Some time ago I took on a project for a client for whom I had previously executed several projects successfully. The Flash project had been attempted by someone else earlier, and abandoned after some 30 lines of actionscript code - it was essentially an animation, nothing more. Their specifications were fairly nebulous (I had copy of the earlier attempt which was basically a mock-up for what they were looking for, along with some additional comments they spared). It was instantly obvious that the features they were looking for (dynamic data-to-graph translation now, server-based printing and zooming for data down the line) that it was an actionscript project - not something to be attempted in the timeline.
I worked on it and squeezed it out narrowly by the deadline they had set. They were not happy at all. Supposedly the program is "not useable" by them (for reasons that haven't been explained to me, even though everything that was initially asked was implemented), and supposedly the code is "too complicated" for another programmer to continue work on it. For this reason I thought of asking some feedback from the fellow coders here on the list. If you can spare a few moments, please take a look at the FLA and the associated code. I know it's not perfect as far as OO is considered, but I think it's quite concise, well commented, and well modularized. The FLA contains only the init code for the objects plus some global definitions. Would this be difficult to extend or modify if you inherited it from someone else? Could I have accomplished the same with much less work (the implementation was chosen not only for the current functionality but for what I was made understand they would have wanted to add on eventually)? How much time do you think you would have quoted a client for this kind of a project when starting from scratch. The program is simple to operate: just go to profile page 1 or 2 and add one or more profiles (name, age, and at least one "life event" and associated age - try something that is, say, 10 years or more than person's current age), then select the profile from the drop-down menu and hit one of the buttons to draw the graph. The lay-out (colors, background) were dictated by the customer, and I have in fact removed the client's name so the interface may look a bit spartan. The live version: http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/futurewave.htm FLA: http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/FutureWave.fla Code: http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/FutureWave.as http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/EventButton.as http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/Profile.as http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/ProfileEditor.as http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/ProfileSelector.as http://www.astronfortis.com/flashdemo/Global.as The code is indented with TABs (TAB length 4 characters). Thank you very much for any comments, feedback! Ville _______________________________________________ [email protected] To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com
