The Essential Guide to Flex 2 with ActionScript 3.0

By Charles E Brown

• Understand MXML containers
• Create transitions
• Create data-driven applications with XML
• Interface Flex with ColdFusion
• Understand the power of states

Flex 2 represents something of a revolution in web applications. It is the next evolutionary step of Flash, which has grown from a web animation tool to a powerful enterprise web design and development tool. with nearly 98% of all web browsers and cellular phones running the Flash player needed to use Flash and Flex applications, knowledge of Flex is indispensable for any serious web designer and developer.

This book will show you how to create powerful, rich Internet applications using Flex 2 and ActionScript 3.0. After learning how to install and becoming familiar with the basics of the Flex Builder 2 software, you will explore in depth how ActionScript 3.0 interacts with Flex’s powerful XML-like design language: MXML. the text will take you through all the powerful features of Flex using a series of strictly practical exercises.

You will:

• Examine the power of designing layouts using Flex's MXML containers.
• Discover many of the new features of ActionScript 3.0.
• Work your way through a professional case study, building up a complete Flex application.
• Connect Flex to Adobe's powerful ColdFusion application server, and start to work with Flex applications powered by dynamic server-side code.
• Learn how states can smoothly transition your application interfaces between different data displays.

Put quite simply, this book is all you’ll need to master Flex 2 and ActionScript 3.0 application development. Welcome to the revolution!

Summary of contents:

• Chapter 1: Introducing RIAs and Installing Flex Builder 2
• Chapter 2: Introducing Flex and Flex Builder 2
• Chapter 3: Introducing ActionScript 3.0
• Chapter 4: Containers and Components
• Chapter 5: Navigation Containers
• Chapter 6: Flex and XML
• Chapter 7: States
• Chapter 8: Case Study: Part 1
• Chapter 9: The Repeater Component
• Chapter 10: Case Study: Part 2
• Chapter 11: Drag and Drop
• Chapter 12: Flex and ColdFusion
• Chapter 13: Charting
• Chapter 14: Printing
• Chapter 15: Unfinished Symphony

This book is part of friends of ED's 'Essential Guide' series

The Essential Guide series takes a pragmatic approach to learning. We understand that you might not have the time or the inclination to read through a long book before you can get up and running, and we designed this series to give you the knowledge you want when you want it. The learning is always by example, with lots of code snippets that you can take with you and use in your own applications. The focus is on targeted learning for web professionals—providing the essential tools that the modern web developer needs. A book in this series won't focus as much on the basics as a Foundation book, but it will take you further, introducing some advanced topics that are essential for using a particular technology in the real world.