Is flex for me???

[roshankolar]

Hi All out there,

Im new to flex. I'm thrilled with the HYPE flex has caused, and the heap of awards in so little span. I'm a flash designer and programmer. I know a little bit of web designing, i usually use Dreamweaver. Im not so good at PHP, and other web based scripts. I'm fimiliar with Macromedia Flash 8 Professional. I wanna know some thing from my GURU's here.......
1. Is flex for me?
2. Is flex a complete RIA or can desktop exe's be created?
3. Does Flex 2 have support on OS 10.4.9 and 10.5 Leopard? Can i use a single downloaded copy for both or will i need a MAC copy for MAC?
4. Im presently into desktop based applications in flash, so question 2 repeats.
5. Can I get the names of some fine, easy learning books on flex?
6. What's the future of Flex over Flash?
7. Does Flex support writing files to HD, OS native popup's, CD functionalities, Printing functionalities, Audio and Video functionalities, text parsing functionalities?
8. I have some fla and swf files with me, I want to add flex database functionalities. Can i import the swf? or fla? and code the buttons on my swf in flex?

9. You look tired. i will be back with more queries.

Im very keen to know about flex. I have read many articles. I hope someone could answer me my questions and get me started with flex.

Regards
Roshan Kolar:eek:

[uncle]

1. That's for you to decide.
2. FLEX is just an enviroment built upon flash so in the end you get a flash file.
3. See 2.
4. See 2.
5. I have O'Reilly Programming Flex 2 and ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook, works fine for me.
6. I see FLEX as a programmers aproch and Flash more an animator or graphic artist way of doing same thing. FLEX might be a bit better in pure applications with forms and stuff.
7. No, see 2.
8. Yes, see 2.

9. I'm tired :)

I only been working with Flex for a couple of weeks but I love it ( with some small exeptions )

/Per-Erik

[dr_zeus]

Hi All out there,

Im new to flex. I'm thrilled with the HYPE flex has caused, and the heap of awards in so little span. I'm a flash designer and programmer. I know a little bit of web designing, i usually use Dreamweaver. Im not so good at PHP, and other web based scripts. I'm fimiliar with Macromedia Flash 8 Professional. I wanna know some thing from my GURU's here.......
1. Is flex for me?

If you're more design-focused, Flex may be a little more difficult to pick up if you want to go beyond the basics. It's mostly Flash developers that are getting excited about Flex because it feels more like home.

2. Is flex a complete RIA or can desktop exe's be created?

You can build applications for the web, or if you use AIR (http://www.adobe.com/go/air), you can build desktop applications too.

3. Does Flex 2 have support on OS 10.4.9 and 10.5 Leopard? Can i use a single downloaded copy for both or will i need a MAC copy for MAC?

Flex SWF files can be run anywhere that Flash Player 9 is available. If you're referring to Flex Builder, the development environment for Flex, separate versions are available on Windows and Mac OSX. I know Flex Builder 2 works fine on 10.4, but I haven't used Leopard yet.

4. Im presently into desktop based applications in flash, so question 2 repeats.

If you use AIR, or any other Flash "projector" creation software, you can deploy a Flex application to the desktop.

5. Can I get the names of some fine, easy learning books on flex?

Programming Flex 2 (http://www.zeuslabs.us/2007/05/28/programming-flex-2-recommended-best-book-for-flex/) by Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott is good.

6. What's the future of Flex over Flash?

They'll both continue to exist because they target different markets.

7. Does Flex support writing files to HD, OS native popup's, CD functionalities, Printing functionalities, Audio and Video functionalities, text parsing functionalities?

If you use AIR, you'll have access to the file system and native windows. Printing, audio, and video are native to Flash Player. Any sort of text parsing can be done with ActionScript.

8. I have some fla and swf files with me, I want to add flex database functionalities. Can i import the swf? or fla? and code the buttons on my swf in flex?

FLA files are for Flash only. Communication between SWFs is possible. Flex doesn't have database functionalities. You'll either need to connect to a server-side script or use AIR if you want SQLLite support.

9. You look tired. i will be back with more queries.

I'll be happy to answer them for you.

[roshankolar]

Hi thats a great reply,

One simple question though -
Can i code my flash buttons which are there in a swf in flex?? Suppose I have a button in my swf which hs to take the user to the next frame, so can i code gotoAndPlay(2) in flex and not in flash? if so, its cool then. i can do most of the code in flex along with data service.

Can i design custom buttons in flex like we use SYMBOLs in flash??:rolleyes:

Regards
Roshan Kolar
1. That's for you to decide.
2. FLEX is just an enviroment built upon flash so in the end you get a flash file.
3. See 2.
4. See 2.
5. I have O'Reilly Programming Flex 2 and ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook, works fine for me.
6. I see FLEX as a programmers aproch and Flash more an animator or graphic artist way of doing same thing. FLEX might be a bit better in pure applications with forms and stuff.
7. No, see 2.
8. Yes, see 2.

9. I'm tired :)

I only been working with Flex for a couple of weeks but I love it ( with some small exeptions )

/Per-Erik

[uncle]

Hi!

Actually I'm quite new to flash as well, but as far as I know thats possible. But I think you manually have to load the components and add them as a movieClip.

"Can i design custom buttons in flex like we use SYMBOLs in flash??" No, there is no design tool in flex like it is in flash. But you can do your own buttons designs with skins. That's what we do :)