All about FLEX... to get you started !

Thanks all for the immense response to my last blog entry... A lot of people have asked me what is FLEX and how they can tap into it... so here are some resources to get you started.

Adobe® Flex™ 2 is the most complete, powerful application development solution for creating and delivering cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs) within the enterprise and across the web. It lets enterprises create personalized, multimedia-rich, Ajax-style applications that can reach virtually anyone on any platform. Enterprises can use Flex to quickly build and deploy applications that improve the user experience, boost the bottom line, and analyze data to enable better business decisions.

Flex.org is a starting point for developers working with Adobe Flex Builder 2, Flex Data Services 2, and the Flex 2 SDK. Here you will find links to technical and support resources from both Adobe and the developer community. Click here to visit Flex.org

You can find all the resources to start off with FLEX2 on this site...

Once you are started, you can register to FlexCoders. It is an International Registry of FlexCoders and will get you in touch with fellow Flex Developers and Community. Click here to visit FlexCoders

You can also checkout the Adobe FLEX Page and Adobe Labs Page

For people who want more out of FLEX, checkout AJAX-FLEX Bridge, FLEX-ColdF usion Connector.

Check out these Flex Examples to get a taste of what you can do...

1. Flex Store application & details
2. Restaurant Finder application & details
3. Photo Viewer application & details

Enjoy the Joy of FLEX, as Sam says... EXPERIENCE MATTERS!

HELL YEAH! WE SHIPPED THIS THING :)

I have been impatiently waiting for this day… And it has finally arrived...

"We, the FLEX TEAM, hereby declare that the FLEX2 Product line is finally out and ready for anyone who wants to provide an awesome experience on the web"

HURRAY!!! It feels so awesome just to say that.

I remember when I was small (I mean, I was in 8th or 9th grade), I used to stare at the splash screen of Adobe Photoshop and look in awe at the credits of those who participated in the product design (I was specially thrilled to find some Indian names there). Then it became a practice that I used to look at the credits of most products I used (especially Flash 5 and Winamp) and dream of the day when I would be on the credits of some product... But I never believed I would.

Now just 1 year into my foray to the software world, my wildest dream has come true. I'm on the credits page of the FLEX Product Line, and man it feels awesome. I was itching to put it up since it came in the internal build, but had to forcefully stop myself till the product shipped...

Incredible... Isn't it!

It has been a very rewarding and exciting journey for me in the last 10 months with FLEX2. A very alien technology for me when I joined has become a part of my life now. I’m so thrilled that I do not have words to express my excitement… So here’s to FLEX and to all the hard work and toil we went through to make it possible… CHEERS!!!

Flash Player 9 - Your window to richer experiences

Adobe has rolled out Flash Player 9 for the public. Get it today, so that you do not fall behind in the search for richer experiences on the net.

For technical guys, Flash Player 9 has a whole new architecture with ActionScript3.0 (AS3 for short) forming the core of it. AS3 is more tightly bound OOP language than AS2, adhering to the ECMAScript standards (which is followed by JavaScript too).

For now, only FLEX2 will come out with AS3 content, though all legacy files would run fine on Player 9. Designers will have to wait a while (until next Creative Suite release i guess) to get an Authoring equivalent in AS3 (in conjunction with the Flash Authoring 9 release)

So get it today and dont fall behind... Here's the link

P.S. I will be uploading some cool stuff i did with AS3 & FLEX, so i suggest you get it :)

Enriched with Flash MP3 Player

I was visiting Hemanth's Blog when I saw that he had a site of his own now, dedicated to his musical musings (you can check it out here). I was mighty impressed by the custom Flash Player which was used to play the playlist of his songs... I longed to make a similar one, but knew my flash skills was not as good (I can make one in Flex easily, but Flash player 9 that Flex2 uses is not yet fully public)

But then, something in the right click menu caught my eye.. it said "FLASH MP3 PLAYER 2.0 by JEROENWIJERING". I went to Jeroen's site and downloaded the latest version of his player there...

The best part about it is that it is under the "Creative Commons Deed" so I can edit it and use it for my non-commercial purposes, by giving due credit to the creator. So here's to Jeroen, for creating a simple but wonderfully useful application. Cheers!!

Now you can listen to all my songs in the sidebar to the right of the blog, rather than having to navigate to each post for the songs. Flash Rocks, so does Macromedia (now Adobe), who created it.... Yeee ha