Flex Dock Menu: Custom icon navigation like Apple Dock Menu

Developed a simple Mac dock kind of navigation in flex.

It has two components, Main application & dock container component.

Hope you like it & love to get your comments :)

Main application code:

Now I am Adobe Certified Expert

Yes, now I am Adobe Certified Expert in Adobe Flex 3 with AIR (9A0-082).

Blackberry Playbook simulator installation by VMWare errors

I tried to install playbook simulator through VMWare player, but could not succeed.

I am getting the below error.

Any thoughts ?

Flex text mouse over tooltip dynamic for a part of text

Well, i had to develop custom functionality which has to give the mouse over tooltip on a part of text in a text field dynamically.

Could not find direct solution for this, but after my research got the solution.

Main application code:

Hide/Show the flex elements by id in action script 3

Hide/Show any flex element by ID in action script. Toggle any element in flex.

The below example gives the toggle of HBox on click of the label.

Here is the code to achieve the toggle functionality of any flex element in actionscript 3.

Have added the comments in the code to explain use of each element.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" creationComplete="init()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
//Add event listner to any element in flex to call the below function to hide/show the HBox by id

//Say on click of the lable call the handlerFunction.
public function handlerFunction(event:Event):void {
//get the id of the element by getting the data of the calling element event
var id:String = event.currentTarget.data.toString();
//get the handle of parent element. i.e. VBox in the below code
var parentVBox:VBox = event.currentTarget.parent as VBox;
//get the handle to the element by id
var hBoxtoShow:HBox = parentVBox.getChildByName(id) as HBox;
//code to toggle the HBox (hide/show)
if (hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout) {
hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout = false;
hBoxtoShow.visible = false;
} else {
hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout = true;
hBoxtoShow.visible = true;
}
}

public function init():void {
//add HBox id to the lable data. This is used for dynamic hide/show of multiple elements
labelID.data = "hideHBox";
labelID.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK , handlerFunction);
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:VBox id="mainVBox">

<mx:Label text="Click me" id="labelID"/>
<mx:HBox id="hideHBox">
<mx:Text text="Sample HBox filed to hide this on click of the label"/>
</mx:HBox>

</mx:VBox>
</mx:Application>


Google Motion Chart using XML datasource

Hide/Show any flex element by ID in action script. Toggle any element in flex.

The below example gives the toggle of HBox on click of the label.

Here is the code to achieve the toggle functionality of any flex element in actionscript 3.

Have added the comments in the code to explain use of each element.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" creationComplete="init()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
//Add event listner to any element in flex to call the below function to hide/show the HBox by id

//Say on click of the lable call the handlerFunction.
public function handlerFunction(event:Event):void {
//get the id of the element by getting the data of the calling element event
var id:String = event.currentTarget.data.toString();
//get the handle of parent element. i.e. VBox in the below code
var parentVBox:VBox = event.currentTarget.parent as VBox;
//get the handle to the element by id
var hBoxtoShow:HBox = parentVBox.getChildByName(id) as HBox;
//code to toggle the HBox (hide/show)
if (hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout) {
hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout = false;
hBoxtoShow.visible = false;
} else {
hBoxtoShow.includeInLayout = true;
hBoxtoShow.visible = true;
}
}

public function init():void {
//add HBox id to the lable data. This is used for dynamic hide/show of multiple elements
labelID.data = "hideHBox";
labelID.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK , handlerFunction);
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:VBox id="mainVBox">

<mx:Label text="Click me" id="labelID"/>
<mx:HBox id="hideHBox">
<mx:Text text="Sample HBox filed to hide this on click of the label"/>
</mx:HBox>

</mx:VBox>
</mx:Application>


Flex progress bar while loading the xml data using URLLoader

Show progress bar in flex while loading the xml data using URLLoader class.

For progress bar display, have a separate MXML component called LoadingBar

MXML Main Code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
xmlns:net="flash.net.*" layout="absolute" creationComplete="init()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[

import mx.managers.PopUpManager;
import mx.containers.TitleWindow;
import flash.geom.Point;
import mx.containers.HBox;
import mx.controls.Spacer;
import mx.containers.*;
import mx.controls.*;
public var loadingBar:LoadingBar;

public function init():void{
loadingBar=LoadingBar(PopUpManager.createPopUp( this, LoadingBar , true));
loadingBar.progressBar.source = urlLoader;
PopUpManager.centerPopUp(loadingBar);
urlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, xmlLoaded);

urlLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://localhostdatasource"));
}

private function xmlLoaded(event:Event):void {

PopUpManager.removePopUp(loadingBar);

}
]]>
</mx:Script>

<net:URLLoader id="urlLoader" />

</mx:Application>

MXML Loading Bar component code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:TitleWindow xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" title="Progress"
width="300" height="100" borderThicknessLeft="1" styleName="loadingStyle"
borderThicknessRight="1" borderThicknessBottom="1" borderThicknessTop="1" >

<mx:VBox width="100%" height="100%" verticalAlign="middle" horizontalAlign="center">
<mx:ProgressBar id="progressBar" label="Loading Data..." mode="event" labelPlacement="center" />
</mx:VBox>

</mx:TitleWindow>

The Flex Project looks like below image.

Flex & ActionScript 3 tips useful for code optimization & performance

There are many useful tips to optimize the flex & actionscript code.

The below site gives some of the tips to optimize flex code while developing.

ActionScript 3.0 and Flex optimization techniques and practices

Gauge in flex open source code by brightpointinc

I need to develop a dashboard application with the column/bar charts and Gauges.

I searched in google for Gauge chart, i could find Gauge charts by IBM Ilog Elixir which is licensed version.

I continued my searching for a free Gauge chart and at last i found Gauge chart by Brightpointinc which is an open source.

Its very easy to use and easily customizable.

You can find the sample and source code here -- http://www.brightpointinc.com/flexdemos/gauge_v04/gauge_v04.html

Wedget Stack Graph in Flex by AXIIS Open Source

http://www.axiis.org/

Wedge Stack Graph is a fantastic chart that can be easily customizable and its free.

Link to download the source code -- http://www.axiis.org/examples/WedgeStackChartExample.html

Flex Pie Chart using XML as data source

Pie Chart in flex using XML as dataprovider for piechart

The XML format should be as shown below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<items>
<item name="option1" number="2000" />
<item name="option2" number="9000" />
<item name="option3" number="5000" />
<item name="option4" number="7000" />
</items>

The Flex application code is shown below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute">
<mx:HTTPService id="dataRequest" url="" showBusyCursor="true" fault="dataRequestFaultHandler(event);" />
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
import mx.rpc.events.FaultEvent;
import mx.controls.Alert;
import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
public function initApp():void {
var timeStampForNocache:Date = new Date() ;
var urlAgent:String = "Your XML returing URL PATH & tim=" + timeStampForNocache.toString();
dataRequest.url = urlAgent;
dataRequest.send();
}
[Bindable]
private var stats:ArrayCollection;

private function dataRequestFaultHandler(event:FaultEvent):void {
Alert.show(event.fault.message);
}
]]> </mx:Script>
<mx:PieChart width="100%" height="100%" showDataTips="true" dataProvider="{dataRequest.lastResult.items.item}" id="myChart">
<mx:series>
<mx:PieSeries width="100%" height="100%" field="number" nameField="name" />
</mx:series>
</mx:PieChart>
<mx:Legend direction="horizontal" dataProvider="{myChart}"/>
</mx:Application>

The result would be like the below image.

Flex Column Chart using XML as source

Column Chart in flex using XML as dataprovider for column chart

The XML format should be as shown below.

<items>
<item>
<name> Test1 </name>
<number> 1000 </number>
</item>
<item>
<name> Test1 </name>
<number> 1000 </number>
</item>
<item>
<name> Test1 </name>
<number> 1000 </number>
</item>
<item>
<name> Test1 </name>
<number> 1000 </number>
</item>
</items>
The Flex application code is shown below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" creationComplete="initApp()">
<mx:HTTPService id="dataRequest" url="" showBusyCursor="true" result="dataRequestResultHandler(event);" fault="dataRequestFaultHandler(event);" />
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
import mx.rpc.events.FaultEvent;
import mx.controls.Alert;
import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
public function initApp():void {
var timeStampForNocache:Date = new Date() ;
var urlAgent:String = "Your XML returing URL PATH & tim=" + timeStampForNocache.toString();
dataRequest.url = urlAgent;
dataRequest.send();
}
[Bindable]
private var stats:ArrayCollection;
private function dataRequestResultHandler(event:ResultEvent):void {
stats = event.result.items.item;
}
private function dataRequestFaultHandler(event:FaultEvent):void {
Alert.show(event.fault.message);
}
]]> </mx:Script>
<mx:ColumnChart id="xmlChartBar" dataProvider="{stats}" showDataTips="true" width="500">
<mx:horizontalAxis>
<mx:CategoryAxis dataProvider="{stats}" categoryField="option"/>
</mx:horizontalAxis>
<mx:series>
<mx:ColumnSeries showDataEffect="fadeIn" xField="name" yField="number" displayName="Hits" />
</mx:series>
</mx:ColumnChart>
</mx:Application>

The result would be like the below image.