Re: [flexcoders] Re: Can Flex save anything to desktop or only AIR?
It doesn't really have to be that many steps, but you're essentially correct. You can send the binary data to the server via a POST, and the result of the POST call can be a save to: link. But yes, it has to go all the way up to the server and back down. My point is that it can all be part of the same web call. ben Rick Schmitty wrote: but that would involve sending the binary data to the server, waiting for the result, then using flash to initiate the download from the server, right? On Dec 21, 2007 1:23 PM, rueter007 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:rueter007%40yahoo.co.uk wrote: you can save binary data from a web application with the help of a server. --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com, Rick Schmitty [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is it possible to have flex save anything in its memory (bitmaps, sound streams, video streams) to the desktop (or prompt user to save somewhere) or is saving of binary data only in apollo?
[flexcoders] File System Data Grid over a network
Hi everyone, I'm making a Flex 3/AIR app, and all works pretty well. I'm accessing some files over my network, so I've mapped my network drive (so it shows up as a local resource under my computer). Of course this means that AIR has no trouble accessing the contents. But, of course, being over a network, there's some lag time, especially getting the contents of large directories - so my application will appear to freeze up. I know the flash.File class supports asynchronous methods, but I can't find this anywhere for the FileSystemDataGrid or any of the other components. Did Adobe just not put this functionality into the components? Did anyone create an alternate FileSystemDataGrid for this purpose? Thanks! ben
[flexcoders] Image Component Rendering issues
Hello, I'm going to have to fix this bug in my project sooner or later, so I might as well do it sooner. There are two situations in which I see this bug: 1. I have some image components I can drag around inside a canvas tag 2. I have some image components that are displayed in a scrolling VBox In both cases, there are occasions when the component is partially being displayed, the lower part that is being masked will discolor an area outside the canvas or the VBox tag in the exact shape of it's bounding box. Any ideas how to prevent this? If it helps the images are vectors and were prepared by exporting as SWF out of Illustrator CS3, and then dynamically pulled in from the website. I thought I'd try cacheAsBitmap just to see if it did anything, and it didn't help. Thanks! ben
[flexcoders] Scrolling Rendering Bug?
Hello, I wrote you folks before with something I can't figure out, but I didn't have any examples to show. I finally broke out my example into a real easy MXML application, and it still bugs out (Flex 3 Beta 3). The bug seems to be applying a 9-Slice Scaled SWF resource as a backgroundImage on a container. One vector shape works, but as you can see I have a blue box and a green box, and I get a render error as you scroll through. Notice how the green is kinda pulled up into the container as you scroll. http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/RenderBugTest.swf These are just simple Illustrator CS3 shape primitives that are made into a symbol and exported with 9 Slice Scaling. I can't imagine that I'm doing something outside of REALLY normal usage patterns with this - so I HAVE to be doing something wrong, right? Here's my source - http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/renderbugtest.zip - it's an MXML application and a SWF resource. Can anybody tell me if and what I'm doing wrong? thanks! ben
Re: [flexcoders] Scrolling Rendering Bug?
I finally figured it out - I wasn't planning on spending my night on thisbut it was just way too aggravating to leave alone. Apparently when I copy and paste those same shapes from Illustrator CS3 to Flash CS3, I can export my SWF asset library and it works fine. Something about Illustrator CS3's SWF export is being wacky - I actually have another rendering bug at another part of my project, and I suspect this is the reason. Hopefully when I ditch my sample app and do this to my real app tomorrow I'll see the same results. thanks! hope this helps others too ben ben gomez farrell wrote: Hello, I wrote you folks before with something I can't figure out, but I didn't have any examples to show. I finally broke out my example into a real easy MXML application, and it still bugs out (Flex 3 Beta 3). The bug seems to be applying a 9-Slice Scaled SWF resource as a backgroundImage on a container. One vector shape works, but as you can see I have a blue box and a green box, and I get a render error as you scroll through. Notice how the green is kinda pulled up into the container as you scroll. http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/RenderBugTest.swf http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/RenderBugTest.swf These are just simple Illustrator CS3 shape primitives that are made into a symbol and exported with 9 Slice Scaling. I can't imagine that I'm doing something outside of REALLY normal usage patterns with this - so I HAVE to be doing something wrong, right? Here's my source - http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/renderbugtest.zip http://www.yellow5labs.com/lab/renderbugtest.zip - it's an MXML application and a SWF resource. Can anybody tell me if and what I'm doing wrong? thanks! ben
Re: [flexcoders] [SYD-ANN] Sydney Flex and AIR Pre-Release Tour With Danny Dura
Hmmm I was going to say the same for my Raleigh, NC area group (on the 23rd), but I'll just say that there's a Flex Pre-Release tour coming up, same details, except we have Ben Forta, and your area might have other folks... Here's the list, there's tons of these things coming up all over the place all between now and the beginning of February http://flex.org/tour/ ben Chris Velevitch wrote: Thursday, 24th January. Flex 3 and AIR are getting close to launch and in preparation, Danny Dura from the Platform Evangelism Team will be specifically in Sydney to show off the great new features for this exciting launch. Check the listings below to hook up with the local user group in the city closest to you and join us for an evening of Flex and AIR. Don't miss out on the opportunity to see and hear about this highly anticipated release of Flex 3 and AIR during this special pre-release tour. Plus, in addition to giving away some one of a kind Flex/AIR branded schwag, each event will also be raffling off a copy of Flex Builder 3 Professional (pending availability) and a full commercial copy of CS3 Web Premium! Details and RSVP on http://sydneyflashdev2008prelaunchtour.eventbrite.com http://sydneyflashdev2008prelaunchtour.eventbrite.com -- Chris -- Chris Velevitch Manager - Sydney Flash Platform Developers Group m: 0415 469 095 www.flashdev.org.au
Re: [flexcoders] Re: Blue hightlight
I like it, it lets me see where else the variable I'm working with is. It's kinda handy to me. But it's the Mark Occurences toggle. The icon is on the top toolbar and looks like a highlighter. It's right after all the green play buttons, and it's the only one in the toolbar that looks like it's switched on Rafael Faria wrote: anyone has the same problem!? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com, Rafael Faria [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone else is getting a blue hightlight at the mxml editor after install flex 3 beta 3? If you do, how to turn this annoying thing off? Thanks
[flexcoders] hide/showEffect through Actionscript
Hello! I'm having trouble finding examples of setting a hide or show effect with actionscript. Of course object.showEffect doesn't seem to exist, though the property exists in MXML. I assume it probably works a little like the styleManager where you'd do setStyle(property, value). I was looking at the registerEffects method, but not sure if it's what I'm looking for. Does anyone have an example that's equivalent to object.showEffect = new WipeLeft()? thanks! ben
[flexcoders] Animated MaskEffect
Hi everyone, I'm using a few different effects to mask content (Wipes, Iris, Fade, etc, all from the mx.efffects package). I need to create a few additional ones which would be a bit more fun. The idea is to take a black and white SWF with a timeline from Flash and use that as my mask. I'm assuming that I'll be using the MaskEffect class, but it seems that setting the mask graphic only takes a graphic, whereas I'd want an animated swf. I thought I saw an easy way to use an animated mask on some website before, but now I can't find it again. Left to my own devices, I suppose I'd find a way to trigger the createMaskFunction on every frame and update the mask using the graphics of frame x of my SWF - though I'm not even sure this'll work Is there an easier way to do this? Any tutorials out there?
[flexcoders] Design view - Embedding vs Runtime loaded
Hello - just a quick question. I usually work with the embedded graphics (lots of Image or SWFLoader components) where I set the source attribute to embed. I've never had luck in the design view with layout. It always appears as a broken link, so I have a lot of guesswork when laying out my designs. But, I was just working on a project with a lot of runtime assets. All my SWFs showed up perfectly. Does anybody have any hints to get the same kind of design view support when embedding vs loading at runtime? thanks! ben
[flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
Hey, I have a tree with a itemRenderer to have a clickable checkbox in it. I need to set the checkbox state sometimes through code. Everything works great, except the graphics of the checkbox don't update when it's set through code (mousing over the node will refresh the graphics) Is there a way to refresh the graphics of all the nodes through some method of the tree? I CAN open and close the nodes to refresh the graphics, but it seems really silly, and I have to track whats open and closed and make sure it gets back to the same state again. Thanks! ben
Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
My data is an ArrayCollection is set via mytree.dataProvider = myArrayCollection; I have a list as well, and when I do mylist.dataProvider.refresh(), the checkboxes on those update just fine. Unfortunately doing mytree.dataProvider.refresh() doesn't work - and only mousing over will update the graphics of the item. I'll look into itemUpdated though, and see how I can use it, thanks! ben Tracy Spratt wrote: How are you updateing the dataProvider? If you use the correct API, the changes should reflect automatically. If you are using lower level assignments, then you might need to call itemUpdated for collections. What is your dataprovider? Tracy *From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *ben gomez farrell *Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2008 12:40 PM *To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com *Subject:* [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree Hey, I have a tree with a itemRenderer to have a clickable checkbox in it. I need to set the checkbox state sometimes through code. Everything works great, except the graphics of the checkbox don't update when it's set through code (mousing over the node will refresh the graphics) Is there a way to refresh the graphics of all the nodes through some method of the tree? I CAN open and close the nodes to refresh the graphics, but it seems really silly, and I have to track whats open and closed and make sure it gets back to the same state again. Thanks! ben
Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
I have an arraycollection called groupsdata
groupsdata.getItemAt(f).state = true/false
And then in my itemRenderer, I override like this:
override public function set data(value:Object):void {
super.data = value;
if ( !value ) { return; }
// remove check box from child nodes if present
if ( !value.toplevel this.getChildByName(checkbox) ) {
this.removeChild( this.getChildByName(checkbox) ); }
}
override protected function updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth:Number,
unscaledHeight:Number):void
{
super.updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth, unscaledHeight);
if(super.data)
{
if (super.icon != null)
{
checkBox.x = super.icon.x;
checkBox.y = 12;
super.icon.x = checkBox.x + checkBox.width + 17;
super.label.x = super.icon.x + super.icon.width + 3;
checkBox.selected = super.data.state;
}
else
{
checkBox.x = super.label.x;
checkBox.y = 12;
super.label.x = checkBox.x + checkBox.width + 17;
checkBox.selected = super.data.state;
}
}
}
So it looks like the data object is getting set correctly, but
updateDisplayList isn't getting called when the data is refreshed - but
it does get called on mouse over.
thanks again for the help!
ben
Tracy Spratt wrote:
So how are you updating the dataProvider items with the checkbox state?
Are you using the ArrayCollection API? If so, then the UI will update
automatically.
Note: refresh() applies a sort. It does not generically “refesh” the
UI. Also, if you use the API, it should not be necessary to do
anything else for the list either.
Tracy
*From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
*On Behalf Of *ben gomez farrell
*Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2008 1:36 PM
*To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
My data is an ArrayCollection is set via mytree.dataProvider =
myArrayCollection;
I have a list as well, and when I do mylist.dataProvider.refresh(), the
checkboxes on those update just fine.
Unfortunately doing mytree.dataProvider.refresh() doesn't work - and
only mousing over will update the graphics of the item.
I'll look into itemUpdated though, and see how I can use it, thanks!
ben
Tracy Spratt wrote:
How are you updateing the dataProvider? If you use the correct API,
the changes should reflect automatically. If you are using lower
level assignments, then you might need to call itemUpdated for
collections.
What is your dataprovider?
Tracy
--
*From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com]
*On Behalf Of *ben gomez farrell
*Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2008 12:40 PM
*To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
Hey, I have a tree with a itemRenderer to have a clickable checkbox in
it. I need to set the checkbox state sometimes through code.
Everything works great, except the graphics of the checkbox don't update
when it's set through code (mousing over the node will refresh the
graphics)
Is there a way to refresh the graphics of all the nodes through some
method of the tree? I CAN open and close the nodes to refresh the
graphics, but it seems really silly, and I have to track whats open and
closed and make sure it gets back to the same state again.
Thanks!
ben
--
Flexcoders Mailing List
FAQ: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/files/flexcodersFAQ.txt
Alternative FAQ location:
https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=942dbdc8-e469-446f-b4cf-1e62079f6847
Search Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexcoders%40yahoogroups.comYahoo!
Groups Links
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/
* Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
* To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
* To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
Thanks! You rock. I'd never used setItemAt on an ArrayCollection
because its more verbose to pull the copy the item out and set the
property you need, then pass it back in - so it never occured to me that
you had to do that.
Again, thanks, and i'll put the same fix on my list component.
ben
Tracy Spratt wrote:
Yes, this:
groupsdata.getItemAt(f).state = true/false
is a low-level assignment directly to the dataprovider item and does not
dispatch the events necessary for the update of the UI.
You can change it to use setItemAt() or you can call itemUpdated(item)
after the assignment.
I am sure both of these use the invalidation mechanism and optimize the
rendering.
I am not sure about refresh(), and that is not the correct usage anyway.
Tracy
-Original Message-
From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of ben gomez farrell
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 2:01 PM
To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
I have an arraycollection called groupsdata
groupsdata.getItemAt(f).state = true/false
And then in my itemRenderer, I override like this:
override public function set data(value:Object):void {
super.data = value;
if ( !value ) { return; }
// remove check box from child nodes if present
if ( !value.toplevel this.getChildByName(checkbox) ) {
this.removeChild( this.getChildByName(checkbox) ); }
}
override protected function updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth:Number,
unscaledHeight:Number):void
{
super.updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth, unscaledHeight);
if(super.data)
{
if (super.icon != null)
{
checkBox.x = super.icon.x;
checkBox.y = 12;
super.icon.x = checkBox.x + checkBox.width + 17;
super.label.x = super.icon.x + super.icon.width + 3;
checkBox.selected = super.data.state;
}
else
{
checkBox.x = super.label.x;
checkBox.y = 12;
super.label.x = checkBox.x + checkBox.width + 17;
checkBox.selected = super.data.state;
}
}
}
So it looks like the data object is getting set correctly, but
updateDisplayList isn't getting called when the data is refreshed - but
it does get called on mouse over.
thanks again for the help!
ben
Tracy Spratt wrote:
So how are you updating the dataProvider items with the checkbox
state?
Are you using the ArrayCollection API? If so, then the UI will update
automatically.
Note: refresh() applies a sort. It does not generically refesh the
UI. Also, if you use the API, it should not be necessary to do
anything else for the list either.
Tracy
--
*From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com]
*On Behalf Of *ben gomez farrell
*Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2008 1:36 PM
*To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* Re: [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
My data is an ArrayCollection is set via mytree.dataProvider =
myArrayCollection;
I have a list as well, and when I do mylist.dataProvider.refresh(),
the
checkboxes on those update just fine.
Unfortunately doing mytree.dataProvider.refresh() doesn't work - and
only mousing over will update the graphics of the item.
I'll look into itemUpdated though, and see how I can use it, thanks!
ben
Tracy Spratt wrote:
How are you updateing the dataProvider? If you use the correct API,
the changes should reflect automatically. If you are using lower
level assignments, then you might need to call itemUpdated for
collections.
What is your dataprovider?
Tracy
--
*From:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com]
*On Behalf Of *ben gomez farrell
*Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2008 12:40 PM
*To:* flexcoders@yahoogroups.com mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* [flexcoders] Refreshing graphics in a tree
Hey, I have a tree with a itemRenderer to have a clickable checkbox
in
it. I need to set the checkbox state sometimes through code.
Everything works great, except the graphics of the checkbox don't
update
when it's set through code (mousing over the node will refresh the
graphics)
Is there a way to refresh the graphics of all the nodes through some
method of the tree? I CAN open and close the nodes to refresh the
graphics, but it seems really silly, and I have to track whats open
and
closed and make sure it gets back to the same state again.
Thanks!
ben
Re: [flexcoders] External Interface is not working in IE
I just recently had a problem with fullscreen in IE (but not Firefox) - where I was using SWFObject and embedding the SWF that way. If you get any of the parameters typed incorrectly it can seriously mess the whole thing up and turn things off like script access or fullscreen. If you're using SWFObject, remove that from the equation to see if your actual SWF is working for you correctly - if it's not.then I got nothing. But it just really sounds like a problem I just solved ben kotha poornima wrote: Hi all, I need to get the url of the current page. So i used External Interface.call(window.location.href.toString). Its working fine in Firefox but not in IE. how can i solve this problem. Awaiting for the replies.. Thanks in advance, Poornima
Re: [flexcoders] sailorsea21 - is there an include command in Flex that acts likes PHP include?
yah its real easy just do a script block, but point to a source instead of enclosing it in a cdata block. So something like mx:script source=mycode.as / The included code wouldn't be a class or anything, just a series of methods and variables (like you'd want from an include) ben sailorsea21 wrote: Hi everyone, I would like to clean up my main mxml file since it's getting farely big. Is there an include command that will allow me to split up my MXML code in several MXML files. Something like the PHP INCLUDE command? Thanks.
Re: [flexcoders] Who have YOU used for outsourcing mid to large Flex/CF projects?
Hey, this is just my opinion and what I've learned from working for people that run small companies. I don't have direct experience - but here's what I think In my opinion $30k projects just aren't that big. They're great to maintain your business, and by all means money is money - so who wouldn't want to take them. But I'd call a $30k project small to low-mid size. Maybe its a large project for you folks, but it will most likely be a small project for a company you outsource to. At that level you probably won't see much difference in the price tag if you folks were to do it in house, or if an outsourcing firm were to do it in house. Once you get into the bigger numbers like $100-$200k, you can at least start marking yourselves up a little more because you landed the project - and still pay the outsourcing firm a decent rate. My recommendation would be to keep the project in-house, but maintain a large rolodex of contractors. $120/hour is probably normal for outsourcing because they'll most likely be hiring a project manager on top of their programmer to manage your project. If you contract a good programmer at like $60-$80 per hour, and use an in house project manager or producer, you can probably achieve the same results. Like I said.I've never run a company, so this might be bad advice - but its probably what I'd do. ben Pat Buchanan wrote: My company is where I like it - small and maintainable - just a few employees. But sometimes I get some BIG projects thrown at me that are nearly guaranteed. The problem is, I don't want to hire anyone and it's too hard to keep a good group of reserve programmers busy 100% of the time. I've turned away at least 3 $30,000 projects in the last few months alone - and I hate it. I want to be involved, I want to grow the company, but I think the best solution might be to use an outsourcing house. Eventually these clients will stop coming to me and go elsewhere - and I don't want that to happen. So --- who have YOU used to outsource your projects to? Someone that does it all - Flex, CF, .NET, SQL Server, etc. I don't have the money to blow to try out places to find out they suck pondwater or never return phone calls. I want to manage the project and I want to be involved in everything, but I need a group that can continue to work even though they run into a roadblock on a separate piece. Now there are some INCREDIBLE groups out there that we all know and love (I won't name names, but one of them trained me in Flex) but $120/hour in this economy isn't going to cut it. So - who have you used that you like, that won't break the bank? And do they communicate well? (It's WAAAY to hard for me to express what I want to someone that doesn't understand English, so I need to be careful there too) Any recommendations/thoughts/examples? If you ARE one of these groups, PLEASE don't respond on this list - just reply to me directly. There is already WAY too much traffic on this list to begin with (I even hesitated sending this message) But what I'm REALLY looking for is someone who has EXPERIENCE with some of these groups - good or bad. Thanks for listening!
Re: [flexcoders] I want to use Flex Builder 3 to develop Flash Games
Hey, so I've been making some games in Flex Builder myself. Basically I got fed up with the Actionscript editor in Flash a few years ago, and then switched to Flash Develop. Flash Develop is a really great (and free) tool. However, I ditched that once I got Flex Builder, because as much as I loved Flash Develop, Flex worked a lot better for me. I still use Flash Develop if I have to compile in the Flash IDE. Anyway, the others are right, Flex and Flash are all Flash. The reason to use the Flex framework is to get some great UI components, and a great framework to develop a rich internet application in. I use Flex all the time, though that said, I stay clear of it for games since typically the framework is overkill in the application department for what I need. Flex Builder, though, is VERY handy for making games. Specifically your example with the rectangles - there are two ways to do this. The first is like what you said and to make a SWF. You can simply embed the SWF using the embed metatag. I'm going to completely butcher it, but it's something like this: [Embed( file='myswf.swf', symbol='myrectangle')] public var myrectangle:Class You can do this with pngs, gifs, jpgs, or swfs. Its simply just another graphical resource to use. It's a little wacky though because you have to assign type it as a class first, and then you can say: var x:myrectange = new myrectangle(); Typically I tend not to do this. My method of choice is to compile a SWC. If you embed a SWF in the above fashion, you will lose any and all code associated with it. That means if you have any frame labels, any, stops, any gotoAndPlay's in there, it's lost. If you use a SWC you can use it just for graphics, or you can make your graphics smarter with some code. Just go to the file properties and add the SWC into the library. In this fashion, you now have code completion, and dont have to worry about embedding as the library is linked to the project. All you have to do is make sure that your rectangle has AS3 export linkage assigned in the symbol properties in the Flash IDE, and then just export the SWC. Once in Flex Builder, you don't import anything (as its all in the local namepsace), and just do new myrectangle(); Hope that helps. SWCs are great stuff. ben Axonn wrote: Hm, I think I didn't ask the right question, because somebody told me that it *is* possible. What I want is this: - Create a FLA file in Flash. - Draw 2 rectangles. - Create an AS file in Flex 3. - Attach it to the Flash. - Export as SWF. - Continue development in Flex 3. When hit debug, my Flash-created SWF starts but the debug code is attached to Flex 3, because I am in Flex 3. But you know Flex 3 creates that default SWF. I don't want that. I want to use the Flash SWF, which *DOES* have my AS class from Flex in it. - DO modifications to the AS but DON'T START FLASH AGAIN until I need to modify graphics and such. Axonn. That is correct. Flex can only debug code in flex itself. I did see a book at barnes and noble last week that dealt with games in Flex (but I forgot the name of it). -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/I-want-to-use-Flex-Builder-3-to-develop-Flash-Games-tp22752546p22766233.html http://www.nabble.com/I-want-to-use-Flex-Builder-3-to-develop-Flash-Games-tp22752546p22766233.html Sent from the FlexCoders mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Re: [flexcoders] I want to use Flex Builder 3 to develop Flash Games
SWC is a compiled Flash asset. If you compile Game.as and get a SWC out of it, then everytime you change Game.as, you'll need to compile a new SWC. You might want to organize things differently. Assuming that Game.as is your main class that you compile for the game, you may not want to compile this with Flash if you're trying to use Flex Builder. The way I organize is to break down my stuff into 2 categories - the main game, and the objects/assets used by the game. The objects and assets I use are usually pretty simple. I like these as SWCs because I can give them a little logic, and maybe a animated timeline if need be. Typically if you keep these simple, you'll rarely have to touch the code, and just have to update with any art changes. The main game class, however (what I'm assuming you're calling Game.as), is something that you'll update constantly throughout the lifecycle of your game. So this is easier to leave as just some code, and don't compile into a SWC, just let Flex compile with each build of the game. You can organize stuff however you like though - you could completely ignore what I said, there's no right way to do it. The above just happens to be what works for me. You also talked about your artist not liking having to dig into movieclips and symbols in the library. Honestly, they should really learn some organization. Movieclips are the basic building blocks for interactivity in the Flash IDE. There is no way you'll build a game even in the Flash IDE without grouping your art into some form of Movieclip or Sprite. If your artist can only draw on the main stage, it'll end up being your job to figure out how to organize things into the movieclips as you need them and just do the production work yourself. The downside of this, is having to do this production work everytime the art gets updated. I've been through this it's not fun. It's easier to do a bit of pre-planning surrounding your game and get a dialog going with your artist on how to best organize the assets. If you both stick to the plan, they can work in Flash independently and just give you an updated SWC every so often while you work in Flex Builder, updating the logic surrounding the game. But like I said - people prefer different stuff - I'm sure once you get a little experience with this workflow, you'll have your own opinions. ben Axonn wrote: Hi Doobie and thanks for your answer! I just managed to get my first SWC into Flex ::- D. *rejoices*. However, I can't do anything with it ::- (... I have this Game.swc. In CS3, I set Game.as to its class. Game.as is in the same folder as Game.swc. After importing it in Flex, I modified Game.as. I added a trace. But nothing shows when I run it with Flex ::- ( ... please don't tell me I need to recompile the SWC if I modify the AS. As far as I understood so far that's the whole thing when using SWCs, you can code without Flash... so why don't my modifications take place? Axonn. doobiekeebler wrote: Hey, so I've been making some games in Flex Builder myself. Basically I got fed up with the Actionscript editor in Flash a few years ago, and then switched to Flash Develop. Flash Develop is a really great (and free) tool. However, I ditched that once I got Flex Builder, because as much as I loved Flash Develop, Flex worked a lot better for me. I still use Flash Develop if I have to compile in the Flash IDE. Anyway, the others are right, Flex and Flash are all Flash. The reason to use the Flex framework is to get some great UI components, and a great framework to develop a rich internet application in. I use Flex all the time, though that said, I stay clear of it for games since typically the framework is overkill in the application department for what I need. Flex Builder, though, is VERY handy for making games. Specifically your example with the rectangles - there are two ways to do this. The first is like what you said and to make a SWF. You can simply embed the SWF using the embed metatag. I'm going to completely butcher it, but it's something like this: [Embed( file='myswf.swf', symbol='myrectangle')] public var myrectangle:Class You can do this with pngs, gifs, jpgs, or swfs. Its simply just another graphical resource to use. It's a little wacky though because you have to assign type it as a class first, and then you can say: var x:myrectange = new myrectangle(); Typically I tend not to do this. My method of choice is to compile a SWC. If you embed a SWF in the above fashion, you will lose any and all code associated with it. That means if you have any frame labels, any, stops, any gotoAndPlay's in there, it's lost. If you use a SWC you can use it just for graphics, or you can make your graphics smarter with some code. Just go to the file properties and add the SWC into the library. In this fashion, you now have code completion, and dont
[flexcoders] What to use instead of Model component in Flex 4?
Hey guys, Just starting to build my first Flex 4 app. I'm making an MenuBar as the first thing I'm attempting. I can get it working with XML data if I do mx:MenuBar s:dataProvider myxml /s:dataProvider /mx:MenuBar However, I'd like to break out the XML data into a separate file/component. Normally I'm not so organized - so I don't really think I ever did this in Flex 3, but I understand you can just create a Model container, and you're good. It doesn't look like I can do this in Flex 4. I'm trying different things with the DataGroup container - putting a dataprovider in it, or a XMLList in it, but nothing seems to work out. Does anybody know the proper way to do this? thanks! ben
Re: [flexcoders] What to use instead of Model component in Flex 4?
OK never mind, finally figured this out. Hadn't heard of the declarations tag before. And so I just created an XMLListCollection component, and then put the XMLList in that with my data inside that. And then on my application MXML component, I put this new XMLListCollection component inside my declarations tag. Thanks, and just ignore me! ben gomez farrell wrote: Hey guys, Just starting to build my first Flex 4 app. I'm making an MenuBar as the first thing I'm attempting. I can get it working with XML data if I do mx:MenuBar s:dataProvider myxml /s:dataProvider /mx:MenuBar However, I'd like to break out the XML data into a separate file/component. Normally I'm not so organized - so I don't really think I ever did this in Flex 3, but I understand you can just create a Model container, and you're good. It doesn't look like I can do this in Flex 4. I'm trying different things with the DataGroup container - putting a dataprovider in it, or a XMLList in it, but nothing seems to work out. Does anybody know the proper way to do this? thanks! ben
