[worldKit-dev] AS3 / Flex Version?

Mon Aug 20 04:10:10 PDT 2007

Hi Bill

You've presented a pretty good case for moving towards AS3. I think it's a good idea to pursue a AS3.0 Branch, with the aim to make that the main branch in time. So anyone interested in helping, ask off list for svn commit access and I'll create that Branch. We can start creating tickets and roadmapping that change.

The guys behind ModestMaps are good friends, and they've done a great job. Their applications built on ModestMaps like Trulia Hindsight and Oakland Crimespotting are inspirational. 

They have a different approach from worldKit, as modestmaps is pretty much aimed only at Actionscript developers. worldKit, as you point out, has so far been developed as a standalone widget, configured primarily through XML and GeoRSS and somewhat through JS. Since worldKit was open sourced a couple years ago, there's increasing interest from developers (great!) and worldKit should aim to cater to a wide spectrum of users and developers.

On the licensing, I'd be interested to hear opinions on GPL and BSD. Is the GPL a hinderance? Would anyone be unhappy moving to BSD? When I first open sourced worldKit, I chose the GPL as a defensive measure, but at this point I think it's unlikely that major improvements to worldKit would disappear from the community if the licensing changed to something less restrictive.

Mikel

----- Original Message ----
From: William Thorp <bill3000 at hotmail.com>
To: Discussion of worldKit use and development <worldkit-dev at lists.brainoff.com>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 6:03:59 PM
Subject: Re: [worldKit-dev] AS3 / Flex Version?

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Hello all

Until now, I've gotten no feedback on the idea.  I had just begun porting the source to AS3 when I discovered ModestMaps has an AS3 port, and provided a quicker path to where I needed to go.  I'd be happy to share my trivial start at porting WorldKit -- mostly search-and-replace type stuff -- I believe I've left the source in a very broken mix between the AS2 API and AS3 syntax.  I haven't checked out http://osflash.org/projects/as3converter.

As for Flash vs. Flex vs. OpenLaszlo, I'd recommend straight AS3 code.  This is usable in Flash or Flex.  You can use the free Flex SDK with a text editor and compile this for free (beer).  Supposedly Flex compiler itself is MPL'ed, but take that with a grain of salt (free speech?).  I've never used OpenLaszlo.  I understand that it cannot compile AS3 code, merely its own LZX language.  This means you don't get to use the full AS3 feature set.  E4X and zlib support are terrific features in AS3; features I wouldn't want to give up.

To me, the big reason to port WorldKit to AS3 is to have code-level configuration abilities, not its holistic mapping functionality.  I need to do a good deal more than show a map + geoRss.  Flash 9 / Flex projects can load older Flash AS2 SWFs (it can load WorldKit as is), but they can't interact with older SWFs programmatically.  If WorldKit imagines itself to be configurable primarily through the XML configuration files -- and if this is mainly how it is intended to be used -- I don't see much use in porting it anywhere.

I have found myself more at home in the ModestMaps world: their BSD licensing and code-level configuration makes more sense for my projects.  ModestMaps is still very wet-behind-the-ears, but I can live with that.  My apologies if I sound like an advertisement, I have nothing to do with ModestMaps.  I guess I'm saying "I don't really need WorldKit anymore."  This admittion is perhaps telling -- Flex has some really nice UI features you can't get in Flash 8 -- if WorldKit waits for 95% Flash Player 9 adoption before they being porting, they might loose some of their developer audience.

- Bill Thorp

> Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:49:23 +0100
> From: IanMayo at freenet.co.uk
> To: worldkit-dev at lists.brainoff.com
> Subject: Re: [worldKit-dev] AS3 / Flex Version?
> 
> Hi all
> 
> a few weeks ago Bill Thorp polled for interest in porting worldKit to
> Flex/ActionScript 3.0 (copied below). "Updating" the software in this
> way matches my aspirations for furture use of worldKit.
> 
> Bill: did you have any positive feedback off-list?
> All (esp Mikel): I'm interested in any opinions regarding the pros
> and cons of this upgrade.
> 
> - Do members of the community look forward to adoption of Flex?
> - Are there any features/3rd party libs that couldn't be ported? (zoomify?)
> - Would in ease/complicate worldKit maintenance/adoption?
> 
> cheers,
> Ian.
> 
> 
> > Hello!
> > I was curious if anyone has tried to or successfully ported WorldKit to Flex
> > or ActionScript 3. If not, I was interested if anyone would like to help port it
> > to Flash 9 / AS3 with me.
> > - Bill Thorp
> _______________________________________________
> worldkit-dev mailing list
> worldkit-dev at lists.brainoff.com
> http://lists.brainoff.com/listinfo.cgi/worldkit-dev-brainoff.com

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