The Power of a Flex Component market

Posted on September 27, 2006 | 6 comments

There is true power in creating and extending Flex components.  As Flex progresses we’ll see more and more components.  The interesting thing is a lot of components are created for a specific need a developer has.  The slightly smaller set of components being made are ones that allow developers to create new components and applications more easily.

Creating components takes alot of engery and time, I know I have created a few myself which you can find by clicking on the components link up top.  There is alot of time spent making sure the code is solid as well as creating documentation and examples.  To be able to support the growth of good components there needs to be a commerical market for Flex components.

After reading some of Mike’s latest news on teotigraphix.com I am excited to see some progress in this area.  Currently Mike is offering two components, the CheckBoxTreeFX and the ResizeManagerFX.  The resize manager it self is crazy, check it out for your self with his component explorer appliaction.
To use it select one of the tabs on the right and then change the “clientOverlayAlpha” to 1 on the left.  You’ll see blue boxes around any of the components, the blue boxes allow you to resize the component.  There are animated effects on the resize and you custom overlay skins to just mention a few of the features.  This is really powerful and easy to use as all you have to do is add any child component that you want to resize into the ResizeManager.

Mike has also planned a RuleCanvas component, you can take a sneek peak at it here.

More and more components will become available for the Flex community that provide high quality experiences for the users and developers.

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  • http://www.darronschall.com darron

    I’ve also created a CheckedTree control and a CloseableTabNavigator:

    * CheckedTree: http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/archives/000241.cfm
    * ClosableTabNavigator: http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/archives/000244.cfm

    I’m hopefuly that I can provide source to these, or perhaps sell them, in the future.

    I think it’s just a matter of time until we start seeing more and more Flex 2 component companies. There’s seems to be a large market for this, especailly because a lot of Flex 2 developers are “new” to the game and anything that they can use to help them build apps faster /easier is a bonus.

  • http://www.darronschall.com darron

    Also, there seem to be a handful of (free) components over at http://www.flex-flex.net/blog from Jove.

    There’s another ResizeManager that behaves in a similar manner to Mike’s, available at: http://www.flex-flex.net/blog/article.asp?id=11

  • http://www.renaun.com Renaun Erickson

    darron,

    I agree totally.

    Of course there are more components at the Flex Exchange on Adobe.com too.

    Yes the ResizeManager from flex-flex.net provides Resize, but its not as extensive as ResizeManagerFX with the ability to skin, add effects, etc… But that is the whole point to create more and more unique components for everyone’s different needs.

  • http://www.bluemind.co.kr:8700/flex/blueone/bin Andy Kim

    Do you know BlueOne Components? It’s extended components for Flex 2…

    http://www.bluemind.co.kr:8700/flex/blueone/bin

  • http://www.renaun.com Renaun Erickson

    Andy,
    Thanks for the link to the Bluemind components, which is a nice example of basic extending of the existing Flex components.

  • http://www.flex2components.com Michale Schmalle

    Hi Darron,

    I offer quality and mission critical implementation with precise documentation.

    I also shy away from extending anything other than Container and UIComponent which guarantees rock solid code base.

    In the end, my components will only get more robust and deep, so it’s up to the user-client to decide if they want the free route or commercial.

    I have been around since Flash 5 – had the XHTMLTableRenderer on DevNet9 and know component dev like the back of my hand now. ;-)

    I Started component development in Flash MX, so to say that I have some experience under my belt as to ensure confidence in the client, I hope people will see that this is a great benefit.

    Basically, everything that I make I know inside and out. No stilts around anywhere. :)

    Peace, Mike

    PS Besides, I am aiming for UI framework components, not controls.