Bj Allmon

author
+ Follow
since Oct 23, 2010
Merit badge: grant badges
For More
Cows and Likes
Cows
Total received
0
In last 30 days
0
Total given
0
Likes
Total received
0
Received in last 30 days
0
Total given
0
Given in last 30 days
0
Forums and Threads
Scavenger Hunt
expand Ranch Hand Scavenger Hunt
expand Greenhorn Scavenger Hunt

Recent posts by Bj Allmon

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on the ranch who submitted topics. I felt the topics were good and better yet it was great to see the collaboration among the members. Best to all of you in your development journey and have a great holiday!

Sincerely,
B.J. Allmon
Co-Author (Flex on Java)
13 years ago
Can you navigate to the URL that doesn't work directly from your browser without any problem?
13 years ago
We decided to not use a MVC modeled design pattern for Flex in the book for a few reasons... However, we did use specific design patterns that you could say frameworks are based on. Read more here..

https://coderanch.com/t/516113/Flex/MVC-implemented-Flex
13 years ago
In general, developers lean toward familiar design patterns as they cross language and framework boundaries. This doesn't work great for all patterns. If you attempt to do MVC in Flex you may be making it harder on yourself and possibly not taking advantage of having a stateful user experience by doing so with an event-based framework like Flex. I also think the code could turn out a little messy. Here are some alternatives to MVC for Flex and relies on the developer to actually design the code without utilizing a framework. Not that i'm against frameworks. It's just that you may not get the right pattern by leveraging a framework.

http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/PassiveScreen.html

http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/SupervisingPresenter.html

http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/PresentationModel.html

Martin Fowler has done some nice work in assembling this information.
13 years ago

Hebert Coelho wrote:I've search here in the forum and found nothing yet.

All I can do, in Flex, is a Hello World!!!

I want to learn more about Flex and get certificate on it.



Why do you want a certificate? Is your job pressuring you to get certified in Flex? I'm only asking because it may not be worth the $ to pay for a certification if all you really need is experience. Look for opportunities to get on a Flex project or find an opportunity where Flex is a good choice for solving a business problem and ask if you can get the work. Just a thought.. Read books and get experience to learn because you have a passion to do so!
13 years ago

Paul Sturrock wrote:Im mean the points where some container configuration is required (session replication, security etc). It's not my experience that BlazeDS is container agnostic (isn't there Tomcat code in its source, for example?) hence the question . Custom security requires, for example, a custom TomcatValve in order to function in Tomcat (or JBoss), and there is no equivalent in WebSphere, so custom security can't work in that particular container. I'm just curious if youre book touches on these sorts of integration points at all - because it would be a godsend if it did!



We demonstrate using BlazeDS through the Spring security implementation which may hide many of these details. In our examples, we simply leverage the container's role based security. This allowed us to more quickly get to the development-side of securing and personalizing a Flex app. Yes, there will be administrative nuances on how to handle security between containers. Leveraging a non-container specific security framework is the way to lessen the pain.

I've never seen anything good come to those who use container specific implementations. Over time, it becomes painful.
13 years ago

Shiv Nb wrote:So we can integrate Flex on to any Java server side framework like a Spring based server side application, or the like.

Can you highlight what are the kind of integration we can achieve? Messaging, Webservices etc..?



Flex has the ability to communicate with Java through the means of Webservices natively (both restful and soap) and also do messaging with Java JMS and Object serialization or "remoting" (instead of Webservices) with the BlazeDS framework. There's also the GraniteDS framework that will allow you to perform remoting with Java.
13 years ago
The short answer is yes. As the previous person mentioned, as long as you have the flash runtime.

HOWEVER, (polyglot speaking out) Adobe or the Flex community has quite a bit of work here to make it worth it for native-styled apps or apps on the phone itself. Yes, from a development perspective it would be nice to take the knowledge you already have in Flex and apply that to mobile apps, but would the final result really be better than what you can do with an Android native Java API or iPhone's objective C implementation? In my opinion, it's all about using the right tools for the job. I'm not saying it can't be done (so don't give me hell for saying so..), I'm just not sure it's best tool for mobile right now.

The good news is, Flex-based websites out there will benefit from newer smart phones that support Flash finally. This is a good thing. But still much more work to make Flex a viable option among various mediums.

Learn more languages, it's fun!!
13 years ago

Leonidas Savvides wrote:Answer very briefly
Java with Flex, is the easiest server side combination, since have a lot of (the most) common elements?



Flex on Java has become more popular since the rise of the object mapping frameworks like BlazeDS and others.

Leonidas Savvides wrote:
Impending DB remote access in Apps with Flex is relatively easy? what db type is most common? eg MySQL



Whatever the server-side is using. In a Java server-side scenario you may be using BlazeDS to allow a Flex RemoteObject to communicate with a Java server-side object that knows how to do database persistence.

Leonidas Savvides wrote:
DB may be and locally access(no remote),...? is easiest than remote db access or the same implement? what db type is most common in this case? SQLite may embedded in Flex?



The AIR runtime has a local embedded database but not the Flash runtime.

Leonidas Savvides wrote:
Flex Builder 4 as downloaded now, includes ALL NEWEST Edition of Flash Air/Player support?
My License is of Flex Builder 4 IDE Standard, this key may used for all editions/subeditions except non-Standard & 3 or 5(when gets out)?



I believe FlexBuilder should still come with a newer version of Flash and Air runtimes but you can always get the latest from the Adobe site for free. I'm not sure about your licensing question. Your license agreement would inform you better than me.
13 years ago

Sai Hegde wrote:My bad!!!
I meant to say do not process business logic on the client... I have come across many naive developers doing that.



My two cents.. I feel that a "Rich Application" does care about business logic. If nothing beyond basic webapp capabilities is required for a project, Flex may not be the right choice. A plain old webapp framework should be considered instead to deliver everything the customer needs. However, if something more than just stuffing simple html forms and divs with data with the occasional AJAX call is required, then Flex is a viable option.

Flex has a place for business logic pertinent to the user's experience or the view. The concern should fall mainly in the way you design your Flex module. In the book, Flex on Java, we demonstrate using the MVP design pattern for keeping the code clean. This is a pretty clean design pattern common for stateful and rich applications.

Flex enables developers to build business objects that know how to manage state, communicate intelligently with a server-side, and provide captivating view components. All with unit tests.
13 years ago
For the original question... I suppose you have multiple options. I personally would create a "widget project" separately, as it's own project and development lifecycle. This would allow you to be able to add them to any page you are generating as a dependency somehow.

The other thing I think I hear you wondering about is if it's possible to use Java to actually build the component. To me this means using Java (or groovy ) to generate Flex MXML and Actionscript. Depending on the complexity of the component, I guess you could do that. HOWEVER, I fear it would be too messy coupling projects together when you can simply pull the flex component in as a "prebuilt dependency" (SWF, SWC) when generating the page.
13 years ago
I recommend intelliJ for Flex development especially when doing Flex with Java or Grails or for any jvm language for that matter. intelliJ currently has support for Grails that no other really has at this point.
13 years ago