• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Making the case for Flex - one question

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 201
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hello Tariq Ahmed, Dan Orlando, John C. Bland II & Joel Hooks,

I am a Java developer who is reasonably experienced in HTML and Javascript but new to most of the HOT web programming topics in general; new to Servlets/JSP, newer yet to AJAX - just completed a course on it, and only brushed the surface of Flex. I work with Sungard's Banner product, in case you are at all familiar with that. I mention it because "they" are just recently adding in AJAX, Flex, XML and Servlet technology into the product mix - and we'll have to support and modify it.

So, with that in mind, can you please tell me the main differences (or perhaps just difference) between Flex programming and AJAX programming? Thank you all. Regards,
 
Bartender
Posts: 10336
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Flash applications run in a stand alone player (an ActiveX control or plugin depending on your browser) so don't directly interact with the host page at all. I say don't directly - it is possible to call JavaScript or read values from the host page, but generally once the Flash application is up you can ignore the browser capabilities (or lack thereof).

So, gone is the need to know HTML, JavaScript and any data-interchange language you might use (e.g. JSON). You learn ActionScript (easy enough for anyone who is used to scripting languages) and MXML markup (again, if you are used to JSP or ASP this will be a breeze).
 
Bill Johnston
Ranch Hand
Posts: 201
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thank you Paul.

I also realize that Adobe offers a Flexbuilder IDE (Eclipse based), but that Flex can be built without it, of course.

Do the authors of the book recommend - as Adobe does - using the Flexbuilder IDE?
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 318
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A question on the same lines

Why should I, a hardcore java dude, write applications in flex, instead of swing and jnlp / java fx?
 
author
Posts: 15
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Bill Johnston wrote:Thank you Paul.

I also realize that Adobe offers a Flexbuilder IDE (Eclipse based), but that Flex can be built without it, of course.

Do the authors of the book recommend - as Adobe does - using the Flexbuilder IDE?



Flash Builder 4 is an excellent IDE. I also regularly use IntelliJ Idea for Flex development with great success. They are still working out Flex 4 support, but it has advantages and would make a Java dev that uses it very happy. That said, Flash Builder is probably the easiest route to get started with Flex development.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1211
Mac IntelliJ IDE
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Like Joel, I also use IDEA for Flex 3 development. The new 9.0.* versions have very good support for Flex development.
The only thing it lacks is a visual layout designer. For all other tasks, the IDEA support for code completion, refactoring etc. is much better than Flex Builder.
Our team has Flex Builder licenses, but the only time I use it is when I need to do some trial-and-error visual design of a Flex screen.
 
Joel Hooks
author
Posts: 15
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Sonny Gill wrote:Like Joel, I also use IDEA for Flex 3 development. The new 9.0.* versions have very good support for Flex development.
The only thing it lacks is a visual layout designer. For all other tasks, the IDEA support for code completion, refactoring etc. is much better than Flex Builder.
Our team has Flex Builder licenses, but the only time I use it is when I need to do some trial-and-error visual design of a Flex screen.



Honestly I haven't actively used the Design Mode in a long time and don't really miss it. There was some speculation that it might be removed in the next cycle in favor of Flash Catalyst. It would certainly make it easier for Adobe to update the product. I think it is a bit of a nightmare :>

IDEA has quirks, but MAN it compiles fast and I love the FlexUnit integration.
 
Bill Johnston
Ranch Hand
Posts: 201
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Joel Hooks wrote:

Sonny Gill wrote:Like Joel, I also use IDEA for Flex 3 development. The new 9.0.* versions have very good support for Flex development.
The only thing it lacks is a visual layout designer. For all other tasks, the IDEA support for code completion, refactoring etc. is much better than Flex Builder.
Our team has Flex Builder licenses, but the only time I use it is when I need to do some trial-and-error visual design of a Flex screen.



Honestly I haven't actively used the Design Mode in a long time and don't really miss it. There was some speculation that it might be removed in the next cycle in favor of Flash Catalyst. It would certainly make it easier for Adobe to update the product. I think it is a bit of a nightmare :>

IDEA has quirks, but MAN it compiles fast and I love the FlexUnit integration.



I've worked some with Eclipse and Netbeans (Java dev only thus far). Just took a look at intellijIDEA. Only the $$$ version mentions Java EE developement. I realize that we're talking Flex here, but don't you need to connect the Flex client with the Java server? If so, don't you need to $pay for IDEA? And is the Flex part a built in or an add on?
 
author
Posts: 31
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Joel Hooks wrote:

Sonny Gill wrote:Like Joel, I also use IDEA for Flex 3 development. The new 9.0.* versions have very good support for Flex development.
The only thing it lacks is a visual layout designer. For all other tasks, the IDEA support for code completion, refactoring etc. is much better than Flex Builder.
Our team has Flex Builder licenses, but the only time I use it is when I need to do some trial-and-error visual design of a Flex screen.



Honestly I haven't actively used the Design Mode in a long time and don't really miss it. There was some speculation that it might be removed in the next cycle in favor of Flash Catalyst. It would certainly make it easier for Adobe to update the product. I think it is a bit of a nightmare :>

IDEA has quirks, but MAN it compiles fast and I love the FlexUnit integration.



Heh... trust me, you're definitely not the first person to say that in regard to the visual layout designer. I think I used it a little when I first started with Flex, but can't remember the last time I switched to "Design View".
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 352
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Bill Johnston wrote:
I've worked some with Eclipse and Netbeans (Java dev only thus far). Just took a look at intellijIDEA. Only the $$$ version mentions Java EE developement. I realize that we're talking Flex here, but don't you need to connect the Flex client with the Java server? If so, don't you need to $pay for IDEA? And is the Flex part a built in or an add on?




yer..does the open source version of IDEA supports flex
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic