Posted by Jacob Wright in GeneralMar 29th, 2010 | 2 Comments
It occurred to me that I haven’t even posted about what Reflex is yet. So here is a quick overview.
Reflex is a component framework. Like Flex, it is a methodology and some base classes on which to build components. Unlike other component sets, it is not just a component set but a framework to build components. It can be coded with MXML. It has layout, skins, and run-time added behaviors. It keeps close to the Flash player APIs so mixing with Sprites, MovieClips, and TextFields is a non-issue. It works in the Flash IDE as well as Flash Builder. And it’s just getting going.
The git repo...
Posted by Jacob Wright in How-Tos, ReflexMar 29th, 2010 | 5 Comments
Update: If you don't know what Reflex is, I've just introduced Reflex.
Building a component in Reflex consists of 3 things: making the component class, building the behaviors, and creating the skin. The component class is an extension of Component with your new component's name and a few public properties that you feel might be important to that type of component. The real logic of the component goes into its behaviors, so that is where we are starting today.
What is a Behavior?
A behavior is a well defined piece of functionality that may be used by one or more components. Behaviors do not necessarily...
Posted by Jacob Wright in ReflexMar 12th, 2010 | 5 Comments
At 360|Flex we showed some pretty cool demos. The coolest one Tyler made and is on his blog, so go check out the Phases of the Moon there. Here are some you can right-click to view the source.
We have some examples of how skins and behaviors can be swapped out:
And a demonstration of how behaviors can work with any Flash display objects (including Flex ones in this case):
Enjoy!
Update: Oh, and here are the slides.
Posted by Jacob Wright in ActionScript 3, Object Oriented ProgrammingMar 10th, 2010 | 5 Comments
Been loving 360 Flex this year! Tyler and I finally finished our presentation, and so I had some time to write a post I've been meaning to.
One of the issues one comes across in building performant applications in Flash is object creation and garbage collection. Object pooling helps overcome this. Object pooling is keeping old objects around and reusing them instead of throwing them away and always creating new fresh objects.
Creating objects in Flash isn't bad. It's when you create hundreds or thousands of throw-away objects very quickly that this becomes a problem.
Used Pooling in Observe
For...
