Table of Contents | Adobe Flex 2: Training from the Source

Adobe Flex 2: Training from the Source, 1/e
By Jeff Tapper, James Talbot, Matt Boles, Ben Elmore, Mike Labriola
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Publisher: Adobe Press
Pub Date: October 20, 2006
Print ISBN-10: 0-321-42316-X
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-321-42316-0
Pages: 624

Table of Contents | Index

Bios

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Lesson 1. Understanding Rich Internet Applications

Understanding the Evolution of Computer Applications

Breaking away from the Page-based Architecture

Identifying the Advantages of Rich Internet Applications

RIA Technologies

Lesson 2. Getting Started

Getting Started with Flex Application Development

Creating a Project and an MXML Application

Understanding the Flex Builder 2 Workbench

Running Your Application

Creating a Second Application Page and Working in Design Mode

Getting Ready for the Next Lesson

What You Have Learned

Lesson 3. Laying Out the Interface

Learning About Containers

Laying Out the E-commerce Application Using Design Mode

Working with Constraint-based Layouts

Working with View States

Laying Out an Application in Source Mode

What You Have Learned

Lesson 4. Using Simple Controls

Introducing Simple Controls

Using Flex Explorer to Learn About Simple Controls

Displaying Images

Building a Detail View

Using Data Binding to Link a Data Structure to a Simple Control

Using a Form Layout Container to Lay Out Simple Controls

Adding Radio Buttons and Date Fields to the Dashboard

What You Have Learned

Lesson 5. Handling Events and Data Structures

Introducing Handling Events and Complex Data Structures

Using the <mx:Model> Tag with a Creation Complete Event

Building a Custom ActionScript Class

Building a Method to Create an Object

Building Shopping Cart Classes

Exploring the Event Object

What You Have Learned

Lesson 6. Using Remote XML Data with Controls

Retrieving XML Data with HTTPService

Populating a List with Retrieved XML as an ArrayCollection of Objects

Populating a ComboBox Control and Programmatically Adding an Option

Using XML Data with a Tree Control

Retrieving XML Data and Transforming it into an ArrayCollection of Custom Objects

Using Data Binding with Complex Data Structures

Sorting and Manipulating Shopping Cart Data

Adding a Remove Button

What You Have Learned

Lesson 7. Creating Components with MXML

Introducing MXML Components

Creating an Update/Delete Product Component and Instantiating It

Popping Up Product Information When Clicking the Update and Delete Buttons

Creating Another Value Object

Creating a Data Manager Component for All Three Applications

Using the New Data Manager Component

Implementing Add Product Functionality

Creating and Using a Component for the Dashboard Application

What You Have Learned

Lesson 8. Using Controls and Repeaters with Data Sets

Introducing Using Data Sets

Displaying the Categories Using a HorizontalList and an itemRenderer

Displaying Grocery Products Based on Category Selection

Coding States to Display Detailed Product Information

Placing Products in the Shopping Cart

What You Have Learned

Lesson 9. Using Custom Events

Understanding the Benefits of a Loosely Coupled Architecture

Dispatching Events

Declaring Events for a Component

Identifying the Need for Custom Event Classes

Building and Using the CategoryEvent

Creating and Using the ProductEvent Class

Understanding Event Flow and Event Bubbling

What You Have Learned

Lesson 10. Creating Custom Components with ActionScript 3.0

Introducing Building a Component with ActionScript 3.0

Creating the Structure of the Class

Overriding the createChildren() Method

Overriding the updateDisplayList() Method

What You Have Learned

Lesson 11. Using DataGrids and Item Renderers

Introducing DataGrids and Item Renderers

Adding a Generic DataGrid to ChartPod

Adding HTTPService Calls to Dashboard

Displaying the Shopping Cart with a DataGrid

What You Have Learned

Lesson 12. Using Drag and Drop

Introducing the Drag and Drop Manager

Dragging and Dropping Between Two DataGrids

Dragging and Dropping Between a DataGrid and a List

Using a NondragEnabled Component in a Drag-and-Drop Operation

Dragging a Grocery Item to the Shopping Cart

What You Have Learned

Lesson 13. Implementing Navigation

Introducing Navigation

Using a TabNavigator in the Data-entry Application

Adding a Home Page and Checkout Page in the E-commerce Application

Creating the First Step of the Checkout Process Displayed by a ViewStack

Completing the Checkout Process Using the ViewStack

What You Have Learned

Lesson 14. Using Formatters and Validators

Introducing Formatters and Validators

Using a Formatter Class to Display Currency Information in the E-commerce Application

Using Validator Classes

Using Regular Expressions to Validate Data (Part 1)

Using Regular Expressions to Validate Data (Part 2)

Building a Custom Validator Class

What You Have Learned

Lesson 15. Using the History Manager

Introducing History Management

Implementing History Management within a Navigator Container

Building a Custom History Manager

What You Have Learned

Lesson 16. Customizing the Look and Feel of a Flex Application

Applying a Design with Styles and Skins

Applying Styles

Skinning Components

What You Have Learned

Lesson 17. Accessing Server-side Objects

Introducing Server-side Objects

Using the Event Model Remote Server Calls

Configuring an Application to Work Locally

Using a Web Service in the Dashboard

Using a Web Service in the DataEntry Application

Uploading Files to the Server

Centralizing Web Service Access

Using Remote Object to Save an Order

Mapping ActionScript Objects to Server Objects

What You Have Learned

Lesson 18. Charting Data

Exploring Flex Charting Components

Laying Out the Initial Charts

Populating Charts

Adding Horizontal and Vertical Axes to Line and Column Charts

Adding Legends to the Charts

Limiting the Labels Shown on an Axis

Interacting with Charts

Adding Chart Events

Adding Animations to the Charts

Customizing the Look of Charts with Styles

What You Have Learned

Lesson 19. Introducing Adobe Flex Data Services

Introducing Flex Data Services (FDS)

Installing the Adobe FDS

Creating a Flex Builder Project with FDS

Using the Flex Proxy Service

Creating a Named Proxy Service Destination

What You Have Learned

Lesson 20. Pushing Data with Adobe Flex Data Services

Understanding Flex Message Services

Creating a New Project in Flex Builder

Understanding How the Flex Message Service Works

Enabling RemoteObject Calls to a ColdFusion Server

Configuring a Message Destination

Using the <mx:Consumer> Tag

What You Have Learned

Lesson 21. Synchronizing Data with Adobe Flex Data Services

Introducing the Data Management Service

Configuring Data Management Services

Creating the Data Management CFCs

Using Data Management Service Data in an MXML Application

Creating and Deleting with the Data Management Service

Where to Go from Here

What You Have Learned

Lesson 22. Creating Transitions and Behaviors

Introducing Behaviors and Transitions

Implementing Effects on a Component

Adding Effects to View States

What You Have Learned

Lesson 23. Printing From Flex

Introducing Flex Printing

Printing for the First Time from Flex

Using the PrintDataGrid in a Nonvisible Container

Building the Printable View in a Separate Component

Scaling the Printed Output

Printing a Receipt from the Checkout Process

What You Have Learned

Lesson 24. Using Shared Objects

Introducing Shared Objects

Building a SharedObject to Store Shopping Cart Data

Reading Data from an Existing Shared Object

What You Have Learned

Lesson 25. Debugging Flex Applications

Introducing Debugging Techniques

Watching Server-Client Data Exchange

Learning More About the Debugger

Handling Errors with try-catch

What You Have Learned

Appendix A. Setup Instructions

Installing Flex Products

Installing Lesson Files

Installing the ColdFusion Extensions for Adobe Flex Builder 2

Starting Flex Data Services and ColdFusion

Installing Flash Debug Player

Index