Flex 3 Deep Dive
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A Deep Dive into the Flex 3 Framework
Joshua Jamison
EffectiveUI
www.effectiveui.com
January 30th, 2009
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Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Introductions
Who am I?
Joshua Jamison Software Architect at EffectiveUI
Develop on Flex / Ruby / Java / Android / JavaFX
Who are you?
Assumptions:
You know some Flex
You want to know more Flex
You know how to get things done with Flex, but not how to make the most of the Flex Framework
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What will we talk about today?
Several topics that help you maximize Flex’s power
Things many beginner - intermediate developers don’t know a lot about Data Binding
Style manager
Collections
System Manager
For each of these, I’ll discuss: What it is
How it affects you
Best ways to use it
Common mistakes to avoid
It’ll start simple, and get deeper as we go
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Data Binding
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The Problem
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Need a way to sync views with changing data
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The Scenario
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Scenario: A value object with some text that should be displayed on a label
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Roll-my-own solution
I have a VO that contains some text I need to display on the screen
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public class BoringVO1 {public var _text : String;
}
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Roll-my-own solution
How will I know when the text "eld on this object changes? I’ll have it dispatch events.
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[Event(name=”textChanged”), type=”flash.events.Event”]
public class BoringVO1 extends EventDispatcher {private var _text : String;public function set text( value : String ) : void {
_text = value;this.dispatchEvent( new Event(“textChanged”) );
}
}
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Roll-my-own solution
In the view, I’ll listen for those events:
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public function setMyText() {
theLabel.text = value;
}
<mx:Label id=”theLabel”/>
private var _vo : BoringVO1;
public function set vo( value : BoringVO1 ) : void {
_vo = value;
_vo.addEventListener( “textChanged”, this.setMyText )
}
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Roll-my-own solution
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Ugh. Annoying. Too much code for so simple a task.
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Flex’s solution: data binding
Data binding is a contract between two objects: one promises to dispatch events when its data changes, and another promises to listen to those changes and update itself
Got this de"nition from Michael Labriola’s fantastic data binding talk at 360|Flex San Jose, “Diving in the Data Binding Waters”
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t magic: it’s events!
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Flex’s solution: data binding
Mark the object and its property as [Bindable], use curly braces, and away you go.
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<mx:Label id=”theLabel” text=”{vo.text}”/>
[Bindable]
public var vo : BoringVO1;
public class BoringVO1 {
[Bindable]public var text : String;
}
The VO!
The app!
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The Basic Idea
A property of a component changes
The property’s component "res off an event indicating that the property changed
Other components listen for this event, recognize that a needed value has changed, and update themselves with the new value
Bindings also "re once on initialization, so that initial values are set correctly
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MXML Example (with curly braces), binding to a property
To bind to a property, simply put a reference to the property in curly braces:
<mx:Label text=”{anObject.text}”/>
The referenced data must be marked as bindable: give it [Bindable] metadata
If it isn’t marked as [Bindable], you’ll get a warning from the compiler...
“Data binding will not be able to detect assignments...”
...and the binding won’t work.
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A warning!
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Metadata
What is it?
Metadata is information that tells the compiler how components are used in a Flex application.
Various kinds: [ArrayElementType], [DefaultProperty], [Deprecated], [Effect], [Embed]...
[Bindable] metadata tells the compiler to generate code to dispatch events when the property or properties marked [Bindable] are changed, so that other objects binding to that data will update accordingly.
Why is it needed?
Remember all of the event dispatching and listening from the roll-my-own example?
The [Bindable] metadata tells the compiler to dispatch all of those events when objects or their properties change.
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Metadata
Where should [Bindable] metadata be placed?
Before a public class de"nition
Makes all public properties, public getters/setters available as binding sources
Before a public, protected, or private property de"ned as a variable
Makes that property available as a data binding source
Before a public, protected, or private property de"ned as a getter/setter
Makes that property available as a data binding source
Components declared in MXML are automatically set as [Bindable] in the compiler-generated Actionscript, as long as they have an id set
What is the syntax?
[Bindable] or [Bindable(event=“eventTypeToWhichInterestedComponentsShouldRespond”)]
If no event type is given, by default an event named “propertyChange”, of type PropertyChangeEvent is dispatched
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Metadata
Why use a custom event type?
It’s more efficient than using the default PropertyChangeEvent
Who dispatches the custom event?
When no custom event type is speci"ed:
Default PropertyChangeEvent is dispatched automatically
Example: DefaultEventFiring.mxml
When a custom event type is speci"ed:
No PropertyChangeEvents are dispatched
Custom event types are not dispatched automatically
Must dispatch custom events explicitly Example: CustomEventFiring2.mxml
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MXML Example (with curly braces), binding to a function
Functions can be used as a source for data binding
Must be marked with appropriate metadata: [Bindable(event=”eventType”)]
When do bindings to functions execute?
Whenever the event type listed in the [Bindable(event=”eventType”)] metadata is dispatched
Example: DataBinding6.mxml
Whenever one of the bindable arguments passed in to the function changes
Code automatically generated to execute the binding whenever one of the function’s passed-in bindable arguments changes
Compiler will throw a warning when non-bindable arguments are passed in to the argument list of a bound function (and the binding won’t work, either)
On initialization
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MXML Example (with curly braces), binding to XML data
Can bind directly to XML data
XML does not dispatch change events when nodes are edited, so views may not update correctly
XMLListCollection is the class of choice to use as an XML data provider
Provides sorting and "ltering methods
Ensures views get updated when XML nodes are edited
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MXML Example: using <Binding> tag
The MXML <Binding> tag accomplishes the same thing as curly braces
Allows you to bind multiple sources to a single destination
Can place a concatenated Actionscript expression in curly braces in the source property of a <Binding> tag
Example: BindingTag.mxml
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What does the generated code buy you?
Brevity
Lots of error handling
Binding to expressions
Compiler generates code to evaluate the expression placed in curly braces when particular events are "red off; makes it very easy to bind to complex expressions
<mx:Label text=”{a.toString() + b.toString() + “: “ + (c/d).toString}/>
Chains
Binding to property chains happens easily, too:
<mx:Label text=”{this.childA.propertyB.childC.widgetD.text}”/>
When childA, propertyB, childC, or widgetD changes, the label’s text updates appropriately
All of the event listeners needed to make this happen are created for you in the generated code
All of the properties in the chain must be [Bindable] in order for this to work correctly
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Binding in Actionscript: bindProperty() and bindSetter()
Bindings can be created in Actionscript code, too
Use mx.binding.utils.BindingUtils
Two important static methods on the BindingUtils class bindProperty() sets a destination property when a source property or property chain changes
Takes a destination object, a destination property, a source object, and a source property chain (remember to make all elements in the source property chain [Bindable])
You can use bindProperty() to set a property that has a setter
bindSetter() calls a handler function() when a source property or property chain changes
Takes a handler function, a source object, and a source property chain
Since handler functions "re when bindSetter is "rst called; be sure to check for nulls
Handler function receives, as a parameter, the new value of the source’s property chain
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Common problem: performance in Cairngorm
Too many bindable "elds on the model doesn’t perform well!
Why?
Every time one of the properties on the model changes, the model dispatches a PropertyChangeEvent
Any component binding to any property on the model listen for PropertyChangeEvents dispatched from the model
Examines the event to see which property the PropertyChangeEvent is for; disregards if not relevant
If the model has a lot of "elds, this is a huge amount of unnecessary work
Solution? Custom event types
Listening components now only receive the particular event type dispatched for the property in question
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Common problem: two-way binding
Problem: two "elds should update each other
Simple solution: Create two bindings, one in each direction.
Flex makes sure that an in"nite loop won’t occur
MXML solution: TwoWayMXML.mxml
Actionscript solution: TwoWayActionscript.mxml
There’s a shortcut for this coming in Gumbo (Flex 4)...
Curly braces
<mx:TextInput id=”"rstInput”/>
<mx:TextInput id=”secondInput” text=”@{"rstInput.text}”/>
Binding tags
<mx:Binding twoWay=”true” ...
Check out the Gumbo spec:
http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/$exsdk/Two-way+Data+Binding
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StyleManager
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StyleManager: Styling 101
“Styles” differ from “Properties” in the way they are set, maintained, and accessed in your application
Ways to set styles:
In MXML, they look just like properties:
<mx:Label text="woot! WTF FTW!" color="0x00ff00" width="100"/>
In Actionscript, they must be set through the style manager:
var label : Label = new Label(); label.text = "woot! WTF FTW!"; label.setStyle("color", "0x00ff00");
Why is it more complex in ActionScript?
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StyleManager: Styling 101
Styles are inheritable
Styles must propagate to their children, and their children’s children, and sometimes their children’s children’s children, forever and ever.
This task requires some management
The $ex team built a class to do just that, and creatively named it the Style Manager.
The StyleManager serves as the storehouse for all of this information and makes it available to other components.
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StyleManager: Styling 101
Every time a style is set, the framework has to keep track of:
Any parent styles this over-rides
Any children who are affected
Flex adds/removes styles through proto chaining
Style properties are stored in the proto chains - not as properties on the objects themselves
proto chains are outside of the scope of our discussion, but it’s a really interesting topic to learn more about.
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Style Precedence
Global, Type, Class, Attribute
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*Image courtesy Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh
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Adding styles to components in AS3
To add styles to individual components, use UIComponent.getStyle and setStyle
getStyle is cheap - it just reads the style information
setStyle is expensive - it has to traverse the entire style tree and re-calculate inheritance.
These methods inherently make use of the StyleManager
These should satisfy your styling needs on a component level
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Using StyleManager to manage Assets
You can embed assets through the StyleManager
Advantages:
Avoid cluttering your component code with Embed statements
Keep all external resource paths in a single place
Manage resources that might be used in more than one part of your app
.icons{ wrenchIcon: Embed('images/wrench.png'); searchIcon: Embed('images/search.png'); loginIcon: Embed('images/login.png');}
<mx:Button icon="{StyleManager.getStyleDeclaration('.icons').getStyle('wrenchIcon')}" label="Customize"/>
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Using the StyleManager
Other things you can do with the StyleManager:
Make changes to existing styles
Useful for programmatically re-themeing at runtime for a con"gurator
StyleManager.getStyleDeclaration(selector);
StyleManager.setStyleDeclaration(selector, CSSSelector, update);
Clear existing styles
StyleManager.clearStyleDeclaration(selector, update)
De"ne whether your styles in$uence other components
StyleManager.registerParentSizeInvalidatingStyle(styleName:String)
StyleManager.registerParentDisplayListInvalidatingStyle(styleName)
Register aliases for color names
“blue” instead of 0x0000ff
StyleManager.registerColorName(colorName, colorValue);
Load styles from a swf at runtime
StyleManager.loadStyleDeclarations(...);
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Load style declarations at runtime
Uses different CSS "les for the different themes
Load the style declarations from a pre-compiled swf
The core of the functionality:
private function changeCSS( panelTitle:String, name:String ):void {
StyleManager.loadStyleDeclarations( name, true ); }
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Example: swap styles from a SWF at runtime
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Example courtesy of Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh
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Example: swap styles from a SWF at runtime
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Example courtesy of Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh
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Example: clearing and restoring styles
Same example as before, but a few new buttons / handlers:
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public function unloadRed():void{ StyleManager.unloadStyleDeclarations('Red.swf');} // Code to restore the default 'Halo' buttonpublic function restoreDefaults():void{ StyleManager.setStyleDeclaration('Button', defaultButtonStyle, true);}
private var defaultButtonStyle : CSSStyleDeclaration;public function onComplete():void{ defaultButtonStyle = StyleManager.getStyleDeclaration('Button');}
...
<mx:Button label="Go Red!" click="loadRed()"/><mx:Button label="Go Blue!" click="loadBlue()"/><mx:Button label="Clear" click="clearStyles()"/><mx:Button label="Restore" click="restoreDefaults()"/><mx:Button label="Unload Red" click="unloadRed()"/>
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StyleManager demo:ThemeSwaphttp://www.scalenine.com/samples/themeSwapper/themeSwap.html
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In case it doesn’t work live: “Obsidian” theme
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In case it doesn’t work live: iTunes 7 Theme
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In case it doesn’t work live: Windows Vista theme
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More info?
Creating Visual Experiences with Flex 3.0, by Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh
Still valid in Flex 4.0!
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ScaleNine! Scale....ten?
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Collections
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What is a collection?
Data comes in many formats
Objects
Arrays
XML
There are many different kinds of view components
Crossing all of the view components with all of the different types of data representations would yield an unmanageable number of classes
Need a common way to use any data as the source for any view component
This is where mx.collections.* shines
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Why do we need collections?
Collections:
Abstract the format of the data from the display component
Ensure components are updated when data changes
Provide consistent operations to use on data
Provide sorted views of data
Provide "ltered views
(Reasons taken from the online $ex documentation at www.adobe.com)
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So, what are collections really?
Classes that implement IList, ICollectionView
IList is an interface that contains that make it easy to work with linear data
ICollectionView is an interface that makes it easy to work with hierarchical data
ArrayCollection & XMLListCollection are the main ones you’ll use
These actually extend ListCollectionView, which implements IList and ICollectionView
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IList
Interface for working with linear data
Interesting methods:
addItem
addItemAt
getItemAt
getItemIndex
removeAll
removeItemAt
setItemAt
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ICollectionView
Interface for sorting, "ltering, and interacting with linear and hierarchical data
Interesting properties
sort
"lterFunction
Interesting methods
contains
createCursor
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ListCollectionView
Implements IList
Implements ICollectionView
Consequently, components extending ListCollectionView can be used anywhere an IList or an ICollectionView is expected
Is the base class for ArrayCollecton, XMListCollection
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ArrayCollection, XMLListCollection
The two classes in the Flex framework that inherit from ListCollectionView
ArrayCollection
Uses an array as its data source
Good for linear data
XMLListCollection
Uses an XMLList as its data source
XMLList is a list of one or more XML objects
Good for hierarchical data
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Where are collections useful?
Various classes can all use collection objects as their data source; these are called “data provider components”:
ButtonBar
ColorPicker
ComboBox
DataGrid
DateField
HorizontalList
LinkBar
List
Menu
MenuBar
PopUpMenuButton
Tree
etc.
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Review: why do we need collections?
Collections:
1. Abstract the format of the data from the display component
2. Ensure components are updated when data changes
3. Provide consistent operations to use on data
4. Provide sorted views of data
5. Provide "ltered views
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1. Abstract the data format
The <mx:TileList> can accept many different types of data sources, including an ArrayCollection and an XMLListCollection
The component can swap between different collections without a problem
Example: AbstractDataFormat.mxml
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2. Update views when data changes
One of the main reasons to use collections is so that when the data contained by the collection changes, views update accordingly
Collections "re off CollectionChange events when their items change; views listen for these events and refresh themselves accordingly
When passing in non-collection objects as data providers, you may not see the view update immediately
Flex wraps the passed in “raw” objects (e.g., Array or XML) in collection objects; this lets you use your raw data directly.
However, changes made directly to those raw objects may not force the views to update
Example: UpdateTheViews.mxml
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3. Consistent data manipulation operations
Both ArrayCollection and XMLListCollection inherit from ListCollectionView
This makes it easy to edit data in a consistent way, regardless of which type of data is being used for the data provider
Square brackets [] (Don’t use these - they’re involved in a Flash Player bug regarding loading sub-applications; use getItemAt() intead)
getItemAt()
removeItemAt()
addItem()
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4. Sorted views
Collections provide a mechanism to sort the view of the data without changing the underlying data itself
ListCollectionView’s sort property:
type = Sort
sort."elds should be an array of SortField objects, which describe how to perform the sort
Call refresh() on the collection object after assigning it a sort object
Underlying data does not change
Example: SortingViews.mxml
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5. Filtered views
Collections also offer an easy way to "lter data
Simply set the "lterFunction property on the collection to a function of the form:
function theFilterFunction( item : Object ) : Boolean {}
The function should return true on the object if it should be included in the "ltered view of the data
Example: SortingViews.mxml
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Hierarchical Data
Representing hierarchical data in XML is trivial, since XML itself is natively hierarchical:
<Foods>
<Nuts> <Nut>Peanut</Nut>
</Nuts>
</Foods>
Object graphs can be used, too
Example: ObjectHierarchy.mxml
Put the child objects in the “children” "eld of the object
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Cursors
Classes used to navigate through collection objects
Provide convenient, consistent ways to access data in collections
Initialize to the "rst element in the collection
Cursors allow:
Movement through data (forward, back)
Searching (only if the collection is sorted)
Bookmarks
Data manipulation (addition, removal)
Great for navigating and searching through data
They respect sorts (even though the underlying data isn’t actually sorted, cursor will behave like it is)
They have an optimized "nd method
Handy for paging through long results sets
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Common Problem: Manipulating a view component immediately after changing the data provider
Setting the dataProvider property on a component such as a Tree requires that it validate its properties and layout; it may need to add or remove children based on the changes
Attempting to manipulate the view component immediately after setting the dataProvider (i.e., on the next line of code) can cause runtime errors because the component has not yet validated its properties and layout
To get around this problem, call validateNow() on the view component immediately after setting the dataProvider
This forces the component to validate its properties and layout and redraw itself if necessary
Only do this when necessary; there’s a performance hit
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Common Problem: Not seeing expected changes in the view
If the objects stored in a collection are not [Bindable], the view will not be able to detect when they have changed
In these instances, after updating an item in the collection, call the itemUpdated method on the collection, letting it know that its data has changed
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SystemManager
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SystemManager: overview
“Root” of the Flex swf
First class that is instantiated
Controls and coordinates the initialization of the application Instantiates and displays the pre-loader
Instantiates Application and adds it to the display list
Manages layers of children for popups (sorta), cursors, and tooltips
Switches focus between top-level items like the above list
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SystemManager: 2 frame swf
Flex apps currently publish to a 2 frame SWF 1st frame (small): SystemManager, Preloader, DownloadProgressBar, helper classes.
2nd frame (probably big): The rest of the framework, your application, embedded assets
SystemManager
Preloader
DownloadProgressBar
HelperClasses
Flex Framework
Application code
Embedded Assets
Frame 1 Frame 2
RSLs
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SystemManager: 2 frame walkthrough
Frame 1 streams in, plays SystemManager is created
SystemManager takes over - creates Preloader
Preloader tracks the rest of the bytes streaming in, provides updates to SystemManager
Once all bytes for frame 2 are streamed in, frame 2 plays
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SystemManager
Preloader
DownloadProgressBar
HelperClasses
Frame 1
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SystemManager: 2 frame walkthrough
Frame 2 plays SystemManager instantiates Application,
sets Application.systemManager to itself
Application initializes itself, emits CreationComplete
SystemManager adds Application to the DisplayList, hands control over to Application / LayoutManager
applicationComplete event is dispatched, and your app is ready to go
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Flex Framework
Application code
Embedded Assets
Frame 2
RSLs
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SystemManager: what is it good for?
Dispatches browser-resize events
Detecting if assets have been embedded Fonts, for example. If the font isn’t embedded, use a different font.
SystemManager.embeddedFontList;
Displaying your own preloader
and...
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SystemManager: what else is it good for?
Getting a reference to the root object SystemManager.stage
Flash converts have probably spent some time looking for this
Monitoring keyboard and mouse activity
Manipulate multiple pop-ups, cursors, or tool-tips from their parent
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SystemManager Pitfalls: Multiple Child Lists
PopUp windows added through PopUpManager.addPopUp or createPopUp do not go on the SystemManager.popupChildren list by default - they go on the normal Application child list.
This list is displayed above the Alert child list and toolTipChildList
To add them there, pass the constant PopUpManagerChildList.POPUP as the fourth parameter to the add or create methods on PopUpManager
PopUpManager.createPopUp(this, TestPopUp,false, PopUpManagerChildList.POPUP);
cursorChildren are on top of everything, then popupChildren, then toolTipChildren, then the regular old application children.
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application children
toolTipChildren
popupChildren
cursorChildren
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SystemManager Pitfalls: The Root
The system manager tries to own “_root” May manipulate the root object in ways you’re not expecting in Flash
This makes $ash / $ex integration frustrating at times
I’m not going to go into this more, but be aware of it
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Resources
Michael Labriola’s 2008 360|Flex San Jose talk about Data Binding: “Diving in the Data Binding Waters” (http://www.on$ex.org/ted/2008/08/diving-in-data-binding-waters-with.php)
Flex 3 Cookbook (Joshua Noble & Todd Anderson; O’Reilly)
Creating Visual Experiences in Flex 3.0 (Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh; Addison-Wesley)
Programming Flex 2, Programming Flex 3 (Cha"c Kazoun, Joey Lott; O’Reilly)
Learning Flex 3 (Alaric Cole; O’Reilly)
Online Flex documentation
API: http://livedocs.adobe.com/$ex/3/langref/index.html
Docs: http://livedocs.adobe.com/$ex/3/html/
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Thank you!
Joshua [email protected]
twitter: cephus
brightkite: cephus