Course Outline

Introducing Adobe Flex 2

• Understanding rich Internet applications
• Introducing the Adobe Flex 2 product line
• The foundation of the RIA: Flash Player/Flash Virtual Machine
• Understanding the Flex application process flow
• Getting help and other resources
• Exploring the course application

Getting Started with Flex Builder 2

• Understanding the relationship between Eclipse and Flex Builder 2
• Exploring the Flex Builder 2 interface
• Creating a project and your first application
• Creating a main application page and running it
• Using debugging
• Getting help in Adobe Flex Builder 2

Learning Flex Fundamentals

• Creating a simple Flex application
• Creating your first Flex application
• Laying out a Flex application with containers
• Adding user interface controls
• Creating bindings between components
• Architecting an application with MXML components
• Creating properties and methods of MXML components

Handling Events

• Understanding events
• Creating event handlers using inline ActionScript
• Using inline ActionScript
• Handling events with ActionScript functions
• Placing ActionScript functions in external files
• Understanding the event object
• Implementing the addEventListener() method

Using Simple Controls

• Getting familiar with Flex controls
• Using the Button control
• Using a CheckBox Control
• Using NumericStepper controls
• Using Text controls
• Displaying images
• Adding simple controls to an application

Laying Out an Application with Containers

• Understanding Containers
• Using the Application container
• Setting an application's layout
• Using the Panel container
• Using the Form container
• Using the Grid container
• Using Box Containers
• Using the DividedBox container
• Using the Tile container
• Container best practices
• Using the ControlBar container
• Component layout and sizing rules

Laying out an Application Using Constraint-Based Layout

• Understanding absolute positioning
• Positioning components within the Canvas container
• Positioning components inside a Canvas
• Creating a constraint-based layout using Flex Builder 2
• Creating a constraint-based layout in MXML
• Using constraint-based layouts with nested components

Using View States for Application Design

• Understanding view states
• Creating two states for the Contact page
• Controlling view states
• Reviewing the generated MXML code
• Creating view states that include custom components states

Creating Application Navigation

• Understanding navigator containers
• Using the LinkBar container
• Using the TabBar container
• Using the ViewStack container
• Navigating the Café Townsend application using the ViewStack and TabBar container
• Using the TabNavigator container
• Using the Accordion container
• Using ButtonBar & ToggleButtonBar
• Using the ApplicationControlBar container

Customizing the Application

• Customizing Flex application look and feel
• Using the Styles API to change look-and-feel
• Using theme styles
• Changing the look and feel of the Café Townsend application
• Applying behaviors to components
• Applying transitions to view states

Using MXML and ActionScript Data Models

• Using the MVC design pattern
• Creating an MXML data model
• Using ActionScript classes as a data model
• Instantiating an Object in MXML from an ActionScript class
• Creating an ActionScript constructor with parameters
• Defining class methods

Exchanging Data Between Components Using Custom Events

• Understanding the problem with bindings
• Using a binding to get data from a component
• Creating custom events
• Creating, dispatching and handling a custom event
• Sending data with a custom event

Retrieving XML Data with HTTPService

• Retrieving XML data at runtime
• Handling results
• Retrieving data at runtime with HTTPService
• Handling results using an event handler
• Handling faults
• Making HTTP requests to different domains

Looping Through Data Using a Repeater

• Understanding the Repeater component
• Using dataProvider data in repeated controls
• Dynamically creating components using a Repeater
• Using Repeater data in ActionScript
• Referencing repeated components

Displaying Data Using the DataGrid

• Using the DataGrid control
• Displaying Simple XML Data in a DataGrid
• Specifying DataGrid columns
• Specifying DataGrid columns
• Formatting DataGrid columns
• Using item renderers and item editors
• Using the TileList and HorizontalList
• Using events and selected items with list-based components