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

BlazeDS


BlazeDS is a free, open source version that provides a subset of the functionality provided by LiveCycle Data Services. BlazeDS is a server-side remoting and messaging technology. Remoting simplifies communication between Flex and server-side Java by automatically serializing and de-serializing objects between Flex and Java, and vice versa. In simple words, by using BlazeDS, developers can call server-side Java methods and classes from a Flex application. By using BlazeDS, developers can create data-rich Flex applications by easily integrating with server-side Java technology and push data in real time to the Flex application.

BlazeDS, along with the Action Message Format (AMF) protocol specification, are open source. The source code is available under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL v3) from http://opensource.adobe.com/blazeds. The AMF is a compact binary data transfer protocol which increases application's data-loading performance. AMF binary data format is up to 10 times...