XML2Object (AS2)

Documentation / Download

Developed by sephiroth, one of the Flash gurus in the Flash community, XML2Object does what it’s name says. It converts an XML to an Object. Easily, I might add.

Pros:

• Allows you to access XML elements just like an object.

Example:
Transform the passed XML source into an XML readable Object.

import it.sephiroth.XML2Object;
var dataObj:XML = new XML ();
//
dataObj.ignoreWhite = true;
var sXML:String = "path/to/xml_file.xml";
function handleLoad (success:Boolean) {
	if (success) {
		_root.xmlObj = new XML2Object ().parseXML (dataObj);
	}
}
//
dataObj.onLoad = handleLoad;
//Load the data
dataObj.load (sXML);

Cons:

• It doesn’t detect a single item as an array. This is a problem if, for example, you load a gallery, and there’s only 1 item in the gallery. Your code will be built to entertain more than 1 item but it will not recognise a single item as an array.

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Bitmap Exporter (AS2/3)

Documentation | Download

There are alot of classes that utilises the ByteArray to export whatever that is in Flash to an image, but for AS2, this is pretty much the only available one. (Do let me know if there’s a better one.)
As mentioned earlier, the Bitmap Exporter allows you to export a movieclip from Flash with predefined width, height and quality settings.

Pros:

• Probably the only class that allows you to do this with AS2.

Cons:

• Utilises the server heavily.
• The exporting takes some time.

Transform Manager (AS2)

Documentation | Download

Ever wanted to create an application just like Photoshop? Well, maybe not exactly like Photoshop, but at least to allow your users to create their own customise their very own [insert brand object here].
The Transform Manager by Grant Skinner does the job perfectly. For me, the class makes rotating, scaling, moving and deleting objects very intuitive. However, usability experts might argue that users who are not used to Photoshop or any other image editing tools might find it a problem. Nevertheless, this is an awesome tool to have, and building on top of the class is possible as gskinner has graciously released the classes with the source code.
Like TweenMax, Grant’s documentation is awesome and is impossible to not understand.
Note: The link I posted above is to an older version that is free, the current and newer version costs $299. An AS3 version is also available but you will need to join the Club Greensock to get it.
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Sephiroth Color Picker Component (AS2)

Documentation/ Download : http://www.sephiroth.it/file_detail.php?id=147

This is a UI Component that was never added by Flash. Thanks to Sephiroth though, you now get a lightweight, Color Picker Component for free.

There are dozens of classes released by the great Flash community all the time, and it will be impossible to list them all in this one article, what I’ve listed here are the ones I find myself reusing or has benefited me greatly.
You’ll also realise that I have not added any Tweening engines to this article as I believe they deserve to have a list on their own. Also, the classes listed here are mainly AS2. I will be sharing a similar list for AS3 soon.
Please feel free to add in more classes or components that you believe should be in this list.