This Flash Forum article provides instructions and resources for producing customized graphing applets using the Macromedia Flash (either Flash MX 2004 or the more recent Flash 8) programming environment. After working through this material you will be able to build a fully customized Parametric/Polar Curve Grapher for your own webpage using your own instructions, your own color schemes and your own choice of functionality.

The compressed file param_graph.zip contains all templates and code referenced within the article, and the twenty page Parametric Curves Guide (param_guide.pdf) gives detailed instructions for some specific customization tasks. Within this article, there is a brief description of each of the templates including active versions of each to demonstrate its functionality. In addition, we list some of the specific customizations that are addressed within the Parametric Curves Guide.

The Flash 8 programming environment for Windows or Mac can be "borrowed" on a 30 day trial basis from macromedia.com.

The compressed file param_graph.zip contains all templates and code referenced within the article, and the twenty page Parametric Curve Guide ( param_guide.pdf ) gives detailed instructions for some specific customization tasks. You will find below a brief description of each of the templates including (if you click on the screen image) active versions of each to demonstrate its functionality. In addition, we list some of the specific customizations that are addressed within the Parametric Curve Guide.

The Flash 8 programming environment can be borrowed on a 30 day trial basis from macromedia.com.

Template 1

Template 1 consists of the Basic Template that provides basic functionality necessary for graphing and tracing parametric curves on the plane in either rectangular or polar coordinate systems. The source code for this template can be modified to

• change to location and size of the graphing board;
• change the colors of screen elements including background, border, axes, arrow cursor, error box, coordinate boxes, curves, and more; and
• enable/disable the ability for the user to draw on the graph as well as the color and thickness of the "pen".

Template 2

Template 2 consists of an advanced template which adds additional functionality including setting x and y ranges automatically and choosing between contrained and unconstrained scaling options.  The same customizations that are described for Template 1 can also be made to Template 2.

The following outline describes what can be accomplished by following the Parametric Curve Guide after downloading the source files to your machine with Flash MX 2004 or Flash 8 installed.

1. Getting started. Download and unzip the relevant files including the documented source code and the detailed pdf file with instructions for customization.
2. Description of the two templates. An overview of the structure of the two template files provided for customization.
3. Elements of the param_basic fla File. A tour of the objects on the param_basic template stage.
4. Modifying the Script: Changing Appearance. In this section, we show how to customize the appearance and the properties of the param_basic template through simple modifications of the script.
5. Modifying the Script: Resizing and Repositioning. Changing the size of the grapher is done through a modification of the script while corresponding changes to the elements of the stage must be done using the objects' properties.  This section discusses how to make these modifications in a consistent manner.
6. Modifying the Script: Changing Functionality. This short section gives two suggestions for changes to functonality along with a reference to Flash resource material for the first suggestion.  The second suggestion focuses on the functionality built into param_advanced, the second template included within the zip file.
7. The Description of Custom Classes.  This section gives a technical description of the seven custom classes contained within the package edu.uriship.math.parametric2d. The first four of these classes are identical to the classes in the article Flash Tools for Developers: Function Grapher that also appears in the DCR Flash Forum.

Download the 20-page param_guide.pdf (a 1.0 MB file) for detailed instructions for customizing the Parametric Curves applet.

Download param_graph.zip file (a 1.0 MB file) and unzip it in a folder on your computer. You will see a param_graph folder which contains all the files related to this article. You will be particularly interested in the following:

• The folder edu contains all the necessary ActionScript classes in a nested sequence of folders. Note that for Flash to be able to find the classes, the folder edu must reside in the same folder as the template you are working on.
• The three source files for the templates that will be discussed are param_basic.fla and param_advanced.fla.

Working right from the folder param_graph, you can open one of the three template .fla files in Flash MX 2004 Professional or Flash 8 Professional and begin customizing the template to your liking. Alternatively, if you prefer a clean working environment, you can copy the edu folder and the templates into a new folder.