AdvancED Flex Application Development: Building Rich Media X [Paperback]

R Blank (Author), Hasan Otuome (Author), Omar Gonzalez (Author), Chris Charlton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590598962 | ISBN-13: 978-1590598962 | Publication Date: December 17, 2007 | Edition: 1

Adobe's Flex (currently in version 2 with version 3 following at the end of the year) is one of today's hottest technologies for building web applications, and this unique book provides a practical guide to planning and building a professional Flex application from start to finish (the application is Rich Media X, a popular Adobe user group community/social networking site.)

Written by some of the world's foremost Flex experts, AdvancED Flex Application Development provides step-by-step instructions to implementing all the most essential web 2.0 application features. It is one of the first professional level Flex books available, and one of the first to feature PHP/MySQL integration with Flex, a very sought after skill. It will also be one of the first books available to support Flex 3.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

R Blank is CTO of Almer/Blank, an Adobe Solution Partner based in Venice, California that specializes in video and application development for the Flash Platform, for clients including E! Entertainment Television, Microsoft, Apple, and IKEA. For over 12 years he has been an interactive designer, developer, consultant, teacher, and author, specializing in the planning, development and release of rich interfaces; R has specialized in Flash since 1999.

R holds four Flash Certifications, was one of the first 50 Macromedia Certified Flash Developers in the world, and is a contributing author for the Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Designer Certification Exam. R also founded and manages LAFlash.org, a community of over 1,300 Flash industry professionals, and home to three Macromedia Users Groups for Flash. R also serves on the Information Technology Faculty at the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering.

Previously, R co-founded and served as Director of Product & Design at Wildform, where he co-created Flix, the first video encoder for Flash (now owned by On2). R has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA in History from Columbia University.

Chris Charlton...

Omar Gonzales...

Hasan Otuome...

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (December 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590598962
• ISBN-13: 978-1590598962
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for everyone, and many things unique, February 11, 2008

By 

C. Joplin (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: AdvancED Flex Application Development: Building Rich Media X (Paperback)

Is it worth buying? Yes, I think so. It's got something for everyone. But especially if you manage a user's group, are dealing with aggregating media and content, or doing something that relies on advertising and traffic. While they do not cover eCommerce in this book specifically, this is a really plus if you are building an eCommerce site in Flex. It outlines how to enhance a Flex-based online store. It covers SEO, OpenAds, and how to monetize your site. That information alone is worth the price of the book. RIAs are great, RIAs that make business better are a real step beyond.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Guide for Truly Professional Development, January 3, 2008

By 

Gerardo Chabolla (Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: AdvancED Flex Application Development: Building Rich Media X (Paperback)

This book really puts the "plan" in pre-planning. I really love the way the developers take you through the process of building applications, especially when deciding on the different technologies to use. The choices they make and what they base it on is extraordinary. Not only does the book teach you cool stuff about Flex, but because they are a real development company they bring you into their world, sharing their tasks and how to overcome them. The second chapter was a goldmine for me as it revealed a lot of helpful tools for development. The book really shows you how to use Flex for advanced applications, and how to effectively plan it out for success.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good and bad, May 9, 2008

By 

WiltDurkey (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AdvancED Flex Application Development: Building Rich Media X (Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about this book which I got because it was one of the first to cover Flex 3.

I think it is a bit weak on the pure Flex bit - I just can't see someone actually learning Flex out of it, though they will get a pretty good feel for what Flex does. It presents just enough information to explain their application, the RMX, no more. The coding examples are also somewhat hard to follow, with code being all over the place. Yes, it might be real-life production/business code but that doesn't mean that it is automatically great for teaching. Simpler, more illustrative, tighter code would have been better.

On the other hand, the book does a much better job at presenting the big picture of a Flex website and how all the parts fit together, almost at a business/planning level. The wireframe chapters and how to integrate ads are great. Also, though I don't use PHP+Drupal, which they use as a backend, I definitely came away with a confirmation that Flex wasn't tied to particular backend server technologies. If you do use PHP and Drupal, you will get more value out of it for sure.

All in all, a 3.5/5 book.