the quarterback. If we can't stop the caching then we'll change the protocol and skip the HTTP stuff, not change the technology.

I am currently working on the next iteration, and I have a version that is an AIR application, so the GUI does not have to be confined to the Poser window, or undocked or other machinations.

There are quite a few other great new features going in, and if I wasn't writing in Flex, you wouldn't see these features until next fall. Instead, they'll be out much sooner than that.

I'm showing the AIR app with the new option for multiple display panels. Before any of you start claiming we're copying D3D's library manager, let me point out that this was always in the plan. There is a very long plan of features here, most of which I can't talk about, but this is cool stuff, so use it or don't, but don't whine. There are alternatives. If you want them, buy them. It doesn't bother me at all.

---

Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)