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Product Description
The first book to completely demystify leading-edge component
development with the Adobe Flex 3 platform
° How to build components for Flex and AIR applications using ActionScript 3.0 and
Adobe's powerful MXML user interface markup language
° Covers expert techniques most books ignore, including component metadata, error
handling, documentation, and creating Flex components in Flash using the Flex
Component Kit
° By Mike Jones, world-renowned Flex development consultant and speaker
Summary
Adobe Flex 3 offers a powerful new framework that web developers can use to
quickly produce richer, more immersive, higher-value solutions. To help
developers build the most powerful next-generation web applications, Adobe
structured the Flex framework around components, and allowed developers to
extend Flex's capabilities with their own components. However, few Flex
developers know how to create these custom components. Developing Flex
Components is the first book to completely demystify that process.
Renowned Flex developer and speaker Mike Jones begins by presenting a quick
overview of Flex and Flex Builder aimed at ActionScript 3.0 Flash developers.
Jones explains the anatomy of a Flex component, including both visual and
non-visual components, and introduces the components that come with the
Flex framework. Next, one step at a time, he walks through building new Flex
components that leverage the platform's powerful capabilities and can be
incorporated into both Flex and AIR applications. Jones covers topics that are
rarely addressed in Flex books, including component metadata, events and
error handling, data binding, skinning, styling, and creating Flex components in
Flash using the Flex Component Kit. He also presents a full chapter on writing
and maintaining component documentation, as well as an appendix of
additional resources for Flex component developers.
From the Back Cover
The Complete Insider’s Guide to Building State-of-the-Art Components with Adobe’s Flex 4 Platform
“So many Flex books gloss over the details of component development, or focus just on MXML. Mike Jones has bucked tradition and written a book that can actually help beginning as well as experienced Flex developers. Mike covers topics that are not found in other books. This book is not on my shelf, it’s on my desk next to my keyboard.”
--Adrian Pomilio, UX Developer, Railinc Corp., Cary NC
“Finally, a book that covers Flex components from the ground up. I’ve been working with Flex for several years, but I have to admit that I’ve never quite grasped component development fully, let alone their styling, packaging, and distribution. Thanks for this book, Mike; it was long overdue!”
--Stefan Richter, Editor, FlashComGuru.com; Founder, muchosmedia ltd
Using Adobe’s Flex 4 framework, developers can build rich, immersive solutions more easily and quickly than ever. Much of Flex 4’s remarkable power is based on its component-based approach. Adobe provides many components “out of the box,” but you can accomplish even more by building your own. In Developing Flex 4 Components, world-renowned Flex and Flash developer Mike Jones thoroughly demystifies all facets of Flex component development, showing how to quickly create and deliver high-value components to the widest possible audience.
Jones introduces the Flex 4 component architecture, reviews its built-in components, and shows how they can be extended or incorporated into new components. Next, he walks through developing components from scratch, covering issues ranging from events to skinning. Finally, he turns to distribution, introducing best practices for everything from integration to documentation.
Jones draws on nearly 15 years’ experience developing with Flex and Flash. You’ll find extensive sample code, plus dozens of practical tips that are available nowhere else. After reading this book, you’ll be able to
• Set up your Flex and Flash Builder development environment
• Understand key differences between Flex 3 and Flex 4 component frameworks
• Learn how Flex components are typically structured, developed, and rendered
• Leverage ActionScript and MXML to quickly create components
• Implement view states, transitions, effects, and events
• Manipulate and store complex data collections
• Use Flex 4’s FXG and MXMLG to support skinning and styling
• Create components with Flash Professional CS5’s drawing tools
• Integrate components with Flash Builder
• Package components for easy distribution with or without source code
• Streamline implementation with manifests, design view extensions, and metadata
If you’re an experienced Flash, Flex, or AIR developer, this book will help you create any component you can imagine--and deliver solutions others can only dream about.
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Starts off with a review of components that come with the Flex framework and alternates with code samples between pure Actionscript and MXML. Reviews the component lifecycle with events. And towards the end gets you into ASDocs, Library SWCs, and FXG and MXMLG.
This book is mostly about using Spark but enough attention to MX is given so that, if you have to, you can leverage that legacy framework.
So, what he's talking about is taking the component's design from Flash Professional or CS4+ tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks and convert them into assets that can be loaded into your Flash Builder. Then, shows you how to subclass skinnable component for Spark to put it into a component ready to be used. Setting up the design is easier than you may think but inside the book he points out key methods in the various classes that need to be overridden to actually get the component ready for usage.
Why do you want to do this? Well, for enterprise developers, making a component that can be passed around to other devs makes it easy for them to use without burdening them with a lot of project configuration settings that are likely to set them back. You could also sell your component, too. He covers how to make a quality, professional grade component like we see when we use those that come with Flash Builder. Also, the collection of subjects are rather atomic so you can skip around to whatever you may need and not have to worry about mastering everything all at once.
Finally, the writing style is quite personable, injected with humorous anecdotes and tidbits on the development of the Flash Platform.
Although I have used components long before reading this book I didn't quite understand many of the concepts completely especially in more complex AS components. This book is a MUST read for any Flex developer and I feel I am at an advantage now that it's a part of my library. I keep this one close to my computer at all times.
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