Author: Yolanda Washington

 

In previou articles 5+ Strongly Recommend Tutorials You Must Read for Creating Skins and Themes( UI Design ) in Flex and 480+ free and fresh icon sets help you to create your beautiful skins and themes in Flex, We have done lots of preparation.Now, it’s time to do! Following this introduction step by step then you can build your beautiful skin. Let’s go!

It could control the style by using CSS in Flex3.0 component. Of course the CSS mentioned here is different with the CSS which used in writing the website. It is the style sheet which is tailored for Flex specially. By using ActionScript could realize the powerful display effect. It will be introduced in following example.

The black style of Express Photoshop released by Adobe is very attractive. KingnareStyle is one of Flex Skin from Express Photoshop prototype. The Skin contains many components but limited by the article length, we could only choose the typical components for example. Following we will begin our Skin production by Button Component(Full Component effect Screenshot ).

Demo…

 

Problem Summery: I want an approach to mask images with given PNGs. However, the inner of some of the PNG images are transparent. After I set the PNG as a mask, the area of the masked image below the inner of the PNG is invisible.

 

 

Demo…

 

HTML/CSS frameworks are pre-prepared libraries that are meant to allow for easier, more standards-compliant styling of web pages using the Cascading Style Sheets language. It has grown in popularity recently, a good CSS Framework can help developers rapidly speed up our development time. A well-built CSS framework or boilerplate can streamline the design process, save huge chunks of development time and ensure your website scales properly on all devices. Here’s a collection of very powerful responsive HTML and CSS frameworks which can help you to reduce your task flow and code less:

 

 

1.  52framework

 

With HTML5 support coming so fast, with the tiniest of hacks we are able to use it today in virtually al browsers. Using HTML5 makes for much cleaner mark up. This framework fully uses all the great advantages of HTML5. Features:

• CSS3 gradients, multiple shadows, and other amazing properties with IE support when there was any.
• CSS3 selectors with support for IE thanks to selectivizr
• New and improved HTML5 video support with vimeo like skin
• A completely new Form Framework with HTML5 Validation (via javascript)
• Improvements to the Grid Framework, the CSS framework and more
• More demo pages giving you quick access to the features you want
• New Canvas with support for IE
• A Mobile Page in Pure HTML5
• Blog and Blog Article pages based on the Framework!
• and many other little tweaks and improvements

 

 

2.  960 Grid System

 

960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem.

 

 

3.  Blueprint

 

Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your development time. It gives you a solid foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, useful plugins, and even a stylesheet for printing.

 

 

4.  BlueTrip CSS Framework

 

A full featured and beautiful CSS framework which originally combined the best of Blueprint, it gives you a sensible set of styles and a common way to build a website so that you can skip past the grunt work and get right to designing.

 

 

 

 

5.  Bootstrap

 

Bootstrap makes front-end web development faster and easier. It’s made for folks of all skill levels, devices of all shapes, and projects of all sizes.

 

 

6.  Columnal

 

The Columnal CSS grid system is a “remix” of a couple others with some custom code thrown in. Columnal is an elastic grid, while some code inspiration (and the idea for subcolumns) are taken from 960.gs. Features:

• Built-in debugging CSS to show the structure of any pages being built
• Sub-columns (columns within columns) for more layout options
• Prefix and suffix for extra space within a column before or after content
• Vertical spacing CSS classes
• PDF of grid system for sketching out site before building
• Wireframing templates

 

 

7.  Elastic CSS Framework

 

Elastic CSS Framework is a simple css framework to layout web-based interfaces, based on the printed layout techniques of 4 columns but with capabilities to unlimited column combinations. and capacity to make elastic, fixed and liquid layout easily.

 

 

8.  Elements

 

Elements is a down to earth CSS framework. It was built to help designers write CSS faster and more efficient. Elements goes beyond being just a framework, it’s its own project workflow.It has everything you need to complete your project, which makes you and your clients happy.

 

 

9.  Fluid 960 Grid System

 

The Fluid 960 Grid System templates have been built upon the work of Nathan Smith and his 960 Grid System using effects from the MooTools and jQuery JavaScript libraries. The idea for building these templates …

 

Create a PDF template with Adobe Livecycle Designer with the relevant fields, send XML data to PDF remote object with the name of the XML nodes matching those of the fields in the , then your Flex applications can open PDF, or simply put the PDF file on your webserver and call it with the url, then the same thing can be done. But how to open word doc in a Flex application?

 

 

In AIR, just simply create a URLRequest that calls it from the user’s local file system. The source code like:

1. public function clickButton():void{
2. var request : URLRequest = new URLRequest(‘C:\documents\test.doc’);
3. navigateToURL(request )
4. }

Because Flex applications can communicate with javascript and VBScript, carate a Microsoft Word object with the code like following:

1. var oApplication=new ActiveXObject(“Word.Application”);
2. oApplication.Documents.Open(“wordFileName”);

and the file name can be passed from Flex with External interface. It will be a probably solution for most of us.

Additional, I tried to find other solutions with ask google, The following is one point from nabble.com:

Unfortunately no! Flex files are compiled into SWFs and SWF natively does not even have the capability to load an HTML files, leave alone word and excel…

And I dont think Adobe is even thinking of doing that! Atleast not with Flash Player 10…

But http://issuu.com/jackzhang1204/docs/word_test seems load the word doc perfectly.

 

A similar question of opening an excel sheet was discussed and a possible alternate for using OWC is also discussed. Because there no more details on above solution I don’t know if OWC or any Word Parser or others be used, anyway, it is not a non-solution issue, if you know anything left a comment pls.…

 

In previous article 9 Excellent 3D Engine For Flash/Flex/AS we have introduced some excellent 3D Engines. But we think you must need much more. Some very small lightweight, flexible animation Library will help you save effor in development work. You can handle animation or other time functionality with code by using of them in a smart way. Now let’s start.

 

 

TweenLite

 

TweenLite is an extremely fast, lightweight, and flexible tweening engine that serves as the foundation of the GreenSock Tweening Platform. A TweenLite instance handles tweening one or more numeric properties of any object over time, updating them on every frame.

 

 

GoASAP-Go ActionScript Animation Platform

 

It’s a versatile, generic base library for building animation tools in ActionScript 3.0. It enables any AS3 coder to build a rock-solid animation library of your own design! So instead of being stuck with one kit’s set of limitations, you’ll be able to constantly expand your own set of tools for each project – keeping you engaged and inventive.

 

 

AS3 Animation System v2.0

 

AS3 Animation System is a powerful animation tool that can provide you with both simplicity and complexity at the same time. It is also a clearly defined API for auto-completion; one that is nicely documented to make your life easier.

 

 

KitchenSync

 

KitchenSync is an ActionScript 3.0 library for sequencing animations and other time-based actions. It is designed for developers who want a smart way to handle animation or other time-based functionality with code.

 

 

gTween: A New Tweening Engine for AS3 Developers

 

gTween is a small (4.5kb), fast (1500 instances, 0.5s duration, ~25fps), instance based tweening class, with a huge number of options and capabilities.

 

 

Gyro

 

Gyro is a customizable and extendable tweening engine. It is in alpha (NOT complete) and event-based. It can tween by time or frames (steps)

 

 

HydroTween + HydroSequence rev37

 

Fuse style functionality has been moved from HydroTween to a separate class called HydroSequence! This decision was made to offer an easier and more flexible way to control sequences by having clearer access to SequenceCA super methods. Also makes it easier to enhance the functionality of the sequencing parser.

 

 

GeneralRelativity Flash Animation Library

 

It break animations into 2 component parts: a path and a curve. The path represents the spatial component of the animation and the curve represents the temporal.

 

 

Tweener

 

Tweener (caurina.transitions.Tweener) is a Class used to create tweenings and other transitions via ActionScript code for projects built on the Flash platform. The general idea of a tweening Class is that dynamic animation and transitions (created by code) are easier to maintain and control, and more stable than animation based on the regular Flash timeline, since you can control it by time rather than by frames.…

 

Did you know that when you registered your domain at Godaddy, you got a FREE WebSite Tonight® credit(5GB) with it? That means you can create your own custom Web site for your domain — it’s as easy as point-&-click and doesn’t cost you a dime!

 

All you need to do is activate your WebSite Tonight account on GoDaddy.com! To get started, simply:

Don’t let your free WebSite Tonight credit go to waste!…

 

Sometimes we need to load an image into our Flex application from URL,it’s very simple if the images are in a web-accessible directory.The below code is only a simple sample for it.You can modify it to suit your app.
PS.
While working on an AS 3 script I was getting an error like below(image):
Severity Description Resource In Folder Location Creation Time Id
2 Could not resolve <map:imgView> to a component implementation. imgView.mxml imgView 2008/02/10 1:17:08 26

I checked my action script file but there was no syntax error.Well was only because I forgot to create the “myLib” folder!

Download: imgView.as

1. // ActionScript file (imgView.as)
2. package myLib
3. {
4. import flash.display.Loader;
5. import flash.events.Event;
6. import flash.net.URLRequest;
7. import mx.core.UIComponent;
9. public class imgView extends UIComponent
10. {
11. private const image_path:String = “<a href=”http://blog.minidx.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/is.jpg”>http://blog.minidx.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/is.jpg”;</a>
12. private var loader:Loader;
13. private var request:URLRequest;
15. public function imgView()
16. {
17. loader=new Loader();
18. request=new URLRequest(image_path);
19. loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,onComplete);
20. loader.load(request);
22. }
23. private function onComplete(event:Event):void {
24. addChild(loader);
25. }
26. }
27. }

Download: imgView.mxml

1. //mxml file(imgView.mxml):
2. <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
3. <mx:Application xmlns:mx=”http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml” layout=”absolute” creationComplete=”onAppInit()” backgroundColor=”#3f3f3f” xmlns:map=”myLib.*”>
4. <mx:Script>
5. <![CDATA[
6. public function onAppInit():void{
7. Security.allowDomain(“http://blog.minidx.com/”);
8. }
9. ]]>
10. </mx:Script>
11. <map:imgView width =”100%” height=”100%” />
12. </mx:Application>

…

 

Goowy.com is a web based application offering free web and flash email service that enables you instant messaging, email, chat and much more.Goowy puts your rich Desktop email program on the web with a fast interface that lets you drag and drop, use context menus and enjoy lots of pleasant eye candy.

 

goowy mail is many things a traditional web-based email account is not: fast and providing instant feedback; slick with transition effects and transparent windows; equipped with handy keyboard shortcuts and context menus for doing things in a straight forward manner.

 

Goowy offers you simple, intuitive tools for communicating and sharing on the web.Of course,not only Email service,it gives you everything you need in a fresh, simple package, including an instant messenger that lets you chat with your buddies from multiple networks, powerful e-mail, contacts & calendar, customized news, rss, minis, file storage, sharing & finally some fun games when you just want to relax.

Anyway,it’s the best email site I’ve ever used.well done in flash and good popular style.…

 

Copy & Paste JavaScript Codes for pop browse like IE,Firefox and opera etcThe function belows that can copy & paste text contents for pop browselike IE,Firefox and opera etc.You can download the source from here >>>copyToClipboard.js

 

copyToClipboard = function(txt) {

if(window.clipboardData) {

window.clipboardData.clearData();

window.clipboardData.setData(“Text”, txt);

} else if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf(“Opera”) != -1) {

window.location = txt;

} else if (window.netscape) {

try {

netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(“UniversalXPConnect”);

} catch (e) {

alert(“You need set ’signed.applets.codebase_principal_support=true’

at about:config’”);

return false;

}

var clip =

Components.classes[‘@mozilla.org/widget/clipboard;1′].createInstance

(Components.interfaces.nsIClipboard);

if (!clip)

return;

var trans =

Components.classes[’@mozilla.org/widget/transferable;1′].createInstance

(Components.interfaces.nsITransferable);

if (!trans)

return;

trans.addDataFlavor(‘text/unicode’);

var str = new Object();

var len = new Object();

var str =

Components.classes[“@mozilla.org/supports-string;1″].createInstance

(Components.interfaces.nsISupportsString);

var copytext = txt;

str.data = copytext;

trans.setTransferData(”text/unicode”,str,copytext.length*2);

var clipid = Components.interfaces.nsIClipboard;

if (!clip)

return false;

clip.setData(trans,null,clipid.kGlobalClipboard);

}

}…

 

Adobe Systems Incorporated is based on photo edit software: PhotoShop. ( Didn’t confirm the develop history but feel like this). Adobe has strong power on the photo edit. But many very excellent photo edit applications were developed with the Flex and AIR based on Adobe. I’ve collected some of them like following list. If you know more please don’t hesitate to let me know(Left your comment here ). Note: listed in no particular order.

 

?Some Demo photos from http://photos.dtee.us/v/2008-11-18/, thanks baby Ding Tang YiYi. 

[Flex Web Application for Images & Photos]

Photoshop Express – Web-based image editor be opened by Adobe Systems. Available for free with 2 gigabytes of storage, it is a significant departure from Adobe’s desktop software business.

 

Splashup –  Splashup, formerly Fauxto, is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With all the features professionals use and novices want, it’s easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once. Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photosharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress.

 

Flauntr –  flauntR is a free online photo editor with photo editing features similar to photoshop. Store and share your photos online, create slideshows and print.

 

SlideRocket – SlideRocket is the leader in online presentation software lets you quickly make stunning presentations, manage a library of slides and assets, share them securely with colleagues, and measure how they’re used.

 

Picnik –  Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames(?This application seems very large, some time will be need for loading).

 

Snapfish – It gets you online digital photo printing, free online photo albums, free digital photo sharing services, and fun photo gifts.(need to register)

 

EmpireBanners – It allows you to manufacture banners & signs digital printing banners.

 

ClickBooq – clickbooq is an easy-to-use website creation, management, and hosting solution developed exclusively for professional photographers and visual artists.

 

SUMO Paint – SUMO Paint is a free image editing software that gives you the opportunity to create and edit images online.

 

[AIR Application for Images & Photos]

Albelli Photo Book Creator – Assists you in creating photo books from images on your hard drive or from online resources such as Flickr, Smugmug, Photobucket and Picasa.

 

DestroyFlickr – DestroyFlickr explores alternative methods for viewing and sharing Flickr content. Its user interface provides an environment that benefits photos rather than hindering them. With the ability to look at a photo on a dark, neutral background, you can view it without the interference of a brighter surrounding.

 

Flickr Flipper – Allows you to search all of Flickr, or just the images of a specific user. Also gives you the ability to download any images you come across that you like.

 

Flickr Desktop Search – Desktop Search is an Adobe AIR based utility which helps you to search Flickr images(?I got a 2032 error when I downloaded it).

 

FotoBooth 2 with Pixel Bender – This app works in conjunction with your web cam to share images on Flickr, and also incorporates Pixel Bender to add effects to those images.

 

CleVR Stitcher – A seriously easy way of creating and sharing panoramic photos for free. An easy way of joining photos into a panorama by just dropping in all of the required photos. Allows you to correct exposures, add tags, make hot spots that are interactive and more. unfortunately, free user only can upload 50 panoramas.

 

ImageDropR – …