Book Image

Flex 3 with Java

Book Image

Flex 3 with Java

Overview of this book

Flex 3 is a great technology for developing Rich Internet Applications for the Web as well as for the desktop. If you are a developer looking to design great-looking and sophisticated user interfaces that resemble desktop-based applications, and want to utilize an existing server technology such as Java to develop RIAs, this book is for you. Targeting developers who want to get started with Adobe Flex 3 programming, this simple and clear handbook introduces Flex technology quickly and straightforwardly. Utilizing your existing knowledge of Java, it gives you the insight and hands-on experience to program with Flex 3. This book provides comprehensive information on various aspects of Flex 3 and ActionScript 3.0. These include developing simple applications, handling events, creating custom components and events, using RPC services, integration with Java and BlazeDS, styling and formatting, and how to package and deploy Flex applications. You will start with downloading, installing and configuring Flex 3 SDK and Flex Builder 3 and learn basic concepts such as what MXML and ActionScript are, understanding UI components, controls, compilers, and more. Further you will develop simple applications and slowly advance into more depth where you will learn advanced concepts such as creating custom components, debugging, integrating with Java, using RPC services, styling, internationalizing, and deploying Flex applications, and more. One of the things you're really going to love about this book is that you will develop a full-blown e-commerce application using a combination of Flex 3, ActionScript 3.0, BlazeDS 3.2, and Java. At the end of the book you will have the knowledge and experience needed to develop Rich Internet Applications.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Flex 3 with Java
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
8
Communicating with Server-side Java

Containers


Now that you have understood the general Flex application anatomy and the MXML syntax, let's understand the core of Flex's user interface design—containers.

Containers are Flex components in which other UI elements can be placed. These containers have a special property to control how child elements are laid out inside them. In other words, you can use containers to control the sizing and positioning of all its children UI elements.

Containers have predefined layouts and navigational rules, which makes the laying out of user interfaces easier. All containers except Canvas support automatic layouts. The canvas container uses absolute positioning (using x and y coordinates) to lay out child UI elements. You will learn more about automatic layouts later.

In this section, we will focus on the following types of containers:

  • Layout containers

  • Navigation containers

It is very important to understand these containers to start designing Flex application user interfaces. So make sure you...