Latest snippets

[SWF(width = 800, height=700, frameRate=30, backgroundColor=0x000000)]
var canvas:BitmapData = new BitmapData(1000,800,false, 0x000000);
addChild(new Bitmap(canvas));

var coords:String ="";
var index:int = 0;
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop);
 
var s:Shape = new Shape();
with (s.graphics) beginFill(0xFFFFFF, 0.3), drawCircle(4,4,4)
var brush:BitmapData = new BitmapData(10,10, true, 0x00000000);
brush.draw(s);

var pnt:Point = new Point();
function onLoop(evt:Event):void {
     if (coords.length > 0){
		 for (var i:int = 0; i< 100;i++){
			 if (index < coords.length){
				 pnt.x+= 0.2;
				 pnt.y = parseInt(coords.substr(index,3), 32) / 2;
				 index+=3;
				 canvas.copyPixels(brush, brush.rect, pnt, null, null, true);
			 }else{
				break;
				removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop);
			 }
		 }
	 }
}

var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://search.twitter.com/search.atom");
var vars:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
vars.q = "as3, flash";
vars.rpp = "100";
vars.page = 1;
vars.lang = "en";
req.data = vars;
req.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
loader.load(req);
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);
function onLoaded(evt:Event):void{
	var searchData:XML = new XML(loader.data);
	var atom:Namespace = searchData.namespace("");
	default xml namespace = atom;
	var titles:String = "";
	for each(var entry:XML in searchData.entry){
		titles += entry.title.toString();
	}
	var index:int = 0;
	var words:Array = titles.split(" ");
	words.sort();
	for (var i:int = 0; i<words.length; i++){
		if (words[i].match(/RT|@|#|http/g).length == 0){
			var word:String = words[i].replace(/[W]/g, "");
			if (word.length > 1){
				coords += word + " ";
			}
		}
	}
}

This snippet does a twitter search and sorts the results alphabetically. It then reads through the results 3 characters at a time – each set of 3 characters is converted to base32 and then used a y coordinate on a plot.

In order for the swf to be worth looking at, I think I’d need to add an input field. I may do that later… but for now here are a few stills:

[SWF(width = 1000, height=800, frameRate=60)]

// if you don't have flex you'll need to embed this font in your library
[Embed(source="/Library/Fonts/Verdana.ttf", fontFamily="Verdana")]
var Verdana:Class;

var canvas:BitmapData = new BitmapData(1000,800,false, 0xFFFFFF);
addChild(new Bitmap(canvas));
var overlay:BitmapData = new BitmapData(1000,800,true, 0x01FFFFFF);
 

var txt:TextField = TextField(addChild(new TextField()));
with (txt){
	defaultTextFormat = new TextFormat("Verdana", 10);
	embedFonts = true;
	width = stage.stageWidth-20;
	height = stage.stageHeight-20;
	multiline = true;
	wordWrap = true;
	text ="";
	textColor = 0x444444;
	selectable = false;
	x = y = 10;
	text = "loading...";
}


var selectWords:Array = [];
var currFirstLetter:String="";
var prevFirstLetter:String="";
var index:int = 0;
var anchorX:Number = 0, anchorY:Number = 0, theta:Number, radius:Number;
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop);
function onLoop(evt:Event):void {
	 canvas.copyPixels(overlay, overlay.rect, new Point(0,0), null, null, true);
	 var leng:int = selectWords.length;
     if (leng > 0){
		 var word:String = selectWords[index % leng];
		 trace(word);
		 currFirstLetter = word.charAt(0);
		 if (currFirstLetter != prevFirstLetter){
			 anchorX = Math.random() * (stage.stageWidth - 200) + 100
			 anchorY = Math.random() * (stage.stageHeight - 200) + 100;
			 theta = Math.random() * Math.PI * 2;
			 radius = 50 + Math.random() * 100;
			 txt.textColor = [0,0xFFFFFF,0xCCCCCC,0x666666][int(Math.random()*4)];
		 }else{
			 txt.x = anchorX + radius * Math.cos(theta);
			 txt.y = anchorY + radius * Math.sin(theta);
			 theta += Math.random() * .1;
			 radius += 3;
			 txt.scaleX = txt.scaleY = 1 + Math.random();
			 if (int(Math.random()*30) == 1) txt.scaleX = txt.scaleY = 1 + Math.random()*10;
			 txt.rotation = theta / Math.PI * 180;
			 txt.text = word;
			 canvas.draw(txt, txt.transform.matrix);
		 }
		 prevFirstLetter = currFirstLetter;
		 index++;
	 }
}

var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://search.twitter.com/search.atom");
var vars:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
vars.q = "alphabet";
// results per page
vars.rpp = "100";
vars.page = 1;
vars.lang = "en";

req.data = vars;
req.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
loader.load(req);
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);									
function onLoaded(evt:Event):void{
	var searchData:XML = new XML(loader.data);
	var atom:Namespace = searchData.namespace("");
	default xml namespace = atom;
	var titles:String = "";
	for each(var entry:XML in searchData.entry){
		titles += entry.title.toString();
	}
	var index:int = 0;
	var words:Array = titles.split(" ");
	for (var i:int = 0; i<words.length; i++){
		// exclude a few things
		if (words[i].match(/RT|@|#|http/g).length == 0){
			selectWords[index++] = words[i].replace(/s|r|n|"/g, "");
		}
	}
	selectWords.sort();
	txt.text =""
        removeChild(txt);
}

This snippet draws a texture using a twitter search for the word “alphabet”. The results are arranged alphabetically and used to draw a texture.

Have a look at the swf: