RIA Development with Adobe Flex and Flash

This has been a big news week for anyone that is interested and/or working in Adobe Flex or ColdFusion. On Monday Adobe Systems announced the final versions of Flash Builder 4 and the Flex 4 SDK. In Flash Builder 4, it is easier than ever to connect to back-end services with a complete set of data centric development features. There are also many new design and development workflows with Flash Catalyst and Flash Professional, as well as enhancements to the core code development features that are essential to developer productivity. There are over 90 new features in this release, and you can use them with both Flex 3 and Flex 4 to gain big improvements in development time, integration and building more expressive apps.

In sync with the release of Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe also announced the release of ColdFusion Builder. This new Eclipse-based IDE for ColdFusion development is deeply integrated with ColdFusion 9 in addition to making it fast and easy for CF developers to create Flex applications with integration between ColdFusion Builder and Flash Builder. ColdFusion Builder comes with a copy of Flash Builder 4 Standard.

It is not difficult to find great information, free tutorials, and blog articles on this new software release, but here is a quick link listing if you are looking for more:

Adobe.com Flash Builder 4 Landing Page

Purchase Options for Flash Builder and ColdFusion Builder

The New Flex.org Website

What’s New in Flash Builder 4

Learn Adobe Flex in a Week – Free Flash Builder Online Training

Developers Speak Out About Flash Builder 4

Bringing together Flex, Java and DBMS

The main goal of many enterprise applications is to provide a way to manipulate some data. Flex provides not only a rich library of UI components, but also a fast binary protocols that allow to efficiently move data between the server and the efficiently. In this presentation you’ll learn how to bring the data form a database using Java and BlazeDS in the middle tier. We’ll consider two use cases – manual coding and auto-generation of a CRUD application.

About the speaker

Yakov Fain is Managing Director at Farata Systems, a US-based company that provides consulting services in the field of development of enterprise Rich Internet applications. He authored several technical books, and dozens of articles on software development. Recently he co-authored the books “Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java: Secrets of the Masters” and “Enterprise Development with Flex”. Sun Microsystems has nominated and awarded Mr. Fain with the title of Java Champion, which was presented to only a hundred people in the world. He leads the Princton Java Users Group. Yakov is Certified Adobe Flex Instructor.

Meeting Location and Time

Online meeting via Adobe Acrobat Connect
Meeting URL: http://www.meetup.com/atlantaflashplatform/calendar/12916291/
Monday, March 29, 12:30 - 1:30 ET

Please RSVP
Please RSVP for this event.

ColdFusion Builder beta 3 was released on December 17, 2009. This release provides additional editing features, enhancements, and performance improvements over the last CF Beta version.

Adobe ColdFusion Builder is an Eclipse based IDE for ColdFusion development that is deeply integrated with ColdFusion 9. Now you can manage your entire ColdFusion development cycle from concept to production and work easily with Adobe FlexBuilder in one easy to use tool.

ColdFusion Builder provides a unified, customizable and extensible development environment to code applications, manage servers, and deploy projects. With ORM code generation, CFML code assist, CFC introspection, CFML file preview and integrated debugging, ColdFusion Builder is the rapid application development tool.

Ben Forta talking about the new features in ColdFusion 9:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/coldfusion9_whatsnew.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/cfbuilder_whatsnew.html

Here are the links for public beta of ColdFusion 9:
ColdFusion 9 : http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/coldfusion9/
ColdFusion Builder : http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/coldfusionbuilder/

Check out this video at Adobe TV featuring Jon Landau, Producer of “Avatar”, and see how Adobe software was used throughout the production of Avatar. In this single clip the following Adobe products were used:

Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects

Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS4
Capture, edit, and deliver video online, on air, on disc, or on device. Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS4

Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Production Premium!
Plan, create, and deliver anywhere with the intelligent post-production solution. Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Production Premium!

 Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Attention Photographers: Spend less time in front of the computer and more time behind the lens, with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Adobe® Photoshop® CS4
Create powerful images with the professional standard. Adobe® Photoshop® CS4

 Adobe® After Effects® CS4
Create motion graphics and visual effects with the industry standard. Adobe® After Effects® CS4

FITC began as a Flash festival back in 2002 and they have kept Flash at the core of most of the events; but they have also expanded and have continued to add more diverse topics over the years, ever expanding the scope and width of the events. From Adobe Flash to Motion Design, Adobe FLEX to AIR, Mobile and more, FITC events always stand apart as unique and exciting experiences that inspire, educate and challenge.

The FITC events do a great job of bringing like-minded people together. Presenters and attendees who have a passion for the industry for, flash, design and the new and exciting; FITC events bring them together to learned, be inspired and challenged to improve.

The FITC conferences are all about the presentations; a variety of presentations both technical and creative, are presented by hand-picked Adobe Software creative professionals from around the world who are all eager to share their knowledge and expertise. Most of the FITC events have multiple tracks of presentations to choose from. BUT, what it is really all about is the networking. Being able to meet and talk to other people who share your passion for this industry. Meet them at the presentations, in the exhibitor hall, or at one of the evening parties. Oh yeah! PARTY! All fun and no play makes for a really boring conference! FITC parties are always a great time!

FITC is a great investment if you are an Adobe Flash Designer, Adobe Flash Developer, creative professional and anyone with an interest in Flash and digital media. From the technical presentations for the beginner, the intermediate, and advanced, to the inspirational creative sessions, there is always something to that will push your skills and help you learn.

Tonight! Come out to here Atlanta’s one and only Jesse Warden! Jesse will be speaking on RobotLegs on Top of Gaia Flash Framework. Learn how to integrate the RobotLegs MVCS framework on top of the Gaia Flash Framework. While Gaia is known for creating high profile sites like Mercedes Benz: AMG, Star Trek Movie, and Disney’s the Jungle Book, it does not provide a business and application layer. When creating Enterprise sites ones like HBO, FordVehicles, and Hyundia a framework is needed for integrating all the dynamic data from the middle-tier, as well as having a layer to handling the domain logic.

Jesse will build an example site using Gaia, show you how to integrate RobotLegs on top of Gaia, and explain the workflow with a little continuous integration advice.

Jesse Warden is a Flex & Flash Consultant. He’s worked on a variety of Flash & Flex projects, from small to Enterprise. He specializes in Agile processes, video, architecture, and disaster recovery. His art and agency background has given him an appreciation for design and a pragmatic viewpoint on development. Client list includes HBO, Disney, Ford, AOL, Boeing, Adobe, Bloomberg, MapQuest, and many others.

Please be sure to RSVP for this meeting! Change happens and its a good thing, so please let us know of any changes in your RSVP. Thanks!

3525 Piedmont Rd NE
Building 7, Suite 400
Atlanta, GA 30305
770-337-8363

Getting started with a new technology can sometimes take lots of time and effort. Fortunately, if you are already dealing with Adobe Flex, then AIR is just a few steps away. If you are new to both Flex and AIR, a great way to get started is by building a simple RSS feed reader or some other type of simple widget that makes use of the httpservice component in Adobe Flex. There are quite a few free tutorials on the web that will easily show you how to build a simple application such as this. One of the better tutorials can be found at the following link: RIA Codes - Desktop RSS Reader with AIR and Flex

This simple tutorial will get you started and along the way you will no doubt learn some of the advantages of the Flex/AIR framework, as well as some of the drawbacks. Don’t forget to check out the AIR/Flex quick tip for adding a custom icon from Ray Camden’s blog and the Adobe Developer Connection article on building an Adobe AIR install badge.

Download the fxappdeveloper blog reader sample AIR application. Be sure to download the latest verison of Adobe AIR® (Adobe Integrated Runtime)

Continuing a long tradition of innovation, Adobe is pushing the boundaries of the Adobe Flash Platform with exciting new releases for Flash, Flex, and ColdFusion designers, developers, and administrators. Join us as Ben Forta, Adobe’s Director of Platform Evangelism, presents the future of ColdFusion, Flex, and more! On the ColdFusion side, Ben will talk about the upcoming releases of ColdFusion (currently known by the code name Centaur) and the highly anticipated first ColdFusion IDE from Adobe (currently known by the code name Bolt). You’ll learn about exciting new features and discover how Centaur and Bolt will accelerate your ColdFusion application development. On the Flex side, Ben will talk about the next release of Flex (currently known by the code name Gumbo). You’ll see product feature demos and learn how Gumbo breaks new ground for not only developers but also designers as it powers the design, development, and testing of rich Internet applications and content. And of course, Ben will explain and demonstrate the power of ColdFusion and the power of Adobe Flex working together!

If you have heard Ben present you already know how engaging and informative this presentation will be; if you haven’t ever had the pleasure of attending one of Ben’s presentations, trust us — you want to be there!

Who: Ben Forta
What: ColdFusion 9 and Flex 4 Pre-release Tour
When: Monday, June 8. 6:00 - 9:00PM
Where: EchoEleven - Adobe Software Training

Yaoti specializes in the production of the recording and editing of clips which can be placed on your website. The interactive hosts explain the contents of your website, or help liven up your eLearning content By now you have probably seen some very nice green screen production work that is integrated with Flash video. However, if you don’t have the time and resources to create your own keyed video, Yaoti might be an economical way to go. Check out some of the Yaoti’s at their website blog: http://www.yaoti.info/en/

Adobe Systems has now released a preview version of ColdFusion 8 to the Adobe Labs website. Here you can dowload the latest version of ColdFusion and there are some great online videos to get you into the new features fast. Some of the new features listed give you the power to easliy work with Flex to create personalized, multimedia-rich applications and Acrobat form integration. Sounds good to me ….