I need help; please point me in the right direction.

I need to display a large XML file in a very specific visual format. The
smallest object has about 15 elements, and I need to display hundreds of these
in a continuous scroll. The user will view each object and will also enter
new data related to each object. If I were displaying the same data in a HTML
table, the 15 elements would be distributed in specific cells of a table with
9 rows and 7 columns with varying rowspans and column spans. Each elemlent in
each object has a variable length, so the visual display must calculate the
length of each element, determine the largest length, and display the object
accordingly - based on the longest element.

The list and datagrid components cannot do this. Macromedia's "Using
Components" guide states that lists have uniform row heights, every row must
have the same height, and lists don't measure text. I need to do all of these
I think, unless there is a creative alternative twist.

Any solutions/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
HC

My opinion is that you are heading for overpowering the Flash player trying
to manage all at once.

I might avoid it but if pushed consider a monitor approach that monitors the
scrolling and uploads and downloads data for viewing/editing.

Just my opinion, but curious to see what others may think.

--
Lon Hosford
www.lonhosford.com
May many happy bits flow your way!
[quoted text, click to view]
I need help; please point me in the right direction.

I need to display a large XML file in a very specific visual format. The
smallest object has about 15 elements, and I need to display hundreds of
these
in a continuous scroll. The user will view each object and will also
enter
new data related to each object. If I were displaying the same data in a
HTML
table, the 15 elements would be distributed in specific cells of a table
with
9 rows and 7 columns with varying rowspans and column spans. Each elemlent
in
each object has a variable length, so the visual display must calculate the
length of each element, determine the largest length, and display the object
accordingly - based on the longest element.

The list and datagrid components cannot do this. Macromedia's "Using
Components" guide states that lists have uniform row heights, every row must
have the same height, and lists don't measure text. I need to do all of
these
I think, unless there is a creative alternative twist.

Any solutions/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
HC

Thanks, Motion Maker,

I hear what you are saying, and need to restate the problem. The issue is not
the number of objects; the number of objects in view will be a user variable,
say 5, 10, or 20.

The issue is how to display even a few complex objects - 15 elements of
varying lengths - in a specific visual format of variable length. The length
is determined by the "longest" of the 15 elements. And these objects are
coming from an XML data structure.

Thanks, HC

Ok then the question is what is a complex object?

In Flash generally all AS addressable UI objects are at least shelled with a
MovieClip and then you go from there. They may have MovieClips and
TextFields nested inside and that are basically what you see with the Flash
UI components.

MovieClips have x,y properties and width and height (careful as invisible
items like a mask are included in these values) so you can offset one
against another dynamically in code.

You then come to the decision to make or buy or use the free ones.

Having made a few UI components (not integrated with Flash component
architecture) for clients, they to take time to develop. The advantage is
that they only include the needed functionality and can be more efficient
and are extensible.

However you might find combining some of the UI components from Flash and in
the Flash Exchange may meet your needs.

Flash Exchange:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?view=sn110
--
Lon Hosford
www.lonhosford.com
May many happy bits flow your way!
[quoted text, click to view]
Thanks, Motion Maker,

I hear what you are saying, and need to restate the problem. The issue is
not
the number of objects; the number of objects in view will be a user
variable,
say 5, 10, or 20.

The issue is how to display even a few complex objects - 15 elements of
varying lengths - in a specific visual format of variable length. The
length
is determined by the "longest" of the 15 elements. And these objects are
coming from an XML data structure.

Thanks, HC