Funny you should ask… I’m working on it now, and I’ve come to a fork in the road. One fork goes toward a Factory Method pattern and the other fork goes to a Strategy pattern. None of the algorithms are difficult to write as far as accessing external data; but with the Strategy pattern, I’m trying to figure out the best way to move text data from a ConcreteStrategy to the Context class so that it can be accessed by the Client and placed on the stage. The solution for the graphic aspect of it was very simple because a Loader object can be placed directly into a DisplayObject from a ConcreteStrategy class. Text, on the other hand, is a bit more slippery. Chandima worked out one way to do it with an XMLLoader I had created as part of another project, and I’m going to putz around with it for a while and see if I can use that technique or work out another that sets text in a TextField from the ConcreteStrategy. Otherwise, I may just use the Factory Method.

In any case, once the framework is set up, I’ll then have to work up all of the graphics for the class diagrams and the text for the different properties that the page has. (This all will be done with ActionScript 3.0 classes so that both Flash & Flex developers can use the same code.)

Once I get to the point where I can fit everything in, the rest of the work is just grunt work adding text to text files and the creating the graphics. It would be nice if some of the readers of this Blog wanted to join in and help out. It might be fun.

Kindest regards,
Bill