Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java: Secrets of the Masters

736 Pages·2007·15.35 MB·English

by  Yakov Fain

Rich Internet Applications
RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS
with Adobe® Flex ™& Java™
Secrets of the Masters
ADOBE®
Written by Yakov Fain, Dr. Victor Rasputnis, & Anatole Tartakovsky WITH
A
FLEX ™ & JAVA™
FREE DVD ”I think that Flex for rich Internet client appli- Dr. Victor Rasputnis is a
cations can become a major player. Its easy Managing Principal of Farata D
cross-platform support removes many pro- Systems. He’s responsible for
$695
grammer headaches, the component model providing architectural design,
offers powerful library reuse, and the result implementation management O
produces a very comfortable and appealing and mentoring to companies migrating to
VALUE interface for the client to use. Because this XML Internet technologies. He holds a PhD
book teaches you how to use Flex along with in computer science from the Moscow
B
the dominant server-side development tool Institute of Robotics. FREE DVD
(Java), it’s an ideal introduction if you want to
10 SESSIONS
learn how to leverage these technologies.” Anatole Tartakovsky is a E
$695
- Bruce Eckel, author, Thinking in Java Managing Principal of Farata
Systems. He’s responsible for ®
“The authors have been key contributors the creation of frameworks F VALUE
to Flex’s success via their participation in and reusable components.
our beta programs, posts to community fo- Anatole has authored a number of books L
rums, public presentations, and blog post- and articles on AJAX, XML, Internet and
ings… There’s a lot to learn, but Yakov, client/server technologies. He holds an E
Victor, and Anatole have done an excellent MS in mathematics.
job introducing you to everything you need
X
to know to build a robust application.”
– Matt Chotin, Adobe, Product Manager The book is aimed squarely at IT devel-
opers. It is not a replacement for the ™
&
Yakov Fain is a Mangaging documentation or tutorials that ship with
Principal of F arata Sys- Flex. Instead, this book is a practical course
tems. He’s responsible for that takes you into the world of real-life

the Enterprise Architecture RIA applications. After a brief introduction
J
Learn how to build the next and emerging technologies. to Flex programming, the authors give you
Yakov has authored several Java books, a master class on the process of creating A
generation of Web applications
dozens of technical articles, and his blog reusable Flex components; show you how
from the experts.
is hugely popular. Sun Microsystems to create a slideshow and custom charts; V
has awarded Yakov with the title Java give you practical advice on building
This DVD also contains the Champion. He leads the Princeton Java large enterprise applications and debug- A
Users Group. Yakov holds a BS and MS in ging techniques; and explain the internal
files required to run the sample
Applied Math and is an Adobe Certified communication between Flex and external ™
programs in this book.
Flex Instructor. applications like Microsoft Excel.
Written by
Yakov Fain
Dr. Victor Rasputnis
Anatole Tartakovsky
$119 US
Guest chapter by Ben Stucki
Written by
www.theriabook.com Yakov Fain www.theriabook.com
The World’s Leading i-Technology Publisher Dr. Victor Rasputnis The World’s Leading i-Technology Publisher ForewoRrIdAs WbyIT BH rAuDcOeB EE cFLkEeXl A&N DM JaAtVtA C hotini
Anatole Tartakovsky
RIA Book Cover_LFC ver2.indd 1 2/27/07 1:11:16 PM
ii RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA
RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS
ADOBE®
WITH
FLEX TM& JAVATM
SECRETS OF THE MASTERS
First Edition
WRITTEN BY YAKOV FAIN, DR. VICTOR RASPUTNIS & ANATOLE TARTAKOVSKY
SYS-CON Media
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA iii
Rich Internet Applications with Adobe® Flex™ & Java™
Secrets of the Masters
1st Edition
SYS-CON Books/2007
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 by SYS-CON Media
Managing Editor: Nancy Valentine
Cover Design: Abraham Addo
Layout and Design: Abraham Addo
Produced by SYS-CON Media
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical including photocopy or any information storage or
retrieval system, without written permission. For further information
about SYS-CON Books and magazines write:
SYS-CON Media, 577 Chestnut Ridge Road, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677.
Adobe and Adobe products are either registered trademark or trademarks of Adobe
Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Java and Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc., in the United States and other countries
Throughout this book, tradenames and trademarks of some companies and products
have been used, and no such uses are intended to convey endorsement of or other
affiliations with the book.
SYS-CON, the editors, and the authors of this book specifically disclaim all other
warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to the sample code,
applications or programs, the program listings in the book, and/or the techniques
described in the book, and in no event shall SYS-CON, the editors and/or the authors
be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not
limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
ISBN 0-9777622-2-X
Published and printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
iv RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA
RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA v
vi RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
About the Authors
Yakov Fain is a Managing Principal of Farata Systems. He’s responsible for the enterprise archi-
tecture and emerging technologies. Yakov has authored several Java books, dozens of technical
articles, and his blog is hugely popular. Sun Microsystems has awarded Yakov with the title Java
Champion. He leads the Princeton Java Users Group. Yakov holds a BS and an MS in Applied Math
and is an Adobe Certified Flex Instructor. You can reach him at [email protected].
Dr. Victor Rasputnis is a Managing Principal of Farata Systems. He’s responsible for providing ar-
chitectural design, implementation management, and mentoring to companies migrating to XML
Internet technologies. He holds a PhD in computer science from the Moscow Institute of Robotics.
You can reach him at [email protected].
Anatole Tartakovsky is a Managing Principal of Farata Systems. He’s responsible for the creation of
frameworks and reusable components. Anatole has authored a number of books and articles on
AJAX, XML, the Internet, and client/server technologies. He holds an MS in mathematics. You can
reach him at [email protected].
Ben Stucki is a software engineer at Atellis, a Washington, D.C., based firm that specializes in de-
veloping rich Internet applications and products. As part of the core development team at Atellis,
Ben mixes his knowledge of back-end application development and interactive user interfaces to
engineer next-generation Flex applications and components. Ben is also an active member of the
Flash and Flex communities and manages a number of open source projects.
The authors frequently blog at the following locations:
• Flex Blog: http://flexblog.faratasystems.com/
• Yakov Fain’s blog: http://yakovfain.javadevelopersjournal.com/
• Ben Stucki’s blog: http://blog.benstucki.net/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix
FOREWORDS xxi
CHAPTER 1 1
Architecture of Rich Internet Applications 1
RIA Platforms: The Major Choices 4
Adobe Flex 2 4
Java 6
WPF 7
AJAX 7
AJAX Shortcomings 8
Other RIA Solutions 10
OpenLaszlo 10
GWT 10
Nexaweb 11
Canoo 11
Backbase 11
Apollo, Desktop 2.0, and the Bright Future 12
Some Pragmatic Flex/Java Considerations 13
The Learning Curve: Reuse of Skills and Code 13
RIA WITH ADOBE FLEX AND JAVA ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS
Application Security 13
Flex GUI Performance 14
Shorter Development Cycle 14
Room for Improvement 14
Connection Management 14
Flex and Agile Development 15
Summary 16
CHAPTER 2 19
Getting Familiar with Flex 19
Free Flex 2 Ingredients 20
Downloading the Flex 2 Framework 21
Hello World in MXML 22
Specifying Compiler Options 24
Building and Deploying Applications with Ant 25
Building HelloWorld with Ant 25
Frame Rate 27
Namespaces in MXML 29
From Hello World to a Calculator 30
Adding Some ActionScript 33
The First Date with Events 34
Why ActionScript 3.0? 36
Comparing ActionScript 3.0 and Java 5 37
Flex Framework API Documentation 42
Separating Design and Development 43
Working with Display Objects in ActionScript 45
The Application Loading Process 45
Summary 47
Endnotes 47
CHAPTER 3 49
Flex Builder Development Environment 49
Installing and Configuring Flex Builder 50
Yet Another Hello World 50
Working with the Source Panel 55
Running HelloWorld 56
Building the Project 57
Flex Builder-Generated Files 57
Running Applications in Flex Builder 58
Simple Event Processing 59
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