Monthly Archives: March 2010

It’s worth to migrate my Flex 3 app to Flex 4 app?

1
Posted by Igor Costa on March 24, 2010 – 6:35 pm
Filed under Flex, Flex 4, Flex Components

Got a question today on skype over a developer from US, asking me some other things and finally all explanation gave to him he asked me if it worth to migrate a current built app done in Flex 3.x SDK to Flex 4 SDK.
Besides the fact of corporate world, Homologate than start using for first class projects, it’s worth at all to start using Flex 4 SDK. And now why?

To better help you here’s a list of things that you will consider before and after choose Flex 4 SDK:

Flex 4 vs. Flex 3:
Each other does not compete with each other, they work together and smooth, guys from Flex SDK team and their manager (Deepa), did an amazing job putting this to work smooth. You can easy use both Spark components and Halo components together without hassle. Both products SDKs was built to distinct goals. When Flex 3 SDK was shipped to the market was consolidating itself to solve most problem in industry of RIA applications, the easiness of doing incredible products with desktop behavior and data-ware prospect. Which includes a hell lot of new components, new charts capabilites and until today you still uses those creations. Flex 4 SDK was built to help ensure that thinking before, help not just creating easyness UI for applications but, do them beauty.
Today worlds we don’t just have desktops to use, we have mobile devices, devices of any kind and with the current look and feel of Flex components it’s hard to keep code up to date and still working on those types of screen/hardware. Where Flex 4 SDK came to close this gap, making beauty, usefull and maintanable your work.

Composite vs. inheritance

Still today you can do both with Flex 3 SDK. the 3th version and his variants can support composite, as you know Flex 4 SDK still uses the inheritance but main goal of Flex 4 SDK is composite components, more easy and fun to code, increasing among many other things that you will see in your day-by-day job.
To illustrate the easy of creating new components in Flex, please see theses slides from Mrinal Wadhwa, his slides explanation will let you know more about what I’m talking to.

Code confort:

When you have a mature SDK that let you know what you’re doing, it’s hard to keep distance from it. Sample of that people missunderstand that an mature SDK is that SDK that it’s out of the box components, just drag and drop and it’s working. In some parts is cool programming in that way for small, prototype and presentations. But in a real world you will have to costumise each component, don’t you? In Flex 3 SDK you have to handle pretty well and know all the behavior of Flex 3 Component life cycle. Many developers are still facing on how is the better approach. I admit that it was usual hard to get working. But in Flex 4 SDK life cycle of a component get ridiculous simple. You now can have decouple UI, you can split the design and logic ui in two files. Letting you do the hard part of costumization easy to you. Never been so easy to create and deploy your own custom components without worry to meet the qualified classes or behavior methods to declare in order to properly work. This is the past, from now one you will see in your future Flex 4 SDK projects how this become easy.

Performance:
We have today a world that is slave of clock and everything that comes to you it’s for delivery yesterday, don’t happen with you? And to keep in track time and projects you need a tool, that facilitate all of these work, it’s basicly a give me what I want in the time I want. the new mxmlc compiler is twice fast than the old one in Flex 3 SDK. Part of that is to help the developer increase their producitivy and increasing that you have loved developers on your pocket. Team did a good job. In some cases for example I’ve notice that increased 4.3x times than before. It’s like I don’t need no more coffee break as sorry to producitivy.

Imaginable components:
Imaginated create that mo’ fc’ component you always wanted and don’t have the skills necessery to create? Simple, you can do design right? You have Flash Catalyst to do the dirt job to you. and it will compile to you a nicely tag component ready to be used for your developer. Their are still working on this tool to get worth using. But if you don’t want to wait, you can right now test a beta version of this tool in the Adobe Labs.

Migration Code:
One of the principal concern is motivation on gains to move code on to new workflow of Flex 4 SDK does. A worth looking is the documentation that specify straight to the point where show all new way of doing in Flex 4. It’s not hard to update your current code, you just have to adapt, a sample of that I bet you will only need 40% of your current code migrated to Flex 4 SDK standards. If you do much use of States,HBox,VBox. I increase this value to 50% of code migration.

All theses worth mention can help you understand if worth right now to migrate to Flex 4 SDK. There’s another indirect benefits of start using Flex 4 SDK, like direct access to the new API of Flash Player, AIR, code execution faster, less open bugs on the database,etc. It’s now up to you decide.

So, Flash is Flash and others are something else

1
Posted by Igor Costa on March 5, 2010 – 2:35 am
Filed under Flash, Personal

I saw and still seeing people in Blogs, websites hitting the flash platform so badly with so uncertain true about flash without even knowing.
I feel sorry for them, but here’s my true, honest view of what Flash represents and will keeping represent to me in my professional life and personal life.
Everything started 9 years ago when I first met Flash, primarily in the market we just have for interactive things, Flash, Shockwave and Java applets, we do have few other tools that didn’t take so much as Flash hit in the market in that time.
One year later, everyone and every website wanted to have Flash in their banners, interactive websites (1.0), animations, cartoons, whatever, Flash was the big BOOM in that time and the folks was so attracted to Flash that any blaming things wasn’t heard.
I did so much things with Flash in that time, CD presos, cartoons and even given to an old ex-girlfriend her first interactive CD room.
In mean time I made a quarter box of money, pretty much doing well for a 16 old boy with no responsibility, I made deal and decided to start my professional career as a Flash guy.
In that time we didn’t even have “Flash developer, Flash designer, Flash Interactive designer, Interactive Art Director, we just was considering “flash guys”. Was good, brutha, we were so good on that field.
In US market, Flash “guys”, was hardly tagged for jobs, saw 1 year after I was developing in Flash a open job at 2Advanced for flash “guys”, paying about $65k a year. In that time was a higher salary.
Okay, Still on this field, did I image been working on that fancy job? Of course I do. Who didn’t want to? But never get my visa to try out there.

Back to Brazil, I keeping doing good and Flash hit the market here and was a higher price tag job, paying more than other traditional technologies like Java, where may Java Developers was so hated about Flash, because of this, paying more in a technology that even has a programming language just a “script”.

Things gone, time passed and in 2004 Kevin Lynch introduced the RIA concept with the old Actionscript 1.0 language rapidly migrated to Actionscript 2.0 syntax. (We still compiling actionscript 1.0). Than people loved was blasting sound in the Internet market, Flash Player in that time was 98.5% on every single computer on the internet, who don’t want to develop to a great product that are seeded in the entire Digital Universe? Who is insane? I guess you’re not.

Later on in 2005, some old underground guru, re-launched “Ajax”, a old product from Microsoft that didn’t worked for many applications, but was in new blood and web was shaping in that time.
Then, in 2006. I had my dreamed job, paying me $75k a year, what else I want? A profession to work on a thing that I enjoy working and paying my bills? Why change?
Skipping more few years and getting today as I write here, I still making more money with Flash and still feeding my family, buying my stuff, traveling for whatever I want to go, still doing same awesome thing, working now on Actionscript 3.0.

Made dozens of new friends, met thousands of nice people, growing my network and keeping enjoying life.

I don’t blame myself, but I love my Wife, not Flash as you were thinking, but this technology are still growing, still learning and rocking on, on every aspect of your digital and real life. Flash Is everywhere except and ONLY (iphone), TV, Cars console, Mobile, Desktop, Digital Cameras, Factories Applications UI, Mind blowing games and I still keep seeing Flash giving the dreamed jobs for every single developer on Earth. How many others developers out there does share the same history of mine, and are believers that Flash is still rocking.

I do not talk about other things, I respect the view of others and something else that appears to blame that “Flash is going to die”. It’s more obvious that you may die before Flash die.
Honestly until Flash afford my developers needs, and a citizen needs I’ll keeping working with it, not because I’ve been working on it. It’s because he breaks all Wall Bricks on my personal life.
My advice to you that readied until here, go and make money with Flash, because is still rocking on not even on Internet but everywhere.

Among other things you were except to view. Sorry to disappointed you, but as I said in the title “…others is something else…” Resolve the trick.
Peace.

iFlickr a simple Flash app source code to iPhone/iPod touch

2
Posted by Igor Costa on March 1, 2010 – 4:10 pm
Filed under 3.0, Flash, Labs, iPhone/iPod touch

When you get hands on Flash CS5 and want to try out some of the capabilities on how you can do such things, try this iFlick a simple Flash CS5 application .fla+.as files.
The Flickr image album used was photos from Flash Camp Brasil.
Can’t talk too much about Flash CS5 right now, but you can read blogs like www.theflashblog.com that shows you how to take advantage of Flash CS5 feature that is iphone package export.

The iFlick is very simple, I’ve explored the workflow from Flash CS5 and Flash Builder 4, got very excited about how smooth is right now. And for sure will rock you Flash developer.

Hope you can understand the code. Right now some trickeness was done in the code but futher I when Flash CS5 arrise in the market I will explain why.

All code requires a Flash CS5 license, Flash Builder 4, Apple Developer certificate (of course), Flicker developer Key.

Also, visit Ted blog he has others cool examples that was used in the Adobe Booth.

Disclaimer: API coded in this example may change and you will need to adapt when Flash CS5 arrives in the market.