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Computers & Internet |
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Programming Flex 3: The Comprehensive Guide to Creating Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex
written by Chafic Kazoun, Joey Lott
Studio : Adobe Dev Library
by Adobe Dev Library
Publisher : Adobe Dev Library
Released : 2008-09-26
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780596516215
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 3 reviews)
List Price : $54.99
Our Price : $31.24
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Product Description |
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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. |
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Flex 3 book with it's own unique strengths |
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.
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Good content but poor correlation |
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. |
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A must have for every Flex Developer! |
I just got my copy of Programming Flex 3 in the mail yesterday and have already found it to be extremely useful! Like most titles in O'Reilly's "Adobe Developer Library" series, the book is very well organized and contains useful and understandable examples. One thing that Joey and Chafic have done very well is to keep the chapters focused, not bloating them with unnecessary technical jargon that may confuse readers who are new to Flex. This is not to say that this book is by any means only for beginners, as it dives into many advanced topics, it just does it in such a way that it will be easily understood by reader of any skill level.
As the title suggests, I believe that this book will be a valuable asset to any flex developer, and it has found a permanent home on my desk next to my copies of The Flex 3 Cookbook (Flex 3 Cookbook: Code-Recipes, Tips, and Tricks for RIA Developers (Adobe Developer Library)), The Actionscript 3 Cookbook (ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook: Solutions for Flash Platform and Flex Application Developers), and Essential Actionscript 3 (Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) (Essential)). If you are looking to learn Flex from the ground up, or would simply like a very good reference manual covering all of the topics that you will most likely encounter on a day to day basis, then I would highly recommend this book! |
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