Prepared by Stephen Olao

June 12, 2007

Rich Internet Applications
It allow to build rich applications with data and
multimedia contents, offering a high interactivity
level.
RIA is the fusion of the interactive and multimedia
user interface functionality of desktop applications
with traditional WebApps.
Under the use of the client plug-in you will develop
your WebApps one time and no one time per client
system
Rich Internet Applications
Characteristics
Expressiveness
Rich media integration
Performance / Responsiveness
Real time
Offline
Deep back-end integration
Web deployment model
Traditional WebApps problems
1. Process problems: complex WebApps often require
that the user navigates through a series of pages to
complete a single task
2. Data Problems: they do not support interactive
explorations of the data
3. Feedback Problems: they do not allow a continued
and ordered interaction without page refreshments
4. Configuration problems: many Web applications
require the configuration of a product/system from
multicriteria choices
RIA Benefits
What is Flex 2?
Flex 2 Application
Built with the Flex Framework 2
Interface defined via MXML
Logic implemented using ActionScript 3
Client-side, deployed as Flash .swf
Requires Flash Player 9 to view
Look and Feel are defined using CSS

Flex 2 Framework
MXML (Macromedia XML)
Declarative language to define User Interface
Similar to XHTML
User Interface Components
Buttons, ComboBoxes, Layout Managers, Containers,
Effects
Class Libraries
Everything in the mx.* packages
Validation Routines, Web Services, DataTypes

Flex 2 Class library
Flex Architecture
How Flex works
Flex 2 Product Line
Flex Builder 2
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Edit MXML
Edit ActionScript
Built on top of the Eclipse Platform
Pluggable architecture for anything and everything
Killer features
Integrated compiler
Code hints
Debugger
Design View
Integrated Version Control (CVS, SVN, etc.)
LiveCycle Data Services
Formerly Flex Data Services or FDS

LiveCycle Data Services
Architecture
RPC Services by LDS
WebService - The WebService component can be
used to access any Web service that complies with
the WSDL 1.1 standard
HTTPService The HTTPService component can
send HTTP GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT,
TRACE, or DELETE requests. It does not support
multi-part requests.
RemoteObjects The RemoteObject component
uses Action Message Format (AMF) to transfer data
that is a binary format and is the fastest of the RPC
Services.

Flex Compiler
mxmlc
Converts .mxml into ActionScript code
Compiles ActionScript code to .swf
compc
Similar to mxmlc
Used to create libraries
.swc archives
Similar to Java .jar files

ActionScript 3
Core of the Flex Framework
100% ECMAScript 4 compliant
Standard is still being written
Flash Player Engineers are part of standard committee
Similar to ActionScript 2, but..
Much much (much) faster
Just-in-time compiled to native machine code
Powerful new features
Native Regular Expression support
E4X syntax makes working with XML easy

ActionScript 3 Basics
Familiar syntax
Similar to C++, Java, C#, JavaScript
Dynamic Language, Weak Typing
Similar to ColdFusion
Variables can hold any type
Support for Strong Typing
Can bind variable to specific data type
Faster code execution
Easier to develop
More help from compiler
Easier to find bugs via Flash Debug Player and type errors

MXML Sample
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application
xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
horizontalAlign="center" verticalAlign="center">
<mx:Button id="myButton" label="I'm a button!" />
</mx:Application>

Sample Output:

ActionScript sample
package com.company.sample {
public class MyClass implements MyInterface {
public var firstname:String;
public var lastname:String;
public var email:String;

public function doSomething():void {
try {

} catch (e:Exception) {

}
}
}
}
Flash Player 9
New World Class Virtual Machine
- Performance (JIT Compiler)
- Reduced memory consumption
ActionScript 3
- Standard compliant (ECMAScript4)
- Strong and dynamic typing
- Runtime Error checking
- ECMAScript for XML (E4X)
Seamless Deployment
- One-click upgrade
- Full backward compatibility
Flash Player Penetration
Flash content reaches 98% of Internet viewers
Adobe Flash Player is the world's most pervasive software
platform, reaching 98% of Internet-enabled desktops in
mature markets as well as a wide range of devices.

Flex 2 Charting
Part of the Flex Framework 2, but technically a
separate product
Provides data visualization components
Pie Charts, Bar Charts, Area Charts, etc.
Made to integrate seamlessly with FES2
Remotely synchronized data
Shared dashboard

Flex 2 and AJAX together
Flex and AJAX can
communicate thru
FABridge Library
(Comes with FDS)
Thats all folks!

If you have comments and suggestions about this presentation slides, pls
contact me at poweribo@yahoo.com. Thanks!