General Question - Flash or Flex

I am an executive responsible for a RIA application project
for my company... I am not a developer.
The application we are building involves live video chat,
non-live video player, text chat, and more...
I am trying to create an attractive design which will allow
minimizing of different components, drag-drop functions, movement,
etc.
When suggesting working with Flex my designer told me Flex is
not as flexible as Flash and limits you in terms of design assets
you can use. He was specifically talking about pixel size of the
different elements.
Is this really a limitation? Will I be only able to use the
existing templated Flex UI components, or can they be customized /
re-designed?
Thanks foryour help.

I would personally go with a mixture of the two. As far as
the RIA is concerned with the video chat, text chat, and all of
your features I think you would have a much easier time developing
those components within Flex then you would Flash. However getting
something to really look nice is accomplished much easier within
Flash seeing as how Flex's only drawing tools consist of code. So
depending on your design itself you can go very very deep into
getting something to look good with using CSS Styles themselves
however there are limitations that CSS isn't just gonna get the
look you want which is when it's time to switch over to what's
called "Skinning" this is where you replace the skin of the
component itself with one that's more desirable to your design. You
can develop your skins or photoshop and use either the exported SWF
or image to completely change the look of the component.
So my conclusion to this is I think developing your
application within Flex will produce a much more scalable
application in terms of being able to be expanded upon later,
however depending on the design you are looking for you will spend
a lot more time getting that extra "shadow" just where you want it.
The other thing you have to ask yourself (and your developer)
is what is better suited for your company? I've been inside Flex
everyday for over the past year now so I feel very comfortable in
writing an application like that within Flex, however lately the
only tinkering I do with Flash is freelance and skinning for Flex
so I'd have a much more difficult time developing it within Flash.
Is your developer more comfortable to accomplish the task in Flash
or in Flex? As well as is there time to compensate for a learning
curve for your decision of which to use?
Just my thoughts, hope this helps.

Similar Messages

Posing a question for those well versed in flash and flex

I would like to start an off-line communication chat with those of you who are well versed in Flash and Flex.
I've worked with Cold Fusion but I am not up to date on all the technologies available. This seems like the perfect forum for this question.
I simply want to build an application (web or desktop is unknown) in which a person can learn a foreign language, in this case English.
I need some technical advice as to whether Flash, Flex, or a combination of technologies (Cold Fusion for server side functionality) is the best choice for this application. I do not understand the technical aspects of Flash or Flex in building applications so I need the advice of you experts.
As with most foreign language textbooks, audio, or foreign language video training, the material is not interesting, not pertinent to daily life, and is great for late night insomnia. I've never seen any type of foreign language training that is interesting, fun, or uses current events as part of the curriculum.
I would like to illustrate my idea with an example. I want to use an existing English beginners textbook (for kids), scan the images in the textbook, store the content (rules of grammar) in a database and store example sentences in a database.
I would like to record basic audio sentences from the textbook (Do you know tomorrow's weather), incorporate some animation (baseball player hitting a home run), incorporate some basic video (purchasing an item at the grocery store), add a quiz, test question or puzzles, etc..
In addition, since this is a classroom setting and the kids are split into groups, I would like to store a seating chart with the kids names and pictures in a database. After the first segment is finished (e.g. purchasing a toy at the store) the kids next perform an activty. I want to use a combination of audio, video, and animation to explain the activity, give instructions, split the class into groups,and perform the activity.
As I mentioned before, I would like to start an off-line discusion for those of you who are willing to share some of you knowledge and experience with both Flash and Flex. Since you are extremely busy, maybe you might be able to point me in the right direction.
Hopefully, some of you can provide some sound technical advice.
Thanks in advance
Michael Poplawski

This is an abitious project even for some-one well versed in flex/flash, i have to give you points for outstanding courage on this .
You need to cover quite a few areas in a project like this both for the client and the back end, you need a strong understanding of animation(either through code or the flash timeline), data parsing, logic trees for the quiz/test elements and a lot more before the first line of code would be written.
In Australia there are already a few companies using flex for online educational applications and at least 1 state educational Authority. A search on the internet will find several sites pertaining to flash/flex based online education software and this would be a starting point to give you an idea of the strength flex has in this area.
Beyond this it is not the sort of project that 'help' would be readily available for unless it was relating to very specific issues you could readily define. Also this is not the best forum to request this type of help as the forum is more about testing a beta product. I am sure that if you start learning about flex and have trouble understanding different aspects of how things work there will be plenty of support from the flex community.
Message was edited by: David_F57
by forum I don't mean the whole forum just this branch.

Switching from Flash to Flash Catalyst/Flex

For the last few years I have been developing applications for project reporting. To explain this in simplest terms, my clients give me hundreds of reports and supporting documents, graphics, videos, etc. which I then condense and reorganize into a presentation/application in Flash. The project is then published as an .exe to be burned to CD ROM or DVD along with any supporting files and is then distributed to project stake holders, investors, etc.
I'm considering the possibility of a switch from Flash to Flash Catalyst/Flex and want to outline what my needs are, here in the forum, in hopes that others now using Catalyst/Flex can help me decide if this is an appropriate move.
Features needed:
1. Basic animation, transitions, etc.
2. Full Navigation (up to 3 levels) for up to 300 slides.
3. Keyboard navigation (PageUp/PageDown) to navigate sequentially through the entire presentation.
4. Linking into other applications and documents - Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.
5. Full Screen Mode
6. Slide Show Mode
7. Search Features
8. Slide sharing (via email)
9. Video and audio w/controls
10. Pan and Zoom w/controls (panning and zooming of graphics and .swf files)
11. Scrolling (scrolling of text, graphics and .swf files)
12. Interactive forms
Can anyone please comment specifically on these features and wether or not they are possible using Catalyst and/or Catalyst/Flex in combination.
Thank you all for any insight or suggestions.
John

With the exception of making fre-form animations (like a cartoon for example), everything you can do in Flash can be done in Flex considerably faster.
The downside is that Flex applications (especially ones designed in Catalyst) are generally larger, and consume more memory. Personally, I never publish anything made in Catalyst without optimizing it in Flash Builder first.
If the drop in operating performance isn't a deal breaker (most of the time you can't even notice it), then I would certainly consider moving to Flex going forward on new projects.

Camileo charging problem (solved) and a general question!

Hi all!
First of all, I was going to ask for help as to why the Camileo S10 was not charging (the orange light wasn't flashing), and I'd seen a few people with similar problems.
The solution?
Give the contacts on the battery a clean.
The insulation sticker that comes on it must leave some kind of residue on it, and it's enough to prevent charging. Now it's flashing away happily :]
So my general question was, is it possible/advisable to use the camera on the mains?
Rather than constantly draining and charging the battery during long shoots, I'd prefer to just leave it plugged in!
Thanks very much in advance!
Paul

Hi
I think the battery handling is always the same no matter what product it is
From time to time the battery should be recalibrated.
This means that the battery should be discharged fully and after then you should charge it again until the battery would reach 100%
I do this with all my batteries; mobile phone battery, digi cam battery and notebook battery.

Flash or Flex on Android Flash 10.1

Hi
I've a question regarding the performance of the video playback of the Flash Player 10.1 on the Android 2.2 with regards to the H.264: Is the performance the same with the use of Flash or Flex? Is there a difference in performance of the resulting application if I use the Flex SDK instead of Flash?
Thx
Stefan

I dont think there is a lot of difference in the performance on using flash or flex sdk,since both convert teh video player to similar swfs that pay on same flash player

Integrating Flash and Flex

Hello,
I am new to Flex but an experienced programmer. I have a Flash movie that has been saved as an .swc file. This movie shows doors open and close in response to real time events obtained through a messaging service. I would like to be able to place this movie into a flex applicaiton so that I can respond to these events. My question is, is it even possible to interact with a Flash movie clip in Flex? I was assuming that this was the whole point of Flex (Flash Builder). Am I wrong about that? Are Flex and Flash two completely different and incompatible products?

https://iamjosh.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/embedding-flash-in-flex/
Yep. You have the right idea. Flex is a framework (targeted at developers) for developing Flash applications.

I have a handful of general questions about Firefox OS as a consumer..

I couldn't find a better place to post this, so I'm trying on here.
I'm in the market for a tablet (high-end), and I'm holding off on getting an Android-powered one because of Firefox OS. However, I have some general questions and concerns regarding performance, software and hardware. Here they are.
1. Is the Firefox OS interface as responsive as a native experience on say an iPad or an Android tablet? (Is there any lag on swipes between screens, button presses, etc?) If not, will it be in the future?
2. Will I miss the Android marketplace or the Apple app store, being restricted to only HTML5 apps? Do you think this will become an irrelevant question as the HTML5 app ecosystem grows?
3. Do you think the quality of HTML5 apps will be inferior to those from existing app stores because they are free?
4. Will the Firefox browser be the only one available in Firefox OS? (i.e. will there be the option to use Chrome, Opera or any other browser if the user so wishes?)
5. Will Firefox OS include useful utility apps, such as an alarm clock, a calendar, a weather app, etc?
6. I read a lot, both on the web (news, video game reviews), as well as ebooks. Will Firefox OS on a tablet be a pleasant experience conducive to e-reading? (Will it include a good ebook reader app?)
7. Will there be a high-end Firefox OS tablet that is comparable in specs to the Nexus 10? (i.e. impressive screen resolution, powerful CPU/GPU, lots of inputs/outputs like USB, HDMI, microSD, etc) When do you think such a device might become available?
8. Would it be possible to flash Firefox OS onto say a Nexus 10 or other tablet or phone if one wanted to use it as their OS instead?
Thanks!

1. Depends on the phone but a avererage power android phone would likely cost the same as a high end firefox os phone.
2. HTML 5 is really the future of the web, I've heard that Firefox will let you package apps to be playable offline, but not sure if thats true.
3. I '''think''' Firefox OS may have paid apps that will be restricted to users who buy them.
4. I think Mozilla will be nice enough to let Google and Opera make browsers. Google let Mozilla do that with FF for android.
5. See the simulator https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/
6. too early to say
7. too early to say, but Foxconn (helps apple) makes some apple products, so yes in the future is see a high end Firefox OS tablet 2-3 years down the road.
8. not sure
NOTE: Please note that we are only contributors, we dont develop firefox os.
You can ask more on the IRC channel as there are likely devs there.
https://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?server=irc.mozilla.org

Sorry - very general question

I have been playing with flash for a while on a Mac but I
have been dissatisfied. It is a pre-intel version and 1) it is very
slow, 2) it does not support Soundforge, which I hear is quite
popular and easy to use. Anyway, I'd like to get a PC but I'm not
sure whether I need a standard computer or a suped up version with
lots of memory, graphics capability, etc. Basically the sites I've
seen have divided computers into those suitable for standard office
tasks and net surfing and those suited for "hard core gaming." I am
basically planning to use the computer just for flash animation and
sound clips. Is a standard PC (that exceeds Flash's minimum
requirements) going to do it for me? Sorry for the general
question. Thanks.

First of all, no need for the apology, there are no stupid
(or general) questions.
Second of all: sorry to all Mac fans, but PCs are the way to
go. After all, you get to choose what company makes your computer.
So you can get either the high-end model from HP or Gateway, or get
something a little more affordable from eMachines or Compaq. With
the Mac, you can only choose, well, a Mac.
While computer shopping, look for the following features:
(This is the BARE minimum of what your expectations should
be)
Windows XP Home Edition
AMD Athlon+ 2.1 GHz Processor
800x600x16-bit or better screen
32 MB Video RAM (For the occasional game here and there)
512+ MB System RAM
Sound Card, Speakers
If you get a computer with Windows Vista (which you probably
will), turn off the Vista visual styles, use Windows Standard.
(Flash has a BIG problem concerning Windows Vista visual styles,
which is the problem I'm having now...see first page of "Flash
General Discussions" for my post, please help! Thank you.)

General question on SQL Server 2000 to Oracle 10g

Hello all,
I just have a general question on migration from SQL Server 2000 to Oracle 10g using SQL Developer.
How does it migrate Users with proper privileges from SQL Server to Oracle? Follow the interface steps? Or should the users be created on destination Oracle side?
Thank you.

Hi,
It depends which type of migration you are making.
For a 'Standard' migration when you migrate data a 'create user' statement is created as part of the migration and you will see this in the generated code.
If you are using the 'Quick' migration option then you need to create the Oracle user or use an existing user to receive the data.
Your best option is to review the documentation available from -
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/migration//workbench/index_sqldev_omwb.html
or directly from -
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E12151_01/index.htm
and then get back with specific questions if this does not give you the information you need.
Review the chapter -
2. Migrating Third-Party Databases
in -
Oracle® Database SQL Developer User’s Guide Release 1.5
Regards,
Mike

Report Builder Question - OA AR Aging - and a general question

I'm sure this is the wrong forum for this question, but I thought there might be someone here who might be using Oracle Applications and Report Builder who'd be kind enough to help me out.
We've recently implemented Oracle Applications 11.5.10 and I have to use report builder to change the Accounts Receiveable Aging (7 bucket) to a 5 bucket report. I've already made some changes to the seeded "ARXAGMW.rdf" report, but I'm not a big Oracle Reports guy. I've stumbled through making some changes in various other reports. But this one is just plain nasty! :)
I was thinking that I could simply add buckets 6 & 7 to bucket 5, then just hide or delete the 6 & 7 buckets. But I'm not sure where to even start. Any help with this would GUARANTEE a Christmas or other holiday card this year! :)
I really want to keep this simple as possible, so any help would be very....helpful. :)
Oh, my general question is: Are there any resouces/books for Oracle Reports (Report Builder)? I feel so lost trying to modify existing reports, let alone creating new ones.
Thanks again!
Steve

Hi Steve,
I am working on the 7-bucket aging report and i want to add a new field in data model.
As the query is build dynamically, i have modified the function BUILD_CUSTOMER_SELECT to meet my requirements.
But the problem is that in the data model, the field is not present in my Grouping. and if I try to add the field in the Data Model query (Q_ Customer) section,
i get the following error: ORA-01789: query block has incorrect number of result columns.
The query is as shown below:
select rpad('a',50,'-') short_cust_name,
0 cust_id,
rpad('a',30,'-') cust_no,
rpad('a',500,'-') sort_field1,
rpad('a',40,'-') sort_field2,
0 payment_sched_id,
rpad('a',32,'-') class,
sysdate due_date,
0 amt_due_remaining,
0 days_past_due ,
0 amount_adjusted,
0 amount_applied,
0 amount_credited,
sysdate gl_date,
'x' data_converted,
0 ps_exchange_rate,
0 b0,
0 b1,
0 b2,
0 b3,
0 b4,
0 b5,
0 b6,
rpad('a',25,'-') bal_segment_value,
rpad('a',500,'-') inv_tid,
rpad('a',32,'-') invoice_type
, 'y' parent_cust --I WANT A NEW FIELD HERE TO BE VIEWED ON THE REPORT LAYOUT LATER
from dual
where 1=2
UNION ALL
&common_query_cus
Did i missed somthing 4 me to be able to add the field here?

General question about iTunes Match and multiple libraries

Hello to everyone,
I have a general question about the iTunes Match service, which is available since yesterday in my country (Italy). Currently my library situation is the following:
Computer A (desktop, Windows 7): "big" iTunes library (about 20 GB), at the moment not associated with my Apple ID
Computer B (MacBook Air 2011): "small" iTunes library (about 5 GB), associated with my Apple ID
At the moment, both my iOS devices (iPhone 4 and iPad 2) are synchronized with the smaller library on the MacBook Air.
Question is as follows: should I subscribe to iTunes Match, would it be possible to upload the "big" library (provided I associate it with my Apple ID) to iCloud while keeping my devices synchronized with the "small" one?
Ideally, at the end of the day, the situation should be the following: both iOS devices with music from the small library + possibility of downloading songs from iCloud (coming from the big one). Is this possible?
Maybe the question sounds stupid, but I want to be sure about this before paying for the service.
Thanks a lot.

Yes, you could also associate your larger library with iTunes match if you associated your Apple ID with it. However any purchases in the library made from another Apple ID will not be matched with iTunes much.
If both libraries are part of iTunes match, then all your devices will see all of the content from both libraries, which content you choose to have on those devices and which you have accessible via iTunes match is entirely up to you.

How to tell a swf file in web was made by flash or flex?

the swf file in web, how to tell it was made by Flash or
Flex? accurately!

Im not sure, but I would think that right now the main way to
tell the difference would be to find out if it requires Flash
Player 8.5 or not. Currently, Flash swfs only go to 8.0. Another
way is to look at the source of the HTML file. I notice that Flex
puts an incredible amount of code into the HTML file.
Thia

General Question on Proxies

Hi,
I have few general questions....
How to decide which proxy to be used: Java or ABAP?
What are the deciding factors?
Which one is better when it comes to performance?
Regards,
Rajani Kumar

bump

[svn:cairngorm3:] 19478: -General: Reverted migration to Flex 4. 5 back to Flex 4.1.

Revision: 19478
Revision: 19478
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2010-12-20 03:02:48 -0800 (Mon, 20 Dec 2010)
Log Message:
-General: Reverted migration to Flex 4.5 back to Flex 4.1. -Insync Sample: Fixed Insync Build error. -Navigation: added runtime navigation feature for SelectedChildWaypoint (default Waypoint). (work in progress).
Modified Paths:
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Contract/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ContractTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Integration/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/IntegrationDMS/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/IntegrationParsley/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/IntegrationParsley/.flexLibProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/IntegrationTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Module/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Module/.flexLibProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ModuleTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Navigation/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Navigation/src/com/adobe/cairngorm/navigation/waypoint/decorat or/ContainerDestinationRegistration.as
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsley/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsleyTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsleyTest/src/NavigationParsleyStates.mxml
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsleyTest/src/NavigationParsleyToggleButtonBar.mxm l
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsleyTest/src/states/presentation/ContentPM.as
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationParsleyTest/src/togglebuttonbar/presentation/Content PM.as
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationSpringAS/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationSpringASTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationSwiz/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationSwizTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Observer/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverParsley/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Persistence/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PersistenceTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PersistenceTest/src/AllTests-app.xml
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PersistenceTest/src/IntegrationTests-app.xml
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PersistenceTest/src/PersistenceSample-app.xml
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PersistenceTest/src/UnitTests-app.xml
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Popup/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PopupParsley/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/PopupTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Task/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/TaskTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/Validation/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ValidationTest/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-basic/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-basic/.flexProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-contacts/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-contacts/.flexProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-expenses/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-expenses/.flexProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-messaging/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-messaging/.flexProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-shell/.actionScriptProperties
    cairngorm3/trunk/samples/insync/insync-modularExtended-shell/.flexProperties
Added Paths:
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/history/
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/history/history.css
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/history/history.js
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/history/historyFrame.html
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/index.template.html
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/playerProductInstall.swf
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/ObserverTest/html-template/swfobject.js
Removed Paths:
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/NavigationSpringAS/.settings/com.adobe.flexbuilder.project.pre fs

Simeon,
Thanks for that, I had a brainfart and forgot you can have the properties defined in that manner. I changed it but it still wasn't working which made me realize I had to change the backgroundColor property on the view in Away3D. I realized this after trying the params for the class and then not adding the view (which had a white bg) and then i looked at the docs and bam, there it was. Thanks!
Matt

[svn:cairngorm3:] 19481: -General: Reverted migration to Flex 4. 5 back to Flex 4.1.

Revision: 19481
Revision: 19481
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2010-12-20 03:53:00 -0800 (Mon, 20 Dec 2010)
Log Message:
-General: Reverted migration to Flex 4.5 back to Flex 4.1. -Insync Sample: Fixed Insync Build error. -Navigation: added runtime navigation feature for SelectedChildWaypoint (default Waypoint). (work in progress).
Modified Paths:
    cairngorm3/trunk/libraries/lib-parent/pom.xml

Simeon,
Thanks for that, I had a brainfart and forgot you can have the properties defined in that manner. I changed it but it still wasn't working which made me realize I had to change the backgroundColor property on the view in Away3D. I realized this after trying the params for the class and then not adding the view (which had a white bg) and then i looked at the docs and bam, there it was. Thanks!
Matt

General Question - Flash or Flex

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