FusionCharts for Flex > Introduction > System Components

Before you actually get into the code and start creating your charts, let's quickly browse through the components that make up "FusionCharts for Flex".

What exactly is FusionCharts and how does it work?

FusionCharts is essentially a set of Adobe Flash (SWF) files that takes in XML data and renders charts plotted using that data, on client side. These charts can be viewed in any browser which has Flash Player installed. So, they can work on Windows, Macintosh or Linux.

How would I be able to load these charts in my Flex solution?

Just  place the "fusioncharts" folder containing the chart SWF files in the same folder as your MXML file. In case you keep the chart SWF files or "fusioncharts" folder in some other folder, you need to specify the path as well.

Would I need to learn XML or Flash to use this?

No - not at all! That's what our entire "FusionCharts for Flex" product is about. We have cleverly concealed all these technicalities, so that as a Flex developer, you can utilize your existing skills and would still be able to use FusionCharts to render animated charts in your solutions. You have NO need to learn anything new at all.

So, what does "FusionCharts for Flex" exactly consist of?

FusionCharts for Flex consists of the following elements:
  1. FusionCharts.swc- This file is the main interface between FusionCharts and Flex. This file is a custom component, which you can access through "Custom" group in "Components" window in Design Mode or by importing com.fusioncharts.components.* classes though coding.

    FusionCharts runs on ActionScript Virtual Machine-1 and Flex runs on ActionScript Virtual Machine-2. These two virtual machines do not work collaboratively. Hence, FusionCharts.swc comes into play. It communicates between FusionCharts objects and Flex. Moreover, this component also includes a FCChartData class that helps Flex developers to provide chart data through Array, XMLList and Model data-types.

  2. SWF Files for the charts that you want to create. Each chart has its own SWF file and gets loaded through FusionCharts custom component (FusionCharts.swc). You would NOT have to directly deal with these files, as they're loaded and rendered by FusionCharts.swc. All you need to do is to keep the copy of the SWF file of the chart that you need to create in some folder which FusionCharts custom component can access.