The first book to completely demystify leading-edge component development with the Adobe Flex 3 platform - How to build components for Flex and AIR applications using ActionScript 3.0 and Adobe's powerful MXML user interface markup language - Covers expert techniques most books ignore, including component metadata, error handling, documentation, and creating Flex components in Flash using the Flex Component Kit - By Mike Jones, world-renowned Flex development consultant and speaker Summary Adobe Flex 3 offers a powerful new framework that web developers can use to quickly produce richer, more immersive, higher-value solutions. To help developers build the most powerful next-generation web applications, Adobe structured the Flex framework around components, and allowed developers to extend Flex's capabilities with their own components. However, few Flex developers know how to create these custom components. Developing Flex Components is the first book to completely demystify that process. Renowned Flex developer and speaker Mike Jones begins by presenting a quick overview of Flex and Flex Builder aimed at ActionScript 3.0 Flash developers. Jones explains the anatomy of a Flex component, including both visual and non-visual components, and introduces the components that come with the Flex framework. Next, one step at a time, he walks through building new Flex components that leverage the platform's powerful capabilities and can be incorporated into both Flex and AIR applications. Jones covers topics that are rarely addressed in Flex books, including component metadata, events and error handling, data binding, skinning, styling, and creating Flex components in Flash using the Flex Component Kit. He also presents a full chapter on writing and maintaining component documentation, as well as an appendix of additional resources for Flex component developers.
Author(s): Mike Jones
Edition: 1
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 337
Table of Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 18
I: Overview and Installation......Page 26
Flex......Page 28
Flex Development Versus Flash Authoring......Page 30
Flash Builder......Page 31
Creating Your First Project......Page 37
Summary......Page 41
Components: A Potted History......Page 42
Using Flex Components......Page 44
Component Family Tree......Page 45
Summary......Page 64
Component Life Cycle......Page 66
Understanding the Structure......Page 68
UIComponent......Page 76
IMXMLObject......Page 80
Template Components......Page 81
Summary......Page 85
II: Developing Components......Page 86
MyFirstComponent......Page 88
MyFirstComponent (Revised)......Page 99
Summary......Page 107
What Are States?......Page 108
Flex’s View States......Page 109
Creating States in MXML......Page 111
Working with States in ActionScript......Page 115
Adding States to Components......Page 126
Summary......Page 128
Effects......Page 130
Working with Effects......Page 136
Transitions......Page 144
Summary......Page 148
What Is Metadata?......Page 150
How Do I Use Metadata?......Page 151
Working with Metadata......Page 153
Metadata in MXML......Page 165
Creating Your Own Metadata Tags......Page 166
Summary......Page 170
Why Events?......Page 172
Dispatching Events......Page 175
Custom Events......Page 177
Countering Events......Page 181
Summary......Page 184
Data Providers......Page 186
Managing Data......Page 188
Displaying Data......Page 202
Summary......Page 210
Spark Skin Life Cycle......Page 212
Working with SkinnableComponent......Page 214
Creating Component Skins......Page 218
FXG and MXMLG......Page 219
Spark Skins and Halo Components......Page 225
Using CSS......Page 227
Summary......Page 230
Picking a Starting Point......Page 232
Implementing States......Page 237
Implementing Transitions......Page 238
Controlling Component Resizing......Page 240
Creating Component Visual Assets......Page 243
Properties and Methods......Page 245
Metadata......Page 246
Events......Page 247
Externalizing Component Classes......Page 248
Container Components......Page 251
Summary......Page 252
III: Distribution......Page 254
SWC Format......Page 256
Working with the Flex Library Project......Page 259
compc......Page 267
Summary......Page 268
Why Integrate with Flash Builder?......Page 270
What Can I Integrate With?......Page 271
Live Previews......Page 286
Setting Default Styles......Page 287
Summary......Page 288
Why Should I Document Code?......Page 290
Commenting Your Code......Page 291
Generating Your Documentation......Page 301
Summary......Page 313
Adobe Blogs......Page 316
Resource Sites......Page 317
Useful Tools and Extensions......Page 318
Regular Expression Tools......Page 319
A......Page 320
C......Page 321
D......Page 324
E......Page 325
F......Page 326
I......Page 327
L......Page 328
M......Page 329
P......Page 330
S......Page 331
V......Page 333
W-X-Y-Z......Page 334
