Flex Training: Introduction to Adobe Flex 2

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Course Number: 375
Duration: 5 days
view class outline

Flex Training Overview

Accelebrate's Introduction to Adobe Flex 2 training teaches attendees how to develop rich, data-driven applications using the Flex framework.

Location and Pricing

Most Accelebrate courses are taught on-site at our clients' locations worldwide for groups of 3 or more attendees and are customized to their specific needs. Please visit our client list to see organizations for whom we have recently delivered training. These courses can also be delivered as live, private online classes for groups that are geographically dispersed or wish to save on the instructor's or students' travel expenses. To receive a customized proposal and price quote private training at your site or online, please contact us.

In addition, some courses are available as live, online classes for individuals. To see a schedule of online courses, please visit http://www.accelebrate.com/online_training/adobe.htm.

Flex Training Prerequisites

Prior object-oriented programming experience in a language such as Java, C++, C#, or VB.NET, or extensive, intensive development experience with ActionScript 2.0.

Hands-on/Lecture Ratio

This training class is 70% hands-on, 30% lecture, with the longest lecture segments lasting for 20 minutes.

Flex Training Materials

All students will receive a copy of Adobe Press' Adobe® Flex® 2 Training from the Source, as well as copies of the instructor's presentation.

Software Needed on Each PC

Sun Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 or later
Eclipse 3.1.1 or 3.1.2
Adobe Flex Builder 2
Flash Player 9
Flex 2 SDK

For further details on these requirements, please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/productinfo/systemreqs/.

Flex Training Objectives

All attendees will learn how to:

Build Flex user interfaces
Handle events and data structures
Use remote XML data with controls
Create custom components with MXML
Use custom events
Use controls, Repeaters, DataGrids, and ItemRenderers with Data Sets
Implement drag and drop
Build attractive site navigation into the application
Format and validate data
Access server side objects
Chart data

Flex Training Outline

Understanding Rich Internet Applications

Understanding the Evolution of Computer Applications
Breaking away from the Page-based Architecture
Identifying the Advantages of Rich Internet Applications
Business Managers
IT Organizations
End Users
RIA Technologies
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax)
Flash
Laszlo
Flex
Windows Presentation Foundation/XAML/Expression

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

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
Controlling View States
Laying Out an Application in Source Mode
Adding and Controlling View States with MXML

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 Contro
Using a Form Layout Container to Lay Out Simple Controls
Adding Radio Buttons and Date Fields to the Dashboard

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

Using Remote XML Data with Controls

Retrieving XML Data with HTTPService
Using ArrayCollections
Using Collections as Data Providers
Understanding Security Issues
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
Understanding E4X operators
Populating a Tree Control with XML Data
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

Creating Components with MXML

Introducing MXML Components
Understanding the Basics on How to Create a Custom Component
Creating a Custom Component Step by Step
Using Custom Components in Application Architecture
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

Using Controls and Repeaters with Data Sets

Introducing Using Data Sets
Understanding HorizontalList and TileList Components
Implementing a labelFunction
Implementing an itemRenderer
Displaying the Categories Using a HorizontalList and an itemRenderer
Displaying Grocery Products Based on Category Selection
Using a Repeater to Loop Over a Data Set
Retrieving Data from Repeated Components
Addressing Components Built by a Repeater
Understanding Performance Differences Between TileList and Repeater
Displaying Grocery Items Based on Category
Coding States to Display Detailed Product Information
Placing Products in the Shopping Cart

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
Using ProductEvent to Remove a Product from the Cart
Using ProductEvent to Add a Product to the Cart
Understanding Event Flow and Event Bubbling

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
Creating a Button in ActionScript
Using the addChild() Method to Add the Button to your Component
Understanding chrome and rawChildren
Using addChild on rawChildren to Add Elements to the Chrome
Overriding the updateDisplayList() Method

Using DataGrids and ItemRenderers

Introducing DataGrids and ItemRenderers
Adding a Generic DataGrid to Chart Pod
Adding HTTPService Calls to Dashboard
Displaying the Shopping Cart with a DataGrid
Add Inline Editing Control for DataGridColumn
Create an MXML Item Renderer for Displaying the Product
Create an Inline MXML Item Renderer for Displaying the Remove Button
Update ShoppingCartItem with Set and Get Functions

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 Nondrag–Enabled Component in a Drag-and-Drop Operation
Dragging a Grocery Item to the Shopping Cart

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

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

Using the History Manager

Introducing History Management
Implementing History Management within a Navigator Container
Building a Custom History Manager

Customizing the Look and Feel of a Flex Application

Applying a Design with Styles and Skins
Applying Styles
Setting Styles Inline with Tag Attributes
Understanding Style Inheritance
Setting Styles with the <mx:Style> Tag
Setting Styles with CSS files
Skinning Components
Graphical Skins
Programmatic Skins

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
Handling Web Service Results
Calling Web Service Methods
Using a Web Service in the DataEntry
Uploading Files to the Server
Centralizing Web Service Access
Using Remote Object to Save an Order
Update Flex Compiler Command
Raise Order Confirmed Event in the Checkout Process
Create and Call Remote Object
Pass in ShoppingCart into Checkout Component
Change State of the Application Back to Welcome
Mapping ActionScript Objects to Server Objects

Charting Data

Exploring Flex Charting Components
Available Charts
Chart Packaging
Parts of a Chart
Laying Out the Initial Charts
Populating Charts
Specifying the Charts Series
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
Mouse Over Events
Click Events
Adding Chart Events
Adding Animations to the Charts
Customizing the Look of Charts with Styles

Conclusion