Game Development in Flex

Below is the link to Whitepaper on Adobe's view of Flex and its road map for future: 

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/whitepapers/roadmap.html

A whitepaper about Flash's runtime is available at url: 

http://www.adobe.com/go/flashplayer_roadmap

What is Starling ?

URL: www.starling-framework.org

Starling is a ActionScript 3.0 framework for building 2D games, based on Stage3D.

It takes advantage of GPU resulting in better performance and faster frame-rate. 

It is a port of sparrow framework for iOS. 

Related articles

• Starling Framework "Insider Tips" at CODAME (Aug 1)(games.codame.com)

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• Starling Deep Dive(slideshare.net)

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Windows 8 will support Flash

Microsoft and Adobe are working together closely to ensure great Flash experience in Windows 8. Flash Player is integrated into Metro style IE10. Microsoft aims to support Flash in Windows 8 (Microsoft's forthcoming operating system ) only on trusted sites due to security reasons.

Surface RT tablets would also support Flash.

BlackBerry 10 Operating System also supports Flash making BlackBerry Playbook the only tablet that currently supports Flash. 

The Apple iPad does not support Flash and is not likely in future also. 

Android has basic level Flash integration in its browser which is being phased out to a mobile version of Chrome that does not support Flash. 

Adobe AIR Launchpad

What is Adobe AIR Launchpad ? 

Adobe® AIR® Launchpad is a desktop tool for Adobe Flex® developers to generate a basic Flex project that can be used to jump-start application development in Flash Builder. 

Adobe AIR Launchpad creates Flex and ActionScript code packaged as a Flex project based on pre-selected options. However, the final output is not intended to be a useful application. Rather, it is intended to be a starting point for a new project.

It can help developers in getting started with building desktop and mobile applications (iOS, Android, BlackBerry PlayBook) for deployment on Adobe AIR.

For more details visit the following website
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/airlaunchpad/

Currently Adobe AIR Launch is in prerelease version and is designed to be used in evaluation purposes only. 

Working with XML data in Flex

English: Office Open XML main components (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prerequisite for this Blog
1. Data Binding
2. Events
3. Network Monitor Requesting and Retrieving XML Data from a Remote Server.

Classes / MXML Components

• HTTPService - HTTP GET and POST operations
• WebService - SOAP/WSDL operations
• RemoteObject - remote object connection using AMF

As per MXML 2009, All non visual components should be declared with the Declaration block as below.

1:  <fx:Declarations>  
2:        <!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->  
3:  </fx:Declarations>  

send() - sends a request to the service dataProvider - this property is used to fill data to UI components.

Related articles

• 10 XML Interview questions and answers for Java Programmer(javacodegeeks.com)

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• What are the differences between SOAP WS and RESTful WS?(malliktalksjava.in)

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Flex 4.x Release

About Flex 4 Release

Adobe Flex 4 was code named Gumbo. This version will focus on improving workflow between developers and designers, and will also include an improved component framework model to decouple the visual design of your Flex applications from the underlying code.

What's new in Flash Builder 4 beta | Adobe Developer Connection

Related articles

• Flash Builder plug-in for SAP update(blogs.adobe.com)

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• Using the Apache Flex 4.9 SDK with FDT5 in Linux(mrbinitie.blogspot.com)

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• My Flash (Game) Builder 4.7 feedback(kanedafr.blogspot.com)

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• Flash Builder 4.7 AIR SDK Troubles(badu.ro)

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• namespace and sdk for air 3.5 with workers in flex(stackoverflow.com)

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• Unable to use Apache Flex 4.9 with Flash Builder(kanedafr.blogspot.com)

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About Apache Flex & its Roadmap

About Apache Flex 

First public release of Apache Flex is Apache Flex 4.8.0. The initial Apache Flex release would be a "Parity" release. That means no new improvements, features or bug fixes will be in this release, the goal would be to try to match Adobe Flex 4.6. Some features in case dependent on features not donated by Adobe to Apache may be missing or may require separate installation.

Apache Flex Road-map

Apache Flex road-map is available at: https://cwiki.apache.org/FLEX/roadmap.html
the Flash Platform Road Map - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplatform/whitepapers/roadmap.html

Apache Flex Home page 

http://incubator.apache.org/flex - contains information about how to checkout the code and submit patches to Apache Flex SDK development.

Apache Flex Mailing Lists

http://incubator.apache.org/flex/mailing-lists.html

References

• UI Flex Components: Tested! Supported! Ready! - http://www.flextras.com?c=104
• Podcasts on Flex - http://www.theflexshow.com

Flash Builder 4.7 Beta is now available.. !!

the latest version of Flash Builder is currently in public beta with support for Apache Flex 4.8. The beta is free to all - it will expire when the official version ships. The official version will be a free upgrade for retail 4.5/4.6 customers.

 The Flash Builder team is looking for feedback on support for Apache Flex SDKs
(and how it can be made using Apache Flex easier in Flash Builder).


The URL of the download page is

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashbuilder4-7/

The key highlight of this release is support for Flash Player 11.4 and AIR 3.4, as well as support for the new Apache Flex 4.8 SDK. Other new features include

• New compiler support for ActionScript Projects
• Support for creating ActionScript Workers
• Support for iOS USB deployment, testing & debugging
• Support for iOS simulator

changes from previous release: 

• FB 4.7 no longer includes design view.