Flex Frameworks ?

Hello ,
I am a Flex programmer , a pretty good one I would like to think. Right now I am exploring the idea of using frameworks , Cairngorm , Mate , PureMVC. I've seen some of their examples and "View Source Code" , however , I am a little put off by the amount of code generated for something as simple as a "Hello World" type app , as well as the scant tutorials.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience on when someone should move from "hacking" together code and onto the world of frameworks. Also what are the advantages of some of these frameworks. The ones I have seen make the code unreadable , at least when you are unfamiliar with the framework. Last but not least , which framework would you recommend if any at all.
Sincerely ,
D

Benefit of using frameworks, as I see it, is consistency in code organization. This can be a huge boon if you're working on large projects and/or with a team of developers. If you need to replace or add a member of the team, having a defined set or fules that govern your development style will make it easier for that new developer to get up to speed. Frameworks can offer that.
Frameworks, sometimes, can help less experienced developers implement "best practices" within their code. Model View Controller (MVC) frameworks seem to be the most popular kind, and the onces you mention; Cairngorm, Mate, and PureMV are all MVC based.
The code for every instance of Hello World looks like overkill; because it is an extremely simplified function that is often used to demonstrate some other process, in these cases how a Framework should work.

Similar Messages

Flex framework - software needed question

hi, and thank you for your replies in advance.
i'm a bit new to flex framework and flash.
I want to know what software and languages I would need for the following website or web application
I have some knowledge with programing and markup languages like:
c/c++, java
html/css/javascript
php/sql
Professional design experience with
Photoshop/illustrator
What i want to achieve is:
Build a rich internet application.
Unified layout that will start fast. very small loading time (less than 3 seconds including the background and menus).
I need a search and category filter (get input text and check boxes and send them to database and retrieve the query)
When an icon or button is clicked, data is dynamically retrieved and automatically updated (animation on the whole page or text/image area when an icon or button is clicked) (no page refresh)
Some caching or background downloads when the site is idle, but give priority whenever an icon is clicked.
Some animated charts and site stats.
Some animated images where you can click on a portion of the image to trigger some text/images on to the image like tips and help
Site updates send subscription members (rss, email, facebook, twitter)
If there is an easy way to update the site, rss, email, facebook account, and twitter account at the same time
Optional (I want to create a discussion board (forum like) integrated in the site)
Sorry about the rambling.
Now for the questions:
If I already have Flash cs5, do I need:
1-      Flex4 sdk
2-      Flash builder 4 (does it offer something not included in flash cs5, or is it just a better interface for programing)
3-      What does flash catalyst do
4-      If I’m not streaming video do I need the flash servers
5-      Do I need flash services
6-      When I finish the web application. How much work would it take to make a mobile (Android or iPhone maybe) and a desktop (adobe air) versions. Is it as easy as making a file export in different format, or just minor tweaks to make it work?
7-      Last thing, what references or books do I need?

As a new Flex user maintaining part of an existing project, I would say to be very cautious.
I haven't used robotlegs, but attempting to learn flex and robotlegs and convert part of an existing project to use it is a recipe for disaster.
In my experience companies are interested in quick results when in maintenance mode on existing projects and won't be interested in excuses when the new developer messes up an existing project by trying to introduce a framework they know nothing about.
Get comfortable with basic Flex. If you want to try RobotLegs, create a test project to play with.
Don't add robotlegs to a live project when you are not sure of either flex or the framework. Or if you do, start looking for your next job!

[svn:fx-3.x] 5687: Flex Framework Bug Fix

Revision: 5687
Author: [email protected]
Date: 2009-03-27 16:27:38 -0700 (Fri, 27 Mar 2009)
Log Message:
Flex Framework Bug Fix
SDK-14684 Un-hardcode the 10 digit limit in PhoneNumberValidator
Added a minDigits property to PhoneNumberValidator. Added new resource string to Validator.properties.
SDK-16679 NumberValidator.domain should use constants instead of strings
Added new class NumberValidatorDomainType. Updated the ASDoc and one of the equality checks in NumberValidator.
QE Notes: add tests for the new minDigits property
Doc Notes: add documentation for the new minDigits property and NumberValidatorDomainType class
Bugs: SDK-14684, SDK-16679
Reviewer: Hans
Ticket Links:
http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-14684
http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-16679
http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-14684
http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-16679
Modified Paths:
flex/sdk/branches/3.x/frameworks/projects/framework/bundles/en_US/src/validators.properti es
flex/sdk/branches/3.x/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/validators/NumberValidator.as
flex/sdk/branches/3.x/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/validators/PhoneNumberValidato r.as
Added Paths:
flex/sdk/branches/3.x/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/validators/NumberValidatorDoma inType.as

[svn:fx-trunk] 10464: Removing support in Flex framework for compatibility version 3.

Revision: 10464
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2009-09-21 10:40:30 -0700 (Mon, 21 Sep 2009)
Log Message:
Removing support in Flex framework for compatibility version < 3. We won't support compatibility-version 2 or 2.01 anymore. We only keep compatibility-version for one full release, so for Flex 4, we only support compatibility-version = 3.x.
This should reduce our code-size some as we no longer need this old code. I didn't clean up the compiler's support for compatibility-versioning as it didn't seem worth the effort.
QE notes: -
Doc notes: -
Bugs: SDK-15360
Reviewer: Kevin
Tests run: checkintests, Joan ran all mustella tests
Is noteworthy for integration: Yes
Ticket Links:
    http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-15360
Modified Paths:
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/Accordion.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/FormItem.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/Panel.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/TabNavigator.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/accordionClasses/Accordion Header.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/utilityClasses/CanvasLayou t.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/containers/utilityClasses/Flex.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/Alert.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/Button.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/CheckBox.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/ColorPicker.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/ComboBase.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/ComboBox.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/DataGrid.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/DateChooser.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/DateField.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/Label.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/LinkBar.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/LinkButton.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/List.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/MenuBar.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/NavBar.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/NumericStepper.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/PopUpButton.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/ProgressBar.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/RadioButton.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/SWFLoader.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/TextArea.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/TextInput.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/colorPickerClasses/SwatchPan el.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/dataGridClasses/DataGridHead er.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/dataGridClasses/DataGridHead erBase.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/listClasses/ListBase.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/listClasses/ListItemRenderer .as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/listClasses/TileListItemRend erer.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/menuClasses/MenuBarItem.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/menuClasses/MenuItemRenderer .as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/scrollClasses/ScrollBar.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/sliderClasses/Slider.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/controls/treeClasses/TreeItemRenderer .as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/core/Container.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/core/UIComponent.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/core/UITextField.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/AccordionHeaderSkin.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/DateChooserYearArrowSkin.a s
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/HaloBorder.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/PanelSkin.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/ScrollArrowSkin.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/skins/halo/ScrollTrackSkin.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/styles/StyleManagerImpl.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/styles/StyleProtoChain.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/styles/StyleProxy.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/spark/src/mx/core/UITLFTextField.as

Comparisons on Flex MVC Frameworks

Hi,
I have been doing a comparison Cairngorm, Swiz, Mate, and PureMVC. I plan on presenting my analysis to the developers at my company and my blog. Before I do so, I want to reach out to the maintainers of each project for comments. I feel offering to do so would be the more fair thing to do.
However, I'm not sure what's the best way to send my analysis and example applications to the maintainers of this project. I feel that posting my analysis on this forum is inappropriate at this time. What would be the best way to get in touch with the maintainers of the Cairngorm project?

Thank you for your quick reply, Alex. Since my post yesterday, I came across quite a few comprisons (not an exhaustive list of what I had to read through...):
http://www.insideria.com/2008/12/frameworkquest-2008-introducti.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37043/flex-mvc-frameworks
http://www.flexpasta.com/index.php/2009/07/16/mate-framework-should-it-be-the-new-standard -in-flex-4/
http://www.summa-tech.com/blog/2009/01/14/selecting-the-right-flex-application-framework/
http://www.summa-tech.com/blog/2009/02/27/the-flex-application-frameworks-smackdown-sorta/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/flex_framework.html
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/360flex-conference/mate-flex-framework-by-laura-arguello/
Because I'm looking for a non-intrusive (or loosely coupled) framework with a gentle learning curve (so that my company's current Oracle Forms developers won't immediately reject it), I'm tempted to try out Mate. And because the framework doesn't interfere with views, business logic and server access, it seems that I'll more easily be able to back out and try another one if I find out I made a mistake (something that's tougher to do with Cairngorm or PureMVC).

Source Code Editor Framework for Flex

Dear Flex Forum members:
As a Flex newbie a quite important question in relation to the "Flex frameworks world" still remains to me, even after some google search sessions:
Does there exist any (preferably free) Flex framework or Flex component covering the functionality of a source code editor with syntax highlighting and syntax checking? -- Anything comparable to the Editor Framework within the Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform) or even to the Eclipse GEF (Graphical Editor Framework)?
The background is as follows (and as described in more detail in my first post to this forum):
An Online Shop Management Component shall offer the ShopManager to specify the products and offers in some declarative way and after a pre-defined grammar in place. The application frontend must be realized in Flex, and that's the reason why I'm now searching for:
some kind of textual or graphical editor framework for realizing the Shop Manager's editor which shall support him/her in creating shop specifications/configurations in a grammar-conforming way through syntax color highlighting and syntax checking (error feedback), and
this editor framework being intended for Flex (i.e., being a flex framework)
In some way, much of the editing/modeling functionality is identical to the one offered by Flex Builder (Eclipse application), but in my case this functionality must be exposed as web application (Flex component running on the browser).
Aps., would it also be possible to realize the Shop Management Component as AIR app, distribute it through a web page and run it locally on the Shop Managers client desktop???
Which products/frameworks do you know for accomplishing this task?
Thank you very much for any help.
Best regards
Alessandro

Since people complain about Flex's basic rich text editor (which is a basic building block of the kind of framework you're discussing), I doub't you'll find what you need out of the box anywhere...

[svn] 713: Merging recent sample eclipse project changes for framework and rpc flex library projects to the trunk

Revision: 713
Author: [email protected]
Date: 2008-03-03 10:19:09 -0800 (Mon, 03 Mar 2008)
Log Message:
Merging recent sample eclipse project changes for framework and rpc flex library projects to the trunk
QA: No
Doc: No
Bugs: N/A
Modified Paths:
flex/sdk/trunk/development/eclipse/flex/framework/.actionScriptProperties
flex/sdk/trunk/development/eclipse/flex/framework/.flexLibProperties
flex/sdk/trunk/development/eclipse/flex/rpc/.actionScriptProperties

Thats good news.

Flex 2 app won't load after making framework into RSL

Hi,
After reading the Runtime Shared Library chapter of a Flex 3 book, I decided to make the Flex framework an RSL, in a Flex 2 application (Link Type = RSL for all Flex libraries). After it rebuilt, a bunch of SWF files were created, as expected (charts.swf, flex.swf, framework.swf, playerglobal.swf, rpc.swf, and utilities.swf); I placed them, as well as the usual application files (Main.swf, Main.html, etc.), in my usual Web server's directory. Even though the Flex 3 book mentions an SWZ file that I didn't get (gets cached in Flash Player), I figured the SWF files would get cached in the browser.
Unfortunately, when I access the application URL from a browser, I don't get past the usual Flex grey background...
I'd really appreciate if someone could help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks,
Chris.

I noticed two things I didn't expect:
The total size of all SWF files is much larger than the original size of my unique SWF file, when the libraries were merged into the code. Is this because I now get the entire Flex framework, whereas before, I only got the classes that my application uses?
My Flex application files are copied into two distinct server folders, enabling me to start the application with different configurations (basically, each talks to a different Oracle instance - 9i and 10g - for testing purposes. After running one version of the application (the loading of the libraries took much longer than previously, without the RSLs), I expected the second version to load quicker, but it loaded all the libraries, just the same!
Any insight on these two problems is welcome.
Cheers,
Chris.

How do I apply programmatic skins for completely custom drawn components of a Flex library project?

Hello folks,
I am looking for best practices advice when (1) creating
custom components and (2) styling and skinning.
I already know how to skin a component part of the Flex
framework. I can make a class extending ProgrammaticSkin and have
my component skinned using CSS to link the component with the
reference to my custom class.
However what about those cases when you are completely
creating a component from scratch?
Imagine a "Freehand Drawing Canvas" component that allows the
user to draw on it and has some buttons to set color styles, line
styles, etc., or imagine a "Screen Flow Gallery" component that
displays visual objects in a fashion similar to Cover Flow in the
Mac.
In many components I am aware you may reuse other components
part of the Flex framework but I am trying to picture an scenario
where you would need to draw everything yourself because there just
isn't something to base it upon so you will end up drawing it from
scratch.
To learn how instead of building one of those components I
mentioned previously I decided to start with something simple that
would illustrate this like a LiteButton component that will behave
just like the Flex mx.controls.Button but will extend UIComponent
and be completely custom drawn.
The component will have a default look and will also be
style-able and skin-able. I will provide styles for users of the
component to modify and regarding skinning anyone can create a
custom ProgrammaticSkin adding its own drawing logic and link it to
the component via CSS with the ClassReference applied to the skin
selector.
So far so good and it's clear what I want to achieve. I
actually know how to do most of the stuff here but I have one
single problem.
Here is my question, where should I put my custom drawing
logic? If I do it in the updateDisplayList inside the class
extending UIComponent it works, however I thought that it would be
a better practice to do it using programmatic skins, that way I
could provide different skin themes for my component set.
The problem is that I can't make the programmatic work in
this scenario. I tried instantiating the custom programmatic skin
during the updateDisplayList of the LiteButton component and adding
it to my display object via addChild but that didn't do anything. I
also tried creating a "default.css" stylesheet and tried to use
ClassReference as I would normally do to skin an already existing
component (or composite component as well) but that didn't do
anything either.
So how do I apply programmatic skins for completely custom
drawn components of my Flex library project?
I could do it inside the updateDisplayList of the LiteButton
class extending UIComponent but again I would like to provide
different theme sets for my components so it makes sense using
programmatic skins.

"jbucaran" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello folks,
>
> I am looking for best practices advice when (1) creating
custom components
> and
> (2) styling and skinning.
>
> I already know how to skin a component part of the Flex
framework. I can
> make
> a class extending ProgrammaticSkin and have my component
skinned using CSS
> to
> link the component with the reference to my custom
class.
>
> However what about those cases when you are completely
creating a
> component
> from scratch?
>
> Imagine a "Freehand Drawing Canvas" component that
allows the user to draw
> on
> it and has some buttons to set color styles, line
styles, etc., or imagine
> a
> "Screen Flow Gallery" component that displays visual
objects in a fashion
> similar to Cover Flow in the Mac.
>
> In many components I am aware you may reuse other
components part of the
> Flex
> framework but I am trying to picture an scenario where
you would need to
> draw
> everything yourself because there just isn't something
to base it upon so
> you
> will end up drawing it from scratch.
This may help with that
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=skinstyle_3.html
> To learn how instead of building one of those components
I mentioned
> previously I decided to start with something simple that
would illustrate
> this
> like a LiteButton component that will behave just like
the Flex
> mx.controls.Button but will extend UIComponent and be
completely custom
> drawn.
>
> The component will have a default look and will also be
style-able and
> skin-able. I will provide styles for users of the
component to modify and
> regarding skinning anyone can create a custom
ProgrammaticSkin adding its
> own
> drawing logic and link it to the component via CSS with
the ClassReference
> applied to the skin selector.
>
> So far so good and it's clear what I want to achieve.
Actually after
> playing
> with the weekend and today I know how to do most of the
stuff but I have
> one
> single problem. So here is my question, where should I
provide my custom
> drawing logic? If I do it in the updateDisplayList
inside the class
> extending
> UIComponent it works, however I thought that it would be
a better practice
> to
> do it using programmatic skins, that way I could provide
different skin
> themes
> for my component set.
These aren't mutually exclusive. When you provide a skin with
a
TypeSelector, you have to add it to the display list
somewhere, and this is
typically done in updateDisplayList or addChildren. I prefer
to do it in
updateDisplayList, because you can then change it if the
style changes.
> The problem is that I can't make the programmatic work
in this scenario. I
> tried instantiating the custom programmatic skin during
the
> updateDisplayList
> of the LiteButton component and adding it to my display
object via
> addChild but
> that didn't do anything.
Exactly what did you do?
> I also tried creating a "default.css" stylesheet and
> tried to use ClassReference as I would normally do to
skin an already
> existing
> component (or composite component as well) but that
didn't do anything
> either.
I've never had any problem using an approach similar to
this...but I will
say that I couldn't see any advantage in creating a
default.css style sheet,
since it's not really default in the way that the one that
comes with Flex
is. It's much more obvious to anyone using your component
what's going on
there if you create a style sheet where they're likely to
spot it.
> So how do I apply programmatic skins with the default
look for custom
> drawn
> components?
It seems like your approach is fine, but maybe you've made a
mistake in your
implementation.
> I could do it inside the updateDisplayList of the
LiteButton class
> extending
> UIComponent but again I would like to provide different
theme sets for my
> components so it makes sense using programmatic skins.
You might want to consider also adding an instance of
HaloBorder to your
component. That brings a lot of functionality with it.
HTH;
Amy

The MessagePerformanceUtils:totalTime issue in Flex 4 (rpc.swc) using LCDS 3.1 running under JDK1.6

We are facing an issue while using LCDS 3.1 running under JDK1.6 in Sun Solaris v5.10 OS & Adobe Flex 4.
Scenario :-
===================================
As part of our Flex-based client-server application (with Java backend) we have a performance report generation module. Following flex framework class is used to calculate the performance of various layer of a typical server-based request-response cycle.
; (available in rpc.swc library file)
(for example : server time, cairngorm time, UI screen rendering time, UI event generation time etc).
The totalTime was working properly before upgrading the rpc.swc to Flex 4 ; However it broke after migrating to Flex SDK 4; The totalTime is now coming as negative junk value.
As we understand that the above Flex framework class method works in conjunction with LCDS running at server side on JDK.
We suspect that the new rpc.swc taken from Flex SDK 4 is causing the issue !
System information :
Web Server : Weblogic 11G
Operating System : Sun Solaris v5.10 OS running on Sparc hardware.
Flex : Adobe Flex sdk 4.0
Flash player : Adobe Flash Player 10
Browser : Internet Explorer 8
LCDS : 3.1
JDK : JDK 1.6.0_14
===================================
Has anyone faced similar problem before ? Any help or direction would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Rabi
mx.messaging.messages.MessagePerformanceUtils :totalTime

Nothing has changed in the Flex SDK sources for this class since sometime around 2008. Are you running against the same LCDS server as you were before you updated to Flex 4? This certainly seems strange (and bad). Do you see the same behavior with Flex 4.5? What was the version of Flex you were using before switching to Flex 4.0?
If you can provide the additional information, we will look in to this. A reproducable case that was a simple mxml application along with a simple destination config would help us narrow the problem.
Sorry for the problems!
Tom

Flex for a New Project?

I'm launching a new project and I'm considering using Flex.
I'm hoping you can provide me with some feedback on viability and
perhaps some guidance.
The project would be for building dyanamic, database-driven
websites in the recreation industry and a content management
systems to configure the sites. One code base for multiple,
customized sites. They would share components (weather, map, ads,
etc) and templates to make building them faster and updating them
universal. The site would search inventory, provide for checkout /
purchase, recognize users' account balances, things like that.
If, for instance, we were going to do a website for a golf
course, we would use the content management system to:
1. Add a site to the system
a. Designate the URL
b. Designate style elements
c. Designate header, footer and menu
2. Add a page to the site
a. Choose (or build a new one) a template
b. Add components to the template (prebuilt or freeform
html)
c. Designate its position in the menu
The website would be accessing data through web services.
I'm in the process of writing specifications and I feel a
need to have more information.
1. Is Flex a good choice?
2. Is the model of sites/pages/templates/components
appropriate? Would flex be able to create these based on database
settings? I'm probably not saying that the right way. A site
(abc.com) has a page (Map and Weather) with a template (Template A)
which has 4 forms (Form A across the top, Form B down the left
side, Forms C & D in the center of the page) and components
Header, Menu, Map and Weather assigned to these Forms. All
designated in the database.
3. How should style elements be included? (background color,
font family, etc., etc.)
4. Web services? Is there an advantage to using Cold Fusion?
ASPX? The backend will be MS SQL.
5. Language sensitization issues?
Any help you could provide would be greatly
appreciated.

We are introducing a new feature in Flex 2.0.1 that's due out
early next year. The feature is called "Modules" and it was
discussed at this year's MAX 2006. You can read more about it on
Roger Gonzalez's blog:
http://blogs.adobe.com/rgonzalez/
- check the "Modular Applications" articles. I think this will go a
long way to making the reusable parts you are talking about.
Flex does not build things from instructions unless they are
written in ActionScript. We have customers that do create dynamic
interfaces based on data loaded from a database, so it is possible.
But if you have pre-built templates and all you need to do is
change certain aspects at runtime, it should be pretty easy with
Flex. Take a look at the Flex documentation, especially the part
about the Flex framework and how Flex sources are compiled into
SWFs.
You style Flex components using style sheets (CSS files).
This also includes specifying skins for components if you decide to
give something a whole new look.
I'm a bit biased here, but I think using ColdFusion (version
7.0.2) with Flex 2 is very easy. But it depends on your needs,
budget, deployment, etc. WIth CF 7.0.2 and Flex Builder 2 you get
wizards to be build both CFC (ColdFusion components) and matching
ActionScript objects so that you exchange objects, not just data,
between Flex and CF.
WebServices can also be used (with CF, too). This gives you
more choices to the backend. If you have a large amount of data or
it is complex, consider Flex Data Services as that has data
management capabilities.
Flex 2 has localization capabilties. You create a 'resource
bundle' in various languages and build SWFs for each one. When the
end user choses their preference, take them to the page that loads
the appropriate SWF.
HTH

Best practice for adding text to Flex container?

Hi,
I'm having some troubles to lay a TextFlow class out properly
inside a Flex container. What's the best practice to achieving
this, for example adding a lot of text to a small Panel?
Is it possible to pass anything other than a static width and
height to DisplayObjectContainerController constructor, or is this
not the place to implement this? I guess what I am looking for is
the layout logic I'd normally pack into a custom Flex component and
implement inside measure() and so on.
My use case: a chat application which adds multiple TextFlow
elements to a Flex container such as Panel. Or use TextFlow as a
substitute for UITextField.
Some example code would help me greatly.
I'm using Flex 3.2.
Regards,
Stefan

Thanks Brian, the example helps. However problems quickly
arise if I modify it slightly to this (please compile it to see):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="
http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="absolute" initialize="init()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import flashx.textLayout.compose.StandardFlowComposer;
import
flashx.textLayout.container.DisplayObjectContainerController;
import flashx.textLayout.container.IContainerController;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.TextFlow;
import flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextFilter;
private var _container:Sprite;
private var _textFlow:TextFlow;
private function init():void
_container = new Sprite();
textArea.rawChildren.addChild(_container);
var markup:String = "<TextFlow xmlns='
http://ns.adobe.com/textLayout/2008'><p><span>Hello
World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello
World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello World! Hello
World! Hello World! </span></p></TextFlow>";
_textFlow = TextFilter.importToFlow(markup,
TextFilter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT);
_textFlow.flowComposer.addController(new
DisplayObjectContainerController(_container, 200, 50));
_textFlow.flowComposer.updateAllContainers();
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:Canvas width="100" height="100" id="textArea" x="44"
y="46" backgroundColor="#F5EAEA"/>
</mx:Application>
What is the best way to make my textflow behave like a
'normal' UIComponent in Flex? Should I use UIComponent instead of
Sprite as a Container? Will that take care of resize behaviour?
I have never before needed to use rawChildren.addChild for
example, maybe you can explain why that's needed here?
I realise that the new Textframework works on an AS basis and
is not Flex or Flash specific, but this also poses some challenges
for those of us using the Flex framework primarily.
I think it would help to have some more basic examples such
as using the new text features in a 'traditional' context. Say for
example a TextArea that is just that, a TextArea but with the
addition of inline images. I personally feel that the provided
examples largely try to teach me to run before I can walk.
Many thanks,
Stefan

[svn] 4634: First part of glue code for allowing Halo components to use the new Text Layout Framework , in order to get functionality such as bidirectional text.

Revision: 4634
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2009-01-22 17:38:56 -0800 (Thu, 22 Jan 2009)
Log Message:
First part of glue code for allowing Halo components to use the new Text Layout Framework, in order to get functionality such as bidirectional text.
Background:
TLF is making this possible by implementing a TLFTextField class. It is a Sprite that uses TLF to implement the same properties and methods as the legacy TextField class in the Player. Thanks to the createInFontContext() bottleneck method in UIComponent, it can be used by a properly-written Halo component (such as those in Flex 3) without any modifications to the component.
Note: Text should render similarly -- but is unlikely to render identically -- when a component uses TLFTextField vs. TextField. The width and height may be different, affecting layout; text could wrap differently; etc. This is a fact-of-life based on the fact that TLF/FTE and TextField are completely different text engines.
Whether a Halo component uses TLF or not to render text will be determined in Flex 4 by a new style, textFieldClass. (Gumbo components always use TLF.)
TLFTextField is currently only partially implemented. It does not yet support scrolling, selection, editing, multiple formats, or htmlText. Therefore it can only be used for simple display text, such as a Button label.
Details:
The TextStyles.as bucket 'o text styles now includes a non-inheriting textFieldClass style. It can be set to either mx.core.UITextField or mx.core.UITLFTextField. These are the Flex framework's wrapper classes around the lower-level classes flash.text.TextField (in the Player) and its TLF-based workalike, flashx.textLayout.controls.TLFTextField.
The global selector in defaults.css currently sets it to mx.core.UITextField using a ClassReference directive. For the time being, all Halo components will continue to use the "real" TextField.
The new UITLFTextField is a copy of UITextField, except that it extends TLFTextField instead of TextField. This class has been added to FrameworkClasses.as because no classes in framework.swc have a dependency on it. It will get soft-linked into applcations via the textFieldClass style.
The TLFTextField class currently lives in a fourth TLF SWC, textLayout_textField.swc. This SWC has been added to various build scripts. The external-library-path for building framework.swc now includes all four TLF SWCs, because UITLFTextField can't be compiled and linked without them. However, since they are external they aren't linked into framework.swc.
Properly-written Halo UIComponents access their text fields only through the IUITextField interface, and they create text fields like this:
textField = IUITextField(createInFontContext(UITextField));
(The reason for using createInFontContext() is to support embedded fonts that are embedded in a different SWF.)
The createInFontContext() method of UIComponent has been modified to use the textFieldClass style to determine whether to create a UITextField or a UITLFTextField.
With these changes, you can now write code like
to get two Buttons, the first of which uses UITextField (because this is the value of textFieldClass in the global selector) and the second of which uses UITLFTextField. They look very similar, which is good!
Currently, both Buttons are being measured by using an offscreen TextField. A subsequent checkin will make components rendering using UITLFTextField measure themselves using an offscreen TLFTextField so that measurement and rendering are consistent.
QE Notes: None
Doc Notes: None
Bugs: None
Reviewer: Deepa
Modified Paths:
    flex/sdk/trunk/asdoc/build.xml
    flex/sdk/trunk/build.xml
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/build.xml
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/defaults.css
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/FrameworkClasses.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/core/UIComponent.as
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/styles/metadata/TextStyles.as
Added Paths:
    flex/sdk/trunk/frameworks/projects/framework/src/mx/core/UITLFTextField.as

Many of your points are totally legitimate.
This one, however, is not:
…To put it another way, the design of the site seems to be geared much more towards its regular users than those the site is supposedly trying to "help"…
The design and management of the forums for more than five years have driven literally dozens of the most valuable contributors and "regulars" away from the forums—permanently.
The only conclusion a prudent, reasonable person can draw from this state of affairs is that Adobe consciously and deliberately want to kill these forums by attrition—without a the PR hit they would otherwise take if they suddenly just shut them down.

Java API for Adobe Flex(AIR and Browser)

Hello Community,
Sometime ago i started the project located at: : http://code.google.com/p/gwt4air/ , wich primary goal was to bring another approach on writing AIR application by providing a Java API for the AIR API. On top of that i added support for PDF and Excel generation using Java.
I m glad to announce that the project will now add support for the Flex Framework
I wrote a post about it on the main page.
The Idea behind it is to give Java Developers a more simple way to write Flex Application by leaveraing a swing like API.
I hope this project will be a good alternative to the MXML+ ActionScript approach and looking for people willing to join the project.
Regards,
Alain

Good question, I'd like to know this myself. 4.5 has a huge number of changes since 4.0.

I can't compile for iOS anymore with Flex and AIR 3.8

Hi Adobe team and others,
I'm using Apache 4.10 Flex framework and adobe Air 3.8 for my business projects.
I always had some problems to compile and publish iOS application (with Air 3.5 before), but with AIR 3.8, that was a miracle, I could compile my projects without any errors on Windows ... until today.
I'm executing this command in DOS to compile my project:
"C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe" -jar "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.7 (64 Bit)\sdks\4.10 - AIR 3.8\lib\adt.jar" -package -target ipa-app-store -hideAneLibSymbols no -provisioning-profile "S:\Directory_to_MobileProvision.mobileprovision" -storetype pkcs12 -keystore "S:\Directory_to_Certificats_ios.p12" -storepass my_private_password Proginov_FVTE_V45.ipa Proginov_FVTE_V45-app.xml assets com config_app.xml [email protected] Proginov_FVTE_V45.swf -extdir "S:/Directory_to_ANE/air_3.8_pnv_3.00"
And I'm getting this result after 1 hour compiling:
If you want, I can send you my bin-release-temp folder and ANE to try by yourself, but I need a private mail, because I don't want to publish my private project to everyone.
Thanks

Thank you a lot.
I remember I tried this with AIR 3.5, and that didn't work.
But with AIR 3.8, it's OK.
Perfect

Flex Frameworks ?

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