Keith Sutton Silicon Valley Flex User Group (SilvaFUG) http://silvafug.org Introduction to Adobe Flex and available Semantic Technology Resources

Agenda What is Flex? Elements of a semantic application Flex and Actionscript Resources Available Examples

What is Flex?

Elements of a semantic application

Flex and Actionscript Resources

Available Examples

What is Flex? Flex is a framework for building: Rich Internet Applications (RIA) – Browser-based applications that look like applications (running on Flash Player) Desktop applications that run on Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Available as: Free SDK: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=flex3sdk Commercial Package: Flex/Flash Builder (Eclipse based IDE): http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=flexbuilder3 http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/

Flex is a framework for building:

Rich Internet Applications (RIA) – Browser-based applications that look like applications (running on Flash Player)

Desktop applications that run on Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)

Available as:

Free SDK: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=flex3sdk

Commercial Package: Flex/Flash Builder (Eclipse based IDE): http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=flexbuilder3

Why Flex for Semantic Applications Flex compiles applications that run on Flash Player – so what ? Secure platform Deploy globally Substantial visual capabilities Embodies 10+ years of design experience Runtime is Free :) and Cross-Platform Bottom-line easy to create and deploy visually engaging user experiences

Flex compiles applications that run on Flash Player – so what ?

Secure platform

Deploy globally

Substantial visual capabilities

Embodies 10+ years of design experience

Runtime is Free :) and Cross-Platform

Bottom-line easy to create and deploy visually engaging user experiences

Design and Development Workflow

Eclipse-based IDE

Building Applications MXML ActionScript IDE

Compiling & Running RIA MXML ActionScript ActionScript Browser .swf Desktop Web Server First time access .swf Compiler

Compiling & Running AIR MXML ActionScript ActionScript Browser .air Desktop First time access .air Compiler Web Server

Elements of a Semantic Web App Data Mgmt User Interface Components - Visualization - Connectivity Logic Client Triple Store SPARQL endpoint Service REST Objects RPC Search HTTP XML, JSON, SOAP, Serialized Binary

Connectivity HTTPService – HTTP Get/Post (REST-Style) XML, JSON http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/quickstart/httpservice/ WebService - Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) XML, JSON http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/04/14/calling-a-simple-web-service-from-flex-using-the-webservice-class/ Remote Object - Adobe Action Message Format (AMF) RPC – serialized binary http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=data_access_4.html

HTTPService – HTTP Get/Post (REST-Style)

XML, JSON

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/quickstart/httpservice/

WebService - Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

XML, JSON

http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/04/14/calling-a-simple-web-service-from-flex-using-the-webservice-class/

Remote Object - Adobe Action Message Format (AMF)

RPC – serialized binary

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=data_access_4.html

Data Management XML – native XML, XMLList and XMLListCollection JSON – multiple libraries available http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/2006/02/actionscript-3-json-library-now-available.cfm http://code.google.com/p/as3corelib/ XMP – ActionScript add-on available from Adobe http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/xmplibrary/ http://www.brooksandrus.com/blog/2009/04/13/getting-down-and-dirty-with-xmp-and-as3/ RDF-XML under construction http://code.google.com/p/semanticflash/

XML – native XML, XMLList and XMLListCollection

JSON – multiple libraries available

http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/2006/02/actionscript-3-json-library-now-available.cfm

http://code.google.com/p/as3corelib/

XMP – ActionScript add-on available from Adobe

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/xmplibrary/

http://www.brooksandrus.com/blog/2009/04/13/getting-down-and-dirty-with-xmp-and-as3/

RDF-XML under construction

http://code.google.com/p/semanticflash/

Logic ActionScript – object oriented language Build what you need Application frameworks http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/cairngorm/ http://puremvc.org/ http://www.asfusion.com/projects/mate/ http://code.google.com/p/swizframework/ Semantic logic ???

ActionScript – object oriented language

Build what you need

Application frameworks

http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/cairngorm/

http://puremvc.org/

http://www.asfusion.com/projects/mate/

http://code.google.com/p/swizframework/

Semantic logic ???

UI Graph Visualization Open Source graph visualization libraries SpringGraph: http://mark-shepherd.com/blog/springgraph-flex-component/ http://mark-shepherd.com/SpringGraph/RoamerDemo/bin/RoamerDemo.html BirdEye: http://code.google.com/p/birdeye/ http://birdeye.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ravis/RaVisExamples/example-binaries/RaVisExplorer.html Flare: http://flare.prefuse.org/ http://flare.prefuse.org/demo Kaplab: http://lab.kapit.fr/display/visualizer/Visualizer Commercial YFiles: http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yfilesflex_about.html

Open Source graph visualization libraries

SpringGraph: http://mark-shepherd.com/blog/springgraph-flex-component/ http://mark-shepherd.com/SpringGraph/RoamerDemo/bin/RoamerDemo.html

BirdEye: http://code.google.com/p/birdeye/ http://birdeye.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ravis/RaVisExamples/example-binaries/RaVisExplorer.html

Flare: http://flare.prefuse.org/ http://flare.prefuse.org/demo

Kaplab: http://lab.kapit.fr/display/visualizer/Visualizer

Commercial

YFiles: http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yfilesflex_about.html

RDF Visualization Example SPARQL Browser: http://ccgi.arutherford.plus.com/website/flex/dbPedia/sparqlQueryViewer/

SPARQL Browser: http://ccgi.arutherford.plus.com/website/flex/dbPedia/sparqlQueryViewer/

Have a look yourself Coding in MXML and Actionscript http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/quickstart/coding_with_mxml_and_actionscript/ Tour de Flex http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/tourdeflex/ FlexBook http://demo.quietlyscheming.com/book/Anatomy.html

Coding in MXML and Actionscript http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/quickstart/coding_with_mxml_and_actionscript/

Tour de Flex

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/tourdeflex/

FlexBook

http://demo.quietlyscheming.com/book/Anatomy.html