Appendix A. Setup Instructions

This appendix contains the requirements and instructions for you to complete the exercises in this book. It covers the following:

• Hardware requirements

• Software requirements

• Software installation

Hardware Requirements

Windows

• Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or equivalent

• 512 MB RAM (1GB of RAM recommended)

• 700 MB of available hard disk space

Macintosh

• Flex Builder for Macintosh is not available at the time this book went to the printers, but is expected shortly.

Software Requirements

• Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Pro or Windows Server 2003

• Java Virtual Machine: Sun JRE 1.4.2, Sun JRE 1.5, IBM® JRE 1.4.2

• For the Flex Builder plug-in, Eclipse 3.1.1 or 3.1.2 is required (Eclipse 3.2 is not currently supported.)

• A recent version of one of the following browsers:

  • Internet Explorer

  • Mozilla Firefox

  • Netscape Navigator

  • Opera

Note

Due to security constraints, History Management does not work in Internet Explorer when previewing a local file, meaning that it does not work when previewing local files on your hard drive. However, it will work if the file is on a web server or accessed through an HTTP URL as opposed to the file:// URL that is used during normal development. If you are using Internet Explorer you will need to preview these files from a web server. History Management does work in Firefox and Netscape browsers when previewing a local file.

• The latest version of Adobe Flash Player, or at least version 9 (During the installation of Flex Builder 2 your Flash Player will be upgraded to version 9.)

Tip

To check your Flash Player version, go to www.adobe.com, right-click the main ad banner, and select About Macromedia Flash Player; or go to www.adobe.com/software/flash/about.

Software Installation

There are three phases of the installation:

• Installing Flex products

• Installing lesson files

• Installing the ColdFusion Extensions for Adobe Flex Builder 2

Be sure to complete the installation of all required files before working through the lessons within the book.