OSFlash - Open Source Flash Development
Following up on the release of Adobe CS4 and the Flash 10 “Astro” beta, a great resource for Open Source developers is the OSFlash website, which hosts a large number of ongoing development projects. The site includes Flash IDE alternatives, such as the excellent online authoring environment built in Ajax at Antimatter that allows you to create Animated GIFs, SWF (Flash), SVG Animations, and other formats for free. The site is definitely worth a look at:
Ajax Animation:
http://antimatter15.110mb.com/ajaxanimator/build/
There are numerous projects involving command line tools, compilers, and format converters at OSFlash, as well as Eclipse plug-ins, ActionScript libraries, and frameworks for Flex, Flash, and ActionScript. To see the full list, including Flash applications and utilities, visit:
OSFlash:
http://osflash.org/open_source_flash_projects
One of the more interesting applications is SILEX, an Open Source Flash CMS which is described as a “mix between editing software and wiki software”. The software allows you to use a WYSIWYG editor to produce complete Flash websites for Flash 7,8, & 9 as well as rich internet and touch screen applications. It also has built in SEO features and multi-lingual support. If you are looking for a complete framework for developing new Flash sites, SILEX is definitely a good place to start.
SILEX Demo & Information:
SILEX User Guide:
http://silex-ria.org/#help/documentation/home
For video chat and video conferencing using Flash Media Server, there are two excellent plug-ins called FlashVid available at:
FlashVid:
These include Video Publish and Video Receive with streaming, volume control, bandwidth settings, user identification, and picture quality controls among other settings and configurations. An example of these plug-ins in action can be found at:
http://partyliveonline.com/
Animation Package is “an ActionScript library compatible to Flash Player 6 and above. It helps you to create powerful, maintainable animations and primitive shapes in an efficient and easy way, resulting in small file sizes.” The package is available in versions designed for Flash 6, 8, & 9 and can be downloaded at this site:
Animation Package:
http://www.alex-uhlmann.de/flash/animationpackage/
FlashDevelop is an ActionScript 2 & 3 library and development environment compatible with both Flash and Flex. It also supports Swfmill and Mtasc integration with tools for authoring, debugging, and documentation. More information on this project, with links to the Sourceforge files, can be found at:
FlashDevelop:
http://www.flashdevelop.org/community/viewtopic.php?t=23
Gaia is another Rich Internet Application framework which promises to reduce your authoring time for Flash websites to 10 minutes! It uses Agile methods to streamline development, automates repetitive tasks, and has built in libraries of animations, as well as SEO enhancements. The download page for Gaia is found at:
Gaia Flash Framework:
http://www.gaiaflashframework.com/downloads/update.html
The Gaia Wiki can be accessed at:
http://www.gaiaflashframework.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
While these examples represent only a fraction of the projects hosted at OSFlash, they are good examples of the advances and innovations in Open Source Software being made within the Flash & Flex development platforms. Check out OSFlash and bookmark it for future reference, and save yourself a lot of time and expense in Flash development by taking advantage of the many resources available in its archive.
For more information, visit:
http://osflash.org/