CF & Flex

Working with Adobe Flex

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:45:00 EST

Adobe Flex is a software development approach and environment which enables the production of cross-platform Rich Internet Applications. Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is the cross-platform runtime environment used by Flex (as well as Flash, HTML, JavaScript and AJAX) for deployment of desktop applications. I’ve long known the power of Flex and AIR, and have long respected [...] Related posts:

Microsoft Expression Web Has Got Game

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:45:00 EDT

In 2006 Microsoft began releasing a series of designer focused tools. The big question was: Why? Adobe has the best tools, doesn’t it? There is no doubt that Adobe’s tools are very good, what is clear, however, is that Microsoft is taking design seriously for this to be accomplished Microsoft does need tools that work well with their own tools. An immediate designer’s pain point for Microsoft is the millions of ASP.NET developers who have only Visual Studio 2005/2008 to design their Web applications with. If you have used Visual Studio as a design tool, then you know what I mean.

Adobe's Serious Move Towards Model-Driven Development

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:45:00 EDT

When a couple of months back I told a fellow Flex developer that I’ll be speaking at CFUnited, conference he shrugged, “Why ColdFusion?” Little did he know that CFUnited is branded as a ColdFusion, Flex and AIR conference. And this was true – there were lots of quality presentations on Flex and AIR here...

Adobe AIR Is Cool and Not So Cool

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EDT

It includes an ActionScript component OfflineDataCollection that allows you to program local/remote data synchronization. Open source Clear Toolkit framework is here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cleartoolkit/ The source code of the OfflineDataCollection is here: http://tinyurl.com/p23do5 A demo recording of the sample occasionally-connected AIR application is here: http://flexblog.faratasystems.com/?p=394. To see the demo in person, come to my talk at AJAX World in New York City in June.

Using the Adobe Flex Toolkit for Salesforce.com

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:15:00 EDT

In April 2007 Adobe and Salesforce.com announced the availability of the Flex toolkit for Apex, Salesforce.com's on-demand programming language and API for interaction with their hosted CRM solution. This toolkit makes it simple to build Flex applications that interact with your Salesforce.com database.

An Introduction To Adobe Flex For ColdFusion Developers

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:45:00 EDT

There's been a lot of talk in the ColdFusion community lately about the newly released Flex 2. If you're new to Flex or haven't tried it yet, this article provides an introduction, from a ColdFusion developer's perspective, to what Flex is and is not.

Flex and ColdFusion Hybrid Application with ServiceFactory

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:30:00 EDT

Whether it's in factories or workshops, in mines or forests, in offices or homes, or even in our sacred ColdFusion Administrator, anything that impairs the efficiency of workers is always worthy of improvements in the process or changing the way of doing things. Levering ColdFusion ServiceFactory to get work done is one example. Figure 1 is a screenshot of an example Flex-ColdFusion hybrid application that allows manipulation of ColdFusion mapping without having (or even needing) access to the ColdFusion Administrator.

Adobe Flex Interface Customization - Themes, Styles, Skins

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:15:00 EDT

One of the great things about Flex is that you get to spend most of your time working on the business logic and workflow, and less on the cosmetic aspect. This is because the Flex default's look-and-feel is great! The only problem of course is that most people won't spend much time customizing the look, resulting in many Flex apps looking the same. In Flex 1.5 many folks customized the color scheme, but few ventured into modifying the actual skins of the components.

Flex Your ColdFusion Muscles with Adobe Flex

Sat, 12 May 2007 18:00:00 EDT

Web developers have done their best to meet these increasing demands through a rather clumsy mix of HTML and other technologies such as JavaScript, DHTML, and Flash. They have met with varying degrees of success. Because of the nature of these technologies and their inherent limitations, developers are still prevented from providing desktop-like application functionality and rich user experiences within the Web browser. The time has come for a completely new Web application paradigm; one that combines the power of the Internet with the user experience of a desktop application.

How I Saved Some Money With A Flex 2 DVD Library Application

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:00:00 EDT

Now there is simply no excuse for accidentally buying a DVD I already own. I will soon be entering my entire collection of DVDs into this new Flex 2 DVD library. From now on, I plan to check this library before heading out to the video store. For the final online version of this Web application, I've added search functionality so that as the library grows, it will still be easy to filter out and find the movies. I already have plans to port this Flex Web application to an Apollo desktop application in the coming weeks. If you would like to keep an eye on my progress, please visit my blog, www.flexination.info, when you have time. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ping me at the e-mail address listed with the article.

Creating a Flex 2 Signature Grabber

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:15:00 EST

By the time you read this, another MAX will be in the history books. In fact, with a record attendance of around 3,500 developers and designers, this MAX in Vegas will also be in the record books.

Passing Parameters to Flex That Works

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:30:00 EDT

Here's the assignment: write a Flex application that can run against different servers (dev, uat, prod) without the need to recompile the SWF file. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the URL of the server should be passed to SWF as a parameter, and we’ll do this by using a special variable flashVars in HTML wrapper. Flex documentation suggests to include flashVars parameters in the tags Object and Embed and read them using Application.application.parameters in AS3 code. At the time of this writing this does not work. But as the ancient saying goes, “Adobe closes one door but opens another”.

My First Flex Application

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:00:00 EDT

When you set out to write your first Flex application you'll have to choose what tool you'll use to write it with. Currently the most popular tool to use is the free Eclipse IDE. If you don't have Eclipse installed go to http://www.eclipse.org/ to install it. You'll need to install Eclipse 3.1 to use Flex 2 Beta 3.

CFDJ Feature: Working with Web Services in Adobe Flex 2

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:00:00 EDT

Recently I worked on a project using Flex to create a front-end for Java-based Web Services. I ran into a favorite in the Java world: Transfer Objects/Value Objects. Early in the project, I was a bit skeptical of the transfer object model but, later on, I came to respect the value that it offers.

User Interface Layout in Adobe Flex 2.0

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 20:00:00 EDT

Creating a user interface is just like making a floor plan. You have your 'room,' which is the screen, and you have the 'furniture,' which is your user interface elements. This article describes many of the ways to position those elements on the screen using XML tags (which we call MXML.)

Data Presentation with Macromedia Flex

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST

Last month I introduced you to the wonderful world of building Rich Internet Applications with Macromedia Flex ('Flex Your ColdFusion Muscles,' CFDJ, Vol. 6, issue 12) and discussed some of the distinct advantages RIAs have over traditional HTML applications.