An introduction to
the flash platform
Jeethu Karthik J
PixelKraft Media Solutions

Agenda
Rich Internet Applications
RIA Development platforms
Things to consider when building RIAs
The Flash Platform
Flash through the ages
Flash Platform in your field
Benefits of the Flash Platform
Adobe Flex
Flex Builder & Flex SDK
Demo (Retrieve data from a REST based service and implement an
application)
Adobe AIR
Resources

Rich Internet Applications
Macromedia coined the term rich Internet application (RIA)
back in 2002.
RIAs combine the flexibility, responsiveness, and ease of use
of desktop applications with the broad reach of the web.
Rich Internet applications (RIAs) offer a rich, engaging
experience that improves user satisfaction and increases
productivity.

RIA Development platforms
Flash/Flex/AIR
Silverlight
JavaFx
OpenLazzlo
AJAX

Things to consider when building RIAs
Richness
Reach
Productivity

Things to consider when building RIAs
Richness
Do the clients include support for multimedia industry
standards like H.264 video or Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)?
Does the development framework include a rich set of user
interface components?
Is there support for managing large volume and real-time
data?

Things to consider when building RIAs
Reach
Do all of your potential users have the required client
technology?
Does the technology allow you to develop solutions that
consistently reach the browser and desktop across all major
operating systems?

Things to consider when building RIAs
Productivity
Do the tools allow designers and developers to work together?
Do the development frameworks allow for rapid development,
testing, and deployment of applications?
Is there a open community of designers and developers
working with the technologies?

Flash through the ages
2003 2009
2008
2005 2007

The Flash Platform
Flash, AIR, Flex, Flash Catalyst,
Flash Media Server, Blaze DS

Flash Platform in your field
Building enterprise applications
Building applications on a SaaS platform
Rich media/content delivery systems
Websites/ Web applications

Benefits of the Flash Platform
99% user base.
Flash player 9 has 99% user base.
Flash player 10 has 56% user base.
AIR has 10 million downloads.
Familiarity with developers
Complete integration with the creative suite.

Adobe Flex
“ Adobe Flex is a complete, powerful
application development solution for
creating and delivering cross-platform rich
Internet applications (RIAs) within the
enterprise and across the web. It enables
the creation of expressive and interactive
web applications that can reach virtually
anyone on any platform. ”

Jargon buster

How flex is different from flash?

How Flex works ?
Flex will work with nearly any HTTP or socket based server:
• ASCII text (POST,GET,REST Headers Supported)
• XML (POST,GET,REST Headers Supported)
• Server side languages: .NET, RUBY, PYTHON, JAVA,
PHP, PERL, XML, etc
• SOAP direct to the server
• Binary AMF (Optimized data serialization format for
remoting, paging)
• Real-time exchange using 2 way push over XML Socket
and Binary Socket.

How Flex works ?

Flex Builder
Eclipse Plugin.
Code hinting, debugging
WYSIWYG Design view
Memory and performance profilers
Charting components, advanced datagrid.
Testing Support

Flex Frameworks and Tools
Development
Framework
Testing
Building

Flex Frameworks and Tools -
Development
Flex Builder (Eclipse Plugin)
Flex Beans (Net Beans Plugin)
Amethyst Professional (Visual Studio Plugin)
FlashDevelop (freeware)
Or just code in Notepad and use the opensource Flex
SDK

Flex Frameworks and Tools -
Framework
PureMVC
http://puremvc.org/
Lightweight framework - based upon the classic
Model, View and Controller concept.
Cairngorm
http://opensource.adobe.
com/wiki/display/cairngorm/Cairngorm
Lightweight micro-architecture - a collaboration of
recognized design patterns
Maté
Mate is a tag-based, event-driven Flex framework.
http://mate.asfusion.com/

Flex Frameworks and Tools - Testing
FlexUnit (http://code.google.com/p/fluint/)

Flex SDK
Open source - Mozilla Public License, version 1.1
(MPL)
Project hosted at http://opensource.adobe.com/flex/

Demo
Consume a REST based service (Y! BOSS) and implement an
application.

Adobe AIR
“The Adobe AIR runtime lets developers
use proven web technologies to build rich
Internet applications that run outside the
browser on multiple operating systems.”

Developing AIR apps
Cross OS Runtime Menuing
Web developers can Online/Offline
build desktop apps
Chrome Control
Supports: Flash, Flex,
Local Storage
HTML, JavaScript
System Notifications
OS Level APIs
Auto Updates
File I/O
SQL Lite Database
Native Windowing
Its free !!
Processes

AIR Demo

RIAs in action

Flex Builder Educational License
https://freeriatools.adobe.com/flex/
Free Professional edition with Charting.
Available for both students and teachers alike.

Resources & Links
Flex Developer Network http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/
Skinning http://www.scalenine.com/
Component Explorer http://examples.adobe.
com/flex3/componentexplorer/explorer.html
Style Explorer http://examples.adobe.
com/flex3/consulting/styleexplorer/Flex3StyleExplorer.html
Charting Explorer http://demo.quietlyscheming.com/ChartSampler/app.
html

Communities
FlexCoders Group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/
Flex India http://flex-india.org
Chennai Flex User Group http://www.chennaiflex.org/

Thank you
http://blog.jeethukarthik.com
http://twitter.com/jeethukarthik