Open Source Dashboard Framwork for Flex
Author: Thomas Gonzalez
After spending the last two years building Flex based dashboard technologies primarily for our VFX Dashboard Platform we are ready to start contributing something to the community. In the past couple years building flex based dashboards for our clients we have streamlined the process to go from requirements to final solution. We have iterated over design patterns and frameworks, each time surprised at our ignorance from the iteration before as we found yet another nugget in Flex we were not leveraging.
At this point I am interested in creating an open source dashboard framework for Flex that accelerates the development time to build a rich, complex dashboard bridged across many data sources and highly interconnected and interactive. My goal is to create a framework powerful and compact enough to allow a new Flex developer to build a compelling solution purely in MXML. I am not sure if that goal is attainable, but I think it is one worthy shooting for.
Flex 3 has introduced many new features which we can take advantage of, both in the charting classes and the new OLAP classes. One of the biggest struggles is the repetitive, but client specific code we have to write that takes source data and mungesit into an appropriate format that we can chart from. I am interested in spending some time with the OLAP classes to see if we have some easier ways of transforming source data into usable charting data.
Initially I will probably just release some sample code, and depnending on the audience it gets over time potentially creating an open source project. Right now I am in a pure Proof of Concept state on putting together an appropriate set of samples that would sit outside, but work tightly with some of our more proprietary VFX platform code.
- Tom
Hi Tom. I am very interested in your idea about creating an open source dashboard framework. Do you have some sample code already implemented?
Hi Luben,
I have the pieces of a framework, but nothing ready for public consumption. Unlike sample code to solve a specific functional problem, a framework requires a bit more thought and foresight. This isn't something I have forgotten about, there have just been other competing priorities. I was also waiting to see if this is something that is wanted by the community.
Hi Tom. I'm working on the project right need a dashboard framework. If it does not exist - I can help.
We've met briefly at the 360|Flex last month at San Jose. You made an impressive presentation. Thanks,
Sasha
Hi Sasha,
The closest thing I have right now to a framework is the sample code I released at 360, which is not much :) As I mentioned in my talk I started to realize that a framework might not be the best way to go, versus a robust set of components.
- Tom