Borre Wessel, Modularizing Flex, Cairngorm & Modules
adds complexity - do you have a good reason i.e. large, slow to start applicataion, is code easy to share cross project (i.e. a well written component)
main application (in applicationDomain hierarchy) needs to have ref to any class shared across module
rsl (non-framework) actualy make your app bigger, but are stored in the browser cache, so if your next app needs same one that will be faster to start
mx:Module splits very large app so that each logicaly seperate part of GUI loads as needed increasing startup speed - do you really need to load code for the admin. tab at the same time as the main user tab ?
have to be carful to create parent/child ModelLocator if want to add modules later because of the applicationDomain issue
- dont store data as public properties of ModelLocator - that's not locating anything then !
create an Interface with get/set model, and impl. this in your Module, when ModuleLoader fires 'ready' can set model in module
same interface-type solution can be used for FrontCOntroller, ServiceLocator etc
use ModelLocator to find Model's for each logical view - not just as a wrapper around some public vars - 'Presentation Model' pattern - view knows of model, model doesn't know of view. ChangeWatcher. ModelLocator contains a UserModel which has username, role etc.
Andrew Shorten
Flex 3 designer/developer workflow & thermo
flex is going to be *the* framework for RIA, interactive ads, and have to shift designer mindset from what they think flex is (large, slow, fixed set of objects) - caused by cs3.
betfair's online blackjack, sliderocket etc. are all well designed *flex* applications that don't look 'like flex' - hardly a Panel in sight !
demo of BMWs car customiser - 18m project
it looks like Flash - only differnce between Flash and Flex is the authoring env. - all just bytecode in the end, right ?
how do we work together so designers can design the gui, and we can engineer ? because devloper+Flex+'borrowed photoshop' != designer
Fireworks exports basic CSS from a small subset of the flex component library - 'will out grow quickly' - its not more than what you can do in builder
going beyond that means getting replacement bitmap/vextor skins
- flash authoring or illustrator, flash gives control of transitions. illustrator only lets you control look in each state. workflow in each is much the same. flash also lets you resize the controls better.
all uicomponents are available in both
flash makes swc, illus. makes a swf
builder 3 has 'import artwork' which takes either, this writes a css file and imports it
thats far too easy.
can also use photoshop or firworks to produce bitmap-based skins - use 9-slice scale to slice up
can also use the flex component kit for flash cs3 to let designers export native assets from 'library' into flex from Flash authoring. the 'publish' to make a .swc - appears as any other uicomponent
if methods defined on the asset in Flash authoring, they come across too - set title(aString) etc.
but - what about if we want them to design the whole interface not just bits of it as components ? Thermo...
iterative designer (photoshop...) <-> devloper (flex builder) workflow
'aligned with Flex4' so expect in same time frame, probably
also allows control of transitions/states
dummy data manager
Scott Stroz
Printing in Flex
yes, its a pain
printed items appear 'as is' as if on screen. scroll bars and all - internally think of FlexPrintJOb taking a screen shot
even with PrintDataGrid, it's still just screen shots
must remember to add the print view to stage immediatly after printJob.start() - addChild(), then removeChild() it after printJob.send()
no need to set height of printdatagrid, but will still put page breaks in the middle of a row - need to use while printVIew.printGird.validNextPage, printView.printGird.nextPage(), addObject(printVIew)
if you copy dataProvider from on screen datagrid to printdatagrid maintains sorting
Keynote
Railo just went open source on jboss.org (owned and operated by RedHat)
Woa.
All the blogs, issue tracker, etc. will move there over the next few months.
railo enterprise bundles fusionDebug, fusionReactor- both of which will now run on the open source rev. to.
No restrictions on use (i.e. for profits) or number of contexts (web hosts), in the free ref.
So they've done what BlueDragon did - what's the difference - why use one or the other ?
railo CFM as alternative to JSP, within in RedHat/JBoss
jboss bring 24/7/265 support to Railo. Worldwide.
railo would have CFC-based intergration with Hibernate for ORM.
Woa. *thats* making hard things easy.
Railo clustering built ontop of same underpiningd (Jboss cache) as JBoss clustering, Hibernate caches etc). Ditto for replicating cached queries.
This is proper 'big iron' enterprise failover/replication/load balence etc. For free. Supported by RedHat, if you must pay.
Hard stuff becomes easy again.
other ideas, jboss has an enterprise service bus, workflow engine, JMS brokering etc.
enterprise version will be open source too, eventually, but need to rewrite some propierty bits. meantime, price as is now
Gert talks again about a core CFML standard that everyone impls, with some other per-server engine features.
jboss do it, becuase things should work together, jboss is very low level, hard, cfml is a lot easier !
mark drew
Fresh AIR, Aptana
an ajax studio for building web pages or javascript based air applications.
much like Builder, but it's free. simple one-click install from inside it of AIR runtime and SDK.
runs as eclipse plugin and as a customised eclipse install
has examples for vast chunks of the AIR JS API bundeled with it
andrew shorten
inspired air
dont repeat 'skip intro' errors.
rich is not just gui, but access to data for user too
many nice visuals
'most people are using badge installs'
air 1.1 gets silent instal, can also remove rights to auto update framework, apps, or even install other apps ships 'soon'.
linux AIR (v1.1 ?) late 2008 - 'want to get to the point where versions are sync'ed up'
later, Player, AIR and Flex get sync'ed releases.