Great New Flex book: Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java
I recently purchased Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java. At 700+ pages, this book is no lightweight. Street price for the book is $119 and this seems like the higher end for technical books. If you order soon, you can take advantage of the Pre-Order pricing of 69.99. Let me tell you why this book is worth the money.
The pace of the book suited me well. I do a fair amount of research on technical topics on my own so when I get a book on programming, I want to see code and write programs. A lot of technical books begin with a history of the topic followed by a hundred or so pages of background and concepts. If you are like me, you usually skip to chapter 6 and start from there. RIA with Flex and Java begins with a page and a half by Bruce Eckel (of Thinking in Java fame), another page and a half by Matt Chotin (Flex Product Manager) then a quick fourteen pages on RIAs, Architecture and alternatives to Flex. You will build your first application on Page 22.
This book is about building applications in Flex, which is taught incrementally by building a number of applications ranging from an XML fed Gas Station application to a Portfolio/Charting application to Flex+MSExcel integration. As the applications progress, you learn more advanced topics. Even though Java is the server side language used in the book, developers familiar with other languages will gain plenty. The concepts and execution are the same. Don't let the word 'Java' scare you away from this great learning resource.
To further that point, here are the chapters in the book:
- Architecture of Rich Internet Applications
- Getting Familiar with Flex
- Flex Builder Development Environment
- Learning Flex Through Applications
- A Complete Application with RPC Communications and JMS
- End-to-End Rapid Application Development with Flex Data Management Services
- How to Write Your Own Data Management Services
- Enhancing and Extending Flex Controls
- Trees with Dynamic Data Population
- Working with Large Applications
- Advanced Data Grid
- Logging and Debugging Flex and Java Applications
- Building a SlideShow Application
- Developing Custom Charts
- Integration with External Applications
As you can see, this book covers a lot of Flex development scenarios.
As the man on T.V. says "But wait! There is more!
In addition to the book, you also get a DVD with all the sample code on it as well as 10 video sessions on Real World Flex.
The Authors of the book are principals of Farata Systems, rated in the top 10 Flex companies in the world so between the video content and the numerous applications you will build with the help of the Adobe Flex and Java book, this is the best $69.99 you can spend on your Flex Education. You can order the book here and get a PDF copy of the book instantly while the book is being shipped.
Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way to write this article. I paid $69.99 all by myself
Update: Bruce Phillips does not agree with me about my recommendation on this book. In the interest of fair and balanced reporting, please read the comments below.
I've run into problems getting the code example in chapter 5 to work correctly. I'm working my way through the master-detail relationsip example that starts on page 185 and involves these source files: PortfioloView5.mxml and FinancialNews2.mxml and PortfioloRPCDemo.mxml.
I've emailed one of the authors the exact problem I'm having, but haven't heard back yet. Also there is no errata for the book on the website (www.riabook.com) or even a place to submit problems with the code examples.
I had previously emailed one of the authors about code problems in chapter 4's examples. I got a response that the publisher would create an errata page. As I said no errata page is yet available.
Anyweay, were you able to successfully get the chapter 5 RPC master-detail example to work? You gave the book a strong recommendation, so I'm assuming you worked through the example code and had no problems. The books' website is using your blog entry to promote the book.
Besides the code problems in chapters 4 and 5 I had, I would disagree with your suggestion that knowing Java is not necessary to get through this book.
I've worked my way through chapter 5. As a former Java programmer, I'm able to understand the Java backend code the authors provide and see how Flex fits in. I'm also able to translate the Java backend code into ColdFusion (which is my current web programming language). However, I think someone without a Java background would find it hard to run the example code (especially in chapter 5) as provided. Not only will the user need to install Flex Data Services, but he/she will also need to install Tomcat (or something similar).
I also think this book is definately not for beginning Flex developers. At least through the first 5 chapters, the authors continually refer the reader to the Flex 2.0 documentation provided by Adobe. It would be best for someone to have studied some of that documentation and done some of examples provided by Adobe before tackling this book. This book is not a tutorial on how to use the Flex components. Since I've been studying Flex 2.0 since its release in June 2006 and have blogged about it (www.brucephillips.name/blog) I'm able to follow how the authors use the Flex components to build their applications' front end.
So please let me know if you have worked through the chapter 5 RPC example code without any problems. If you like I can email you the specific problems I had with the code and where I think corrections need to be made to the example code.
Thanks for your lengthy comment! Sorry to hear you had trouble with some of the examples in the book. Not being a java guy myself, I either used the lessons as an example of the concept, stubbed out an equivalent ColdFusion remote object, or stubbed out the data in Flex and generated the data I needed.
The book for me was more about architecting and building Flex applications and I don't know of another Flex book that goes into such detail. If there are other books, I'd like to know about them. http://www.nodans.com/index.cfm/2007/4/18/Amazon-W... With any luck, I should have more Flex books on the way soon ;).
I am sure the authors will take care of any errata soon. This is a new book and I am sure they appreciated your email about the issue you found in the Chapter 5 example. Once again, thanks for your comments, I hope they help others.
DW
I've completed working through chapter 9. I continue to have problems with the code examples not working in parts of chapters 8 and 9. I've submitted errata and questions to the book's website. But I've not gotten a response and there have not been any further errata posted for several weeks.
Though I've not completed the book, right now I would recommend against purchasing this book. I definately feel this book would not be beneficial to most ColdFusion developers who are not learning Flex. The backend for most of the exmaples is extensive Java code. To actually work the examples, you must understand Java.
Additionally, this book is NOT for beginning Flex developers. Many of the concepts are quite advanced. The authors assume prior knowledge of the Flex components (DataGrid, Tree, RadioButton, etc) that they customize.
I strongly recommend against the purchase of this book.
I have updated the post to let others know of your feelings about the book. I think any further comments you have should be exclusively taken up with the authors of the book. As stated, I have not been compensated for my review in any way and I certainly do not have the power to address your concerns. I have not changed my opinion from the above, however.
DW
I want to let your readers know that the authors are working to address problems that I've found in the code examples and that if the various errata I've submitted are shown to be correct they will post corrections on their website errata page.
The authors did help me determine that the problem I had with the chapter 9 code was due to my mistake in configuring Flex and is not a problem with the code example. I do apologize to you, the authors, and your readers for suggesting there was a problem with the code in chapter 9.
I appreciate that we can respectfully disagree about this book and the fairness you've exhibited.
I am in the verge of starting a new development project that is going to be RIA type of financial application therefore I started evaluating RIA development framework alternatives such as Seam, or TIBCO GI or Adobe Flex.
I am currently pretty much experienced in Java and AJAX programming using DWR/Spring/Hibernate combination and some other gadget libraries. I am also quite new to Adobe Flex and heard good things about it as Flex fits very well to "Java Hybrid Programming" model and can satisfy all the usability and functionality requirements that any web based application could ever reach.
Fain's book seems to be the one I was looking for, but it is pointing to earlier release of Flex (version 2). I don't know whether any new version of the book that covers new Flex 3 will come out soon, but I am not so sure that, from Java programming/integration perspective, how much this really matters?
So, I really appreciate your input regarding all these.