Introduction W
ith the recent release of Flex Builder 3, now is the perfect time to start experimenting with Rich Internet Applications, or RIAs for short. RIAs provide an easy consistent way to provide a Web 2.0 experience to anyone using your Flex applications. Because they run on the ubiquitous Flash Player, a lot of the drudgery of determining the end user’s browser is a moot point. Starting out is easy and inexpensive, as Adobe offers both a 30-day free trial for Flex Builder and unlimited use of the Software Development Kit (SDK).
The Contents This book walks the reader through all of the steps that a beginning user must tackle, including which software to install, how to install it, and how to start writing code. It’s assumed that the reader has some knowledge of how the web works and has worked with plain old HTML. The differences between using Flex, HTML, and Ajax are dissected in easy-to-understand terms. All the major starting points of developing RIAs in Flex are covered, including a detailed description of the ActionScript programming language that forms the basis for Flex applications. The Flex framework, which speeds application development time, is discussed after you’ve learned about the Flex architecture and supporting languages. Each step of the way is written to make sometimes complex concepts easy to understand. Because Flex excels at working with media assets such as video and sound combined with dynamic data to create a rich Web 2.0 experience, the book introduces the necessary concepts to create these applications. Those concepts include working with sounds and
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