Alo,

So I've done some more independant research,

I think I'm going to use an EventDispatcher system from the PageController:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/creating_events.html

Instead of pointers. As I think this makes more sense.
Ofcourse, any insight from the 'pros' still welcome!

With kind,

Seb.

On 5/3/07, sebastian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Hello folks,

My next question is conceptual...

I've made good progress on many of the classes in my application, but
I'm now caught in a dilemma regarding approach.

As mentioned in a previous mail, I'm building a system that can be
divided into two: 1 part does general world 3D animation until the pages
are opened; this was relatively easy to make... the second part of the
system deals with generating pages [its a templating MVC system]; this
is the tough part!

At the center of the application is my class: PageController

Linked to it are 3 other Classes: PageModel [to load new pages],
StatsCollector [to record new pages called] and MouseController [told to
turn off 3D motion when pages are opened].

I was planning on using an object-instance pointer in the PageController
formed during its construction, to tell the associated Classes that a
new event has ocured, but someone pointed out to me that I should be
using an event based system instead [so that's its easier to add new
Classes that listen to the Controller in the future]

Here is what I have:

class com.blabla.PageController {
        //Object pointers
        private var pageModel:Object;
        private var statsCollector:Object;
        private var mouseController:Object;
        private var urlMapper:Object;
        //Page open/close status
        private var activeWindow:Boolean;

        function PageController (
                __pageModel:Object,
                __mouseController:Object,
                __statsCollector:Object,
                __urlMapper:Object)
                {
                //Pointers:
                this.pageModel = __pageModel;
                this.statsCollector = __statsCollector;
                this.mouseController = __mouseController;
                this.urlMapper = __urlMapper;
                //Set initial state:
                this.activeWindow = false;
        }

        //this method is called by SWFAddress on url changes:
        public function urlChange(__name:String):Void {

                // MOUSE CONTROLLER
                //set the page active true to turn off
                //3D mouse system:

                this.activeWindow = true;

                //tell 3D mouse system to check status:
                this.mouseController.checkWindowStatus();

                // PAGE MODEL
                //call URL mapper returns an XML file based
                //on the url __name
                //this XML file is then passed to the pageModel
                //which will then notify the PageView of changes

                this.pageModel.buildPage (this.urlMapper.convertLink
(__name));

                // STATS COLLECTOR
                //run the method in 'statscol' with url:

                this.statsCollector.callURL(__name);

        }

}

So, my question is... is this the right way to be sending events? By
making pointers and calling methods in connected classes? Also, should I
store my "activeWindow" parameter in the Controller? I have a feeling
its in the wrong Class; but from a Code-clarity perspective it does make
sense to have it here as the controller is a state-dispatcher...?

Or should I be using an event based system instead of pointers? If so,
could someone lightly outline what the difference would be like in such
a set up? I'm not very familiar with using events to drive app like
this. I'd be very thankful.

Here is the latest diagram of the system:
http://www.chedal.org/temp/uml_design_03.png
[this that are blue/green are things I've built until now]

Note I chose to connect the MouseController and StatsCollector to the
PageController instead of the PageModel because if I did so the
PageModel would get very long in terms of code; I want the PageModel to
focus JUST on storing the Templates' data that the View will build [by
refering to the PageModel's loaded data]. Also, if I linked everything
to the PageModel instead, the functionality of the PageController as a
dispatcher would be made redundant... am I right in this thinking?

If you wish I can copy-paste the code of other Classes [assuming I've
written the code!], but I don't think this is necessary to answer my
question.

With kindness,

Sebastian.

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