The Future of Feathers UI: Part 2 — Haxe and OpenFL

joshtynjala

Murray I'm pretty sure that Haxe and OpenFL already fully support 64-bit Android, and yes, the contributors seem to be able to meet new platform/app store requirements quickly.

Shaun_Max

joshtynjala I am sorry for asking this question, my understanding was that, we are using OpenFl in Haxe to create app right! The word is cross compiling, thats what is confusing to all! If there are any good video tutorials please do share, its a request to all who follows!

joshtynjala feathers is for OpenFl, which can be used in Haxe(in Typescript)

joshtynjala

Shaun_Max Are you asking me any questions in this message? I'm sorry, but I can't quite figure out if you are or not...

Shaun_Max

joshtynjala Actually I started to ask a question, but then pull out of it, sorry for that! 😛 The last line was just a confirmation what to expect from you for Feathers!

Dimensionscape

joshtynjala Ah, thanks for clarifying. I must have overlooked that detail. Fair enough, we are looking forward to it all the same. 🙂

matulk

Also as a Reminder, because I get the feeling many people do not seem to realise: Haxe (and OpenFL) can target SWF Byte code. So you can compile a regular AIR app with Haxe (and OpenFL). And this Haxe target is very very mature. Even performance will be (in many cases) better, than when you would have written your app in Actionscript3.

Actionscript3 got very old. Haxe is very similar but more modern and with much more features. So for all who remember and where disappointed about Actionscript NEXT: just use Haxe. It's pretty much what NEXT would have been (and more).

You can also use SWC libs directly in Haxe. Even ANEs can be used flawlessly and easily

I do not see any reason to not use Haxe when targeting even Air (besides not having the resources to learn the language and compiler) .

But it gets slightly off topic again 😉

denisgladkiy

Let's talk only about feathers here!

donricardo

Hi.
Most of the time I used RobotLegs with Starling (BTW thanks to Josh for robotlegs-framework-starling).
I would like to know if I can still use Robotlegs 1.X with Haxe and openFL?
Thanks

hugo

Just to be clear, I can write the UI components in XML like I do in MXML for Flex, even on the future Feathers UI for Haxe, correct ?

Or I'm wrong and I will need to write directly on code behind and there is no XML UI ?

My focus is Apps (not games).

joshtynjala

I plan to support something similar to MXML. It probably won't be available right away, though.

TeotiGraphix

joshtynjala I know you are doing this pretty solo but MXML is a major factor for how fast I can make things in my own apps.

Is this relating to their XML implementation like you want to extend it or create something new? I have done so much OS work and I still can't seem to get a handle on the whole Haxe tool-chain and it's compilers. This is probably just due to my stress level and the other things I am trying to fix atm.

hugo

Thank you.
I use MXML for UI on Flex.
Also now XAML on Xamarin (very similar to MXML).

I understand that is not an easy task and you need to concentrate first on the core features and XML UI it's on the top of that.
I will follow your project closely because I have very interested on this as a potential option in the future to port a Flex Desktop Application.

joshtynjala

Haxe has something called "macros" that allow you to write Haxe code that manipulates the generated output at compile time. I will probably create some kind of macro that can take an XML layout file and convert it into the equivalent Haxe class/function, similar to how mxmlc converts MXML to ActionScript.

hugo

@TeotiGraphix I'm with you.
For me, the reason I'm interested on Feathers UI only now, is the possibility to fill the gap with rich XML UI on Haxe/OpenFl and finally may have a viable alternative to Flex/AIR/MXML.

I know that this is not a port, but a new stack but would be similar to FlexAIR/MXML environment.

TeotiGraphix

@joshtynjala I know I said this on Facebook a couple months ago, but seriously, down the road IF YOU NEED HELP I want to help with this, please. 🙂

joshtynjala

TeotiGraphix I hear you loud and clear. I will probably take you up on that offer!

Right now, I need to focus on the Kickstarter, and getting basic things like the public repo set up. After that, I'll be able to catch my breath, take stock, and figure out where contributors like you can make the most impact.

TeotiGraphix

joshtynjala I hear you loud and clear. I will probably take you up on that offer!

Word big bird, you have my email. Don't be shy. 🙂

TeotiGraphix

For others, just to give a bit of context and I know I have said this before. I basically created the FalconJX transpiler as an alternative to the FalconJS code Adobe donated that was basically spaghetti prototype, to try and keep AS3 a viable language back in 2011-2013 compiling to js.

This experiment failed miserably for what I was trying to accomplish, we did get Hungry Heroes compiled and ruining in Web way back then, Renaun did. (Randori compiler)

https://github.com/RandoriAS/randori-compiler

Moral, I was going to start and create more "targets" for FalconJX, like Android and others. I then realized AS3 was a dead language because of the byte code crap and Adobe.

Anyway, this is bringing back feelings I had back then, I spent over 1000 hours on those compilers for free, just to try and do what I was saying above, and it was a total waste of time.

I am hoping maybe it really wasn't(for my experience) but time will tell.

joshtynjala

TeotiGraphix Anyway, this is bringing back feelings I had back then, I spent over 1000 hours on those compilers for free, just to try and do what I was saying above, and it was a total waste of time.

The first time I had ever tried touching the code of a compiler was by adding improvements to the JS emitters in the Royale/FlexJS compiler. I learned a lot from reading your code. It eventually led me into lower level modules of the compiler. Now, other Royale contributors occasionally pay me to make improvements to the compiler.

Additionally, my understanding of the internal workings of the compiler led me to create the AS3 & MXML VSCode extension, which has over 20K unique installs, according to the VSCode Marketplace.

Getting something like MXML working in Feathers UI for Haxe/OpenFL should benefit greatly from my experience with compilers earned by working on these projects.

So, let me just say thanks for all of your hard work! It may not have gone in the direction that you wanted, but there were still benefits in other ways.

joshtynjala

To add further context, when @TeotiGraphix mentions FalconJX, he is talking about the part of the Apache Royale compiler that generates JavaScript.

TeotiGraphix

joshtynjala Yup and basically I donated the code back to Apache that I worked on from the Randori project.

So I started IN Apache, then I forked the compiler, then developed the Randori compiler and ExternC compiler, SWC Bundel libraries, then merged that code back into the Apache Royale transpiler(before it was called Royale used to be FlexJS/FalconJX) that I started originally, crazy I know.

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