Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
*goes and tries it* Well, I'll be... Jason - just ignore everything I've said. Seems a lot has changed since I was originally playing with this - and CS4 has features I hadn't noticed. Thank you, Eric! Ian On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 11:50 PM, Eric E. Dolecki edole...@gmail.com wrote: are you SURE you can't use embed metadata in Flash CS4? ;) Eric On 12/23/2008, Ian Thomas i...@eirias.net wrote: Taka, That's really interesting - excellent to know! I _suspect_ (having had previous bad experiences) that doing things within the _complete_ Flex framework will be difficult/will cause errors. Flex has a lot of managers/singletons which seem to be very greedy, and assume a lot i.e. assume some Flex startup code is called up front and assume things are initialised in a particular order. Definitely worth trying, though! Cheers, Ian On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 11:24 PM, Taka Kojima t...@gigafied.com wrote: Jason, There is actually a way to use Flex classes in Flash CS3 -- I figured it out a couple weeks ago when building a jabber client in AS3 using the XIFF API (I wanted to use Flash, not Flex). It's quite simple actually... I just put up a blog post about it. http://gigafied.blogspot.com/2008/12/using-flex-classes-in-flash-cs3.html Hope that helps!! - Taka ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- http://ericd.net Interactive design and development ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
[Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
1. Can Flex libraries (mx.*) be used in Flash CS3/4? Is this as simple as adding source files and/or SWCs to an FLA project's classpath? And, where are all these libraries (Windows XP or Vista)? 2. If yes, any important caveats? 3. Am I correct that all the Flash libraries (that is, all those included in Flash CS3) are available by default (at least in compiled form) within Flex Builder (the Flex SDK)? My company has artists working in Flash CS3 (planning move to CS4), and programmers working in Flex Builder. The general work flow has been for the artists to create art assets which the programmers incorporate into applications using ActionScript. For various reasons, right or wrong, we programmers are *not* developing apps as Flex apps (no MXML), but as ActionScript Projects. The upshot of this has been that we've tended not to take advantage of all the Flex libraries, either from ignorance or due to documentation that assumes the MXML context and can obscure how/whether its possible to use these within plain ActionScript projects. This issue has arisen different times, but the particular problem case I'm running into now is wanting to create Flash components which make use of the Flex libraries. In fact, I'm confused as to which libraries are and are not available by default in CS3, since components themselves use things like UIComponent, which is documented as part of Flex. Thanks for any help! Jason Boyd Extra credit questions: [Embed]ding SWFs and SWF Symbols into ActionScript class files is one way to cause Flash's main display classes of MovieClip and Button to extend UIComponent. Are there other ways? Ideally we would get art from the artists and have the runtime accessible objects be managed as Class instances within the Flex hierarchy, to take advantage of things like the automation framework. How are others doing this, if they are? Is there some way to use [Bindable] on properties within Flash CS3? I have a component that pulls in a class that uses this metadata tag and it compiles in Flash CS3, but there doesn't appear to be any way to bind the Bindable property, since there's no MXML and BindingUtils is in a Flex library not included with Flash. Anyone know of simple docs on *creating* custom components, as opposed to skinning or modifying existing ones? I'm not afraid of coding around a potentially complex framework, but I'd like to understand how it's supposed to be done. ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
Caveat: I believe there has been some progress recently on the use of Flex components created as .swcs for use within Flash CS4. You'll probably need to look on Adobe Labs for more info on that. Other than that, to the best of my knowledge the answers are: 1. Can Flex libraries (mx.*) be used in Flash CS3/4? Is this as simple as adding source files and/or SWCs to an FLA project's classpath? And, where are all these libraries (Windows XP or Vista)? No. This is partly because the compiler included with CS3/4 is different from the compiler used for Flex. The Flex SDK compiler (also used by Flex builder) supports [Embed] tags, supports [Bindable], supports compilation of CSS, resource bundles and MXML. The Flash IDE compiler doesn't. 2. If yes, any important caveats? See 1. :-) 3. Am I correct that all the Flash libraries (that is, all those included in Flash CS3) are available by default (at least in compiled form) within Flex Builder (the Flex SDK)? No. All the flash.x.xx libraries are available (they are player native libraries) but none of the fl.x.xx libraries are. [Embed]ding SWFs and SWF Symbols into ActionScript class files is one way to cause Flash's main display classes of MovieClip and Button to extend UIComponent. Are there other ways? Ideally we would get art from the artists and have the runtime accessible objects be managed as Class instances within the Flex hierarchy, to take advantage of things like the automation framework. How are others doing this, if they are? We use [Embed] within classes or MXML. We also use resource bundles (.properties files) and CSS, both of which can embed symbols from source .swf files (and from images, mp3s, fonts etc.). Our artists produce those .swfs, we embed the symbols appropriately. Is there some way to use [Bindable] on properties within Flash CS3? I have a component that pulls in a class that uses this metadata tag and it compiles in Flash CS3, but there doesn't appear to be any way to bind the Bindable property, since there's no MXML and BindingUtils is in a Flex library not included with Flash. Not as far as I am aware. Anyone know of simple docs on *creating* custom components, as opposed to skinning or modifying existing ones? I'm not afraid of coding around a potentially complex framework, but I'd like to understand how it's supposed to be done. There is a reference for creating custom Flex components here: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/Part3_as_components_1.html Hope that helps, Ian ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
Thanks Ian! Helps clarify a lot! -Jason 2008/12/23 Ian Thomas i...@eirias.net: Caveat: I believe there has been some progress recently on the use of Flex components created as .swcs for use within Flash CS4. You'll probably need to look on Adobe Labs for more info on that. Other than that, to the best of my knowledge the answers are: 1. Can Flex libraries (mx.*) be used in Flash CS3/4? Is this as simple as adding source files and/or SWCs to an FLA project's classpath? And, where are all these libraries (Windows XP or Vista)? No. This is partly because the compiler included with CS3/4 is different from the compiler used for Flex. The Flex SDK compiler (also used by Flex builder) supports [Embed] tags, supports [Bindable], supports compilation of CSS, resource bundles and MXML. The Flash IDE compiler doesn't. 2. If yes, any important caveats? See 1. :-) 3. Am I correct that all the Flash libraries (that is, all those included in Flash CS3) are available by default (at least in compiled form) within Flex Builder (the Flex SDK)? No. All the flash.x.xx libraries are available (they are player native libraries) but none of the fl.x.xx libraries are. [Embed]ding SWFs and SWF Symbols into ActionScript class files is one way to cause Flash's main display classes of MovieClip and Button to extend UIComponent. Are there other ways? Ideally we would get art from the artists and have the runtime accessible objects be managed as Class instances within the Flex hierarchy, to take advantage of things like the automation framework. How are others doing this, if they are? We use [Embed] within classes or MXML. We also use resource bundles (.properties files) and CSS, both of which can embed symbols from source .swf files (and from images, mp3s, fonts etc.). Our artists produce those .swfs, we embed the symbols appropriately. Is there some way to use [Bindable] on properties within Flash CS3? I have a component that pulls in a class that uses this metadata tag and it compiles in Flash CS3, but there doesn't appear to be any way to bind the Bindable property, since there's no MXML and BindingUtils is in a Flex library not included with Flash. Not as far as I am aware. Anyone know of simple docs on *creating* custom components, as opposed to skinning or modifying existing ones? I'm not afraid of coding around a potentially complex framework, but I'd like to understand how it's supposed to be done. There is a reference for creating custom Flex components here: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/Part3_as_components_1.html Hope that helps, Ian ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
Jason, There is actually a way to use Flex classes in Flash CS3 -- I figured it out a couple weeks ago when building a jabber client in AS3 using the XIFF API (I wanted to use Flash, not Flex). It's quite simple actually... I just put up a blog post about it. http://gigafied.blogspot.com/2008/12/using-flex-classes-in-flash-cs3.html Hope that helps!! - Taka On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 2:59 PM, Jason Boyd jayb...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks Ian! Helps clarify a lot! -Jason 2008/12/23 Ian Thomas i...@eirias.net: Caveat: I believe there has been some progress recently on the use of Flex components created as .swcs for use within Flash CS4. You'll probably need to look on Adobe Labs for more info on that. Other than that, to the best of my knowledge the answers are: 1. Can Flex libraries (mx.*) be used in Flash CS3/4? Is this as simple as adding source files and/or SWCs to an FLA project's classpath? And, where are all these libraries (Windows XP or Vista)? No. This is partly because the compiler included with CS3/4 is different from the compiler used for Flex. The Flex SDK compiler (also used by Flex builder) supports [Embed] tags, supports [Bindable], supports compilation of CSS, resource bundles and MXML. The Flash IDE compiler doesn't. 2. If yes, any important caveats? See 1. :-) 3. Am I correct that all the Flash libraries (that is, all those included in Flash CS3) are available by default (at least in compiled form) within Flex Builder (the Flex SDK)? No. All the flash.x.xx libraries are available (they are player native libraries) but none of the fl.x.xx libraries are. [Embed]ding SWFs and SWF Symbols into ActionScript class files is one way to cause Flash's main display classes of MovieClip and Button to extend UIComponent. Are there other ways? Ideally we would get art from the artists and have the runtime accessible objects be managed as Class instances within the Flex hierarchy, to take advantage of things like the automation framework. How are others doing this, if they are? We use [Embed] within classes or MXML. We also use resource bundles (.properties files) and CSS, both of which can embed symbols from source .swf files (and from images, mp3s, fonts etc.). Our artists produce those .swfs, we embed the symbols appropriately. Is there some way to use [Bindable] on properties within Flash CS3? I have a component that pulls in a class that uses this metadata tag and it compiles in Flash CS3, but there doesn't appear to be any way to bind the Bindable property, since there's no MXML and BindingUtils is in a Flex library not included with Flash. Not as far as I am aware. Anyone know of simple docs on *creating* custom components, as opposed to skinning or modifying existing ones? I'm not afraid of coding around a potentially complex framework, but I'd like to understand how it's supposed to be done. There is a reference for creating custom Flex components here: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/Part3_as_components_1.html Hope that helps, Ian ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
Taka, That's really interesting - excellent to know! I _suspect_ (having had previous bad experiences) that doing things within the _complete_ Flex framework will be difficult/will cause errors. Flex has a lot of managers/singletons which seem to be very greedy, and assume a lot i.e. assume some Flex startup code is called up front and assume things are initialised in a particular order. Definitely worth trying, though! Cheers, Ian On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 11:24 PM, Taka Kojima t...@gigafied.com wrote: Jason, There is actually a way to use Flex classes in Flash CS3 -- I figured it out a couple weeks ago when building a jabber client in AS3 using the XIFF API (I wanted to use Flash, not Flex). It's quite simple actually... I just put up a blog post about it. http://gigafied.blogspot.com/2008/12/using-flex-classes-in-flash-cs3.html Hope that helps!! - Taka ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
are you SURE you can't use embed metadata in Flash CS4? ;) Eric On 12/23/2008, Ian Thomas i...@eirias.net wrote: Taka, That's really interesting - excellent to know! I _suspect_ (having had previous bad experiences) that doing things within the _complete_ Flex framework will be difficult/will cause errors. Flex has a lot of managers/singletons which seem to be very greedy, and assume a lot i.e. assume some Flex startup code is called up front and assume things are initialised in a particular order. Definitely worth trying, though! Cheers, Ian On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 11:24 PM, Taka Kojima t...@gigafied.com wrote: Jason, There is actually a way to use Flex classes in Flash CS3 -- I figured it out a couple weeks ago when building a jabber client in AS3 using the XIFF API (I wanted to use Flash, not Flex). It's quite simple actually... I just put up a blog post about it. http://gigafied.blogspot.com/2008/12/using-flex-classes-in-flash-cs3.html Hope that helps!! - Taka ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders -- http://ericd.net Interactive design and development ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
Re: [Flashcoders] Flash vs. Flex libraries
On Dec 23, 2008, at 5:10 PM, Jason Boyd wrote: 1. Can Flex libraries (mx.*) be used in Flash CS3/4? Is this as simple as adding source files and/or SWCs to an FLA project's classpath? And, where are all these libraries (Windows XP or Vista)? Yes. http://labs.wichers.nu/2007/12/25/using-flex-compiled-code-within-flash/ Theoretically, you can use every Flex library and component within Flash. It's all SWF bytecode in the end. There are some tricks to placement of SWC files from the Flex library at the root of your source FLA to get it to recognize and compile the code. It's just very awkward and very difficult to manage in any larger scale application. I actually requested something on flexcoders quite a while back and 'lo and behold the author of this blog responded and added some additional examples to his description of how to get the RPC classes in Flash. http://labs.wichers.nu/2007/12/25/using-flex-compiled-code-within-flash/ There are a couple other posts on that blog that may help you along as well. cheers, jon ___ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
