Adobe Flex 2

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Adobe Flex 2
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Adobe Flash The Basics

• Adobe / Macromedia merger finalized December
  2005
• Source file format
• .fla binary file
• timeline metaphor using graphic symbols and
  movieclips
• Output file format
• .swf binary file
• runs in Flash Player software
• SWF is an open file format
• Flash Player
• most widely installed software in the world
• installed on 97 of Internet-enabled desktops
• fast adoption rate (approximately 80 in 12
  months)
• runs on several devices

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A Brief History of Flash

• Flash 4 (June 1999)
• first implementation of scripting
• horrid slash notation
• Flash 5 (Aug 2000)
• ActionScript 1
• dot notation, prototype-based inheritance
• xml parsing done in ActionScript- very slow
• Flash MX (Mar 2002)
• ActionScript 2
• formal support for classes, interfaces, etc.
• xml parsing done in native player code (C)
• saved my thesis project

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ActionScript 1 Development restrictions

• Tied to the timeline

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Flash Player 9 and ActionScript 3

• Released June 2006
• Contains two VMs
• AVM 1 runs AS1 and AS2 for full backward
  compatibility
• AVM 2 written from the ground up runs AS3
• Core of the Flex Framework
• 100 ECMAScript 4 compliant
• Standard is still being written
• Flash Player Engineers are part of standard
  committee
• Similar to ActionScript 2, but..
• Much much faster (up to 10x)
• Just-in-time compiled to native machine code
• Powerful new features
• E4X syntax makes working with XML easy (XML is
  native type)
• Native Regular Expression support

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What is Flex?

• Presentation layer for enterprise apps
• Consists of
• Flex Framework 2
• Flex Builder 2
• Flex Data Services
• Flex Charting Components 2
• Flex Compiler
• ActionScript 3
• Flash Player 9

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Flex 2

• Term that encompasses all Flex-related
  technology
• Flex 2 Application
• Built with the Flex Framework 2
• Interface defined via MXML
• Client-side, deployed as Flash .swf
• Requires Flash Player 9 to view

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Flex Framework 2

• MXML (Macromedia XML)
• Declarative language to define User Interface
• Similar to XHTML
• User Interface Components
• Buttons, ComboBoxes, Layout Managers,
  Containers, Effects
• Class Libraries
• Validation Routines, Web Services, DataTypes,
  Formatters

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Flex Builder 2

• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
• Edit MXML
• Edit ActionScript
• Built on top of the Eclipse Platform
• Pluggable architecture for anything and
  everything

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Flex Data Services (FDS)

• The Next Generation of the original Flex 1.5
  Server
• Deploy .mxml files on webserver
• User requests .mxml file
• Server compiles to .swf and delivers back to
  user
• Publish / Subscribe messaging systems
• Real time multi-user applications

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Flex Charting Components 2

• Part of the Flex Framework 2, but technically a
  separate product
• Provides data visualization components
• Pie Charts, Bar Charts, Area Charts, etc.
• Made to integrate seamlessly with FDS
• Remotely synchronized data
• Shared dashboard

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Flex Compiler

• Free, command line compiler
• mxmlc
• Converts .mxml into ActionScript code
• Compiles ActionScript code to .swf
• compc
• Similar to mxmlc
• Used to create libraries
• .swc archives
• Similar to Java .jar files

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Flash Player 9

• Latest version of the Flash Player
• Features two virtual machines
• ActionScript 1, 2 VM
• ActionScript 3 VM
• Completely new underlying architecture
• Not compatible with ActionScript 1 or 2
• Just-in-time compiled (super fast)
• New rendering model based on Display List
• More intuitive, easier to work with

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MXML Basics Misc. Tags

• Data Connectivity
• HTTPService, RemoteObject, WebService, XML
• Validation
• EmailValidator, DateValidator, ZipCodeValidator
• Effects
• Zoom, Resize, Move, Fade
• Style
• Either inline or source set to external .css
• Script
• Either inline or source set to external .as

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MXML Basics Visual Tags

• Layout
• Canvas, Form, VBox, HBox, ControlBar
• Navigation
• Accordion, LinkBar, MenuBar, ViewStack
• Controls
• Button, CheckBox, ComboBox, DataGrid, TextInput,
  List, Label, Tree
• Charts
• BarChart, PieChart, LineChart