Customer Reviews

Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 Application Development: Training from the Source

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am writing this in mid-October 2004 after just having finished the book. I honestly wonder if the guy that posted a review in early Oct. actually tried to work through it.

Do NOT buy this book! Wait for the next edition. (Or buy a used copy keeping what I am about to tell you in mind.) It is outdated even though it just came out in April 2004. In July of 2004, Flash Professional MX 2004 was updated to version 7.2 which was actually a minor free (patch) upgrade. However, it had significant changes for those using Flash Professional for Rich Internet Applications (AKA Flash screen based development). Most other Flash books are not affected, as this is really the only book that is advanced enough to go into screens based development and Flash Remoting in Flash MX Professional 2004 in detail.

The book itself is actually very good as far as tech how-to books go. However, starting in Chapter 9 (the book has 16 chapters overall) it totally starts to fall apart. The way that you capture events thrown to the page in an external actionscript class file has changed. All of the code presented in the book on how to do this will no longer work. This obviously includes all of the included example files. It no longer works because the upgrade added a new class for dealing with this. It is not obvious. It took me quite awhile to track down the fix (which actually ends up just being a class import and then rewriting your event listeners so they use this imported class). You then have to recognize where this is done throughout the rest of the book and recode accordingly. The Macromedia forums were no help either as of this writing (saw lots of postings saying gee this doesn't work, but no solution). Finally figured out it had something to do with the upgrade, as someone said it stopped working after that. If you do buy this book, then go read what changes took place with the 7.2 upgrade in the Flash Dev Center on Macromedia's site. You will be able to figure out how to fix it.

Also, Chapter 14 is all about using Flash Remoting. When the book was written Flash Remoting was not yet updated to use AS 2.0, and as such you couldn't reference AS files externally by import statements (which is the main point of this book). Instead, you are given the directions for using include files on the main timeline. The author admits in the book that this will probably change soon to use AS 2.0. It did, and in a big way. The two main classes you are taught to use have also been 'depreciated' and replaced by something else. So, not only do you have to figure out how to convert it to work (which isn't a big deal) but also you have to rewrite it using new classes (which are detailed well in the updated Help files -thank you Macromedia).

Don't get me wrong, I learned a ton from this book. However, I am also already a certified .NET developer comfortable with coding and finding answers in Help files, online, etc. I just want anyone who buys this book to know what they are getting into. The 'errata' page for the book still states 'none found so far' which is ridiculous and there doesn't seem to be much forum help either. (Lots of activity for the other less advanced non-screens based, non-pro, Flash MX 2004 book though.)

My advice is to buy this used, keeping in mind what I said, or wait for the next edition. Or better yet, save the $ and learn from the tutorials online on Macromedia's site. That really isn't an option for a beginner, but if you have coding experience it might be less painful (and is more up to date) than this book.

This book is for Actionscript 1.0!!!! Let me say that again, THIS BOOK IS FOR ACTIONSCRIPT 1.0!!!! Do not buy this if you have the letest version of Flash MX 2004 with actionscript 2.0. Up until the 9th chapter or so it woks alright. After that it all falls apart. The excersises become almost impossible because of the difference between the two versions. I bought this book based on the reviews writen on this site. None mentioned this fact so I am writing this so that anyone else who looks at this book is aware right away. Wait for an updated book. This really should be pulled or a warning should be put somewhere that this is not for the latest version. I hope that I can save someone else some money buy letting them know eactly what is in this book. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!! (Unless you are still using actionscript 1.0, in which case disregard everything I have said here today)

I'll be brief. It teaches efficient programming and good tips for beginner programmers but don't try to follow the steps outlined in the book. Seems that author got lost in his own steps. For example page 144 step 8 doesn't indicate that you should place the onChanged code in the "calcObject.as" file, instead it says that you sould place it after the onKillFocus event. I lost a lot of time trying to figure out why my program wasn't working (wanting to practice debugging) until I finally looked at the files in the DVD. I'd say just read the book and test using the files that came in the DVD if things don't work.

My disappointment with this book is it lacks natural flow. I found myself drifting out of thought because the book has you shuffling files around every other page. I also share the discouraging fact that you must work through six chapters (half the book) before you are really engaged in "Application Development".
There seems to be a rash of poorly written books emerging under the heading of Flash MX 2004 - 2004 Pro and the best way to gage the relevancy of a new book before you buy it is to see how well the resale price is holding up in the used book market. If the price has dropped significantly after the release, you probable should buy something else or buy it used so you do not end up kicking yourself later. This one is already half of its list price; could it be that only half of it is worth paying for?

I was under the false assumption that "Application Development" was an advanced topic when it comes to Flash. This book assumes that this is not the case, and that I need to spend the first 5 chapters learning about variables, loops, movieclips, and classes. How many times can you possibly beat this topic into the ground? By the point that I am buying a book with Application Development in the title I would think that these things would be assumed prerequisites. So I guess you can start by ripping the book in half and tossing the front half in the trash (recycling bin) just so that it doesn't occupy space in your library that has already been covered by so many other books. I was also disappointed that this book doesn't cover PHP interaction at all. It seems to lean towards Cold Fusion and Java. I preordered the book so all I had to go on was the brief description of the book. Be sure to check out the table of contents before you order. Don't be mislead by the title of this book. It is not necessarily targeted towards the advanced Flasher.

This is a great starting point if you are new to flash application development. It covers all the basics of what you need to know in order to start developing RIA's using Flash MX 2004.

It's *NOT* an "advanced" book by any means, and it's not a reference, but it IS a good book if you want to learn. It mirrors Jeanette's training course that she developed for Macromedia (she is a Macromedia employee).

This is actually a very good book. The flow is a little wierd, but it covers a lot of ground not covered in other books. I found the conversion from ActionScript 1.0 to ActionScript 2.0 not a problem, except in one area - flash remoting and ActionScript 2.0. But for flash remoting I have found the MM docs almost totally useless and no other sources adequate. Coming from a programming background, I found Stallons' treatment of some of the many AS quirks, and that strange Flash object, the MovieClip, and how to use it in AS, very helpful. I guess the standard book padding of loops, conditional logic, functions, objects, etc. is unavoidable, but I could do without it. I could really have used a better coverage of the 2.0 components, but there again the MM docs are pretty bad on this topic and I haven't found a book that does cover these.

So I would recommend this book, but the jump may be hard for a first time programmer who is using AS 2.0 and needs to rely heavily on the "copy and paste code" learning process.

As the others had mentioned, I felt a little mislead when purchansing this book. From the very beggining the book assumes you know very little AS. Also no PHP yet a couple of .NET and a whole lot more CFM and JSP examples where available. Apart from that it does cover topics which you will run into for certification.

mx.utils.delegate. Just do a search on macromedia's web site of
"What is the significance of Elipsis" Mike Chambers of Macromedia explains it very clearly in this article, in simple terms. This is not hard. They just came up with something similar to the Observer class of Java. It is easy to make the changes when working through the examples, just takes a second.

1) The author really makes it easy with the examples. She provides examples at every stage, you don't have to code everything. That increases the pace of getting through the book as you can gloss over things you are pretty familiar with and still run the examples easily.
2) She clearly has taught in her life, is a professional teacher in some sense. Has strong communication skills.
3) She covers the essentials clearly.

I consider this a pretty good book for programmers who want to make the transition from a Javascript like mode of programming to a more structured Java-like one using Actionscript 2.0, and to use the built in Framework provided by MX 2004. I am not saying this book is fabulous, but I am not aware of a better book covering the same material.

[**this review was made by Denise Maitan from AIR User Group**]With step-by-step exercises, explanations, notes,tips and complementary pictures, Macromedia's book "Flash Mx Professional 2004 - application development" encompasses the simplest functions flash offers through to the most complex, like web services, XML e remoting services.
Furthermore, the book is accompanied by a DVD-Rom with files containing prepared exercises and 30-day trial versions of Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004.
The book is really well structured, with instructions before each exercise detailing what the reader will learn, how long each exercise should take and where to find the related exercises on the DVD.
The book is recommended for whom desires greater knowledge of Actionscript programming. It also give guidance in the use of dynamic + interactive product applications - through the RIA (Rich Internet Application) concept - and provides preparation for Macromedia development certification. A very good training manual.