Vichu- For the greater good....

Okay.... now getting directly into the core of the discussion...As specified in my earlier post, the bottom line of Flex was to provide a great,effective and efficient RIA's , which can indeed be provided by Flash also. What is the specific need of a new Framework for just building a rich internet app?

This indeed is one of the most common question that Flash designers have, and also a good one because, when there is already an established product in the market, for building RIA's then why go for a new product and spoil its market?

This question is a must answer because this decides what makes Flex different from Flash.This might give you a clear idea whether to choose Flash or Flex for your RIA project.

Flex is also a Flash-based technology, but to be more specific.....Flex is not designed to make advertisements and banners.It is fundamentally used to design web app , a web app which looks more as a desktop application.



So if you are more of a designer than a developer then Flash is the tool you must work on, meaning that Flex is all about developing RIA not just designing them.So if your project is a design oriented one then Flex is not the correct tool for you.So all that we discuss here are under the impression that you are a developer not a designer!!!

I now get into the prerequisites for Flex

• The first thing you need when you want to know Flex is that ,you need to enjoy programming.
• Flex basically uses two languages namely MXML and Actionscript 3.0, although it is not necessary to know them , if you are familiar to Object Oriented Concepts then it is not really tough to program in actionscript. All you need to know is the basic syntax of actionscript.
• MXML is actually a XML markup language which is used to define the basic components in the application.This makes flex concentrate on UI and programming saperately instead of embedding everything in progamming language.

Flex API consists of the following packages and softwares

Opensource Components of Flex :

1. Flex Compiler
2. Flex Framework
3. Flex SDK

Non-Open Source components :

1. Flex Builder (or) Eclipse Plugin
2. Flex Charting
3. Live Cycle Data services
   

In the next series of my post i'll elaborate on each and every components specified.Till then its Vichu signing off!!!...

Okay now...as i've said in my previous post, i now start the real technical aspect of so called Flex.....So...get ready to flex urself!!!.....

I dont want this post to get that big....bcos i'll have to handle the nerve of my readers....i'll post this in two different ones!!!.

Before we start up....let me tell you for what is Flex mostly used.....

Flex is generally opted for those application(Both web and desktop App's) which require a great user interface(For Desktop App's) and awesome RIA's(Rich Internet Applications for web applications)...This is the main bottom line of the origin and the development of Flex...And as always Adobe being one of the front runners in the field of user interface enhancement and the efficient graphic applications, tried their hands on the enhancement of their improvising the RIA's over the internet!!!...This lead to the development of an entirely new framework FLEX.

Flex gives you just what you need for transforming a traditional web user interface into a great user experience.And simultaneously they've even achieved a proportionate success in the field of desktop applications by using Project Apollo more Commonly called AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) .One of the most interesting feature of flex is that the output of the application is just a SWF file....the native file extension used by the Adobe Flash Player.So you need not have any complex platform to run your application...all you need to do is to have flash player...which is mostly inbuilt in most of the recent Operating Systems. In this way Flex also handles the Platform independence which most of the new frameworks rely upon......Next thing what added up to the success of FLEX is that it is a Open Source Framework!!!...meaning that you are free to use the framework and contribute to the change you need to the existing framework for its greater good!!!.....

Now as an act of getting inspiration i would now like to list out some good websites which use Flex framework to enhance their RIA's......

Sony Ericsson http://www.sonyericsson.com
MercedesBenz http://www.mbusa.com
Volkswagen UK Used Car Locator http://www.volkswagen.co.uk
Toufee Online Flash Video Maker http://www.toufee.com/

And also Yahoo Sites have now completely changed to the flex framework....ie all the new look of the yahoo is because of Flex!!!

I would like to stop this post here and continue the rest in the next post where I'll briefly describe the working of the Flex platform and in what way is it different from the normal web applications.

Hi folks....I am R.Viswanathan and i'm back with a bang.....and guess what lead to this bang....."I know flex!!!".....hahaha...seems very funny..but folks believe me its more than a tool which could take you anywhere...Its a complete package with lots of fun and programming!!!.....all you need to have if u wish to hav the same fun ....as i am having now....is just have some basic programming knowledge....else will be taken care by Flex........All the geek stuff which take ages to make it possible..in formal languages(like Java, .NET,etc...)....just takes a drag and drop in flex...and believe wad.....it just bridges the gap between the Markup languages and Scripting Languages.......Yes...Flex is such a frame work...which enables the programmer to use the efficiency and the ease of the markup language and along with that provides the advantage of the programming capability of the scripting language....which makes flex a really flexible architecture/framework



And this makes me share with all of you the magic and the essence of the new framework .....THE FLEX.....
In my next post i'll elaborate what actually is Flex in a very technical way!!!....till then...its Viswanathan AKA Vichu signing off!!!...bye!!