Flex In Action

Understanding Flex 4 Components

Tariq Ahmed — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:15:22 +0000

Flash & Flex Developer’s Magazine is now out with their March 2010 issue, and in it you’ll find a chapter from Flex 4 In Action that we converted for magazine format that details Flex 4 components. In it you’ll learn about:

Spark component architecture
Simple vs. Composite components
Flex 3 to Flex 4 migration tips
Spark skinning basics

The magazine is free, so download it now!

If you’re looking to get into Flex 4 development, you can get a head start with the purchase of Flex 4 In Action early access edition which gives you the pre-release and final release of the book. For more information visit the Flex 4 In Action MEAP page.

Meet Flex 4 In Action author Joel Hooks @ 360 Flex

Tariq Ahmed — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:04:12 +0000

For those of you fortunate to be at 360 Flex in San Jose be sure to say hi to Flex 4 In Action author Joel Hooks who will be presenting on the Robotlegs framework in a session titled “Hands-on Development with the Robotlegs AS3 Framework“.

Joel is a key player on the Robotlegs team, and with Flex 4 In Action part of what Joel has worked on is a chapter in the book regarding this framework. Check out his session and say hi!

Get the Flex 4 In Action Meap for 50% off today

Tariq Ahmed — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:00:06 +0000

Ready for Flex 4? Get jamming on it right away by ordering the Flex 4 In Action early edition which gives you access to the rough cut chapters as we write ‘em.

If you’re interested, head on over to the Flex 4 In Action MEAP page, and use discount code dotd0305.

Flex 4 In Action – One Minute Bottom Line

Tariq Ahmed — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:33:52 +0000

Peter Armstrong was kind enough to write a review on Dzone based on the early access chapters that are currently available as part of Manning’s Early Access program. Peter writes:

Flex 4 in Action, currently available in an early access format from Manning and due to be published in June 2010, is shaping up to be the new definitive guide for Flex 4.

Thanks Peter, appreciate it!

Flex 4 In Action – email from a reviewer

Tariq Ahmed — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:18:05 +0000

Part of writing a book with Manning Publications is they conduct reviews with pools of reviewers in order to provide feedback during various stages of book writing. It helps the author(s) know what they’re doing well at, and identify any areas that need improvement.

The responses are anonymous to the authors so that the reviewers can be candid, however one reviewer did seek us out directly (we’re easy to contact through our blogs) to give us his personal and uplifting feedback. He allowed me to share his feedback:

I finally finished reading the book and sending in the review. Your book was written extremely well and flowed very well. I learned a lot the past 8 days reading it, found Flex to be very interesting and appealing technology. Also the development seemed to be fairly easy to learn. Most programming and technology books can be boring, dull, and dry at times, while reading. Take for example trying to read the Open GL Programming book. Your book actually really kept me interested and made me really try out all the examples and see how it really works. That part helped a great deal. Also setting up a learning environment to see what your reading was very easy. In the future for any web projects I may work on, I will definitely try using Flex for it. Great book!

- Niaz Jalal

Thanks Niaz! It’s feedback like that that makes it all worth it!

Flex 4 In Action Status updates

Tariq Ahmed — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:56:34 +0000

We’re feverishly racing to wrap up the core writing!

Recent updates:

Joel Hooks finished the core writing for Chapter 24, which covers all the techniques and tools available for debugging and testing Flex 4 applications. It now goes into internal review.
Joel Hooks moves onto Chapter 25, which is wrapping your project up (prepping it for production, building release versions of your software, etc…)
John C. Bland II finished core writing for Chapter 21, which covers all the goodies for adding effects to your Flex application. Not just effects for the sake of coolness, but how you can use effects to increase usability.
John C. Bland II moves onto Chapter 22, which is doing a touch up on the Drag and Drop chapter from Flex 3 In Action.
Dan Orlando completed a major rewrite of Chapter 20, which covers customizing the user experience which is all about themes, skins, and styling.
We’re currently prepping an update for MEAP subscribers (Manning Early Access Program) so that they can get access to some of the updates. That should be available soon.
We’re also conducting a final review where a collection of anonymous random techies were asked to read the book in it’s current form and provide us feedback on how we’re doing so that we can address any issues (if there are any).

Flex 3 In Action co-author on Android + ColdFusion

Tariq Ahmed — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:13:05 +0000

Faisal Abid, co-author of Flex 3 In Action, recently gave a presentation at RIAdventure on connecting an Android client to a ColdFusion back-end. You can check out the presentation here.

FxiA authors part of the 2010 Adobe Community Professionals

Tariq Ahmed — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:47:13 +0000

Today Adobe community manager Liz Frederick announced the 2010 ACP (Adobe Community Professionals) roster, and it includes your friendly neighborhood Flex 4 In Action authors Tariq Ahmed, Dan Orlando, and John C. Bland II. We look forward to earning our keep as we close in on wrapping up on the core writing of the last few chapters of the book.

See Flex 4 In Action Author at Flash Camp in PHX – Free books

Tariq Ahmed — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:53:34 +0000

Meet Flex 4 In Action author Dan Orlando as he speaks at Flash Camp Phoenix. We’re hoping to give away a few copies of the Flex 3 In Action book which includes access to the eBook version of the Flex 4 In Action book when it becomes available.

Where and When
The event will be held all day at the University of Advancing Technology (about a mile from ASU) in Tempe, AZ on January 29th from 9am to 5pm.

Speakers include:

Ryan Stewart (Adobe)
Sarge Sargent (Adobe)
David Tucker (Author - Adobe AIR Cookbook, Universal Mind)
Christian Saylor (Universal Mind)
Dan Orlando (Author – Flex 4 in Action, Universal Mind)
Kevin Fauth (Universal Mind)
Dan Holth (Universal Mind)
Carl Smith (Universal Mind)

Topics include:

What’s new in Flex 4/Flash Builder 4
Optimizing the Designer-Developer workflow with Flash Catalyst
What’s coming in AIR 2.0
3D in Flash/Flex
Object-Relational Mapping in AIR
Advanced Flash video
Flash on mobile devices
and much more….

More info and Registration: http://flashcampphoenix.eventbrite.com/

Fri 13th sale – Flex 3 In Action for $13

Tariq Ahmed — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:10:56 +0000

Buy Flex 3 In Action for only $13 by using promo code “fri13″ when checking out at http://www.manning.com/ahmed/