When John and Tom called people out for being late with their slides, well, that was me. If you went to find the slides for the Degrafa presentation on your USB thumb drive they weren’t there. So, here they are.

It’s been nearly 5 months since we released Degrafa 3.1 Beta and we’re steadily moving towards a 1.0 release. Since 3.1 we’ve seen the number of people using Degrafa drastically increase with download numbers at over 18,000 and that doesn’t include people using the SVN. We get daily emails from people using the framework, great questions on the Degrafa Group and more people eager to contribute. It’s an exciting thing to see!

Great progress is being made on the framework, so we’re excited to have a presentation slot for Degrafa at 360|Flex, this time in Indianapolis. Things we hope to cover are: the current status of the framework, demoing some great apps that heavily use Degrafa, talking about future features and Degrafa 1.0, walking through code, as well as discussing some very interesting new developments that may be on the horizon. We also hope to address any questions regarding Flex Graphics/FXG and Degrafa.

So, if you’re interested in Degrafa, the session is on Monday the 18th at 1pm. See you at 360|Flex!

If you were at the Degrafa session at 360|Flex Atlanta, you already know this, but Degrafa Origin Beta 2 was officially unveiled. This release includes bug fixes, new features and performance improvements. These new additions were discussed during the presentation. So what’s included? Here’s a short rundown:

• Bug fixes and performance enhancements.
• Drawing can be directed to one or multiple DisplayObject’s that have a graphics object property and is no longer limited to Surface and GeometryGroup when using mxml. This is done through the graphicsTarget property which is a Degrafa collection of DisplayObject.
• You can also now compose geometry within geometry. For path, polygon and polyline, geometry is not the default property so you have to wrap the inner elements with a <geometry></geometry> tag.
• Specify ratios for gradients using different units, like inches, px, etc. using the ratioUnit property.
• Reuse compositions and shapes created in separate MXML files.
• Create objects reusing or overriding properties derived from other objects.
• Specify different color format types within one color property as opposed to separate properties. RGB, HEX, color key, CMYK all use this single property.
• Skinning with multiple skin states specified in one MXML file.
• New library base classes, starting with Polygon, others will soon follow as well as libraries to help get you started.
• And much more.

The documentation for these new features will be up shortly, as well as more samples and tutorials. In addition to this new release, we picked up a new team member, Sean Chatman, who created the Style Piece entry for the Degrafa Derby. He’ll be helping out with a number of things that I think will help people get up to speed more quickly with Degrafa and it’s capabilities. Sean will be doing things like creating tutorials, how-tos, and we’ll be expanding his “Degrafa Explorer” in a few different ways.ï¾ 

We got a lot of feedback at 360|Flex Atlanta and we’re taking that into account as we step back and evaluate the state of Degrafa right now before we begin to tackle the next version. A number of people had there own projects to show that had fully implemented Degrafa or extended upon it. Don’t forget, that if you’re using Degrafa, to please let us know so we can feature what you’ve done on the newly created Degrafa Showcase.

Some issues to keep in mind…

Source SVN access:

The source SVN is setup differently for beta 2. There will be 3 places you can get at the Degrafa code base:

Beta 1:

We have moved this to a new tag so that folks using it, can continue to do so with little trouble. The new location is “http://degrafa.googlecode.com/svn/tags/Origin Beta 1/ Degrafa” as opposed to “http://degrafa.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Degrafa”. If you wish to continue using the beta 1 version please update accordingly.

Beta 2:

The Degrafa beta 2 can be found at “svn/trunk/Degrafa”. With this version we will now be reactive as opposed to proactive with regards to bug fixes. No new features will be added and this can be considered a fairly safe zone to hook into. If you don’t plan to upgrade in the future, this release can also be found at “svn/tags/Origin Beta 2/Degrafa”.

Development:

The Degrafa live development branch will be made available so that you can get the new features as they become available. This allows you to see/use the most up to date code base, get your hands dirty, provide valued feed back etc. All Degrafa development will now work off this branch. Everything from experiments to prototypes to subtle changes.

Warning: This is a moving target. As we are still in beta this will be the most volatile svn access choice. However, the benefit is that you’ll be able to help us pave the way and mold Degrafa to your needs by providing input in real time. Of course nothing is stopping you from using one of the betas and being up to date with the new advancements at the same time.

This will be available soon and we will announce when it becomes available.

We feel that the transition vs reward from beta 1 to beta 2 is worth the effort; but we also realize that some organizations are using beta 1 for real products. This is to be weighed based on your judgment. The Degrafa team is always available to answer any questions, so feel free to integrate us into your decision process.

We are working on a Beta 1 – Beta 2 change log, which will be available soon as a wiki page on Google Code.

SWC files:

Refer to the downloads section for the file you wish to use. The beta 2 marked files will be updated as critical bugs are identified. Beta 1 files will remain unchanged.ï¾  If you downloaded a beta 2 SWC prior to this blog post date you should download the SWC again as there have been some other bug fixes.

If you were able to make it to 360|Flex Atlanta, swing by the EffectiveUI booth and grab a “limited edition” Degrafa shirt. It seems there’s been a lot of swag floating around at the conference, but the Degrafa shirts are a limited run of 200. Pick one up while you can and be sure to wear it to the Degrafa session on Wednesday. A big thanks to EffectiveUI and 360Conferences for sponsoring the shirts!

We mentioned your entries might come in handy for something (besides the Degrafa Derby) being announced soon. Well, that something is the 360|Flex API Contest and you can use your Degrafa Derby entry for the Community category of the API contest.

The prize to the winner of the 360|Flex contest gets a PlayStation 3, which means you could really clean up if you win both contests. There are also prizes for usage of the Ribbit and Ebay APIs. The official contest site for the 360|Flex API contest will be up soon.

Get more info about the 360|Flex API Contest