Flex Team

Flex Cookbook - new book & updated site

O'Reilly Media has released the print version of Flex 3 Cookbook: Code-Recipes, Tips, and Tricks for RIA Developers this week! Get your copy from Amazon.

The authors, Josh Noble, Todd Anderson, and Abey George selected recipes from the live Adobe Flex cookbook site to add to the print copy. Thank you to all of our contributors for your contributions to the site. Keep sharing your recipes, feel the thrill of helping fellow developers and you could end up in a future version of the print cookbook!

As well, today, we released a re-skinned version of the Flex Cookbook site at http://www.adobe.com/go/flex_cookbook. With this release, we created a wider format Flex cookbook, improving the readability of code within cookbook recipes and in the composing recipe page. We hope you enjoy it!

New search/commenting for Adobe Flex Developer Center

Yesterday, we launched a couple of exciting new enhancements on the Adobe Developer Connection, specifically in the Flex Developer Center.

A new community-powered search is the first enhancement. The community powered search is designed to help people find the best answer to their question, no matter where the answer may reside. If the best answer is on someone’s blog in the community, that’s the answer we want to help people find. This will not replace the existing search on adobe.com, but will be available as a new beta search. There is a team of Flex advisors who are adding URLs/domains to this search on an ongoing basis.

We have also added the ability for users to add comments to Flex Developer Center content. As most of you know, we’ve had commenting on Adobe Livedocs for a while. This is the next generation of commenting, in that the commenting functionality across these two different places is integrated. The intent of commenting is to gather feedback and deliver the best possible content; by integrating the commenting, and who reviews and acts on those comments we can strive to be as consistent as possible across content on adobe.com. Again, there is a team of Flex advisors moderating comments, and Hong Qiu and I will be moderating the Flex Developer Center comments. Note that all posted comments go live immediately, however, where there is inappropriate content, the moderators will scrub as needed. The coolest part is that authors can monitor comments on their articles by subscribing to the RSS feed (see link below) for Flex Developer Center.

You can see these enhancements on the Flex Developer Center: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/. To find the new features:
• Flex community-powered search: Look in the right-nav in the Flex DC, and you will see the “Search Community-Powered Help” form field.
• Commenting: Browse to any article in the Flex Developer Center, and you will see the option to add your comment. Also, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for comments for the Flex Developer Center to see all comments, anytime: http://community.adobe.com/ion/rss/comments.html?label=flex_product_adobelr&language=en_US

We encourage you to try these new enhancements and send any feedback. The search results page that gets returned will have a link to a feedback survey at the top right of the page.

Happy searching and commenting!

Amy Wong
Adobe
Developer Relations
Manager, Content community and applications

Flex Camp Toronto 2

Following last year's hugely successful Flex Camp Toronto, the team at New Toronto Group has begun accepting free registrations for Flex Camp Toronto 2. Ben Forta and I will be speaking at the event, scheduled for May 15th, 2008 at the MARS center in Toronto. Head to the Toronto Flex user group website to register for Flex Camp Toronto. (Its free!)

If you'd like to host your own Flex Camp event, Adobe will help with the funding for the event. Head to Flex.org to find out more about hosting your own Flex Camp event.

- Mike Potter

Info on our first Flex 4 theme

As you may have heard, the next version of Flex is codenamed "Gumbo" and we are beginning to get out information on the kinds of things we're thinking about. One of our themes is called "Design in Mind" and I have now posted information on the open source site to try to set the context for what we're looking at. Over the next few weeks, engineers will be putting up specifications and blog postings about the kinds of things we're looking at as part of this theme. More themes will get their intros over time as well.

Given that we're only a few months into even thinking about this release, it may be the earliest that we've put out anything substantial on a release that admittedly is still a ways away.

Follow the Flex 4 development plans here. (Note: opensource.adobe.com will be down for maintenance on Saturday April 12, be forewarned).

New Pivot Component in Alpha

Satish from the Flex team has been working on expanding the logic available in our OLAPDataGrid to help provide an example of a Pivot Component, similar to what you'd see in Excel. It's in alpha quality, but is a great example of the power of the Flex Data Visualization Components.

Check it out and provide feedback!

Flex, ActionScript and AIR Posters: Now Shipping

The Flex, ActionScript and AIR posters are now shipping. We've fixed the problems with serial numbers and the form (at least we think we have) and some of the posters have started making their way out to those of you who have requested them.

If you'd like a set of the posters, here's what you need to do:
Register your copy of Flex Builder 3, Standard or Professional. Fill out the form, and then you'll be forwarded to the poster request form.

If you've already registered your copy of Flex Builder 3 and didn't request the posters, or if you received an error with the poster form before and can't re-register your copy of Flex Builder 3, then you can head directly to the poster request form and request a set of posters be sent to you.

If you bought your copy of Flex Builder 3 online through the Adobe.com store, your copy of Flex Builder 3 is already registered automagically. You can head directly to the poster request form to request a set of posters be sent to you.

The posters are also available online in high quality PDF format (Warning! 97 MB zip file) if you prefer to print them yourself.

Anyone with a valid Flex Builder 3 serial number should be able to register and receive a set of posters: this includes all education customers who receive Flex Builder for free, upgrades, volume license customers, etc...

If you have problems, please post them as comments in this blog entry.

Thanks for your understanding and support while we worked through some of the issues with the posters.

Flex Builder for Linux Alpha 3 Now Available

To coincide with the AIR Linux beta. Download here.

Feedback on curriculum

Adobe plans to create curriculum resources focusing on Flex and AIR integration within computer engineering and media arts studies in higher education; which can be used by faculty and students. These resources are a first step in Higher Education resources and will be introductory in nature. This presentation outline, documents the introduction to an online workshop as well as, the topics to be covered by the online workshop modules. The online workshop will consist of modules introducing rich Internet applications through Flex and AIR.

Thematically the content will be discussed from two points of views:
• Individuals with a computer engineering / programming background
• Individuals with an art and design background
Give these goals, please provide your feedback on the draft .

Some questions to guide your comments include:
• How much time would you or would you expect your students to spend weekly for an online workshop?
• Looking at the content outline for the online workshop modules, do you think this is the appropriate level and depth for an introductory workshop, from your perspective?
• For an introductory workshop, do you think this is too ambitious?
• When it comes to covering integration of Adobe technologies for rich Internet applications with other technologies, what would you say are the top three technologies you’d like to see covered? We’ve put a few in the outline, are these the ones you would choose or are there others you would prioritize higher?

Thanks for your feedback and helping us make the right set of resources for educators.

Anuja

New Flex cookbooks release

The Adobe Developer Connection released an update of the Flex cookbooks today. Some of the changes include:

Ratings: The average rating for each cookbook post is calculated now by mathematic average for the cookbook post (the sum of the ratings, divided by the number of ratings). The Top posts are listed in an order based on a Bayesian calculation, which takes into account all ratings for all posts in the cookbook, and is sometimes called a "weighted rating." Learn more about Bayesian methods from Wikipedia.
We added warnings for Safari users to use either FireFox and IE. Unfortunately the cookbook recipe form does not work with Safari right now. We hope to remedy that situation in an upcoming release.
We fixed the Comments RSS feed.
We added a new FAQ page.
Various bug fixes for the launch.

Thank you to all of the authors who contributed content for the Flex 3 launch - it's great to see the great content contributions!

Amy Wong
Adobe Developer Connection

Flex Poster Problems and Fixes

We're aware of a few problems with people who are trying to receive the posters with the purchase of Flex Builder Standard or Pro. Here's what we know, and what we're doing to fix it.

Flex education serial numbers are not working. We're aware of this problem and do intend on fixing it. If you're getting a serial number for Flex Builder from the free Flex Builder for education program, we plan on allowing you to get the posters for free.

Flex volume customers are unable to request posters. Again, the serial numbers for people who purchase volume licenses for Flex Builder are not recognized. We're aware of this problem and are working to fix it.

Online store customers have their software registered automatically. When they try and use the existing process for posters, they get a message saying that the software is already registered. If this is you, you can go directly to the poster request form and submit the form.

The posters are nearly ready to be sent out. We haven't shipped out any of them just yet, but we plan on starting to send them this week.

As you can imagine, there are lots of people involved in this, and since its not something that Adobe has ever done, its new to everyone. We really, really appreciate your patience with us.

- Mike Potter
Flex Product Marketing

Flex Camp Cleveland

Flex Camp Cleveland is set for April 7th from 9:00 - 4:00 at the Middleburg Heights Community Center in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Ben Forta and Adam Lehman from Adobe will be presenting, along with other talented individuals. The cost for the event is only $25 and includes lunch. Register for Flex Camp Cleveland today.

As a reminder, Flex Camp Oklahoma City is set for March 13th. Flex Camp Wall Street is scheduled for April 18th. You can host your own Flex Camp with support from Adobe - download this guide to start organizing your own event.

Update on Flex, ActionScript, AIR Posters

Those of you waiting for Flex, ActionScript and AIR posters will have to wait a bit longer for them. We had a few last minute changes that we had to get in last week, and have now handed off the final files to the printer. They will be printing them over the next week or so, and we'll need time to assemble the posters (and free offers from partners like O'Reilly, Figleaf and Lynda.com) into a bundle to ship out. We expect to be shipping the posters out the week of March 17th.

The posters are available to anyone who purchases a copy of Flex Builder 3 Standard or Professional. Once you've got your copy, go to Help -> Register Flex Builder... to register your copy and then follow the links to the poster form. You can also get to the registration page online.

If you'd like a copy of the posters and don't want to buy Flex Builder, you can download a .zip file (warning: 97 MB file) with a print quality PDF in it, and print them at any printer.

- Mike Potter

Follow-up on Flex Builder 3 Serial Numbers

Here's the update on the serial numbers. We have identified the problem in the system that prevented serial numbers from getting into the system to allow FB Pro serial numbers to be sent out (FB Standard are working fine). Our team is going to let things propagate over night and test very early in the morning. We will hopefully be live by Noon PST on Tuesday 2/26 (tomorrow). Once we are live we should be able to generate emails to everyone who had bought who was waiting on a serial. However, feel free to check the download center for your serial occasionally starting at 8am PST in case the email generation is delayed.

Once again, we're really sorry for the inconvenience. I know how it feels to get that new toy and find out batteries weren't included :-)

Update at 9am EST: all serial numbers are up and customers should be able to get their serials from the download page.

Serial Numbers for Flex Builder 3

Just wanted to post a quick note apologizing for the issues we're having with serial numbers with Flex Builder 3 Professional. We are currently working with our operations team to get the issue resolved. Apparently the system does not have serials loaded for FB3 Pro, so everyone is getting a notice saying to contact customer service. DO NOT WORRY. This should all be straightened out soon and you will be able to log back into the site to get your serial number without needing to contact customer service.

Additionally, if you have installed the release build and are getting a notice about the trial having expired, you will need to remove your old license.properties file from the beta. Simply delete the file found here:
Windows: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Adobe\Flex\license.properties
Mac: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flex/license.properties

Its On - Flex 3.0 and Adobe AIR 1.0 Are Here!

The big day has finally arrived! Flex 3.0 and Adobe AIR 1.0 have arrived. The software shouldn't be that new to people - its been available on Adobe Labs in beta form for a few months now. Here's a run down of new sites and new things available to Flex customers and those interested in Flex.

If you'd like to buy Flex Builder 3.0 its available in two versions: Flex Builder 3 Standard and Flex Builder 3 Professional. Both are available right now from the Adobe online store. Standard is $249 US, Professional costs $699. Upgrades are available as well - get all the details on upgrades.

Those of you purchasing Adobe Flex can receive a set of Flex, ActionScript and AIR posters by registering your product with Adobe. In Flex Builder 3.0 final select Help -> Register Flex Builder or go to this website. Register your copy, then follow the links to the form to request your set of posters, mailed to you free of charge. Along with the posters you'll receive offers for discounts from Adobe partners like Lynda.com, O'Reilly, Total Training, and Figleaf.

You can download a trial version of Flex Builder 3 Professional - the download is now a 60 day trial, not a 30 day trial. When you download the trial version, you'll have the option of subscribing to 7 email messages from Adobe to help you with your trial. Subscribing to these messages will NOT subscribe you to other communications from Adobe (yeah!) - only those helpful tips to help you develop Flex applications. (That's the Flex marketing team working for you!) Hopefully you find those messages helpful. Also, if you use the above link, you won't have to login to Adobe.com to download Flex. Sweet!

For those of you just learning Flex, you'll want to visit the new Flex 3 Getting Started wiki site. Its extremely helpful and will help you get your first Flex application up and running quickly.

Adobe also launched some new websites today. opensource.adobe.com is now a site for all of Adobe's work in the open source community, including the work with the Adobe Flex SDK. Check it out. There's also a new microsite on adobe.com site about rich Internet applications.

Adobe user groups throughout the world will be holding launch events in the next few weeks. Check out this list of Adobe Flex user groups to find one near you, visit their website and join them for a great party. Most (if not all) will have exclusive swag for this launch that you won't want to miss. Trust me.

The Adobe Flex product page and the Adobe Flex developer center have undergone major renovations in an effort to simplify navigation.

360 Flex is on in Atlanta this week. If you didn't get there you're missing out on a huge party celebrating Flex and the release. Don't miss out on the next one - subscribe to their blog or head over for 360 Flex in Europe in April.

The onAIR Tour is heading to Europe this spring. Check out the tour to learn more about Flex and AIR with Adobe evangelists.

Finally, along with the release, we've started a new ad campaign as well. You'll notice ads for Flex and AIR on developer sites throughout the web, leading to pages on Flex.org and TryAdobeAir.com. When you see the Flex ad on a site watch the stars on the ad closely for a surprise. (HInt: watch the stars in the bottom right of the ad closely.)

The campaign name is "on".

Its on the web. Its on the desktop.

Most importantly, with it you're well "on" your way to building awesome rich Internet applications.

Enjoy!

Mike Potter
Proud Adobe Flex Team Member