This is a four-day, hands-on introduction to developing rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the Adobe Flash platform using the Adobe [Apache] Flex 4.x framework. Late in 2011, the name of Adobe Flex changed to Apache Flex when the SDK was placed into the Apache Software Foundation. Now, the SDK is truly open source with development driven by community members in a meritocracy. The official Adobe Flex courseware is used in this course because the language has not changed significantly. Android Programmers, iPad Programmers, iPhone Programmers, and HTML5 Developers can learn Flex and deploy to multiple platforms with a single set of code.
Tuition:
Dates:
- May 14 – 17, 2012
- Jun 11 – 14, 2012
- Jul 23 – 26, 2012
- Aug 13 – 16, 2012
- Sep 10 – 13, 2012
- Oct 15 – 18, 2012
- Nov 12 – 15, 2012
- Dec 10 – 13, 2012
Class Information
Times:
- 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with intermittent 10 min. breaks and 1 hour for lunch
Duration:
- Four (4) day instructor-led training
Format:
Emphasized topics include:
- Custom components and layout control
- Handling and extending events
- Validating and formatting data
- Navigation, animation, and visual state control
- Text and style control
- Spark component skinning
- Introduction to remote data access
- Working with typed data in DataGroup and DataGrid components
- Deploying Flex applications over the web and on AIR
Prerequisites:
This course is designed for application developers who want training to bring the power of Rich Internet Applications to their web applications. To gain the most from this class, you should:
- Be familiar with an object oriented programming language such as Java or C++.
- Be familiar with XML terminology.
Course Outline
Introducing Adobe [Apache] Flex 4.5
- Introducing the Adobe Flash Platform
- Introducing the technologies
- Building Flex applications
- Experiencing applications
- Learning more about Flex
- Understanding Flex development technologies
- Understanding the Flex framework, SDK and tool
- Understanding Adobe Flash Builder 4.5
- Understanding Flash Player Debugger Version
- Understanding Flex application deployment
- Exploring the Flash Builder interface
- Grouping projects with workspaces
- Understanding the workbench
- Understanding editors
- Understanding views
- Understanding perspectives
- Adding and configuring components in Design mode
- Creating a Flex project
- Using the New Flex Project wizard
Understanding Flex 4.5 Fundamentals
- Understanding Adobe [Apache] Flex namespaces
- Understanding how namespaces translate into Flex libraries
- Understanding Flex components
- Assigning component properties
- Adding images
- Laying out and styling with Flash Builder
- Setting component properties
- Setting styles using a CSS style sheet
- Compiling and running an application
- Compiling the application in Flash Builder
- Running the application
- Creating custom components
- Controlling component layout in containers
- Defining and using a custom component
- Introducing skinning
- Defining a skin class
- Applying a skin class
- Accessing and using structured data within a custom component
- Declaring non-visual objects in MXML
- Defining inline event handlers
- Generating event handler functions
- Introducing data binding
- Implementing data binding
- Declaring and using bindable properties
- Passing data to an embedded control through a custom component property
- Updating visual controls using dynamic data
- Capturing the current item in a list control
- Using data binding to dynamically update visual controls
- Adding and removing event listeners using ActionScript
Introducing Object Oriented Programming
- Introducing OOP terminology
- Understanding classes
- Understanding instances and objects
- Understanding class relationships
- Understanding MXML classes
- Exploring the Flex framework classes
- Creating class instances
- Extending the Flex framework classes
- Creating a class property
- Creating the property
- Controlling access
- Creating and using a public property
- Writing a class definition in ActionScript
- Creating a class
- Packaging a class
- Naming a class
- Understanding the constructor
- Creating class properties
- Assigning property values through the constructor
- Making properties or classes bindable
- Creating instances of an ActionScript class
- Creating class methods
Understanding Components and Layouts
- Introducing visual components
- Introducing Spark vs MX components
- Understanding components
- Introducing Spark layout classes
- Defining the layout property
- Understanding the BasicLayout class
- Understanding the HorizontalLayout class
- Understanding the VerticalLayout class
- Understanding the TileLayout class
- Custom layout classes
- Introducing the Spark container classes
- Understanding how the containers work
- Understanding the Spark containers
- Reviewing the Application container
- Introducing the Group container
- Introducing the Panel container
- Introducing the BorderContainer
- Sample application layout
- Defining layout properties
- Using constraints to control component layout
- Understanding constraint-based layout basics
- Rules to control component layout
- Constraint-based vs. traditional container layout
- Visually assigning anchors
- Adding scrollbars to containers
- Implementing the Scroller class
Handling Events
- Understanding events
- Handling framework events
- Handling user events
- Implementing event handlers
- Using inline ActionScript in MXML
- Creating ActionScript event handler functions
- Defining a function in an MXML document
- Creating functions in external files
- Understanding the event object
- Introducing the event object
- Exploring event object properties
- Datatyping the event object
- Understanding event bubbling
- Distinguishing currentTarget and target
- Introducing event bubbling
- Adding event listeners with ActionScript
Using the Form Container
- Using the Form container
- Introducing the Form components
- Creating a Form custom component
- Customizing the FormItem container display
- Using sequence labels
- Using help content
- Using prompts with text controls
- Using a custom required icon
- Displaying the Spark Form in a stacked layout
- Creating a Form with the stacked layout using CSS
Validating and Formatting Data
- Using formatters
- Introducing MX formatters
- Introducing Spark formatters
- Defining formatters
- Using formatters
- Validating form data
- Introducing MX validators
- Introducing Spark validators
- Creating a validator with MXML
- Creating a validator with ActionScript
- Handling required values
- Triggering validation with events
- When validation fails
- Using a custom error icon
- Using the Spark NumberValidator class
- Triggering validation with ActionScript
- Suppressing automatic validation
- Using the validate() method
- Triggering multiple validators
Controlling Navigation
- Understanding MX navigator containers
- Controlling container display
- Introducing the MX navigator containers
- Using the ViewStack container
- Understanding ViewStack basics
- Navigating with the MX LinkBar control
- Navigating with the Spark TabBar and ButtonBar controls
- Displaying and resizing the ViewStack child containers
- Deferring instantiation of ViewStack child containers
- Using a Spark container inside MX navigator containers
- Creating custom navigation for the ViewStack container
- Setting the active ViewStack child container
- Enabling buttons dynamically
- Using the TabNavigator container
- Using the Accordion container
Controlling Application State
- Understanding view states
- Introducing view states
- Creating view states in Design mode
- Creating view states with code
- Controlling view states
- Introducing the currentState property
- Switching between states
Animating Components and States
- Applying effects to components
- Interacting with users using animated effects
- Understanding effect basics
- Reviewing available effects
- Defining an effect
- Playing an effect
- Creating composite effects
- Applying transitions to application state changes
- Creating transitions
- Adding and removing components during animations
Controlling Visual Display with Styling
- Creating global application styles
- Generating the styles using the Appearance view in Design mode
- Flash Builder automatically creates CSS file
- Global vs Application selector
- Defining styles and skins for components
- Creating Flex component selectors
- Create custom component selectors
- Applying a component skin via CSS
- Introducing advanced CSS selectors
- Descendent selector
- id selector
- Class selector
- Pseudo selector
Skinning Spark Components
- Introducing skinning
- Understanding Spark skins
- Setting styles inline in the MXML tags
- Introducing the skinnable Spark container classes
- Creating a skin for Spark components
- Incorporating visual elements drawn in other programs
- Introducing FXG
- Changing the default display of skin parts
- Reviewing the contentGroup skin part for containers
- Understanding a button control’s skin part
- Understanding the panel container’s skin parts
- Finding skin parts for any component
- Choosing a component to display the skin part
Implementing Advanced Skinning Techniques
- Implementing different visual states for a skin
- Understanding skin states in Button component
- Assigning properties for each state
- Adding transitions in skin states
- Animating the button states
- Accessing custom component properties from a skin
- Defining the custom property in the custom component
- Creating the skin and component contract
- Referencing the properties in the skin
- Adding scrollbars to skins
- Using the Scroller with nonskinnable containers
- Using the Scroller with skinnable containers
Accessing Remote Data
- Using HTTPService to load remote data
- Using the HTTPService class
- Process for making HTTP requests
- Retrieving data with lastResult
- Understanding the ArrayCollection results
- Using results in data bindings
- Handling returned data and faults
- Handling results
- Handling faults
- Displaying messages with an Alert pop-up
- Using result and fault handlers example
- Making HTTP requests with parameters
- Using explicit parameter passing
- Using parameter binding
- Using the Flash Builder wizards
- Understanding the CallResponder class
- Creating a master/detail form
Creating a Typed Data Model
- Understanding the need for a typed data model
- Working with a model of generic data
- Creating a model of typed data
- Understanding value objects
- Creating value objects
- Creating an ActionScript class for typed data
- Reviewing classpaths and packages
- Creating class files
- Defining class access modifiers
- Creating class constructors
- Defining class properties
- Instantiating an ActionScript class
- Populating an ArrayCollection with value objects
- Comparing ArrayCollection with ArrayList
- Understanding data bindings with value objects
- Making ActionScript class properties bindable
- Binding the view to the model
- Binding two-way
- Refactoring value objects
- Downcasting object references
Extending Events
- Understanding the problem with bindings
- The problem of using bindings
- Creating loosely coupled components
- Defining the event type
- Defining the event in the dispatching component
- Triggering the event from a user or system event
- Instantiating the event
- Dispatching the event to the main application
- Handling the event in the main application
- Extending the Event class
- Creating the extended class
- Extending the Event class
- Adding properties
- Creating the constructor
- Using the extended event class
- Using the Metadata compiler directive
- Dispatch the extended event
- Handling the event in the main application
- Dispatching a value object with the extended event
- Accommodating a value object in the extended event
- Overriding the clone method
- Passing a parameter to toggle event bubbling
Rendering Content with the DataGroup Container
- Displaying string data in an item renderer
- Understanding DataGroup container basics
- Implementing the DataGroup container
- Using the default item renderer
- Creating a custom item renderer
- Understanding the limits of the default item renderer
- Creating a custom item renderer
- Creating a nested item renderer
- Referencing an external item renderer class
- Using data in an item renderer
- Specifying how to visually render items
- Determining a renderer at runtime
- Using the Scroller with a DataGroup
- Using the SkinnableDataContainer
- Implementing the SkinnableDataContainer
- Creating the skin component
Displaying Data Using the DataGrid
- Using the DataGrid control
- Supplying data to a DataGrid control
- Specifying DataGrid control columns
- Formatting DataGrid control columns
- Setting column widths with a typical item
- Formatting data in a label function
- Creating reusable label functions
- Using item renderers and item editors
- Understanding Item renderers versus item editors
- Introducing the types of item renderers and item editors
- Creating custom item renderer and item editor components
- Using events and selected items with a DataGrid component
- Customizing the DataGrid skin
Deploying Flex and AIR Applications
- Compiling the Flex application
- Compiling automatically
- Modifying compiler settings
- Embedding the SWF in the HTML wrapper
- Understanding the runtime shared libraries
- Creating a Flex application production build
- Creating a release build
- Creating a desktop application
- Creating an AIR project
- Understanding some differences between Flex and AIR applications
- Exporting a release build
