PDF support is just one thing I would like to see... :) Another feature I think would be quite useful is to support a reasonable number of configurable 3D primitives and be able to instantiate them via MXML utilizing a syntax such as:
<mx:Stage3D type="sphere" radius="12" horzDiv="16" vertDiv="16" etc ... /> This would automatically add these shapes to the Stage3D layer. Additionally, I could see using the Embed[] metadata to import a 3D model in say, OBJ format. I feel this would bring Flex more in sync with the recent features to version 11 of the Flash player. Additionally, a decent offering of widgets would give Powerpoint a run for it's money with respect to all the 3D presentation widgets it provides, conspicuously lacking in Flash (available only through Away3D, Papervision, and some voodoo magic - i.e. not for the faint of heart). On May 8, 2012, at 10:31 PM, "Guthmann, Scott" <sguthm...@on3solutions.com> wrote: > Welcome, Michael! > > The feature that you described sounds fantastic. I would love to see the > code. We are all volunteers and we each work on what we want to. Kudos to you > for telling us what you would like to see so nobody duplicates the effort. > What help do you need from us? > > Sent from my MOTOROLA ATRIX™ 2 on AT&T > > > -----Original message----- > From: Michael Montoya <montoyl...@gmail.com> > To: "flex-dev@incubator.apache.org" <flex-dev@incubator.apache.org> > Sent: Wed, May 9, 2012 02:07:25 GMT+00:00 > Subject: Flex PDF support > > Hello community, > > I'm a fellow JavaEE / Flex developer in NYC excited by the possibility of > having a hand in shaping the future of Flex. > > After looking through Vaadin's documentation in preparation to port my > company's current portfolio of Flex web apps, I got this sinking feeling as I > fessed up to myself - despite all the clamoring around me to the contrary - > that no amount of HTML5 can ever hope to replace the breadth, depth and > richness currently possible with Flex. > > I don't want Flex to go the way of the Dodo. So I have resolved to help keep > it relevant and help innovate any way I can. As a total noob to open source > collaboration, however, I'm still trying to get my footing and figure out how > best to contribute. > > One very general thought is that it would be wonderful if we could develop a > native means for viewing PDF documents in Flex. In my experience this has > been the Achille's heel of our Flex apps and has led to very kludgy > work-arounds using server-side Image Magick to convert the document to images > (lately we've been exploring swftools). This is less than ideal for all the > obvious reasons... I'm surprised Adobe never addressed this, but it would be > wonderful if we could. > > My other question/concern is this - while Adobe has ceded Flex to the > community, isn't Flex virtually useless without the Flash Player to run the > compiled bitecode? > > Am I the only troubled by the fact that Adobe has given us the keys to a > Ferrari with no engine. While I applaud their latest features as of Molehill > - particularly access to the GPU through AGAL, what's to stop them from > pulling the plug on Flash Player development altogether thereby rendering the > fruits of our labor utterly useless? > > While I can certainly envision new and exciting capabilities for Apache Flex, > doesn't true innovation require coordination with the Flash VM and hence, > player development - not to mention Actionscript? > > What little time is left over between work and family is very precious to me > and I hate to think that my efforts may be in vain. The current dependency to > Adobe makes me feel rather exposed. Anyone feel the same or can someone allay > my concerns? > > Sincerely, > Michael > > On May 8, 2012, at 9:25 PM, Alex Harui <aha...@adobe.com> wrote: > >> >> >> >> On 5/8/12 5:21 PM, "Justin Mclean" <jus...@classsoftware.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>>> I'm not familiar with any of these technologies. They don't allow for >>>> manual configuration? >>> Yes the environment variables can be set up so that's not a big issue. >>> Downloading the required extra bits would require an extra script (or target >>> in extra ant script) to do so. >>> >> Is that because you think the CI server will need to download the >> prerequisites more than once? >> >> -- >> Alex Harui >> Flex SDK Team >> Adobe Systems, Inc. >> http://blogs.adobe.com/aharui >>
