Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-10 Thread Christian Cantrell
On Apr 9, 2004, at 4:04 AM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:

>  The overhead will be addressed as soon as Flex supports runtime shared
>  libraries.  With this then the classes only have to be downloaded 
> once.  I
>  would say that RSL are critical to the success of Flex, but it's 
> really
>  strange they weren't made a high-enough priority to be included in 
> 1.0.  I'd
>  expect to see them in a 1.x or at least a 2.0 release.

BTW, runtime shared libraries are on the Flex Roadmap.  From the Flex 
Technology White Paper:

"In the core technology, Macromedia will continue to add features in 
the short and longer term. In the short term, users will benefit from 
features like runtime shared libraries, component templates, and 
additional themes..."

You can find the entire white paper here:

http://macromedia.com/go/flex_tech_wp

Christian
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RE: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-10 Thread Samuel R. Neff
Christian answered the underlying question better than I was able to...
preloader is easily customized via application tag attributes.  However, as
to reading AS...

Flex includes a bytecode decompiler.  I just realized it's not documented
and not set up but here's instructions.

 
Add the following code to your web.xml file:

   
 SWFViewerServlet
 SWF Viewer (Decompiler) Servlet
 flex.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet
 
 servlet.class
 flex.tools.SWFViewerServlet
 
   
   
    
  SWFViewerServlet
  /SWFViewer
    

Then you can decompile a SWF that resides on the server using a URL like
this:

http://127.0.0.1:8100/flex/SWFViewer?file=/tst/ShowVersion.swf

and it will give you output like this:



size='1x7500' compressed='true' >
  
  
  
  
  
    
    
  

  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    

RE: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-09 Thread Samuel R. Neff
Yes, I was probably too negative in my earlier post.  A Flex app will
generally save bandwidth when comparing the whole app to an equivalent HTML
app, but will be larger compared to the equivalent Flash app, and most
importantly, larger than necessary due to current lack of RSL or ability to
specify classes that will be available dynamically at run-time.  

Of course Flex is not made for "Hello World" apps and the 130kb startup size
stays at just 130 for a while even when you load up a bunch of components as
they reuse a lot of code.  In my experience a typical real-world Flex app
will be 200-400kb.

Sam

> -Original Message-
> From: Christian Cantrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 10:30 AM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!
> 
> On Apr 8, 2004, at 10:41 PM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:
> 
> >  The second run should be significantly faster, but still a 
> lot slower 
> > than a
> >  Flash "Hello World" app since every app will have the 
> 130kb of Flex 
> > base
> >  classes.
> 
> Small applications requiring little interaction can still 
> benefit from 
> the look and functionality that Flex provides, but as Sam points out, 
> they are going to be significantly larger than their Flash or HTML 
> equivalents.  Medium to large applications, however, which are more 
> interactive, start to benefit very quickly from a bandwidth 
> perspective 
> from the Flex application model.  It's not unusual for pages on sites 
> like Amazon or eBay to be anywhere from 60K to 90K in size, not 
> counting external assets like images, style sheets, scripts, etc.  It 
> only takes one or two clicks before you are actually saving 
> significant 
> amounts of bandwidth with Flex.
> 
> Christian
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Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-09 Thread Christian Cantrell
On Apr 8, 2004, at 10:41 PM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:

>  The second run should be significantly faster, but still a lot slower 
> than a
>  Flash "Hello World" app since every app will have the 130kb of Flex 
> base
>  classes.

Small applications requiring little interaction can still benefit from 
the look and functionality that Flex provides, but as Sam points out, 
they are going to be significantly larger than their Flash or HTML 
equivalents.  Medium to large applications, however, which are more 
interactive, start to benefit very quickly from a bandwidth perspective 
from the Flex application model.  It's not unusual for pages on sites 
like Amazon or eBay to be anywhere from 60K to 90K in size, not 
counting external assets like images, style sheets, scripts, etc.  It 
only takes one or two clicks before you are actually saving significant 
amounts of bandwidth with Flex.

Christian
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Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-09 Thread Christian Cantrell
On Apr 8, 2004, at 11:25 PM, Dick Applebaum wrote:

>  btw, is there a way to get rid of the "loading" message that appears
>  with the rendering of each FlexFlash page?

You can set the usePreloader attribute of the Application tag to false 
like this:


usePreloader="false">

You can also customize it using the "preloader" attribute.

Christian
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Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-09 Thread Dick Applebaum
On Apr 9, 2004, at 1:04 AM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:

>  I don't know of any way to get rid of the loading message.  If you 
> look at
>  the AS code generated by a Flex app, the loading thing is generated 
> by the
>  compiler on the _root timeline of the generated SWF.  It doesn't even 
> come
>  from one of the components (it is a component, but it's kicked off 
> from the
>  timeline).  Maybe there's an option somewhere though.
>
>

How do you look at the AS code generated by a Flex app?

TIA

Dick
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RE: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-09 Thread Samuel R. Neff
We're developing a set of commercial charting components for Flash and for
Flex--we actually demoed them last November at MAX.  Hence the familiarity.

I don't know of any way to get rid of the loading message.  If you look at
the AS code generated by a Flex app, the loading thing is generated by the
compiler on the _root timeline of the generated SWF.  It doesn't even come
from one of the components (it is a component, but it's kicked off from the
timeline).  Maybe there's an option somewhere though.

The overhead will be addressed as soon as Flex supports runtime shared
libraries.  With this then the classes only have to be downloaded once.  I
would say that RSL are critical to the success of Flex, but it's really
strange they weren't made a high-enough priority to be included in 1.0.  I'd
expect to see them in a 1.x or at least a 2.0 release.  

I also don't expect to see more than a handful of companies actually go into
production with Flex 1.0.  The price will keep it to only the largest
companies (my company excluded) and the expected development timelines are
for medium to long term projects.  How many people do you know would bet a
half million dollar project on a 1.0 product?  That's the price point you're
looking at for ROI over the purchase price of Flex (keeping in mind that
large products typically have more CPU's and $12,000 is just the starting
price).

Sam


Blog http://www.rewindlife.com
TeamMM http://www.macromedia.com/go/team 


> -Original Message-
> From: Dick Applebaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 11:25 PM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!
> 
> On Apr 8, 2004, at 7:41 PM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:
> 
> >  The second run should be significantly faster, but still a 
> lot slower 
> > than a
> >  Flash "Hello World" app since every app will have the 
> 130kb of Flex 
> > base
> >  classes.
> >
> >
> 
> Sam
> 
> You seem to have a lot of Flex experience.
> 
> Is this just a "Newness of Flex" thing?  I hope that as Flex matures 
> that repackaging (whatever) will reduce the default overhead of using 
> Flex.
> 
> btw, is there a way to get rid of the "loading" message that appears 
> with the rendering of each FlexFlash page?
> 
> New to Flex but trying to learn!
> 
> TIA
> 
> Dick
>
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Re: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-08 Thread Dick Applebaum
On Apr 8, 2004, at 7:41 PM, Samuel R. Neff wrote:

>  The second run should be significantly faster, but still a lot slower 
> than a
>  Flash "Hello World" app since every app will have the 130kb of Flex 
> base
>  classes.
>
>

Sam

You seem to have a lot of Flex experience.

Is this just a "Newness of Flex" thing?  I hope that as Flex matures 
that repackaging (whatever) will reduce the default overhead of using 
Flex.

btw, is there a way to get rid of the "loading" message that appears 
with the rendering of each FlexFlash page?

New to Flex but trying to learn!

TIA

Dick
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RE: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-08 Thread Samuel R. Neff
The first run requires compilation which is very slow.  A client is never
meant to see compilation (although I don't think it includes any pre-built
pre-compiler other than the off-line MXMLC).

The second run should be significantly faster, but still a lot slower than a
Flash "Hello World" app since every app will have the 130kb of Flex base
classes.

Sam


Blog http://www.rewindlife.com
TeamMM http://www.macromedia.com/go/team 


> -Original Message-
> From: Abraham Vionas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 3:22 PM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: ...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!
> 
> Actually, it's at least 30 seconds - and it just took over a 
> minute to load
> my first Flex "Hello World" application.
> 
> There's no way it's supposed to be like that. 
> 
>   _  
> 
> From: Abraham Vionas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 12:54 PM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: anyone have any ideas why I have 10-30 second Flex 
> load times?
> 
> It *is* the first run of the application, but it doesn't seem 
> to get any
> better - and we're talking about the sample applications. In 
> fact, they run
> quicker off the Macromedia site then they do locally on my 
> comp. Any ideas?
>
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...just took 60+ seconds to load "Hello World" in Flex!

2004-04-08 Thread Abraham Vionas
Actually, it's at least 30 seconds - and it just took over a minute to load
my first Flex "Hello World" application.

There's no way it's supposed to be like that. 

  _  

From: Abraham Vionas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 12:54 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: anyone have any ideas why I have 10-30 second Flex load times?

It *is* the first run of the application, but it doesn't seem to get any
better - and we're talking about the sample applications. In fact, they run
quicker off the Macromedia site then they do locally on my comp. Any ideas?

  _  

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