Learning Flex 3: Getting Up to Speed with Rich Internet Applications (Adobe Developer Library) (Paperback)

~ Alaric Cole (Author), Cole Alaric (Author)
Key Phrases: learning flex, validating data, using style sheets, Flex Builder, Flash Player, Flex Properties (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

How soon can you learn Adobe Flex 3? With this book's unique hands-on approach, you will be able to tinker with examples right away, and create your own Rich Internet Applications with Flex within the first few chapters. As you progress, you learn how to build a layout, add interactivity, work with data, and deploy your applications to either the Web or the desktop.

Learning Flex 3 offers step-by-step instructions that are clear and concise, along with tips and tricks that author Alaric Cole has gathered after years of using Flex and teaching it to fellow developers at Yahoo! You'll understand how Flex works, how to use the MXML markup language and work with ActionScript, how to deploy RIAs to the desktop using Adobe AIR, and much more.

Whether you're a beginner, or an experienced web developer coming to Flex from another platform, Learning Flex 3 is the ideal way to learn how to:

• Set up your environment with FlexBuilder and Eclipse
• Create a new Flex project
• Use the different design views in Flex
• Write code with MXML
• Lay out your Flex application
• Embed images and graphics
• Build a user interface
• Add interactivity with ActionScript
• Handle user input
• Move, display, and collect data
• Add custom components with MXML
• Add sound effects, filters, and transitions
• Style your applications with CSS, skins, and themes
• Deploy applications to the Web, or to the desktop using Adobe AIR

Also included are brief explanations of objects, classes, components, properties, methods, types, and other Flex attributes. You will find that Learning Flex 3 is not only the most complete tutorial for Flex, it's also the quickest way to get going with the latest version of this powerful framework.

About the Author

Alaric Cole has been working with Flash technologies since the introduction of ActionScript. Once it came on the scene, he's been focused primarily on Flex development, creating enterprise applications with rich data visualization, interactive media, and advanced user interface components. Pushing Flex beyond its comfort zone, he has worked with Adobe to discover ways to improve the technology.

A leader in the industry, Alaric has spoken at conferences such as Adobe MAX and 360|Flex, and has contributed a number of open-source components to the Flex community. He uses Flex in his daily work at Yahoo!, leading development and consulting on projects across the company.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (June 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596517327
• ISBN-13: 978-0596517328
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,481 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The O'Reilly Learning Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good choice to get your feet wet with Flex, September 17, 2008

By	Tariq Ahmed "DopeJam.com | CFlex.net | FlexIn... (Tracy, CA USA) - See all my reviews

The first thing that stood out is that it's in color! I love color, especially for technical material it adds a whole extra dimension to the medium and another vehicle by which to communicate. Obviously in code listings it makes the code easier to visually digest and mentally break down what you're seeing, and with screen caps color is so much more appealing.

The dimension of the book is wider that normal, which gives the book an extra wide gutter that the publisher is able to leverage. And leverage they do by making use of it for an assortment of side bars, notes, tips, and blurbs.

So aside from the aesthetics, content of course is the key. The book is aimed at beginners who don't necessarily have any sort of programming background - so the audience that this book would appeal to includes anyone interested in learning more about Flex and if it's the right fit for them; as a quick read (only 304 pages) you can blast through this book in a short amount of time.

Who might those people be? Developers wanting to test the waters with Flex because they had heard good things about it, Flash or Web media designers thinking about getting into the development side of things with Flex, and management level folks looking to explore new opportunities and want to get a barometer reading on what it would take to get into Flex, etc...

The writing style is fairly casual, and you feel like the author is talking to you (as opposed to the feeling of a manual). I think the author does a pretty good job at keeping things high level with enough meat to make the reader feel they're actually being productive as they work through the examples.

So I'd recommend this book to someone who wants to get their feet wet with Flex - someone who may not be fully committed to Flex at this point in time and doesn't want to invest a ton of time yet.

* Difficulty Level: Beginner
* Range of topics: Moderate
* Depth of topics: Light
* Development experience needed: None
* Reading Speed: Fast
* Writing Style: Casual

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great beginning to intermediate Flex 3 book, August 10, 2008

By	Ed_7 (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

I've worked with Flash and ActionScript for a few years, but I'm new to Flex so I purchased three Flex books and I found this one to be the best one. I like how the author has you build smaller applications that work by themselves but also adds more features to them as the book progresses.

There are some minor code issues, but he answered my questions on his website which is one of the best book websites I've seen [...]. All of the source files and the working applications can be viewed on his site.

I also really enjoy the layout of the new Learning series that O'Reilly has been putting out (similar to the Learning ActionScript 3 book). The color coding and pictures are a nice change from the majority of black and white technical books.

Since the focus of this book is Flex and MXML, newer programmers will need to supplement this book with an ActionScript book once they start to build more advanced applications.

Highly recommended for those who are new to Flex.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is it!, September 7, 2008

By	JT "SideJobCentral.com" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

I have started to read several Flex books in the past. I say "started", because I quickly lost interest. Many times I found myself scratching my head saying "Why would anyone ever do that?"

This book has been an amazing adventure. The examples are relevant, the writing is entertaining without being off topic, and best of all, within the first 5 chapters I knew enough to make a basic Flex website.

If you have some web design experience with html, and css, then I highly recommend this book!