MyLineRider » Flex

Flex 3 Example: Drawing a polygon at run time with adding and deleting points capability

Gilbert Mizrahi — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:06:27 +0000

I was on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I am back.

Continuing from my last example Flex 3 Example: Drawing a path at run time with adding and deleting points capabilities, I expanded the code to allow creating polygons at run time.

To create a polygon, the previous code was enhanced with graphics.endFill(); on the RedrawPath method.

I had to include additional methods to finish the polygons, as well as a method to create the last insert anchor point when finishing a polygon and more.

Below is the application to play with. To start, click on the “Add Polygon” button and then click on the stage to add points. At any time you can move any anchor (even as you are creating a polygon) to edit your polygon or any insert anchor point (light red dots) to insert additional anchor points. To end drawing a polygon click the “END” key.

Once a polygon is created in can be fully edited. Anchor points can be moved, inserted and deleted. The code is fully commented and thus I don’t go into explaining how it works in here. If you have questions post them via comments.

Get the code here.

Flex 3 Example: Drawing a path at run time with adding and deleting points capabilities

Gilbert Mizrahi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:30:10 +0000

Expanding on my last example, Flex 3 Experiment: Drawing a path at run time with insert points, here is the same example, but in this version it is possible to delete anchor points by clicking on a black point and then hitiing the DELETE key.

Although in this example and in the previous two, the title suggests is a Flex example, all the path functionality is in a AS file, so it can be run as an Actionscript project as well. It requires Flex 3.2+, Flash CS4 or other IDE that can compile for Flash Player 10.

In this case I called this a Flex example and not an experiment, because these are not really experiments ( i am not trying to do anything new really – at least not yet).

The code is available here.

Flex 3 Experiment: Drawing a path at run time with insert points

Gilbert Mizrahi — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:20:24 +0000

Continuing from my previous post about how to draw a curve with editable points at run time, I decided to post a new one, on how to make draw a path (with straight lines) that include points to insert additional segments. Again, this is based on the book: “Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects” by Todd Yard.

By clicking a light red point between any two black points you can bisect the segment creating a new black point for manipulation, adding another light red point and repositioning the previous moved one and the new light red points to the center of their corresponding segments. In addition, any black point can be clicked and dragged to change the location of that point. It easier to understand by drawing a path. to do that, click on the canvas below a couple of times. Then move the black points to modify the path or the light red circles to add new segments. This requires Flash Player 10. Grab the code here.

Flex 3 Experiment: Drawing curve with many editable points at run time

Gilbert Mizrahi — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:40:38 +0000

It has been a while since my last post. I Have tons of experiments and ideas to post, but I guess I procrastinate too much.

Anyway, a couple days ago a got the book: “Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects” by Todd Yard and its great. I just finished Chapter 1, but I have so many ideas to play with that I guess it will take a while to finish the book (I sort of browsed the whole thing already though).

One of the descriptions in Chapter 1, which deals with AS3 Drawing API is about changing points in a path.You can see the example below. Click on the canvas (anywher), then click somewhere else, etc. At any time you can drag the points to edit the path.

Another example refers to drawing curves. In this case a curve is drawn of the stage, but the user can change the start and end point and the control point. You can play with the curve below.

Then, I decided to make some changes and make something like the changing points in a path, but with the path made of curves. The result is shown below. Again, click on the stage a couple of times to draw some stuff. Now besides been able to move the points, you can move the control points (in light red). The source code is available here

Enjoy.

Flex 3 Charting

Gilbert Mizrahi — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:00:01 +0000

A few days ago I started working on some interactive charts with Flex 3 Builder Pro, and I have been making some nice progress. In the past I did some stuff with Flex 2, but the documentation and examples weren’t that great.

Now in Flex 3, the dynamic help has more and better examples and the livedocs are quite good. The charting API, however has so many possibilities that the examples and explanations are not enough. Hence, there is a lot of work required to customize the charts the way I need them.

In a few days i will start posting some examples, so others can learn from what I have been doing and hopefully I will learn more as well for the comments and feedback for my readers (Are you outthere?)

Gamebrix – A platform that allows anyone to create online casual games

Gilbert Mizrahi — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:25:24 +0000

Today I went to monthly meeting of the BFPUG (Boston Flash Platform User Group) to see a presentation about Gamebrix. Naveena Swamy, the founder of the company, showcased their platform, and it was a real threat.

I believe Gamebrix is up to something big. With their platform you can create games in 2 ways: One, by using the Gamebrix express, in which you can customize preexisting games or game templates by changing assets (graphics, audio, animations). The otherone by using the Gamebrix Builder. With the later you select your assets (graphics, animations, audio), either provided by the system or by importing your own. Then, you can add intelligence to your objects (again images or animations). By intelligence I mean interactivity – user actions (mouse clicks on the object), behaviors (how the objects react to events- i.e. to collisions), constraints and more. Finally you create the game, which is compiled on the server and produce a swf file (Flash file) that can be placed in any website or social networking site.

The platform has been built with Adobe Flex and its very easy to use. Once a user finishes creating a game, she can share it through the Gamebrix platform or post it in her own website. The game creator can easily edit games, change graphics, sounds and logic and quickly produce completely different games based on the same main storyline.

One cool idea is to use the platform to create contexts. A company can define certain rules, like use those graphics ( a logo, and some other branding elements) and use these themes to create games for that company in exchange for prizes and recognition. If you want to explore the potential of this for your own organization you may need to contact the company.

Right now the platform is in public beta testing and the access to create and share games is totally free of charge. We discussed a little about their business model, but not enough to be able to mention anything in here.

Well, what are you waiting for. Go there and create some cool games and share them with the world!!

Rotating Cube – playing with PaperVision3D

Gilbert Mizrahi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:13:14 +0000

I had the intension to play with an Actionscript 3D engine since I first learned about Sandy and then about PaperVision 3D and Away3D, but always started and quited, because I had to spend a lot of time getting familiar with those engines.

Last month Lee Brimelow – theFlashBlog, posted a nice tutorial of how to create a rotating cube. I took the opportunity to play with the code (in Flash CS3) and then tried to ported to Flex. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to include the images as MovieMaterials in Flex, so my experiments didn’t work.

Tonight I decided to google a little to see if I could find a solution, and voila, I found it in the Labs|Vizar blog. (they include the source code there, in case you want to play with it as well)

Anyway, below I am posting my first experiment, using images of baloka.com. – Hey is only fair to promote my wife’s site, isn’t it? -

In the following days I will make some experiments to do other nice stuff with PV3D. Among the the things to try are including videos and/or animations in the sides of the cube instead of images, and event behaviors and more.

Igor Costa’s comparison of Adobe AIR and Multidmedia Zinc 3.0

Gilbert Mizrahi — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 04:09:35 +0000

Igor has posted a nice initial comparison of these applications that allow creating web-enabled desktop applications using Flash and Flex.

I have been using Zinc since it was known as Flash Studio Pro and I been able to develop some interesting applications. I thing the new version of Zinc opens new possibilities, but I like also the great potential that AIR provides.

In the Flex 3/AIR preview tour last week, Adobe showcased many cool capabilities both for Flex 3 and for AIR. Clearly, it’s an exciting time for RIA developers.

Physical Computing – Some great uses

Gilbert Mizrahi — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:46:28 +0000

Last week I attended the monthly presentation at the Boston Flash Platform User Group (BFPUG) about physical computing using Flash CS3/Flex. Michelle Yaiser did a great job showing how to interface with several different pieces of hardware through Flash.

Basically, using a board from Making Things that can be connected to a PC via an USB port, a Flash application can exchange data with external sensors. This means the Flash app. can receive inputs from photocells, temperature sensors, potentiometers, bend sensors, etc, and send orders to servo motors and other devices. Pretty cool stuff.

In the past I have seen many demos related to physical computing with Flash, but I did not understand what was involved. Michelle explained the process explicitly.

After the meeting I started to explore the Making Things site to see what kind of things people are doing in this area. In their Projects page they list many exciting examples. One of the most attractive projects to me is the CandyFab 4000, – large – low cost – low resolution – 3D printer that uses sugar as the printing material.

They list many other innovative projects that could provide great ideas on how to use the computer to interact with the physical world. They have software interfaces for other programming languages besides Actionscript, but those are outside of my area of interest.

It seems I have to save some green to start playing around with these controllers and sensors. Probably my 11-year old Daniel would enjoy the journey even more than I.

What is Flex? – Great description posted by Ted Patrick

Gilbert Mizrahi — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:45:33 +0000

When I tell people I develop e-learning applications, web-based visualization tools and enabling web-based collaboration using Flash and Flex (mainly flex) , most of them, including my own colleagues, think that all I do is to produce fancy PowerPoint-like presentations.

I try to explain to people that Flex is a software development tool, but since it compiles swf files they think is an animation tool. Hence, I was happy to see the article that Ted Patrick – Adobe Flex Evangelist published in his blog. In it Ted distills what Flex is and what is its value. Fro now on I will point people to that post when they need clarification.