Adobe Flex Developing Rich Internet Client Applications

Audience

Application Developers wanting to utilise Adobe Flex to build Internet Applications.

Prerequisites

Delegates should be experienced web developers.

Duration

3 days. Hands on.

Course Objectives

This course provides experienced application developers with hands-on, practical experience using Flex. The course introduces developers to all the primary features of Flex they’ll need to know in order to build a fully functional, well architected front end for a Rich Internet Application (RIA).

Course Content

Introducing Adobe Flex
•Understanding rich Internet applications
•Introducing the Adobe Flex product line
•The foundation of the RIA: Flash Player/Flash Virtual Machine
•Understanding the Flex application process flow
•Getting help and other resources
•Exploring the course application
Getting Started with Flex Builder
•Understanding the relationship between Eclipse and Flex Builder
•Exploring the Flex Builder interface
•Creating a project and your fi rst application
•Creating a main application page and running it
•Using debugging
•Getting help in Adobe Flex Builder
Learning Flex Fundamentals
•Creating a simple Flex application
•Creating your first Flex application
•Laying out a Flex application with containers
•Adding user interface controls
•Creating bindings between components
•Architecting an application with MXML components
•Creating properties and methods of MXML components
Handling Events
•Understanding events
•Creating event handlers using inline ActionScript
•Using inline ActionScript
•Handling events with ActionScript functions
•Placing ActionScript functions in external files
•Understanding the event object
•Implementing the addEventListener() method
Using Simple Controls
•Getting familiar with Flex controls
•Using the Button control
•Using a CheckBox Control
•Using NumericStepper controls
•Using Text controls
•Displaying images
•Adding simple controls to an application
Laying Out an Application with Containers
•Understanding Containers
•Using the Application container
•Setting an application’s layout
•Using the Panel container
•Using the Form container
•Using the Grid container
•Using Box Containers
•Using the DividedBox container
•Using the Tile container
•Container best practices
•Using the ControlBar container
•Component layout and sizing rules
Laying out an Application Using Constraint-Based Layout
•Understanding absolute positioning
•Positioning components within the Canvas container
•Positioning components inside a Canvas
•Creating a constraint-based layout using Flex Builder
•Creating a constraint-based layout in MXML
•Using constraint-based layouts with nested components
Using View States for Application Design
•Understanding view states
•Creating two states for the Contact page
•Controlling view states
•Reviewing the generated MXML code
•Creating view states that include custom components states
Creating Application Navigation
•Understanding navigator containers
•Using the LinkBar container
•Using the TabBar container
•Using the ViewStack container
•Navigating the Café Townsend application using the ViewStack and TabBar container
•Using the TabNavigator container
•Using the Accordion container
•Using ButtonBar & ToggleButtonBar
•Using the ApplicationControlBar container
Customizing the Application
•Customizing Flex application look and feel
•Using the Styles API to change look-and-feel
•Using theme styles
•Changing the look and feel of the Café Townsend application
•Applying behaviors to components
•Applying transitions to view states
Using MXML and ActionScript Data Models
•Using the MVC design pattern
•Creating an MXML data model
•Using ActionScript classes as a data model
•Instantiating an Object in MXML from an ActionScript class
•Creating an ActionScript constructor with parameters
•Defining class methods
Exchanging Data Between Components Using Custom Events
•Understanding the problem with bindings
•Using a binding to get data from a component
•Creating custom events
•Creating, dispatching and handling a custom event
•Sending data with a custom event
Retrieving XML Data with HTTPService
•Retrieving XML data at runtime
•Handling results
•Retrieving data at runtime with HTTPService
•Handling results using an event handler
•Handling faults
•Making HTTP requests to different domains
Looping Through Data Using a Repeater
•Understanding the Repeater component
•Using dataProvider data in repeated controls
•Dynamically creating components using a Repeater
•Using Repeater data in ActionScript
•Referencing repeated components
Displaying Data Using the DataGrid
•Using the DataGrid control
•Displaying Simple XML Data in a DataGrid
•Specifying DataGrid columns
•Specifying DataGrid columns
•Formatting DataGrid columns
•Using item renderers and item editors
•Using the TileList and HorizontalList
•Using events and selected items with list-based components