Project 2 – Flickr mod

As we have seen in class, many contemporary web sites, i.e. Google, Yahoo, del.icio.us, flickr, have opened their web applications to the general public for use in their own websites or web applications.  This is acheived through the provision of an API or application programming interface, that provides developers with access to the core methods without providing complete source code.  For the second project you will be building your own modification of a flickr application.  A working flickr app framework is provided for you to use as a starting point.  This simple application uses an input text box to gather user provided search string that is concatenated into a REST based, URL request for the retrieval of an XML data source that contains the critical information for a collection of images related to your search string.  The application then takes that XML data and creates new instances of a movieclip contained in the flash files library, which in turn loads images from the XML data.  After all the images clips are created a method is called to arrange the objects, either in a random or grid based ordering.

The objective for your modification is to reconceive both the input system and the arrangement system.  From this standpoint, there is no need to alter the underlying code framework.  Quite simply, a new method can be written to arrange the images in a different way and a different type of interactive interface can be created to change the tag variable.

Due in class 11/6/08

Download flickr app framework – Don’t forget you will need to apply for an API key

Graded technical objectives
-create a graphic interface for the procurement of user information (2 pts)
-properly modify the tag variable (2 pts)
-write a new method (or substantially alter an existing one) to rearrange the images (4 pts)
-properly integrate your method into the existing script (2 pts)