XLEFF - an XML Layout Engine For Flash
Launched: January 30, 2006
Welcome to the website dedicated to XLEFF, an XML Layout Engine For Flash whose current version (1.0) is released under an open source license.
XML layout engines are becoming the bread and butter of any graphical user interface. Why create XLEFF, an XML Layout Engine For Flash? What are the advantages? How does it compare with Adobe (formerly Macromedia) FLEX? This article answers these questions and several others.
The XLEFF Sampler is more than a typical sample application.
It serves the double purpose of providing an example of an application developed using XLEFF while, at the same time, it allows you to invoke XLEFF for dynamically generating the component-based layout described by the XML data that you input in its text field.
XLEFF version 1.0 is released open source under a "Berkeley-style" license. Here you can find the full text of the license, which is also included at the top of each ActionScript source file, and find out more about the reasons why this project was released under an open source license.
XLEFF's author envisioned three major phases of the XLEFF project: the current one, Genesis, and subsequently another two phases, Maturation and Explosion. This article exposes his vision and an estimate on this project's life cycle.
Object Orientation, patterns, reusability and component architectures are all cornerstones of the XLEFF design. Visit the links present in the right column of this page if you are looking for resources that may help you studying the many topics involved in the creation of XLEFF.
Recommended Book
Mastering
the Flash Component Architecture
by Antonio De Donatis
The Flash authoring environment comes with a hidden treasure.
Apart from the powerful components that can enable the development of Rich Internet Applications, it also includes the source code of the whole component architecture that you can use to learn how to customize the existing components and how to reuse its rich functionality, with the help of this essential book from the AdvancED series of friends of ED.
