Beginning Java and Flex: Question

[Nancy O'Connell]

This is very timely, as our application is just starting to use Flex, and I have just started a training class in Flex. I'm just wondering what are the biggest challenges that a Java Developer will face in trying to learn Flex. What are the biggest problems and most common mistakes most Java Develoeprs make in Flex? Does your book cover these?

Thanks!

[Filippo diPisa]

My book is about what you need to know to start using Hibernate, Spring, Flex and Maven together, whether you are a Java developer or a Flex developer. Probably there is more about Hibernate and Spring than there is about Flex, but this is because the Spring and Hibernate learning curve is more complex than that of Flex/Actionscript.

So that's why I didn't cover all Flex components in detail (even though I wrote an overview of the layout and form components) but I focused on the most important ones to connect Java and Flex through BlazeDS. This is the purpose of the book. I didn't introduce Flex-Mojo, Spring-Actionscript and micro architectures like Cairgorm because that was far too much information for just one book.

I explain how to configure BlazeDS in order to map Java Object to Actionscript Obejct and how to exchange real time messaging between to different applications.

I show the reader how to inegrate the Spring Security in a Flex client and how to map a data model using hibernate as ORM.

I show the reader how to use Maven to downlaod all libraries that we need to develop Flex-BlazeDs-Spring-Hibernate projects.

For my expirience even the smartes Java developers coming from Swing they find problems in configuring all these technologies all toghethers and then the have problems in redering data, creating custom components etc..

To sum up, this book is a great introduction for Flex developers that want to begin using such important frameworks as Spring an Hibernate, and for Java developers that want to have an overview of Flex, BlazeDS and Maven.

I also created a Maven archetype that allow you to create Flex-BlazeDS-Spring-Hibernate project ready to go.

[Nancy O'Connell]

Thank you very much for your reply. Your book sounds like it will help us tie in the other frameworks and technologies that we will need to use... I look forward to reading it! Thank You again!