Prompted by the discussion on the Linked-In group for EverythingXcelsius, I pulled together a few custom Flash animations that I embed into dashboards using the Image Component.

I use the load status property in my data connection to trigger the visibility of these animations so when data is loading you see the animation and when the connection is idle it disappears.

The original artwork and animations were pulled from this web site in case if you want the source files, though I made some tweaks so you can put this on a light or dark background. http://www.designswan.com/archives/18-flash-loading-animations.html

Hopefully this will save you a little bit of time when you need a looping animation to indicate to end users that data is loading.

Download SWF files for your dashboard

I have had some interesting discussions over the last few months about HTML 5, Flash, and Silverlight. Flash technology has become a catalyst mobile platforms to use against Apple to get market share.

Here are the facts about Flash:

1. Flash eats up a lot of system resources, and has gotten worse over the last 5 years.
2. Though I am not a Mac user, apparently Flash is a nightmare on a Mac.
3. Mobile devices that run Flash, do so primarily through bruit force thanks to the processing power of today’s latest mobile devices.
4. Flash support for mobile features will only get better as phones get faster and Adobe invests the resource to keep Flash alive and kicking.
5. Mobile devices will only get more powerful as vendors battle for market share which is good for Flash.

Flash is widely adopted thanks to video and vector motion graphics which HTML 5 will ultimately replace on the web.. This I have no doubt. I think people are underestimating the time that this will take primarily because the HTML 5 standard is still under development. Media and PR hype machines give visibility and escalate the importance of HTML 5 because it is the only open standard that all major software vendors agree on as the future of the web and how consumers will interact with it. It does not however speed up the process where HTML 5 reigns supreme and Flash dies, which is what I read and hear people regurgitate on a weekly basis. The stakes are higher than ever so all vendors with major skin in the game are fighting to ensure their technology is relevant. For Adobe, Flash is their only proprietary stake in the web Adobe will need to improve Flash.

As a technologist and software vendor I am left scratching my head because I have yet to see any indication how vendors will replace Flash in the areas of BI when it comes to rich internet applications and dashboards. A growing trend that I see is duplicate efforts to re-purpose Flash content as other on-device friendly formats. My feeling is that specialized applications like Xcelsius, which are widely accepted in the enterprise will continue to thrive, though as time moves forward if Flash does completely die on the internet it will be perceived as “old technology”. For now, we still continue to use Flash when it is the best possible tool for the job but it is important for any software developer or vendor to consider what the mobile implications are for building content in Flash will be.

I congratulate and thank Miguel Figueiredo for documenting and sharing his solution for converting Xcelsius dashboards for use on the iPad.
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/20589

As the gap decreases between consumer and enterprise technologies, it is a very exciting time for innovation. We are enthralled with ways to port xcelsius into new platforms specifically this cool workaround to make Xcelsius work on the iPad.

As developers continue to chip away at the closed system Apple established for developing and distributing iPhone/iPad apps, I still advise the following to my customers who are currently evaluating BI for mobile.

1. Evaluate technology designed specifically for iPhone/iPad like Roambi or SAP BOBJ explorer to name a few..
2. Look at the upcoming Android and RIM tablets that natively support Flash knowing that the device speeds and flash player will continue to improve.
3. Wait on Apple and Adobe to figure it out for using Flash-based solutions on iPhone and iPad
4. Alternative work arounds

It is these limitations for converting Flash to iPad/iPhone that drove me to these recommendations:

• No mobile optimization (performance, user experience, etc)
• No distribution method exists for converted dashboards
• No security
• No support from any of the included technology vendors for this conversion

There are workarounds for several of these limitations, but collectively they create a big question mark for our clients who want to re-use their existing Xcelsius investment.

What are your thoughts?

I have been eagerly awaiting the Samsung Galaxy tablet and Blackberry Playbook which both support Flash 10.1. Recently, I was watching a video of the Blackberry Playbook at the Adobe MAX keynote shown by RIM’s CEO.

As he shows off the Flash enabled content, he starts navigating through a few Xcelsius dashboards to my delight. So the answer is yes, it looks like Xcelsius may be here for use on these new wave of tablets that are hitting the market. I can’t wait to get my hands on them!

Scan forward to 2:45 to see Xcelsius on RIM’s upcoming Blackberry Playbook.