Programming Flex 3: The Comprehensive Guide to Creating Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex (Paperback)

~ Chafic Kazoun (Author), (Author), Kazoun Chafic (Author), Lott Joey (Author)
Key Phrases: debug player, sample form, remote data communication, Flash Player, Flex Builder, Building Applications (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you want to try your hand at developing rich Internet applications with Adobe's Flex 3, and already have experience with frameworks such as .NET or Java, this is the ideal book to get you started. Programming Flex 3 gives you a solid understanding of Flex 3's core concepts, and valuable insight into how, why, and when to use specific Flex features. Numerous examples and sample code demonstrate ways to build complete, functional applications for the Web, using the free Flex SDK, and RIAs for the desktop, using Adobe AIR. This book is an excellent companion to Adobe's Flex 3 reference documentation. With this book, you will:

• Learn the underlying details of the Flex framework
• Program with MXML and ActionScript
• Arrange the layout and deal with UI components
• Work with media
• Manage state for applications and components
• Use transitions and effects
• Debug your Flex applications
• Create custom components
• Embed Flex applications in web browsers
• Build AIR applications for the desktop

Flex 3 will put you at the forefront of the RIA revolution on both the Web and the desktop. Programming Flex 3 will help you get the most from this amazing and sophisticated technology.

About the Author

JOEY LOTT is a consultant, ActionScript instructor, and expert Flash developer whose client list includes such giants as Warner Bros., Sony, and Disney. An author-ity on ColdFusion, Java, and ASP development, he has taught for Lynda.com, DigitalSunrise, DHIMA, and Hollywood's Movieola Education. He is also the coauthor of Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript Bible.

Product Details

• Paperback: 657 pages
• Publisher: Adobe Developer Library; 1 edition (September 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596516215
• ISBN-13: 978-0596516215
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,266 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flex 3 book with it's own unique strengths, October 21, 2008

By	Dean R. Pittsinger (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has many things to commend it, and in particular it is very strong on:
* The internal startup sequence of a Flex application
* Loading one Flex application into another Flex application
* Working with fonts
* Programmatic skinning
* Runtime CSS
* Building custom components

I think the book is weak on a few things as well, such as the Flex Builder IDE and remoting. In reference to remoting, the authors make the following surprising statement on page 471:
"Several of the remoting gateway products have added support for a Flex data component called RemoteObject. However, because we have found no practical use for RemoteObject, we are omitting any discussion of RemoteObject".
Well, I must report that I have found a practical use for it: namely, it's one of the central objects in Blaze DS and LCDS remoting. If you want to learn how to use it, you'll have to read Flex 3 Bible (12 pages on it), Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex & Java (referenced on 41 pages), or Adobe's help contents.

I believe these authors have a slight tendency to favor ActionScript and Flash APIs over MXML and Flex APIs, a preference that a reader can either choose to follow or not. I don't believe this book would be as good for novice Flex users as some of the others I have read. I think that when authors delve into relatively arcane, advanced features of an API before they get to the common simple things, it tends to make it harder for beginners. For example, here within the first 100 pages of a 600 page book they cover class introspection, loading one Flex application into another, application domains, and resource bundles... all before the novice reader has even been introduced to a simple CheckBox control. The order in which they cover topics is pretty much preserved from "Programming Flex 2", except for the fact that the chapter on application components has been moved forward quite a bit.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well thought out and comprehensive, February 23, 2009

By	Edward B. Mansouri (Tallahassee, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is clear the authors of Programming Flex 3 worked very hard to write a comprehensive, easy-to-read publication. Their examples are great - very simple such that they highlight the concepts being presented. I have been working with Flex for a couple years but reading this book definitely brought my game up a notch based on a more clear understanding of the Flex framework, authoring components, and several other key principles.

If I had to offer one critique, I'd have liked to see some more coverage of synchronous network communication with Flex (sockets, Flash Media Server, etc.), but the dedicated chapter on AIR more than makes up for this.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good content but poor correlation, October 15, 2008

By	Joseph Nelson "OhioJoe1962" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book, but have already noticed some things.

The book's content is great. Its very thorough and covers a lot of useful material.

Unfortunately, the authors miss the mark on correlating their examples to their figures. Most of the code examples have no figure to show what the code renders. And most of the figures that are there, don't correlate to the code examples.