Degrafa drawing tools - do they exist? - apache-flex

I'm trying to find an easy way to use degrafa with MXML. I'm no artist and creating graphics using code just seems very wrong when you can't visualise what is needed to make the required art work.
What I'm after is a tool that can take an SVG graphic and convert to suitable MXML tags so that I can copy/paste them into a MXML file.
There is meant to be a video about pulling the SVG data out and placing into a MXML file on the degrafa site, but it isn't available now.
So does anyone know if there is a tool for this, or know of any tutorials on pulling out the svg data and turning it into MXML code.
Cheers.

Here is a similar question that may have an answer:
Stack Overflow - Is there a SVG to MXML converter?
Also why not just use Adobe Flash to create your graphics? Or at least layout your graphics. That's what it's there for.

Related

Few basic questions on flex/AS

Guys i have struggling with flex since a day or two.I havent found a nice short tutorials.Actually i also have been struggling with FLEX IDE too.Please indicate a nice good tutorials for this
I basically have questions like
Cannot use Alert in AS
Including a AS file in mxml file
org.com.structure and the as file in it.Why do we need to say pacakage org.com inside the as file
You can use flex Alert class. In pure AS, unlike JavaScript, there is no alert().
<mx:Script source="script.as"/>. But script.as will not know about MXML file, it's better to use class defined in as file as a control in MXML.
Because packages are compiler-enforced design decision, and who we are to discuss it.
Flex in a week!
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/videotraining.html
This video series helped me a lot..

Flex 4 - Using MXML as views - Any references?

I'm looking to create a flashBuilder document which uses seperate MXML files as "views" which are controlled by states - I believe it's a design pattern of sorts but I'm relatively new to FlashBuilder. I was wondering if anyone knew what design pattern it was and if I can be pointed in the direction of some good references!
FYI I'm looking into using FlashBuilder to design Android apps so any better suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
You can do that the way you want. Just consider such file (MXML) as object. It can be easily added to some outer component, ie. UIComponent. You should read something about it but I bet it's quite simple. Just remember - MXML is just a language that describes an object - you could do that using AS 3.0 instead but it's obviously more convenient to use MXML. Considering this fact all the MXML files are compiled before they run so you can easily manipulate them.
Just try to add such object to some outer component like UIComponent - you can read a few words about it here: HTML in Flex. Just take a look at the function createWindow
Good luck!

Flex & Flash or Flex vs. Flash?

this is not a technical question, well maybe potentially, but since this is such aresponsive messageboard I thought I would get some good responses here.
I am due to create a pretty robust website coming up soon that has to be creative but also incorporates a lot of data. My perspective, as a newcomer to flex, is that it is better for applications than it is for more abstract websites. Things are harder to skin in flex, you can have smoother animations in flash, etc. These are just my perceptions.
Question is, can you do the same creative material in flex that you can do in flash, or if you can is it worth the extra time? Basicially trying to figure out if I should do this project in all flash or flex and flash, because I know the design, transitions and look of the site will be fairly organic.
You can do a lot of the same creative material in Flex that you can do with Flash. In some cases, especially if you can handle coding easily, it's even easier, because you can add effects without having to tweak a timeline. You can use the graphics class to draw the kind of simple shapes Flash lets you work with and you can style them.
You can also add any bitmap or vector images you want to Flex and use them however you want, even as background-images for, say, a Canvas. I create graphics symbols in Illustrator and export them to SWF files which can then be embedded and accessed directly in Flex using the [Embed] directive.
It involves a different way of thinking about it, but let me put it this way: I started off as a graphic designer who could code, and loved and used Flash to create cool interactive animations that used complicated and extensive ActionScript. Then I started working in Flex and once I got to a certain level of proficiency I completely abandoned Flash. I don't use it at all anymore unless I have to work with someone else's Flash files directly.
If in your HTML/Javascript/CSS work you're the kind of person who codes in a text editor first, Flex is going to feel right for you. If on the other hand you rely on DreamWeaver or some other visual tool, you may want to stick with Flash. Bear in mind that Flex also has a fairly rudimentary "design" view, which I never use because it just gets in the way. As would DreamWeaver.
Edited to say: I should add that you can also create animations in Flash and use them in Flex. So you don't have to abandon Flash to use Flex, but it just might fall out that you do, as I did.
Flex has a bunch more components out of the box for handling data -- and is much more geared toward handling data than Flash. And Flash is much more geared towards "animation" (in a broad sense of the word).
You can create your skins in Flash if you want, but skinning in Flex 4 in general is much easier and more robust than in previous releases.
It sounds like Flex will suit your project better, and you can decide as you go if there's a piece that may be more suited for Flash. They're working together pretty well in Flex 4.
Flex & Flash.
Flex for robustness and ease of development.
Flash IDE for assets libraries (gfx, sounds & animations to import in Flex).

flex: can i do nice button animation using only flex or do i need adobe flash too?

i would like to add nice animations and other graphics to my application. do i need to use flash to create partial swf files and to load them or is there another way?
Yes, you can do a lot of animations in Flex (although I haven't done anything very complex yet). You should check out Tour de Flex for examples.
Even though Flex offers some TweenEffects (check the list of subclasses), I'd say that animations are better done in Flash CS3/4 as it offers more control on drawing and frames.

I need to design usa interactive Map in flex

i need of simple UsA map in flex ,all Area need to be click able as button .
Is there any tool available for designing buttons in various shape in flex or any build in free map is available in flex.
As vector format so that zoom in will not affect the quality.
i need to design like as shown in this site
http://www.futurevision.com.ua/products/usa_flash_map.php
This is the Degrafa Map Demo. It is still in the samples section so perhaps the site was down at the time.
data viz sample page here:: http://www.degrafa.org/samples/data-visualization.html
Load the "Map Dashboard" sample and Right click/View source to get at the code.
Cheers
Jason.
I posted a similar question a while ago but needed more customization.
I used SVG path data in Degrafa to create custom maps of the world, continents, USA.. for a customer. Degrafa used to have a nice US map demo (with source code) as part of its samples, but it disappeared from the web. I don't know of any tool that would help to design clickable Flex shapes. I have no doubt though that Degrafa will provide more support and tools for converting and using SVG.
Some products I found: ilog, ArcGis
And also found this open-source library : GeoVis (birdeye)
But it's very unstable and haven't seen many changes recently.
I'll do that (or, I'll have a designer to do that) in illustrator, and then import the vector format in flex, with the [Embed] metadata.
I don't know if it is a downside for you (for me is a plus), but in this way you have to do everything in code, not with the FlexBuilder UI.

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