Flex 2 We’re Not in Kansas Anymore! or Welcome to Flex Theo Rushin Jr TeraTech, Inc.

Speaker Information  Windows-based Developer - Since ‘85  Senior ColdFusion MX Developer - Since ‘99  Technical Instructor - Since ‘85  Flash Developer - Since ’99  Flex Developer – Since ’05  Expert Snowboarder – Since ‘00

What is Flex? “Adobe Flex 2 is a powerful application development solution for creating and delivering cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs) within the enterprise and across the web.” David Gassner

What is Flex? (cont.)  It’s a programming framework  It’s an Eclipse based IDE  It’s a set of server-side data services

Why are we here WEB APPLICATIONS CLIENT/SERVER RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS MAINFRAME

What are the benefits? More functionality Less code Cleaner architecture Less development time Higher Productivity DEVELOPERS Dynamic data interface Less training and fewer errors More interaction Interfaces that Work USERS Less server load Less bandwidth More users served with same infrastructure Operational Efficiency IT OPERATIONS

Flex 2 Product Line Visual Layout Flex Builder 2 Code Hinting Debugging Skinning and Styling Flex SDK 2 Command-line Compiler & Debugger Flex Data Services 2 Message Service Data Management Service RPC Services MXML and ActionScript 3.0 Flex Framework and Class Library Flex Charting 2 Extensible Charting Components

What do I need?  Download the Flex Builder 2 Trial This includes;  Flex 2 SDK  Flash Player 9  Flex Builder Plug-in

What do I need? (cont.) Alternatives?  Download the FREE Flex 2 SDK  Download Eclipse or  Download the Flex Builder 2 Trial

Your Journey Begins Here!

Flex Builder 2 IDE Flex™ Builder™ 2 is an Eclipse™ based IDE for developing rich Internet applications (RIAs) with the Adobe Flex framework.

Programming Languages You use two languages to write Flex applications: MXML and ActionScript.

Programming Languages (cont.) MXML is an XML markup language that you use to lay out user-interface components. You also use MXML to declaratively define nonvisual aspects of an application, such as access to data sources on the server and data bindings between user-interface components and data sources on the server. MXML-defined applications are compiled into SWF files and rendered by the Adobe® Flash® Player 9

Programming Languages (cont.) ActionScript is an object-oriented procedural programming language, based on the ECMAScript (ECMA-262) edition 4 draft language specification.

Programming Languages (cont.) Developers can use ActionScript to implement custom behavior within their Flex applications. A declarative language like MXML is not appropriate for coding what you want to happen when the user clicks a button, for example. For that, you need to use a procedural language like ActionScript, which offers executable methods, various types of storage variables, and flow control such as conditionals and loops.

Layout, Constraints and Navigation The containers provided with the Flex framework let developers design complex, adaptive layouts with ease. Panel Canvas Hbox, Vbox Etc.

Layout, Constraints and Navigation Flex Builder features a constraint-based layout model that provides the control of absolute positioning while still retaining enough flexibility to respond smoothly to resizing.

Layout, Constraints and Navigation Flex features navigational containers that control user movement, among multiple children where the children are other containers. TabNavigator Accordian Etc.

Visual Controls User-interface components, such as Button, TextArea, and ComboBox controls allow you to quickly define a rich and engaging interface for you users. ButtonTextAreaComboBox Label Checkbox Etc.

Events User interaction with your application can generate events. You can "listen" for these events in your code by adding event listeners, sometimes referred to as event handlers. The Flex event model is based on the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Model.

Data-Driven Controls Several Flex controls can take input from a data provider, an object that contains data. DataGrid Tree HorizontalList Etc.

Server-side Communication … Flex 2 provides a new messaging infrastructure for building data-rich applications. There are three Flex features that are designed for moving data to and from applications: RPC services, the Data Management Service, and the Message Service.

Server-side Communication … RPC services Lets you create applications that make asynchronous requests to remote services that process the requests and then return data to your Flex application.

Server-side Communication … Data Management Services Lets you create applications that work with distributed data, and lets you manage large collections of data and nested data relationships, such as one-to-one and one-to- many relationships. Requires Flex Data Services

Server-side Communication Message Services lets you create applications that can send messages to and receive messages from other applications, including Flex applications and Java Message Service (JMS) applications. Requires Flex Data Services

Questions? me at

Flex Resources  Flex 2 product line  Flex 2 stencils for Microsoft Visio  Adobe Flex News ostRecent ostRecent  Flex.Org

Thoughts for today…  Learn  Share  Have FUN! Beware of the Flying Monkeys!