MXML for games?

[FlashImbecile]

I've been using Flex Builder 2 recently because I got it free as a student (And apparently now Flex 3)

I was wondering what alternatives there are to the Flash environment for arranging display objects. I don't exactly know what MXML is about, but it seems it might only be useful for Flex components which is a bit excessive for games.

If not MXML, then are there any free alternatives? What about Open Dialect?

Fank

[ColbyCheeze]

I have a good tutorial on my website about using Flex to build your projects...but NOT use MXML. I would suggest you try it out. I think MXML sucks but that's just my opinion.

http://cheezeworld.com/how-to-use-fl...only-projects/

[renderhjs]

as far as I understood mxml its rather a layout solution for 'programmers' that
a.) dont have the time
b.) are not so secure & strong enough
... willing to build and design own GUI elements.

I dont like it

[AfternoonDelite]

MXML is an easy, lazy way to lay out an application. You wouldn't get as much functionality as you would using ActionScript.

Flex, in all, is pretty nice, though. Especially with the student discount of free.

[rachil0]

I would describe MXML with many four letter words, but easy would not be one of them.

I've tried it for one application, I don't think it's a tool I'll be using again if I can avoid it. I would like it about 100% more if you could properly instantiate all the UIComponents inside your actionscript at runtime. I would also prefer that UIComponents and DisplayObjects played together nicely - in my app they always seem to be at each others throats, despite their common inheiritance structure.

[ColbyCheeze]

I have also done an application using MXML and it was really a nightmare. I won't be using it any more for sure.

[FlashImbecile]

Well what I am mostly looking for is just somewhere to embed all my pngs and such into swfs and to lay out any menus. Just looking at Swish, I can get Flash student edition for almost the same price at Amazon. I imagine it will be worth the investment, MXML sounds pretty horrific.

Thanks

[renderhjs]

or perhaps a used copy of flash,- but not essentially the newest one. Flash MX and FLash 8 are good releases

[iopred]

Wow, I must the only person with good things to say about Flex. I made a small Flex/AIR app in a day, and I found it to be terrific. Theres a few hurdles you have to jump, and a few things you need to pick up before you can get things going. But once that was all done I was firing on all cylinders.

That said, I would never make a game using Flex components, the overhead needed once you have all the classes imported is rather high, and you could use that performance for a lot of other things (including SimpleButton menus )

[rachil0]

Perhaps my problem is using it in ways that its not intended. I'm trying to make a custom canvas-like component that has drawing and geometry picking functionality like autocad, and numerous pop-ups that are non-modal. If you just need to modify internal state in response to the regular clickEvents / changeEvents thrown by the default set of UIComponents, it's probably a lot less of a headache. The problems I've been having are focus-grabbing issues and getting the components to change visual state in response to something other than user input. I think I would be happier if my solution was pure flash.

I will say that their "explorer" example in the SDK's "examples" directory is superb. It's a comprehensive review of all the UIcomponents available, has example .mxml source for instantiating each one, and example listeners in actionscript for the events they throw. Without it, I would have given up a long time ago. It takes about a half-hour to compile, but IMO it's a better reference than the online documentation at AS3LR because it shows you what an application looks like top to bottom.

It's probably a good idea to thumb through the explorer and see how well the existing UIComponents map to the widgets that you'd like your user interface to support. You might find things that you can work with.