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Building Flash-based websites using Flex Lesson 1 – Introduction to Rich Internet Application by Alex goh, associate trainer @ LAB School ( http://lab.edu.sg/ ), Adobe Authorized Training Centre, Singapore
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Building Flash-based websites using Flex
Lesson 1 – Introduction to Rich Internet Application
Alex [email protected]
Agenda
● Introduction to RIA
● Flex and Flash
● AIR
● Benefits of using flex
● Downside of Flex
● Showcases of Flex applications
● Resources
● Desktop-like applications running in the browser.
● Overcome many limitations of traditional web technologies:
● Stateless architecture● User interaction is mostly point-and-click● Non-responsive (click > load > wait > click > load > wait > ...)
HTML
Server-side scripting Database
Fat server thin client architecture
RIAServer-side
scripting Database
HTML
HTML
Fat client thin server architecture
Introduction to Rich Internet Application (RIA)
● RIA benefits:
● Rich user experience, like desktop applications
● No cumbersome installations, or upgrades
● Single point management, leading to the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS)
● The down side:
● Longer initial loading time (can be optimized by module decomposition)
● May not be very SEO friendly (Adobe is working with Google and Yahoo to solve this problem)
Introduction to Rich Internet Application (RIA)
● A framework sitting on the Flash platform
Flash Platform
Actionscript
Flash Flex Framework
.swf .swf
Flex and Flash
● A Flex or Flash application is usually a web application
● Web application which runs within the browser is subjected to many inherent browser limitations:
● Inaccessible to file systems (restricted file uploads/downloads)● Cannot access system resources (memory allocation, taskbar ...etc)● No off-line support
● AIR is simply a wrapper around a Flex or Flash application so that it can be installed on a computer.
● e.g. Kiosks at Singtel, Starhub shops. TweetDeck (Twitter client)
Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
● Fast application development, rich user experience.
● Cross-browser compatibility – IE, Firefix, Safari, Opera, Chrome
● Cross-OS compatibility – Windows, Mac, Linux
● Large immediate audience (>97% of all computers have Flash player installed)
● Master Flex programming, and you can development application for:
● Web● Desktop, Kiosks (AIR)● Mobile (Flash Lite)● TV (Flash TV on the way)
Benefits of Using Flex
● Requires Flash player, some companies ban Flash player on all internal computers.
● Myth: Each page within a Flash site does not have a unique URL.
● Myth: Search engines cannot crawl Flash content.
● Myth: Flash sites are too bloated, takes too long to load.
Downside of Flex
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones?lc=en&cc=sg
Showcases
● Official documentation - http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/ (also accessible from Flex builder)
● Adobe Flex DevNet - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/
● Singapore Adobe Flex User Group - http://fug.sg
Resources
