Flex Guru

Flash & Flex Magazines

2009-09-17T21:09:00.000+05:30

Flash & Flex Magazines

6 Issues + bonus and sources| RS & ES links

Lynda.com Flex 3 New Features

2009-05-16T23:26:00.001+05:30

Lynda.com Flex 3 New Features

In Flex 3 New Features, instructor David Gassner takes viewers through each new feature of the application. He goes over installing Flex 3 on Windows and Mac OSX, explores changes in the interface, teaches how to integrate Flex applications with javascript, demonstrates the new Design View and Source View capabilities, and much more.

Lynda.com Flex 3 Essential Training

2009-05-16T23:21:00.000+05:30

Lynda.com Flex 3 Essential Training

Application developers who want to create cross-platform, data-centric applications need the power of Flex 3. In Flex 3 Essential Training, Adobe Certified Instructor David Gassner starts with the basics of understanding Flex, its projects, and its related programming languages. He explores the intricacies of the development platform and the Flex Builder 3 integrated development environment, then gives in-depth, hands-on tutorials on creating, designing, customizing, and publishing dynamic web and desktop applications in Flex 3. Exercise files accompany the course.

Flex 3 A Beginners Guide

2009-05-16T23:13:00.001+05:30

This book walks the reader through all of the steps that a beginning user must tackle, including
which software to install, how to install it, and how to start writing code. It's assumed that the
reader has some knowledge of how the web works and has worked with plain old HTML. The
differences between using Flex, HTML, and Ajax are dissected in easy-to-understand terms.
All the major starting points of developing RIAs in Flex are covered, including a
detailed description of the ActionScript programming language that forms the basis for
Flex applications. The Flex framework, which speeds application development time, is
discussed after you've learned about the Flex architecture and supporting languages. Each
step of the way is written to make sometimes complex concepts easy to understand.
Because Flex excels at working with media assets such as video and sound combined
with dynamic data to create a rich Web 2.0 experience, the book introduces the necessary
concepts to create these applications. Those concepts include working with sounds and
video as well as working with dynamic data sources such as an RSS feed. With a solid
starting point, the options for creating Flex applications are endless.
Finally, practical advice is provided to help debug and publish applications once youre
cranking out applications that youre ready to share with your friends and colleagues.

The source code for examples in the book is downloadable on the web from www.
mhprofessional.com. Any example of more than a few lines should be downloaded from
the source code to reduce the time required to type in the code and to avoid any errors from
typing in the code.
The source code and related media assets are split out by chapter number. For code
segments that have a heading with a listing number, the code is placed in a file called
Listing_

. ActionScript files are named the same as
the examples class name, since Flex requires the filename to match the class definition.
MXML code listings that are not large enough to warrant their being referred as a listing
in the text are named Example_, where description
provides guidance on which example is being reference in the text. Any media assets are
also named the same as their references in the text.
In general, MXML examples can be run in the same project as other examples from
the text. The ActionScript files that demonstrate importing sounds and SWF media assets
should be created as ActionScript projects for each example. Flex Builder automatically
places some default code when creating a new MXML or ActionScript file, but it's okay
to overwrite this default code with the source from the files provided with the book.

16 Fresh Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers

2009-05-06T21:53:00.000+05:30

With the ease of development & multi-platform support, Adobe AIR is a getting-popular choice for creating desktop applications. There are many beautiful applications built with it including the ones that are functional for the designer & developer community.
Months ago, a post published at WRD was sharing 27 Adobe AIR Applications - Handy For Web Designers. Since then, there are various great applications created.
And here they are, 16 Fresh Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers:

ImageSizer

ImageSizer is a batch image processor tool which can resize, optimize and rename multiple JPG files.
Once the images are processes, they can be exported as a single .zip file.

JustResizeIt!

A batch image resizer that works with drag’n drops. It enables users to define different presets in advance & creates resized images instantly.
The application is great for anyone sending photos with e-mails, requires batch resizing & more.

Xe-IMG Editor

It supports multiple image types, image-from-URLs & SWF files as images to be edited.
With various effects like: zoom, image mask, sharpening, enhancing, embossing & more Xe-IMG Editor is a handy free desktop image editor.
Read the rest of this entry »

3D Album Component For Flex (PicLens-Like)

2008-09-12T22:49:00.001+05:30

This is an open source 3D album component for Flex which is similar to the Cooliris’s (formerly PicLens) attractive interface.
The component is inspired from the 3D album tutorial of Bartek Drozdz.

The download package includes examples besides the source code for easier developing.

Website: http://www.marcusschiesser.de/?p=67

Wrox.Professional.Adobe.Flex.2.eBook

2008-06-13T10:10:00.001+05:30

TITLE : Professional Adobe Flex 2 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
AUTHOR : by Rich Tretola (Author), Simon Barber (Author), Renaun Erickson (Author)
PUBLISHER : Wrox publisher
ISBN : 0470102675
EDITION : 1st
PUB DATE : May 29, 2007
LANGUAGE : English
FORMAT : CHM
SIZE : 06 x 2.88 MB

Wrox's Professional Flex 2 is one of the first guides to Adobe's
(Macromedia's) new web application development platform. Flex experts
Simon Barber, Rich Tretola and John Bennett share their experience with
Flex 2, and teach readers how to leverage the platform to build rich
internet applications. Professional Flex 2 relies heavy on practical
examples, making this a hands-on guide that will get readers up and
running with Flex 2 quickly. Topics include:

- Building applications with Flex Builder
- Flex programming model
- Using Actionscript 3.0
- Developing applications in MXML
- Creating UIs with Flex controls and containers
- Data access and interconnectivity
- Creating custom flex components
- Charting
- Testing, debugging and deploying Flex applications
- and more. Source code and online support at Wrox.com.

Download (16.72 Mb):

CODE

http://rapidshare.com/files/45507289/Wrox.Professional.Adobe.Flex.2.May.2007.rar
or
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2T8P2G5U

Simple Flex Tutorial

2008-06-09T22:40:00.000+05:30

I've been learning Flex for a presentation at my local CFUG, and I'm actually quite impressed with how much you can do with so little code.

However, most of the Flex tutorials I have found are very long and over simplified, so I've created a simple blog reader in 23 lines of MXML code to use as a tutorial. Here's what our Flex Application will look like:

How does the example work?

When you click the Load Blog Entries button my RSS feed entries are loaded into the datagrid. When you click on a row in the datagrid the corresponding entry is loaded into the text area.

Step 1 - XML and Application declaration

Start your XML file with a XML declaration, and an mx:Application tag:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2003/mxml">

Step 2 - Define your HTTPService

Our first step is to define the HTTPService that we will use to connect to my RSS feed. We will give an id of httpRSS so we can refer back to it.

<mx:HTTPService id="httpRSS" url="http://www.petefreitag.com/rss/" resultFormat="object" />

Step 3 - Enclose your controls within a panel

A panel is simply a container to put controls (the DataGrid, TextArea, and Button) into. We are going to set some attributes on the panel as well, it should be pretty easy to figure out what they mean:

<mx:Panel id="reader" title="Pete Freitag's Blog Reader" width="500">

Step 4 - Define your DataGrid

We are using the DataGrid component to display the list of blog entries in my RSS feed, along with their date.

This step is probably the most complicated step because we have to bind our RSS xml data to the datagrid, and define an event handler when the rows are clicked.

In the attributes of the DataGrid we are using dynamic variables or expressions denoted by the curly braces {variable}.

<mx:DataGrid id="entries" width="{reader.width-15}" dataProvider="
{httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item}" cellPress="
{body.htmlText=httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item[entries.selectedIndex].description}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:Array>
<mx:DataGridColumn columnName="title" headerText="Title" />
<mx:DataGridColumn columnName="pubDate" headerText="Date" />
</mx:Array>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>

Ok so there is a lot going on there, first so I'll break it down a bit:

width

We are setting the width dynamically based on the size of its parent panel reader, specifically we set it to be 15 pixels narrower than its panel.

dataProvider

In the dataProvider attribute we are binding the data for this grid to the result of our HTTPService named httpRSS. More specifically we want to bind each item tag in our XML file to a row in the datagrid. Since the item tags are inside the rss and channel tags we refer to it the array of items as httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item.

cellPress

Next we want to create an event handler that will display the contents of the description tag inside the item that is clicked on. Using the variable entries.selectedIndex we know which item was clicked on, and we can refer to the description (the entry body) of that item as: httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item[entries.selectedIndex].description.

Now we just need to set the value of our TextArea which we will define in the next step to the rss item description, so we simply assign that value to the htmlText property of the TextArea (whose name will be body).

columns

Now we need to define which columns we are to display in the datagrid. The columnName must match the tag name that we want it to correspond to.

Step 5 - Define the TextArea

Use the mx:TextArea tag to define the text area where the entry body will go:

<mx:TextArea id="body" editable="false" width="{reader.width-15}" height="300" />

Step 6 - Create a Button

Our last control to define is a Button which will simply tell the HTTPService to make the request.

<mx:Button label="Load Blog Entries" click="{httpRSS.send()}" />

In the click event handler we call the send() method on our HTTPService object.

Step 7 - Close Panel and Application

Simply close some tags, and your done!

</mx:Panel>  </mx:Application>

One Caveat

Flex 1.5 uses a proxy to invoke HTTPService calls, and other remote service calls, and for security reasons the proxy will block the HTTP call. You add the RSS feed url (or simply http://*) to the proxy whitelist in your flex-config.xml. See this KB article for more info.

Complete MXML source code:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2003/mxml">
<mx:HTTPService id="httpRSS" url="http://www.petefreitag.com/rss/" resultFormat="object" />
<mx:Panel id="reader" title="Pete Freitag's Blog Reader" width="500">
<mx:DataGrid id="entries" width="{reader.width-15}" dataProvider="
{httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item}" cellPress="
{body.htmlText=httpRSS.result.rss.channel.item[entries.selectedIndex].description}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:Array>
<mx:DataGridColumn columnName="title" headerText="Title" />
<mx:DataGridColumn columnName="pubDate" headerText="Date" />
</mx:Array>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>
<mx:TextArea id="body" editable="false" width="{reader.width-15}" height="300" />
<mx:Button label="Load Blog Entries" click="{httpRSS.send()}" />
</mx:Panel>
</mx:Application>

Adobe Flex Builder Professional 3.0.194161 Downlode

2008-06-05T23:24:00.000+05:30

Adobe Flex Builder Professional 3.0.194161

Adobe® Flex® Builder™ 3 software is a highly productive Eclipse™ based development tool enabling intelligent coding, interactive step-through debugging, and visual design of the user interface layout, appearance, and behavior of rich Internet applications (RIAs). Flex Builder 3 is now available in Standard and Professional editions.

Key features include:-

*Powerful coding tools
*Rich visual layout (Enhanced in Flex Builder 3)
*Interactive data visualization (Enhanced in Flex Builder 3) (Professional edition only)
*Skinning and styling (Enhanced in Flex Builder 3)
*Integration with Adobe Creative Suite 3 (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Code refactoring (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Native support for Adobe AIR (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Powerful testing tools (New in Flex Builder 3) (Professional edition only)
*Advanced data services (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Flex 2 and 3 SDK support (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Improved project workflows (New in Flex Builder 3)
*Web service introspection (New in Flex Builder 3)

Download:-

http://rapidshare.com/files/116965443/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Professional_3.0.194161.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/116965219/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Professional_3.0.194161.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/116965586/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Professional_3.0.194161.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/116965153/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Professional_3.0.194161.part4.rar

what is Flex?

2008-06-02T11:24:00.000+05:30

Flex is a highly productive, free open source framework for building and maintaining expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems. While Flex applications can be built using only the free Flex SDK, developers can use Adobe® Flex® Builder™ 3 software to dramatically accelerate development.