Flex and DotNet

Adobe Flex / Adobe AIRforWestern NY Dot Net Users Group : 

Adobe Flex / Adobe AIRforWestern NY Dot Net Users Group

It’s Not A Presentation Without A Message from Dilbert… : 

It’s Not A Presentation Without A Message from Dilbert…

This evenings agenda : 

This evenings agenda Quick Review HelloWorld Application Flex basics Flex App Cavalcade Slideshow app WebORB Remoting of .NET objects to the Flex/AIR world Adobe AIR What is it? An example AIR application Adobe Flash Player 10 What’s new in Flash Player 10 Roadmap for Flex support of Flash Player 10

Flex Development Concepts : 

Flex Development Concepts UI developed in MXML (Multimedia XML) Code is written in ActionScript 3 ActionScript is Javascript with strong typing, classes, and inheritance. You can still do all the dynamic typing, prototype based inheritance like with Javascript if you want. Flex SDK Compiler to take MXML and Actionscript and compile it into a SWF

Flex Framework : 

Flex Framework Written entirely in ActionScript Aimed at the application developer The compiler takes MXML and compiles it into ActionScript code that leverages the Framework

What’s in the Flex Framework? : 

What’s in the Flex Framework? Form Controls – buttons, text boxes, lists, checkboxes, rich text editor, color selector, date selector, and more Menu Controls – pop-up menus & menu bars Media Components – images, audio, video Layout Containers – grids, forms, boxes, canvas, panel, horz/vert dividers, etc.

Example Application : 

Example Application Hello world – ala Flex Shows the elements of MXML Simple ActionScript to display an Alert Use of the import statement Surrounding script code in a CData block for XML compatibility

Accessing Remote Resources : 

Accessing Remote Resources HTTPService – standard HTTP GET/POST – used for consuming REST based services WebService – consume SOAP web services Raw Sockets – for access that requires more than simple HTTP request/response techniques. Flash Remoting Automatic data serialization/deserialization Binary messaging over HTTP provides smaller message size for fastest communication Uses a server side “gateway” to receive requests and then delegate them to standard classes on the server. File Upload/Download

Simple HTTP Services : 

Simple HTTP Services Great for accessing REST based resources Example application demonstrates invoking Flickr REST based API to retrieve a list of images in an account and displays them. Note – no server side code/proxy is necessary for this to occur! If the return value is XML you can process it easily with Flex’s E4X support.

Demo Time !! : 

Demo Time !! Cavalcade Slide Show using Flickr images Leverages the REST based Flickr API Shows how to use HTTPService to call Flickr Shows how to use E4X to process the returned XML Illustrates the use of effects

Flash Remoting : 

Flash Remoting Still HTTP based but optimized for performance. Data serialization/deserialization automatically preserves types. Flash Remoting uses AMF (Actionscript Messaging Format). AMF0 – Used with Flash8/Flex 1.x AMF3 – Used with Flash9/Flex 2.x and later

Flash Remoting – Server Side : 

Flash Remoting – Server Side Flash Remoting needs a server side Gateway. Live Cycle Data Services Separate product from Adobe BlazeDS – free version Full version is $15k/CPU Supports data subscriptions

Server Side Flash Remoting Alternatives : 

Server Side Flash Remoting Alternatives AMFPHP – for PHP ZendAMF – Zend Framework AMF support OpenAMF – for Java WebORB – (.NET, PHP, Java, Ruby) FluorineFX (.NET) AMFNet (.NET)

WebORB : 

WebORB Flash Remoting for: .NET Java PHP Ruby on Rails Free of charge Commercial support available http://www.themidnightcoders.com/weborb/

WebORB for .NET : 

WebORB for .NET Remoting of .NET objects Real-Time messaging Push technology notifies subscribers when a shared object on the server changes WebORB Data Management Facility ActiveRecord support for data access

Demo Time !! : 

Demo Time !! WebORB Object Remoting Data Management (WDMF) Real Time Messaging (RTMP)

FluorineFX for .NET : 

FluorineFX for .NET Remoting of .NET objects Real-Time messaging Push technology notifies subscribers when a shared object on the server changes LGPL Licensed

Demo Time !! : 

Demo Time !! FluorineFX Object Remoting Remoting of .NET Data Tables

Adobe AIR : 

Adobe AIR Adobe Integrated Runtime Write desktop apps in HTML, Javascript, and Flash/Flex Provides local file system access Desktop integration – drag/drop, system tray, start menu, windowless chrome, etc. Local SQLite database Try desktop.ebay.com http://www.adobe.com/go/air

Flickr Floater : 

Flickr Floater Sample AIR application from Adobe Demonstrates: Local file access Drag/Drop support Local SQL Database Interaction Online / Offline app detection Integration with online services http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/flex/articles/flickr_floater.html

Flash Player 10 : 

Flash Player 10 Newly released on 10/14 Includes: New 3D API Advanced text layout – text flow, right to left, ligatures, etc. Pixel Blender - Pluggable image filters/effects (just like Photoshop) Enhanced drawing API Improved performance via hardware acceleration Enhanced sound APIs – provides application level audio mixing and filtering

Getting Started : 

Getting Started Sites to visit http://www.adobe.com/go/flex http://www.flex.org http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air Books to read Programming Flex 3 – O’Reilly Essential Actionscript 3 – O’Reilly Free video training Flex in week - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/videotraining/

Questions? : 

Questions? Slides will be posted to VDUNY My contact info: peter.traeg@kodak.com