Product Description

Is there an easier way to build and deliver rich internet applications (RIAs) other than the Flash IDE or Ajax? Absolutely. With Adobe Flex 2, the Flex 2 SDK, and this book, you have all you need to build RIAs. "Programming Flex 2" offers you plenty of practical and useful examples that reveal how and why to use a particular feature of Flex 2, and when and when not to. As part of the Adobe Developer Library, "Programming Flex 2" is the authoritative guide to this new Adobe framework. You learn to use a markup language called MXML and a vast library of off-the-shelf and highly-configurable components to build Flash-based applications that combine the immediacy of the Web with the functionality and responsiveness of desktop applications. You also discover why - with the Flash Player runtime environment and the powerful ActionScript 3.0 programming language - the possibilities with Flex 2 are nearly limitless. The topics include: Managing Layout; Working with Components; Working with Media; Managing State; Using Transitions and Effects; Working with Data; Customizing Application Appearance; Client Data Communication and Remote Data Communication; Debugging Flex Framework Applications; and Creating Custom Components. Flex may be easier to learn than the Flash IDE, but you still need a reliable guide to the framework. "Programming Flex 2" not only serves as a reference, but provides valuable and practical insight into this new technology. As you learn how to build Flex applications, you'll also discover how Flex works. This book supplies all the information you need in one convenient place.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #387378 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 472 pages

Josh Tynjala, ZeusLabs, May 2007
Programming Flex 2 is the best hard-copy source for Flex information that I've found so far.

Alain B. Renaud, TCM Reviews, May 2007
Once again, O'Reilly scores success with another brilliant resource!

James Pyles, The Linux Tutorial, June 2007
If you want to learn to develop web applications that will run in flash you've come to the right place.

Customer Reviews

Not very good
I'm afraid I don't think this book is very good. Although it often goes into advanced topics, this is very patchy, and often there are areas with very little information. This morning I wanted to look at the details of the MXML image tag, and there was hardly a mention of any details, aside from the different syntax for embedding or loading assets - important but hardly in-depth coverage, these pages are also not indexed under the word image, which directs you to a page in the introduction with no real information on it. The index is terrible. Today's experience with this book is somewhat typical. In summary - patchy (very), missing important info and with a terrible index.

Great Flex 2 Programming Book
Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex is a great book for more advanced Flex developers. This book covers many important topics like working with UI components, advanced component concepts, working with media and data, client and remote data communication just to name the few. The authors, Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott, are very experienced long-time Flash developers. They are well known in the Flash community, and are among the elite of the Flash development world. Chafic and Joey has been using Flex for a long time and it can be noticed by reader during reading this book which is full of practical leads.

This book is intended for anyone looking to learn more about Flex 2. The authors recognize that the audience for this book represents a very diverse group of people with many different backgrounds. In my opinion this book is a great resource but not for the beginners. Lots of original ActionScript and MXML code examples help reader to look deeper inside Flex 2 internals.

I definitely recommend this book!

Well written introduction into Flex
If you are new to Flex and need to do something very quick to meet the deadline, this book might not be of much use to you. This is not a reference book. After reading this book you will most certainly not know how to do everything with Flex.

Instead you will experience a very well written (although in my opinion too gentle) introduction into Flex. What can be appreciated are overall consistency, clear language and short sentences.

I'm a student of Computer Science (NL) and found examples in this book a way over simplified. What I miss in this book is real-world examples and case studies.

If you need to write a database driven Flex application that performs well in multiprocessor or possibly clustered environment you will definitely need additional books to bring you to that level.

I will still recommend this book to novices because of clarity and accessibility. This book makes something as complex as Flex look very simple and easy to use. This is however an illusion that disappears quickly once you start to develop something more complicated than a button.