Developing Flex 4 Components: Using ActionScript & MXML to Extend Flex and AIR Applications(Developer's Library)

The Complete Insider’s Guide to Building State-of-the-Art Components with Adobe’s Flex 4 Platform   Using Adobe’s Flex 4 framework, developers can build rich, immersive solutions more easily and quickly than ever. Much of Flex 4’s remarkable power is based on its component-based approach. Adobe provides many components “out of the box,” but you can accomplish even more by building your own. In Developing Flex 4 Components, world-renowned Flex and Flash developer Mike Jones thoroughly demystifies all facets of Flex component development, showing how to quickly create and deliver high-value components to the widest possible audience.   Jones introduces the Flex 4 component architecture, reviews its built-in components, and shows how they can be extended or incorporated into new components. Next, he walks through developing components from scratch, covering issues ranging from events to skinning. Finally, he turns to distribution, introducing best practices for everything from integration to documentation. Jones draws on nearly 15 years’ experience developing with Flex and Flash. You’ll find extensive sample code, plus dozens of practical tips that are available nowhere else. After reading this book, you'll be able to   ·        Set up your Flex and Flash Builder development environment ·        Understand key differences between Flex 3 and Flex 4 component frameworks ·        Learn how Flex components are typically structured, developed, and rendered ·        Leverage ActionScript and MXML to quickly create components ·        Implement view states, transitions, effects, and events ·        Manipulate and store complex data collections ·        Use Flex 4’s FXG and MXMLG to support skinning and styling ·        Create components with Flash Professional CS5’s drawing tools ·        Integrate components with Flash Builder ·        Package components for easy distribution with or without source code ·        Streamline implementation with manifests, design view extensions, and metadata   If you’re an experienced Flash, Flex, or AIR developer, this book will help you create any component you can imagine–and deliver solutions others can only dream about.

Table of Contents:
Preface xvii   PART I: OVERVIEW AND INSTALLATION Chapter 1  Getting Started     3 Flex     3    What Is Flex?     4    Flex SDK     4 Flex Development Versus Flash Authoring     5    Flash Builder Has No Drawing Tools or Timeline     5    Flex SWFs Are Massive    6    Flash Builder Has No Symbol Library     6 Flash Builder     6    What Does This Actually Mean to You?     7    Wrapping the Flex SDK     7    Installing Flash Builder     7    Downloading Flash Builder     8    Starting the Installation of Flash Builder    8 Launching Flash Builder     12 Creating Your First Project     12 Summary     16   Chapter 2  The Flex 4 Components     17 Components: A Potted History     17 Using Flex Components     19 Component Family Tree     20    Control Components     23    Navigator Components     31    Layout Components     34    Charting Components    37    AIR-Specific Components     37 Summary     39   Chapter 3  Anatomy of a Component     41 Component Life Cycle    41 Understanding the Structure     43    Component Constructor     44 Inherit, Composite, or Rolling Your Own     51 UIComponent     51    Something for Nothing     52    UIComponent for MXML     53 IMXMLObject     55 Template Components    56    Deferring Instantiation     56 Summary     60   PART II: DEVELOPING COMPONENTS   Chapter 4  Creating Your First Component     63 MyFirstComponent    63    Creating the Class    65    Core Component Methods     66    Adding Some Form     66    Showing Yourself Off    68    Testing It Out     69    This Belongs to Me     70    Sibling Rivalry     73 MyFirstComponent (Revised)     74    Distilling MyFirstComponent (Halo)     74    Slimming Down with MXML (Halo)     76    Distilling MyFirstComponent Down (Spark)     80    Weapon of Choice     82 Summary     82   Chapter 5  Managing States     83 What Are States?     83 Flex’s View States     84 Creating States in MXML    86    Assigning States    87    stateGroups    87 Working with States in ActionScript     90    Overrides     91    Creating and Destroying View States    98 Adding States to Components     101    Worth Noting    103 Summary     103   Chapter 6  Effects and Transitions     105 Effects     105    Effect Types     105 Working with Effects     111    Declaring Effects     111    Triggering Effects     111    Orchestrating Effects     114    Working with MotionPath and Keyframe     117 Transitions     119 Summary     123   Chapter 7  Working with Metadata     125 What Is Metadata?     125 How Do I Use Metadata?     126 Working with Metadata     128    Exposing Information About Your Component     128    Describing Events     131    Exposing Styles and Effects     132    Embedding Assets     133    Binding Data     134    Setting Defaults     135    Working with Skins     137    Excluding Component Attributes     138    Altering and Deprecating Properties and Classes     139    Providing an Icon     140    And the Rest     140 Metadata in MXML     140 Creating Your Own Metadata Tags     141    Are Metadata Tags Classes?     141 Summary     145   Chapter 8  Events and Event Handling     147 Why Events?     147    Subscribers Versus Watchers     147    Asynchronicity     148    Event Flow     148 Dispatching Events     150    Adding Event Listeners     152 Custom Events     152    Extending the Event Class     153    Cloning Events     154    Dealing with Event Priority     155    Event Priority Constants     155 Countering Events     156    Event Propagation     157    Prevent Defaults     158 Summary     159   Chapter 9  Manipulating Data     161 Defining Component Data     161 Data Providers     161    KISS     162 Managing Data     163    Collections     165 Displaying Data     177    Data Renderers     177    Rendering the UI     178    Linking itemRenders to External Data     178 Summary     185   Chapter 10  Skinning and Styling     187 Spark Versus Halo     187 Spark Skin Life Cycle     187 Where Do I Start?     189 Working with SkinnableComponent     189    partAdded(), partRemoved()     189    getCurrentSkinState()     192 Creating Component Skins     193 FXG and MXMLG     194    Creating a Component Skin     194    Drawing Nonlinear Content     198 Spark Skins and Halo Components     200 Working with Properties and Styles     202 Using CSS     202    Custom Namespaces     202    Descendant Selectors     203    ID Selectors     204    Pseudo Selectors     204 Summary     205   Chapter 11  Creating Flex Components with Flash Professional CS5     207 Picking a Starting Point     207    Starting with Flash Professional     207    Starting with Flash Builder 4     209 Implementing States     212 Implementing Transitions     213 Controlling Component Resizing     215    Bounding Boxes     216    External Manipulation     216 Creating Component Visual Assets     218    Putting It All Together     219    Adding the Transition Animations     220 Properties and Methods     220 Metadata     221 Events     222 Externalizing Component Classes     223 Container Components     226 Summary     227   PART III: DISTRIBUTION   Chapter 12  The Flex Library Project     231 Packaging Your Component     231 SWC Format     231    library.swf     232    catalog.xml     232    Locale     233    Assets     234 Working with the Flex Library Project     234    Creating a Flex Library Project     234    What If It All Goes Wrong     242 compc     242 Summary     243   Chapter 13  Component Integration in Flash Builder 4     245 Why Integrate with Flash Builder?     245 What Can I Integrate With?     246    Panel Integration     246    Design View Extensions     253 Live Previews     261 Setting Default Styles     262 Summary     263   Chapter 14  Documentation     265 Why Should I Document Code?     265    Last to the Party, First to Leave     265    Documentation Is Boring     266    My Code Is Easy to Read     266    OK I Get It, Enough Already     266 Commenting Your Code     266    Basic Comment Types     267    ASDoc Comment Blocks     267    ASDoc Tags     268    HTML Formatting     272    Special Characters     273    Metadata Comments     274    Documenting MXML     274    Bypassing Documentation     275 Generating Your Documentation     276    Command-Line Document Generation     276    Generating Documentation in Flash Builder     277    Getting to Grips with Ant     281 Summary     288   Appendix A  Flex Resources     291 Blogs     291    Adobe Blogs     291    Independent Blogs     292    Resource Sites     292 Frameworks     293 Useful Tools and Extensions     293    Adobe Tools     294    Third-Party Tools     294 Logwatcher     294    Regular Expression Tools     294   Index     295  

About the Author :
Mike Jones has 14 years of experience developing for the Flash Platform. He was first introduced to Flash (then called Futurewave Splash) in November 1996, by his then Visual Arts studio manager while at a university. Suffice it to say, Flash made sense to Mike, and he literally ran with it and never looked back.   These days, Mike is a Platform Evangelist at Adobe and spends most of his time speaking with customers, presenting, and blogging and tweeting about the Flash Platform. Although developing is Mike’s first love, he never refuses the chance to speak at user groups and conferences about components, the Flex framework, AIR, and the Flash Platform in general.   A regular speaker at Flash on the Beach on topics such as “Flex Development in 60 Minutes” and Flex component development, anyone who has met Mike knows he speaks passionately about these technologies, which is the same passion that has kept him engaged as Flash and Flex have grown over the years. When he isn’t speaking or developing, Mike posts his thoughts and musings on Flash technologies on his blog (http://blog.flashgen.com). He lives in Haslemere, England, with his wife Emma, new baby daughter Freya, and his cat JPeg.