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Metadata and the Flash Platform

By Russ Ferguson
November 23, 2009

Readers of this site are familiar with the concept of metadata. Meta tags in websites for example, describe the site and the individual pages within. Files can also have meta data, this can be anything from where in the world that picture was taken and that kind of camera, to the track number of the mp3 your listening to.

Validation in Flex with Hamcrest-AS3

By Joel Hooks
November 20, 2009

Hamcrest? No, it isn't a fancy sandwich topping. Hamcrest is a framework for creating matchers, allowing matching rules to be defined declaratively (from Wikipedia). Hamcrest has been used by many popular unit testing frameworks including JUnit and FlexUnit 4. Hamcrest-AS3...

RIA Unleashed Boston Conference - My thoughts

By Scott Janousek
November 19, 2009

Kevin Shuttle already beat me to the proverbial punch with his review, but I'd to share some of my thoughts on a recent Boston based conference called RIA Unleashed. This developer focused event was recently held at Bentley College, Waltham,...

Flex Indiapolis UG Meeting tonight

By Rich Tretola
November 18, 2009

The Flex UG in Indianapolis has been "offline" for a while but is back tonight 11/18/09 for its first meeting under new UG manager Mick Keily. Joe Johnston and Peter Buick from Universal Mind making an appearance in Indianapolis. "We'll...

Flex 101: Customize Scrollbars

By Andrew Trice
November 17, 2009

Customizing scrollbars in Flex is something that I see requested all the time, and it's actually really easy to do. I see requests for things like getting rid of the buttons, or making the scroll bar less intrusive to the UI. In this post, we'll walk through some simple css style changes to customize scrollbar appearance.

QOW: Top open source Flex projects

By Rich Tretola
November 16, 2009

Question of the week: Open source projects are extremely important to the growth of a development community. The Flex community has always had a large number of open source projects and libraries that have been contributions from both community...

Flex Template Components Rock

By Amy Blankenship
November 15, 2009

Flex comes with a full spectrum of components, but once in a while you get hit with a request to do something that is difficult to shoehorn into what already exists, but seems even more difficult to do as...

RIA Radio Episode 2 - Jonnie Hallman

By Garth Braithwaite
November 12, 2009

Jonnie Hallman (Destroy Today) joins us to talk about his new position at Adobe on the XDCE team and his involvement with the MAX Twitter app. We also were able to hear the back story to DestroyFlickr and DestroyTwitter, and some news about upcoming features.

"Eager Loading" in Actionscript 3

By Amy Blankenship
November 11, 2009

Last week, I wrote about the Lazy Loading design pattern. There's not much written about its opposite, Eager Loading, in ActionScript 3. The reason for this is simple–true eager loading can't be done in AS3 itself, it has to be...

Flex 101: Creating an Interactive Chart

By Andrew Trice
November 6, 2009

In this post, we will walk through the steps to create an interactive chart with a Google-Finance-esque interaction.

Barcode Scanner Support for Flex

By Jan Poehland
November 5, 2009

I recently came across an interesting problem when we had to access barcode scanners from Flex applications. The scanners came in different models but all were connected to the computer via serial port or USB (Serial2USB). Now, how do you...

Advantages of Lazy Loading

By Amy Blankenship
October 30, 2009

Wikipedia defines Lazy Loading as "a design pattern commonly used in computer programming to defer initialization of an object until the point at which it is needed." Typically, we do this to make an RIA application more responsive–since we're not...

Multi-touch and the Flash Platform

By Andrew Trice
October 14, 2009

One of the big announcements at MAX this year was Flash on devices. As the capabilities of devices change, so do the capabilities of the platforms we use to build our applications. One of the latest trends is Multi-touch. In this post, I'll try to shed some light on the upcoming multitouch capabilities in AIR 2.0 and Flash Player 10.1.

AIR 2 Enhancements Complete Overview

By Elad Elrom
October 7, 2009

Adobe just released public information about AIR 2.0 and added new capabilities that better tie with the operation systems which gives your application more control while increasing performance. The new version will be deployed on Flash player 10 using Flex...

Easy Flex Skinning with Fireworks CS4

By Amy Blankenship
October 2, 2009

I'm as excited as anyone about the prospect of Flash Catalyst, but I recently discovered that skinning in Flex 3 is down right easy. When I first was learning Flex, I had Studio 8, so I managed to completely overlook...

Potomac - Bringing OSGi Modularity to Flex

By Chris Gross
September 30, 2009

OSGi is taking over the Java world. The modularity features offered by OSGi have become so popular that it seems like all the major Java enterprise applications and frameworks have adopted OSGi or have plans to. Products and frameworks such as Eclipse (and therefore Flex Builder), Spring, Websphere, Guice, Weblogic, and JBoss all use OSGi. Even organizations such as NASA have adopted OSGi. So what is OSGi and why is it so popular? This article will try to answer those questions and introduce you to Potomac - the new OSGi inspired framework for Flex.

Do You Speak Flex? Part Two: Recruiting the Right Experience

0 September 9, 2009

It’s imperative to identify what your requirements are and the number of resources that you’ll need to address them. You must determine what your team needs to accomplish before you begin to assemble it, otherwise you risk redundancy, inefficiency, and slowed or stalled projects. It sounds elementary, but this step can save you a lot of headaches later on.

Flash Developer Guerrilla Workflow

By Jesse Freeman
September 8, 2009

About Advance Flash Tactics Advance Flash Tactics or AFTs are techniques that come from deep within the Flash Art Of War, the oldest Flash military treatise in the world. Each AFT is designed to be quickly digested, usually only taking...

50 Most Usable RIAs

By Theresa Neil
September 2, 2009

We applied two simple criteria to identify the 50 most usable RIAs: Number 1: Does it adhere to the 10 basic usability principles? Number 2: Is it really rich? Developing a product with Ajax, Flex, or Silverlight doesn't inherently make it rich. A usable RIA will embody these six principles: Make it Direct, Keep it Lightweight, Stay in the Page, Provide an Invitation, Use Transitions, React Immediately.

10 Tips for Flex Application Performance

By Andrew Trice
September 2, 2009

We're going to keep this post lean and mean, and get down to business with 10 Tips that will keep your Flex applications fast, lean, and responsive. Read on to see the list.

Flex Components 101 - Enabling Keyboard Support in UIComponent

By Andrew Trice
August 26, 2009

If you ever build your own custom components that extend UIComponent, you'll no doubt run into this scenario... Even if you add event listeners for keyboard events, or if you override the keyDownHandler function, you may find that your keyboard events aren't being handled by your component instances. Setting focusEnabled, mouseFocusEnabled, or tabEnabled don't seem to do the trick either... Don't pull your hair out! It's an easy fix. Read on to see how.

Flex + Force.com: A Powerful Combination for Building Great, Data-Driven Web Applications

By Michael Epstein
August 24, 2009

Flex and Force.com are a powerful combination for building data-driven web applications. As a faithful reader of InsideRIA, you’re probably already aware of Flex and its leading role in the evolution of rich Internet applications, but you may be less familiar with the Force.com platform. It is, in short, the same platform that underlies the well-known salesforce.com customer relationship management (CRM) and salesforce automation (SFA) software. These applications "run in the cloud," hosted on servers which are secured and maintained by salesforce.com, and accessed via the web on personal computers and mobile devices.

How I learned to stop worrying and love Flex Frameworks

By Greg Owen
August 20, 2009

I use frameworks in my Flex code, and so should you. There is some debate today about whether there is any utility in using frameworks in Flex. The argument against frameworks is generally that they are unnecessary, constrain development style, and add lots of useless overheard to applications. I use frameworks in my Flex code because I want my code to be as valuable as possible, because I want to be as profitable as possible.

Poll Results: Which Flex Frameworks would you like to see us cover at MAX?

By Rich Tretola
August 16, 2009

We asked you which frameworks you would like to see discussed at Adobe MAX this year and you responded with Parsley, Mate, Swiz, and Pure MVC as the top frameworks you would like to hear more about. Surprisingly Cairngorm came...

Flex's coopetition: HTML5

By Mike Slinn
August 12, 2009

It won't be ready for prime time this year, and probably not next year, but the HTML5 specification is firming up and current implementations suggest a that HTML5 will be a strong platform for RIAs. People familiar with other versions...

Do You Speak Flex? Part One: Building a Team

0 August 12, 2009

With the release of Flex 4, misconceptions abound regarding Flex, and there has been a general reluctance to build Flex development teams internally. These are that Flex resources are scarce, and that teams need years of experience, must be large, expensive, and comprised of all-stars. However, I’ve found that, with a few exceptions, the opposite is generally true and that nearly any organization can afford to build an effective team.

Summer of Flash Episode 5 - Rich Tretola

By Garth Braithwaite
August 12, 2009

Rich Tretola joins us to talk about how InsideRIA works and his sessions at MAX. We also discussed the need for choice in Flex frameworks (read: micro-architectures) and some of Flash Player on mobile devices.

K.I.S.S. My App

By Tim Todish
August 10, 2009

You're probably familiar with the acronym K.I.S.S, Keep It Simple, Stupid. Let's face it, our lives our complicated enough. As designers and developers of software applications we have a unique opportunity to reduce some of those complexities by building applications that help make people's lives easier but also by making those apps as simple and easy to use as possible.

Production Topics: Flex Profiling - Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend

By Colin Moock
August 6, 2009

This video excerpt is from Colin Moock's Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend Course 2. In Course 2 of this unique DVD training series, you'll learn intermediate to advanced ActionScript 3.0 programming concepts. World-renowned ActionScript guru and educator Colin Moock presents...

Production Topics: Flex Debugging Mode - Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend

By Colin Moock
August 6, 2009

This excerpt is from Colin Moock's Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend Course 2. In Course 2 of this unique DVD training series, you'll learn intermediate to advanced ActionScript 3.0 programming concepts. World-renowned ActionScript guru and educator Colin Moock presents this intimate...

New Poll: Which Flex Frameworks would you like to see us cover at MAX?

By Rich Tretola
August 6, 2009

InsideRIA has some exciting news about Adobe MAX that we will be sharing very soon. In preparation for one of our planned sessions, we would like to know which Flex Frameworks (micro-architectures) you would like to see us debate in...

Getting started with Spark skins: Transitions

By Jason Fincanon
August 5, 2009

Picking up where my last post about Spark skins left off, this post will show you how to add transitions to the skin of our previously created button.

Summer of Flash Episode 3 - Simeon Bateman

By Garth Braithwaite
July 31, 2009

This episode we get a chance to chat with Simeon Bateman and pick his brain on his recent projects. We discussed continuous integration servers, the name space change in Flex 4, and the open source nature of Adobe Flex.

Printing with Flex

By Jan Poehland
July 23, 2009

Printing is not really a strong point of Flex. Have you ever tried to print complex documents? Do reports always look fuzzy and take forever to actually print? On the quest to print high-quality reports with Flex I wanted to...

Getting started with Spark skins

By Jason Fincanon
July 20, 2009

One of the new features in Flex 4 is Spark skins. The spark.skins package is part of the Spark namespace and, as noted in Adobe's Flex 4 LiveDocs, "Custom Spark skins are MXML files that define the logic, graphic elements, and other objects that make up a skin for a Spark component." So what does that mean to you? I hope to get you started in learning the answer to that question in this post.

Flex 4 Overview Slides Posted

By RJ Owen
July 17, 2009

A few weeks ago I gave a talk with Andy McIntosh at Adobe Camp Denver on some of the new features in Flex 4. The conference was fantastic. I've embedded the slides and links to our examples in this entry. Enjoy!

Flash On The Beach - Interview with John Davey

By Dan Thomas
July 14, 2009

Flash on the Beach is fast approaching this year, tickets are selling out faster than ever and we're promised this is going to be the best yet! But don't just take my word for it, I managed to wrangle a few minutes from John Davey, organiser and head honcho of Flash on the Beach, to ask him a few questions about why this is one of the hottest events on the conference calendar.

Axiis - An Introduction and Tutorial

By Tom Gonzalez
July 3, 2009

This purpose of this article is to introduce developers and data visualization specialists to Axiis, which is an open source data visualization project based on Adobe Flex and Actionscript 3. While you do not have to be an expert in Flex Builder or ActionScript 3, having experience in both will make understanding this tutorial easier. Throughout the article I will assume you are comfortable with the fundamentals of building an application with Flex, and understand some of the primary language constructs embodied within ActionScript 3 and the Flex SDK, primarily MXML and Binding.

Five Reasons Architecture Matters

By Dan Thomas
June 19, 2009

This post is an attempt to help justify the sometimes seemingly unappreciated efforts of good application architecture. Sometimes project managers/clients can question time spent on architecture and it can be hard to bring out appropriate explanations on the spot. This...

Scotch On The Road is waking up the European ColdFusion community!

By Cyril Hanquez
June 3, 2009

Scotch on the Rocks, established in 2005, is a conference concentrating on all things ColdFusion, Flex & AIR: Incorporating keynotes, technical sessions and tutorials, as well as the most innovative and successful experts and companies, Scotch on the Rocks is a...

Flash Builder 4 & Flash Catalyst Public Betas

By Rich Tretola
June 1, 2009

Flash Builder 4 & Flash Catalyst are now officially available to the masses. Yes, the public beta has begun at http://labs.adobe.com/. Want to learn more about these new products? Check out our new features published today: Overview of Flex 4...

Overview of Flex 4 (Gumbo)

By Sean Moore
May 28, 2009

The goal of this article is to help you gain a better understanding of the stimulating new features and improvements that will be available in Flex 4, code named “Gumbo.” Exciting changes are being made to the Flex framework that: enable sophisticated and powerful skinning capabilities, increase productivity for developers and harness the myriad of new features available in Flash Player 10. Example source code is included with the article to demonstrate the new skinning features coming in Flex 4.

WebDU 2009: that geeky rock concert

By Justin J. Moses
May 23, 2009

It may surprise you to know that the Pacific region has its fair share of web talent. Having just been surrounded by most of them for the past couple of days, I can attest to the fact. This year was my first WebDU, and I'm still tingling.

Flex 4 & Custom Layouts

By Andrew Trice
May 21, 2009

If you haven't been keeping up with the latest on Flex 4, this is something that you will certainly want to look into. One of the new features of the Flex 4/Spark component architecture is that you can customize the layout of a container without altering the container itself. All you need to do is define a custom layout. Read more to see how...

360Flex Conference Review

By Brian Rinaldi
May 20, 2009

I am sitting here waiting for my departure a little early from the 360Flex in Indianapolis, disappointed that I have to miss some excellent sessions this afternoon. This was my first 360Flex but I will not be missing any in the future if I have a choice. The content was top-notch and this is by far the single best place to network with other Flex developers, including most of the prominent names you may know well already. Tom Ortega and John Wilker really put on a great show that mixes the best content of a typical conference with a very relaxed and informal feel that is enjoyable.

Adobe User Group Tour (Flex 4, Flash Catalyst, and ColdFusion 9)

By Garth Braithwaite
May 20, 2009

There are some great RIA conferences but if you don't live close to the events it can be tough to take advantage of them. Luckily there are a ton of User Groups (i.e. Adobe User Groups) to bring it closer...

Announcing InsideRIA Conference

By Rich Tretola
May 18, 2009

Yep, you heard correctly in association with the 360Conferences guys, InsideRIA is having its first conference August 23-24, 2009 in San Jose, CA at the eBay facilities. This 2-day event will into the nitty gritty of developing for the Rich...

Template-Based Application Design With Flex

By Jan Poehland
May 15, 2009

Very often the layout and design process of rich Internet applications is detached from the actual application development itself. The application layout is developed from scratch for every new application or designers generate the layout independently. While this is certainly...

Building an Enterprise Framework - Enterprise Development with Flex, Part 2

By Yakov Fain
May 13, 2009

Note: This is excerpted from Chapter 3 of the Rough Cuts version of Enterprise Development with Flex. This book is still in progress, and you can get access to it now. Get the Enterprise Development with Flex Rough Cut Rough...