Nathan Levesque

Every time you upgrade to a new version of software it of course takes you a couple of weeks to get accustomed to changes and new features. For fun I’m going to highlight a few things I noticed within the first 24 hours of using Flex builder Beta 3 vs. Beta 2.

Application Menu

The first thing I noticed is a few new entries in the application menu. The are now immediate shortcuts to import Artwork and Web Services and to export a Release Build. Additionally, when you choose to import a project. You now have the option of importing a project folder, instead of just a zip file that must have been specially exported from Flex Builder. Thank you Flex Builder Team this is a huge feature. I no longer have to create new projects and copy folders because a code sample zip file wasn’t exported from Flex Builder.

Reorganized Help Docs

The help documentation files have been reorganized so it is much easier to find what you’re looking for without having to dig through seven layers of nested docs to find it. The only thing I would have appreciated here is some notes about what class methods/properties had been deprecated between Beta 2 and 3. This is especially noticeable in the AIR Beta 3 docs.

Advanced UI Constraints(Gone!)

Also noted here on Deepa Subramaniam’s blog, this feature has been dropped from Flex Builder 3. Sad to hear this, because honestly, this made Flex Builder 3 a pleasure to work with. But fortunately, the feature will be back in the future. On the bright side, a feature drop like this does give us an indication that the Flex Builder Team is really starting to finalize things for release. They obviously dropped it because they don’t have the time to make it work flawlessly before release. The Flex Builder Planning document states early 2008 as the release period for Flex Builder 3. Here’s hoping for March.

Can’t use Flex 2 License to Extend Trial Period

You should be happy for this feature. Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 expires after 90 days. Flex Builder 3 was released on 12/12/07. If you installed on 12/12/07, your Flex Builder will expire on 3/11/08. Take that how you will, but it looks like a good omen for a probable release date (or at least a projected release date). It’s just a guess, so don’t take my word on it, it’s not like I’m on the Flex Builder Team.

This morning felt like an early Christmas for some developers. For Flex Developers, Beta 3 of Flex 3 was released today, along with Beta 3 of Adobe AIR. This was hinted to at last week’s Flex Camp Boston (actually all they said was “wait until 12/12″, but I think anyone who had been following Flex knew what they meant). This means we’re one step closer to the release of AIR 1.0 and Flex 3.

Also released today was the release version of XNA Game Studio 2.0, which marks the first release use of the Windows Live and XBox Live on the XBox 360 for the casual developer. This new version also works with alternative editions of Visual Studio 2005 other than the Express version. Hopefully this will invite more commercial developers and help push the platform further.

All in all, I really don’t know which to program first tonight!

So it’s been a day since Flex Camp Boston and I have to say it was a great event! They had some great speakers there and it was absolutely jam-packed with information. It was a very good atmosphere and the only time I felt even slightly out of place was when someone asked anyone in the room with a graphic design background to raise their had and I think I saw only one hand other than mine. But that really doesn’t matter, Friday was about Flex, pure and simple.

If you’re interested in getting an idea of what went on, Daniel R. was taking notes and posted them on his blog.

The discussions about ColdFusion really got me excited. I’ve heard of it before (mostly because of the ColdFusion extension option in Dreamweaver installs). Now since I hadn’t heard a whole lot of buzz about ColdFusion I had pretty much dismissed it as something I should learn. However, the discussions Friday really made me start thinking that I should. It was also the first time I had actually seen ColdFusion code and at first glance I could pretty much figure out what most of the code meant. I think this is definitely (yet another) programming language I will be learning. Now I’m starting to see why a lot of the Senior level jobs out there list at least 5 programming languages as required. You simply end up learning them one way or another. I still feel like I’m constantly playing catch-up on technology, but I like to think that I’m getting closer after having learned C#, PHP, SQL, ASP.NET, Python, ActionScript, and Flex in the last 18 months.

I really want to thanks everyone who had a part in putting Flex Camp Boston together, especially Brian Rinadli and the Flex Camp sponsers. And if you were a part of it and you’re reading this, when are you going to start selling tickets for next year?

One of the best things you can do to make your application code in Flex more readable is to modularize the code. What I mean is, try to break things down into separate components. If you need to get data from these components, then expose public read-only properties. Add events so you can respond to things such as click events. This seems like a little extra effort, but really it is far easier to edit several components than to work on one monolithic MXML Aplication file. Learning how to properly create and use custom MXML components will add a little time to the visual design-time of your application, but when it comes to the code-behind it will be easier to separate logic and avoid monster MXML files with dozens of <mx:AddChild> tags for when you switch states. Instead, simply add only a specified custom component to your application file and your MXML and ActionScript is able to remain clean.

I would have to say that it may be even worth going back and modularizing existing code because the increase in ease when you begin to code ActionScript is that worth it.