Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Pros & Cons of use of Adobe Flex for iPhone/iPad Developers

Below are the pros and cons of Adobe Flex (http://www.adobe.com/products/flex.html) environment for iOS development.

Pros:
1. No specific Hardware need: No need for Mac OS X system for development ( works on both platforms Mac & Windows).
2. Code sharing across multiple platforms: Run the same code on other mobile platforms (BlackBerry Playbook and Android), desktops & web applications (browsers)
3. SAP Data Integration: Ease of integration with SAP backend & Web Services (or to other standard data sources)
4. Improvement Developer Productivity (Adobe Flex / ActionScript would be easier to learn for a Java developer than Objective C).
5. Design Time Integration: Eclipse based developer (Flash Builder) environment or developer tools can be integrated with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio.
6. Low Training Cost, there are plenty of examples and development tutorials available for free to get started with Adobe Flex. 
7. SAP NetWeaver GateWay Integration: https://community.wdf.sap.corp/sbs/groups/adobe-flex/blog/2011/09/02/flash-builder-and-sap-netweaver-gateway-integration
Cons:
1. Dependency on Flash Platform.
2. Licensing Cost of Software:  Cost of Development tool, Adobe Flash Builder Premium license costs $699. (on single license purchase, there may be discounted price for bulk purchase)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Save Development Time with Ready made Flash/Flex Components

Adobe Flex Icon
Adobe Flex Icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


  1. Flash Components - Buy & Sell Adobe Flex Components: marketplace to buy and sell stunning adobe flex based web components.
  2. Flextras - UI Flex componentsSave Development Time with all the Flextras components which now have a fully functional, feature complete, free edition.  You can download them from the Flextras web site; but source code is not included with the free edition of the components. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

HTML 5 vs Flash

English: Adobe flash cs3 logo self made
Logotipo oficial: HTML 5  VS

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Note: HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and Flex are complementary technologies that can work seamlessly together.

HTML 5:
How does an HTML based data driven application works
1. User request the server page
2. Web server locates the file and passes it to the application server for processing.
3. Business logic of the code accesses the system resources like database, mail server and file system.
4. Server generates a dynamic HTML page from the requested data and service.
5. This dynamically generated HTML page is returned to the browser for rendering.

Apache Flex
How adding an compiled SWF file in the server works
1. User request the server page
2. Web server locates the file and passes it to the application server for processing.
3. Business logic of the code accesses the system resources like database, mail server and file system.
4. Server generates a dynamic HTML page from the requested data and service.
5. the generated HTML code with and embedded SWF file reference. (JavaScript code auto-generated by the Flash Builder is used for embedding SWF file into the HTML file).
6. the HTML code reaches browser for rendering
7. Browser requests that the SWF file be downloaded and rendered in Flash Player (as a small widget or an entire application view in the HTML page).
8. the SWF file in the browser can directly communicate with the server code. This allows for dynamic content to update the Flex application UI without refreshing the HTML page and decreases the number of requests to the server and the amount of content that is transferred over the network.

Another good comparision of Flash vs HTML 5 is available at the website.
http://flashvhtml.com/

Flex framework automatically takes care of adjusting the application layout as per the form factor of the device running the application while in HTML 5 the developer needs to take of detecting the platform and device and laying out the components as per the target form factor. But this gap is getting closed widget frameworks like JQuery which are also supporting eventing and data binding and the  forward momentum is with Html and JS.

Read this Interesting Blog published by Gartner about "HTML 5 vs Flash".

Features not possible to implement without Flash.

1. Copy to Clipboard

As of Today (September2014) its not possible to implement Copy to Clipboard functionality in a web page that works consistently and flawlessly across all major browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer). Suppose you want to develop a button on click of which you want to copy to your Windows or Mac Clipboard some text content say value of any text area within a form. This can only be achieved by using Flash. With JavaScript only approach you would only be able to do this for Internet Explorer (IE). Presently the most reliable solution is to use ZeroClipboard (http://zeroclipboard.org/) which internally make use of a hidden Flash movie and JavaScript interface to achieve this functionality in a secure way. 

Related Articles

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Adobe Flex is now Apache Flex


Adobe has submitted the code for Flex framework along with number of other related components (including Testing Framework, BlazeDS, Falcon compiler) to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) so that it could be managed as an independent project.

The Flex project proposal has been accepted by Apache Software Foundation.

For further details please refer Adobe's official blog: http://blog.everythingflex.com/2011/11/16/apache-flex-update-from-adobe/. However,  Adobe might continue to dedicate its employees full time for further development of the Flex.

Discussions related to this recent announcements regarding Flex and the Flash Platform.



Incubator proposal of Flex could be found at the link below:
http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/FlexProposal

Earlier Adobe also announced that it would not develop Flash Player for new mobile devices following the Flash Player 11.1 release for Android and BlackBerry Playbook, and would instead focus on tooling for HTML5, which will eventually provide similar functionality as that of Flash without requiring a separate plug-in.

Adobe will however continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. More details about this could be found at this blog http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2011/11/flash-to-focus-on-pc-browsing-and-mobile-apps-adobe-to-more-aggressively-contribute-to-html5.html

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Building Web & Mobile Applications for SAP Backend using Adobe Flex, updated

Development

SAP Provides following development tools for Adobe Flex application development:
•SAP Visual Composer (VC)
•SAP Business Objects Xcelsius


Integration

•Adobe Flex applications built on Adobe Flex Builder can be integrated to SAP WebDynpro Java & ABAP using SAP Flash Island technology.
Adobe Flex applications built on Adobe Flex Builder can be deployed over SAP NetWeaver Web AS Java and could be made available to end users using SAP NetWeaver Portal (formerly Enterprise Portal).


How to connect to sap from mobile using flex ?

With usage of Flex complex business processes are simplified and more interactivity is introduced dealing with display of rich data. Oracle, SAP, Business Objects, and other enterprise software companies are also integrating Flex technology within their enterprise applications.

SAP NetWeaver Gateway technology provides a standard based simple approach to connect devices, environments and platforms to SAP applications & solutions. It enables development of innovative people centric solutions for SAP solutions into new experiences such as: 

It offers connectivity to SAP R/3 application using any programming language or model without the need for SAP knowledge by leveraging REST services and OData/ATOM protocols.


Adobe® Flash Builder Plugin for SAP NetWeaver Gateway Services enables Flex developers to build web and mobile applications that access SAP data via NetWeaver Gateway Services (NGS). 


The plugin provides features that enable Adobe Flex developers to more easily build web and mobile applications that connect to SAP systems through SAP NetWeaver Gateway. The plugin works within the existing Flash Builder Data Centric Development (DCD) workflow.

Simple wizards allow developers to

  1. connect with and browse a Gateway Server’s Service Catalog 
  2. generate ActionScript service wrappers and value objects for selected services
  3. Flash Builder Data Service Panel and Design View drag-and-drop integration
The new Adobe Flash Builder Plugin for SAP NetWeaver Gateway can be downloaded from the link below: 

Adobe Flash Builder Plug in for NetWeaver Gateway

Read the document below for details about the installation instructions & how to use this plugin.
Getting Started with Adobe Flash Builder Plugin for SAP NetWeaver Gateway Services

Below is the video of how to use Adobe Flash Builder Plugin for SAP NetWeaver Gateway Services




What's New in Flex 4.6 SDK and Flash Builder 4.6

Below is the Blog link from Adobe Developer Connection about  - What's new in Flex 4.6 SDK & Flash Builder 4.6:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/whats-new-flex-flash-builder-46.html

Key Improvements include:
  • New UI Components
  • Support for latest Google tablet platform and iOS 5
  • Enhanced Tooling (including monitoring and unit testing of mobile applicaitons)
  • Performance Improvement
This is the final official Adobe release of Flex. Future versions of Flex SDK will be managed as an independent project by Apache Software Foundation (ASF).


Thursday, August 25, 2011

List of Open Source Tools for Apache Flex

ActionScriptImage via Wikipedia
Below is the list of Open Source tools for Apache Flex.
  • FlexUnitAn open-source unit testing framework for Flex developers.
  • FlexLib - a community effort to create open source user interface components for Adobe Flex 2, 3 and 4.
  • AS3CoreLibAn ActionScript 3 Library that contains a number of classes and utilities for working with ActionScript 3. These include classes for MD5 and SHA 1 hashing, Image encoders, and JSON serialization as well as general String, Number and Date APIs.
  • Granite DSGranite Data Services is a free, open source alternative to Adobe LiveCycle (Flex 2) Data Services for J2EE application servers.
  • FlexCoverprovides code coverage instrumentation, data collection and reporting tools for Adobe Flex and AIR applications.
  • FlexmonkeyFlexMonkey is a free Adobe AIR application used for testing Flex and AIR based applications. Providing the functionality to record, playback and verify Flex UI interactions, our test automation tool also generates ActionScript-based testing scripts that you can easily include within a continuous integration environment. 
  • as3mathlib -The Flex/Actionscript Math Library (as3mathlib) is intended to provide a rudimentary numerical analysis toolkit for the Actionscript/Flex programming environment.
  • as3statslib -A library of statistical functions and data analysis routines for AS3. Also includes integration and matrix functions. Still under development.
  • standingwave -StandingWave is an AS3 code library designed for high level control of Flash Player 10's SampleDataEvent API for streaming audio output.
  • as3-scaffoldas3-scaffold is a lightweight as3 framework with an accompanying set of scaffolding scripts to automate the tedium of setting up new as3 projects, with support for PureMVC.
  • redlib-as3RedLib is an ActionScript 3 (AS3) library that contains classes and utilities for working with AS3 and other AS3 libraries. In other words, code that helps me with my day-to-day AS3 tasks.
  • right-click-managerIntegrate the tricks of javascript and actionscript found on the internet to provide a simple way to add the ability to listen to right mouse button click event for Flex application,
  • bendpixelsBendPixels is a Flex library that allows you to use PixelBender filters as Flex effects
  • flexgdsgenFlxgdsgen is an ant based generator that creates Flex/Air projects. The project uses GraniteDS for the communication between the client and the server. As the server side framework it uses Spring. The generated project is an Ant/Ivy based project that contains all the necessary files (.project, .classpath, ...) that allows you to import the project in Eclipse/Flex Builder.Flxgdsgen is an ant based generator that creates Flex/Air projects. The project uses GraniteDS for the communication between the client and the server. As the server side framework it uses Spring. The generated project is an Ant/Ivy based project that contains all the necessary files (.project, .classpath, ...) that allows you to import the project in Eclipse/Flex Builder.
  • flex-blazeds-spring-archetypeThe flex-blazeds-spring-archetype can be used to generate a multi-module Maven 2 project which integrates Flex, BlazeDS & Spring.
  • flex-codegenThe CodeGen creates all necessary files for getting the base of an application started with easy access to the database, for all database operations. All code is generated from a schema.xml file that holds the applications databases schema. Any changes to the database or tables or fields usually would required a developer to go through the classes they made for that table or database and make the correct changes reflecting the new changes. But with the CodeGen all one would need to do is run the generator again and the newly updated tables will be re-written in the schema.xml file thus generating new php classes for the CRUD operations, therefore your application never runs out of sync.
  • flex-colorfuldatechooserColorful date chooser component for Adobe Flex
  • flexundoredo e Flex UndoRedo Framework provides all the facilities that you need for implementing undo and redo within your applications.
    The Flex UndoRedo Framework was built with the following goals in mind:
    • Provide a robust, extensible framework that would work without modification for basic needs
    • Support for different groups of undo events (one group per flexMdi window for example)
    • Allow undo and redo of an unlimited number of events
    • Integrate cleanly and transparently into applications with or without Cairngorm
    The Flex UndoRedo Framework is an open source project available for all to use. For more information, please see the links in the sidebar.
  • flex-databasemanagerFlex MySQL Monitor, Manager, Query Builder,
  • flex-helperOpen Tools/Components to help flex applications be more accessible for the handicapped.
  • flex-compileFlex project management tool and wrapper for the Flex compiler for fast compilation
  • flex-object-handlesUser resizeable container for flex components.
  • flex-iframeAn IFrame which you can embed into Flex applications to show an html page
  • htmlwrapperWrapper is a cross-browser compliant HTML/CSS rendering engine written in ActionScript that sits on top of your standards compliant HTML page. Wrapper eliminates cross-browser issues and makes integrating ActionScript and HTML/CSS projects possible without needing to compile every change.
  • picasa-flex-api Picasa Flex API is easy way to access your images posted to Google Picasa from Flex and Flash Application. AIR is supported as well.
    The library provides service which works directly with Google Data API feeds and hides all complexity of parsing and processing, makes developing much more easier.
  • as3flickrlibThe Flickr library is an ActionScript 3.0 API for the online photo sharing application, Flickr. It provides access to the entire Flickr API.
  • flex-diagrammerWith this Flex library you can build your own diagrammers and easily extend nodes and links adding custom functionality.
  • flex mmorpg engine - This is a mmorpg engine using adobe flex framework. The game application server bases on scala liftweb framework and media transport server bases on Red5.
  • as3djvuas3djvu is a library supporting decoding and rendering of DjVu files in ActionScript 3 and Flex based projects. DjVu is an excellent compression method for scanned documents which generally outperforms PDF and JPEG formats.
  • as3xls - Read and write Excel files in Flex
  • BlazeDS is the server-based Java remoting and web messaging technology that enables developers to easily connect to back-end distributed data and push data in real-time to Adobe® Flex® and Adobe AIR™ applications for more responsive rich Internet application (RIA) experiences.
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