We’ve still got a ways to go, OpenFlux is still in alpha release, but I’m really happy with what we’ve done so far and I can’t wait to show it off. My session at 360|Flex will give you a great idea on what’s currently possible, how to get started and future plans. Not to mention some sweet demos with full source code provided.

I’ll also be looking to the crowd to drum up discussion on where to go next with the project. Although OpenFlux has been quoted as “Flex 4 Now”, Plexiglass is definitely beyond the scope of the Flex 4 SDK. We’ve got a pretty solid core, I’ve experimented with Flex 4 compatibility and I think with the communities help this project can go a long way.

Below is a quick example (took 5 minutes) of a regular OpenFlux List component using the FlowLayout and an OpenFlux List using Plexiglass with the SpiralLayout. You can see by the source code, Plexiglass is really easy to get started with.

If you are interested in learning more come check out my session on Monday afternoon. On Sunday there is also free training on OpenFlux with Ben Stucki and I’ll also be there to show you how to build a 3D component (e-mail info@360flex.com to RSVP).

Lastly: This will be my third time going to 360|Flex. The previous 2 (Seattle, Atlanta) I had a blast, learnt a lot, meet a bunch of great people and it sounds like this one is going to be even better. I look forward to seeing you all there and if you see me around please come say hi.

We’ve still got some work ahead of us before this goes public but I definitely can’t wait to see OpenFlux get used and see what new 3D layouts others contribute.

As we get closer to release I’ll be posting more examples and howtos on getting started with OpenFlux.

Click the image below to try out the example.

A regular OpenFlux layout class manages the the x/y positions of the item renderers. PlexiGlass layout classes goes a step further and manage z position, x/y rotations and the camera.

We’ve still got some cleaning up to do but the code for this example will be included once PlexiGlass goes public. Click the image below to try out the example.

I’m really excited for OpenFlux, have been contributing to the project quite a bit and I’m hoping to spend a lot more of time over the next while helping get OpenFlux to a stable release and posting examples on my blog so others understand what’s possible.

The general difference between an OpenFlux component and the current Flex components is that the logic is separated in to a MVC architecture. This allows you to easily swap out one part of a component while keeping the functionality of the others. A List component goes a step further and separates the layout logic so you can easily invent new ways to layout your list items.

In this example I’ve created a cool (but possibly not too practical) OpenFlux List component that displays a deck of cards. Although it looks nothing like a standard List component, it is a List and has the same functionality that you would expect a List to have. For example, the cards are selectable and as you select multiple cards their suit/rank is displayed in a separate standard List.

To get the List working how I wanted all I had to do was use the Image component as my item renderer and create a custom layout class (which is now included with OpenFlux, called StackLayout). The StackLayout has gap and selectMode properties that you can play around with. Click the image below to try the working example.

You can checkout the latest OpenFlux source code, including code for the example, at the OpenFlux SVN webpage.

The conference is full of brilliant approachable people who are eager to swap knowledge. As an independent developer who works from home, I really enjoyed meeting others face-to-face. Talking to fellow developers about Flex is a lot more rewarding compared to forcing my fiancee to listen to my “cool” programming breakthroughs.

Back at home before the conference, many people asked if I was nervous about speaking. I responded with no (only half lying to them) and that I was more excited than anything. When I previously went to the Seattle conference I got to experience the community vibe and felt that everyone is just appreciative of the knowledge you have to share. Also, as Doug McCune has said, it’s ok to say you don’t know the answer to something because there is usually someone in the crowd who will gladly answer for you.

Also, I owe my left nut to the guy who let me borrow his Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter. Thanks so much dude! It would have been a fairly pointless session without it.

One of my favorite sessions was building your personal brand that Doug McCune and Juan Sanchez bravely took on in place of Jesse Warden. Although I give huge props to the two of them for being able to whip up a lot of useful tips (in only 20 minutes!), I really enjoyed the input from the crowd. I think this is where 360|Flex shines. Whether or not you are a speaker, everyone brings something to the table and everyone’s opinion helps take the discussion further than it would without them.

As the Atlanta conference was ending, I was already getting excited hearing about when/where the next conference will happen. I really hope Tom and John were able to step away from their lovely blue registration table for at least a few moments to see how well their conference turned out.

To all of the great people I met at 360|Flex Atlanta, please keep in touch and I hope we’ll be meeting up again at a future conference.

Download the Example Application

The majority of my presentation was me talking, but since no video is available I’m hoping the provided code is self-explanatory. I am also providing a link to my slides.

View/Download the Slides

Basically, the provided code contains a Flex application and PHP code to proxy PayPal API requests/responses. I tried to keep the amount of code to a minimum so that it’s easier to read and understand how it all works.

I ment to get this up sooner but a cold has kept me away from the computer. Enjoy

Photo by John Mason

I’ve received plenty of e-mails asking for advice and code examples on this topic. In response, I will be releasing a modified copy of the FlexStore sample app with a completed order screen using PayPal. At my presentation I will be giving a detailed step-by-step talk on how I got this working. Also, although I’m using PayPal in this example, the knowledge gained could be applied to using any secure payment API.

If you haven’t registered for 360Flex yet, be sure to do so quickly (really quickly actually, I’ve heard there’s only a few seats left). This will be my second time attending the conference and I can’t wait to get there! Also, don’t forgot to enter the API Contest for a chance to win some really great prizes.

See ya there and don’t forget to say hello

This isn’t really too interesting to me since it’s just for indexing static text. For me that means it would index my labels but not my real content from the database. Plus I keep my static text in separate language files so it wouldn’t even be indexing the correct SWF anyways.

I don’t think there will ever be a time where a crawler could actually run my flex app, screen scrap the dynamically loaded text, look for buttons to click and match up the deep linking url with the content. Honestly though, I don’t care. I have an html version of the content for browsers without flash, it’s optimized for search engines and since I didn’t have to think too hard about usability it took me only a half hour to build it.

Plus, most Flex apps that I have seen you wouldn’t even want to crawl (usually because the content is private). It’s not like a crawler sees AJAX content either.

If this “issue” was solved, the people who have been bitching about it wouldn’t even start developing with flash anyways. They will just find a new excuse, it’s time to leave them behind.

Anyways.. Happy Monday.

For those who don’t like reading, a quick summary of what I did is:

1. Create a search engine friendly HTML version of my content (home page, category/search results, ad full details)
2. Add a param that will toggle displaying the Google AdSense banner at the top of that content
3. Use the IFrame component to load the banner in an iframe
4. Reload the iframe as the user views different content
5. Have a beer!

You can see an example of this in use at www.shopcarro.com. (more…)

Please check it out and let me know what you think. (Good, bad, ugly). There are still a million more features I am planning to implement but I think I’m off to a good start. Also, this is my first large project using Adobe Flex so I am definitely interested in getting some tips from the Flex experts.