Google Search has an Ajax API that can be used to execute search directly from the browser to the Google servers without the need for intermediate server side code on your website. Executing a search from Flex or Flash reduces to invoking the Google Search api with the apikey, specifying the type of resultset size you want (full or compact) and parsing the JSON reply.
Sounds simple? We are not quite yet done though. You also need to build a display page for the results, provide navigation capabilities to go to the previous or next page or jump to any page. Invocating the Google Search API, building the clickable search results and the related navigation to more results can be componentized as in this Google Search Flex Component. Some of the nice features of this component are
No server side code
Supports 2 styles – “Compact” space saver and the “Full” style
Customizable Item renderers
AIR capable
It comes with full API documentation and examples so putting a Google Search on your Flex or Flash application is as easy as drag-drop. Since this is a pure Actionscript search with some minor MXML changes, you can make it work from Flex 4 as well. You can get the full specification sheet for this component and jump to the live demo page by clicking here.
Want to use this component just from HTML and not inside Flex or Flash? That works too! just try out the live demo below on this WordPress page…
There are a number of times we struggle to make the graphics in our website prefect. The iterative process usually involves creating the graphics in Photoshop, exporting them for web use, trial and then rework in Photoshop.
The Flex dynamic Image Processing Library reduces the number of iterations by letting you make some simple modifications directly in Flex using PixelBender filters. These capabilities include
Changing Brightness and Contrast
HSV changes – Hue, Saturation and Value
Sharpening Images
Applying effects like Sepia and Greyscale
Light effects – Spotlight and Point light
Tint Effects
The name “Image Processing Library” is really a misnomer because these effects work on any display object.
More than just correction, you can apply nice Special Light effects and Age effects to your display objects. Add a Point light to a Chart to make it more visually appealing. A Spotlight on an image in a portfolio makes it stand out from the crowd for your featured items.
With Web 2.0, you want to do more on one page so that users don’t have to jump from one page to another, especially in the world of Ajax where browser back button is usually broken unless you put in some custom code. One of the most important tools to try and keep users on one page is the tooltip.
A tooltip is a good alternative to provide more info or insight without the need to put additional images. It can also be a good preview tool so that users can use the preview to decide to “continue” or take a diversion to a full view of the enticing preview.
Flex has a built in tooltip that when uses is triggered on mouse over by default. The default Flex tooltip is completely text and very limited in its ability to be positioned relative to its master. The Flex Graphic Tooltip (aka Zoom control) allows usage of text, images and custom layouts. A custom “Zoomed” or detailed view of the item is launched on mouse over. The zoom view is an item renderer that you can customize for your needs. The data passed to the zoom renderer has many flexible set options.
Flex and Flash have many advantages over plain HTML. Interactive UI, fantastic 3D displays, animation and object oriented UI components to name a few. But, sometimes you wish that Flex had some of the extremely powerful capabilities of HTML as well…..like the HTML Form to upload files and data with no data extraction and upload code to write.
HTML form is very powerful. It can upload your files and data at one shot, easily, just by specifying a target url. The Flex Smart form bridges this gap is Flex. And, it does the job in style! Not only can you update Text Input and Rich Text editor data, but you can also combine
TextInput
TextArea
Rich Text Editor
Radio Button
Numeric Stepper
HSlider, VSlider
RadioButton
Checkbox
ColorPicker
ComboBox
DateChooser and DateField
This innovative component also supports multiple file uploads in Flex. If you ever thought uploading files in Flex was difficult then you will appreciate the upload capabilities of SmartForm that knits the data and file upload using a common key and makes uploading files and data as trivial as just specifying a url.
Some very strong capabilities of Smart Form Flex File upload are
Multiple file uploads
Reset capability that restores values to default/initial
