Christopher Huyler’s Flex Blog

The goal of this project was to provide a way for regional and district sales managers to optimize allocation of their budgets and organize shipping destinations for product samples and vouchers.  The Flex AdvancedDataGrid was used as a starting point and custom item and header renderers were used to duplicate the look and feel of the company’s previous excel spreadsheet.  Complex validation rules ensured that managers adhered to strict rules about allocation percentages.

Updating shipping values in the Resource Advisor

For this project, I utilized LeapFrogRx’s existing charting API to retrieve time-based CSV data.  I created a configuration panel that allowed the user to choose what data was used for the x-axis, y-axis, bubble size, and bubble color.  Once configured, the user can click “play” to animate the data points over a given timeline.

For this project I was tasked with displaying up to 1,000,000 physicians on a map.  I chose to use the Google Maps API.  To combat performance issues, we clustered results and created a server API that allowed us to filter data based on a latitude/longitude view port.  The map project also utilized a custom JavaScript API to recieve events from other portlets on the page.

This project was originally out-sourced to a consulting form prior to my employment at LeapFrogRx.  I joined after most of the architectural decisions had been made and the project was already 6 months behind schedule.  As a result, the application is a mixture of pure ActionScript and Flex due to the consulting firm’s relative inexperience working in Flex.  Although the project has its flaws, it gave me the opportunity to gain experience working in a pure ActionScript environment.  Line, Pie, and Bar charts were written completely in ActionScript using Flash fla assets while Data Grids and Tree Map charts were written in Flex and loaded at runtime as modules.

The business logic interprets raw CSV (comma-separated values) data in combination with meta data to display a series of charts.  Features such as printing and power point export were painstakingly implemented despite the mixed architecture and redraw issues.  The data for the charts is completely dynamic so careful attention was paid to word wrapping, font sizes, and column widths to ensure proper display of any data provided.

This project involved utilizing the Adobe Flex and the ILOG Elixir API to display survey results on a map of the United States.  Physicians filled out a survey listing other physicians they contact for consultations.  The survey results were compiled so we could display influences on the map by drawing lines between physicians who nominated one another.  Results could be filtered based on influence type and geography allowing pharmaceutical sales representatives to target specific doctors in their region.  Details about a doctor could be displayed including street address rendered using the Google Maps API.

Curved lines link physicians on a map.

Displaying details about a physician.

Matchmine Partner Prototyping Framework, October 2008

Utilizing the capabilities of the partner user experience framework (see below), designed and implemented a configurable prototype to be used by our Client Services team to demonstrate our technology to prospective partners.  Used PHP to simulate a basic user database while implementing the necessary partner APIs for our software to function.  Utilized partner’s CSS in the construction of component templates.

Matchmine Partner User Experience Framework, July 2008

Designed and implemented a collection of JavaScript widgets for use on Matchmine partner sites.  Following specifications from project management, made each widget customizable with the use of DHTML templates and CSS.  Created event driven controller for managing the state of all widgets as well as handling user interactions.  Some of the compnents included a discovery widget for displaying results from Matchmine servers, custom configurable popups for use throughout the framework, and a tabbed matchkey training widget (shown below) which could contain additional components within its tabs.  Managed results caching and state persistence with Flash shared objects and handled cross-domain communication through an embedded Flex plugin.

MatchKey.com, April 2008

Assisted designers with PHP implementation of MatchKey.com, a site MatchKey users can use to find new partners, improve their recommendation quality, and change profile options.  Implemented PHP communication layer to matchmine servers with NuSOAP.  Assisted contractor with OpenID authentication using PHP.  Added Omniture site statistical tracking.  Embedded Flash and Flex widgets into site for a more rich experience.

Matchmine KeyForge, January 2008

Implemented an Adobe Flex interface for building user MatchKeys on partner websites.  Utilized the drawing API where appropriate to customize buttons and widgets.  Validated user input and formulated WebService requests to matchmine servers and parsed XML results.  Communicated with embedded JavaScript through the use of Flash External Interface. Made all colors and styles configurable via single XML file so UI could fit with partner website theme.

CA Threat Manager r12, January 2006

Conceived, designed and developed an enterprise management user interface for Threat Manager r12 using Adobe Flex, ActionScript, and MXML. Integrated with .NET back-end Web Services using Cairngorm MVCS Framework and communicated using custom XML data objects. Coordinated with graphics designer to develop unique look and feel to application components and icons using CSS skins. Developed custom components and classes to be used throughout application by a team of 8-12 developers. Documented best-practice techniques in Flex for new team members and other CA groups starting out with Flex.

CA eTrust Integrated Threat Manager r8.1, May 2004

Designed, developed, and implemented a new installer for eTrust ITM 8.1 on non-windows platforms using a proprietary installer engine, java swing, shell scripts, and C++ configuration programs.

Also participated in development of a web based client user interface. C++ server pages were used to generate HTML, JavaScript, and CSS web pages. Fixed display issues on Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer browsers and updated resulting HTML to support multiple languages.

CA eTrust Antivirus 7.1, January 2003

Participated in porting Windows native eTrust Antivirus user interface to Java Swing for use on Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and Mac OS X. Developed constraints-based layouts to accommodate localization efforts. Implemented Mac-Specific components such as a Java wrapper to place menus at the top of the screen and a Objective-C Preference Panel to configure advanced settings for the product. Also worked on Windows remote procedure call (RPC) emulation in C++ to allow communication between various platforms.

Town of Foxborough Website, November 2002

Created initial site design for town of Foxborough website. This was a volunteer project and unfortunately none of my work was actually used due to lack of interest.

Bird Middle School Website, September 2002

Designed, developed, and implemented a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) based website for the Bird Middle School in Walpole on a volunteer basis. Attended meetings with principal, teachers, and IT staff at the school to create a set of specifications for the site. Worked with teachers to create content (photos of children, artwork, and events) and developed a PHP/MySQL database to store information. Developed a simple web-based user interface for teachers and staff to add additional content and upload the monthly newsletter.

Envirotest Laboratories Website, July 2002

Designed, developed, and implemented a primarily static HTML website for Sam Cohen at Envirotest Laboratories. Used content from brochures and pamphlets to create informational pages for visitors. Designed graphics for the site using Photoshop. Added an administration component for Sam to add additional content using Apache mod_perl.