Deploying Flash widgets

You have two options for installing and running a widget on your Chumby:

Option 1: Manually copy the SWF file (along with the equivalent of an "autostart" text file) to your Chumby device using a USB thumb drive

Option 2: Publish the SWF file to the developer portal at chumby.com. This option involves a completing the form on the Upload Widget page (see Figure 3). 

Figure 3. You can upload your widget on chumby.com to distribute it to Chumby devices

It's well worth the extra effort to publish your widget on chumby.com, because doing so allows you to make your widget publicly available to all the consumers who own a Chumby. The users who own a Chumby use the site to set up channels and choose which widgets to run on their device. A channel can feature just one widget or it can be set to automatically cycle through multiple widgets. 

It may sound counter-intuitive, but even as I'm in the testing phase, I like to publish my widgets to chumby.com (instead of copying the SWF file directly to my device via the USB port). In my experience, I find it's actually faster to upload a replacement SWF file to chumby.com and refresh my Chumby, in comparison to copying the files to a thumb drive and then restarting the Chumby to apply the changes. 

Here's the testing cycle workflow that I use:

1. Activate your Chumby (create an account and type in the Chumby's serial number) on the Chumby activation page. To distribute your own widgets you'll need to set up a developer account. Once you've activated your device and set up your developer account, you can select Widgets > Upload Widget from the menu to access the upload form. Fill in the form fields, supplying a name for your Flash widget. Browse to select both your widget SWF file and an 80 × 60 pixel thumbnail in JPG format from your hard drive. For now, leave the default option for Private. Select a category that you'll remember (it doesn't really matter which category you select, because this widget won't be viewable by the public). After you've finished filling out the form, click the Upload widget button.
2. From the Widgets menu, select My Channels. Select your widget from the appropriate category and click the "Add To Channel" option.  (For testing purposes it is easiest to reselect the widget if you only have one widget in your channel, rather than cycling to the other widgets. However, you can use the "stay" pushpin feature to disable auto cycling in your channel.)
3. Next time you turn on your Chumby, the widget you uploaded will download and display on your device.

It is only necessary to perform the steps listed above once. However, after you've revised your widget and you're ready to test the updated version on your device, follow these steps:

1. Go to chumby.com. In order to re-upload your SWF widget, select Widgets > Upload Widget and then select "view your uploaded widgets". From this page you can select your widget, browse to select the updated SWF on your hard drive, and click "Update". That is all that is required to upload the new SWF file to chumby.com.
2. Squeeze your Chumby to access the control panel. Click Channel, then click the refresh button, then click OK. Hide the control panel and the device will display the latest version of your SWF file. If you want to make extra sure you are looking at the right version of the widget, you can include a version number on screen during the testing phase.

To learn more about how users find and share your widgets, visit chumby.com. These steps are provided in order to show you the minimum steps required to publish and update your widgets using chumby.com.

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