Not new news, but time i thought I’d chip in on the subject! If you want to create Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) or Server Side Flash Applications, then you may be interested in Macromedia FLEX which hinges around the use of Macromedia XML (MXML) to create rich applications.
If you think this is the ticket and just what you need, then take some sedatives before you consider purchasing it as the price tag is certainly on the heavy side; more aimed at the large enterprises rather than casual developers.
The question is how can the developers who can’t afford the price tag even consider developing and exploring the capabilities of the application?
Perhaps Macromedia will release a Developer Edition much as they did with Coldfusion with limited connections? I think the Flash community would embrace this idea.
Take a trip to the Macromedia Flex pages to view documentation, samples and white papers on the latest breed of RIA.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/
Here’s the link to the Overview and Demonstration
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/productinfo/brz_overview/
April 6th, 2004 at 4:02 pm
Well there is a trial available. But you also need your own Java App server to use it on…
April 6th, 2004 at 4:27 pm
When the .NET application server support trial becomes available then i’m sure things will get a even more interesting, but as for the trial, it would be interesting what limitations are posed against the user, whether it is a 30-Day Eval, or limited in some other way.
Anyone got the trial yet and can shed any light on it?
April 6th, 2004 at 4:40 pm
Well, I will probably get into it soon… a little busy at the moment though…
April 6th, 2004 at 7:48 pm
Re: “…as for the trial, it would be interesting what limitations are posed against the user, whether it is a 30-Day Eval, or limited in some other way.”
Here’s info:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/productinfo/faq/#item-35
For two months it’s in full-production mode, and if you buy it, it stays that way. After that the trial CD version changes into a development version, which can serve to five named IP addresses with SWFs which time-out a day after compilation.
Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Support
April 6th, 2004 at 7:55 pm
Id be interested in hearing the benefits of using Flex / MXML to build RIA’s over existing methods with middleware (PHP, ASP etc.) that have been used since Flash 4 and vastly improved on with Flash 6 / MX.
April 6th, 2004 at 9:55 pm
Well, I don’t think its meant to really replace ASP and PHP. I think macromedia is shooting more at the enterprise (JSP, J2EE) level. After watching the on demend seminar on the macromedia site, it looks to me that unless you really need the intergration with enterprise systems it may not be worth moving to FLEX yet. Similar data intergration can be done with plain actionscript, the built in flash components and PHP/ASP. FLEX does however add a wealth of application type components that could become very useful in enterprise level apps.
April 14th, 2004 at 10:55 am
I have the developer version of Flex and have been learning it over the last week. I work at an Enterprise software company that develops using J2EE/JSP. Flex fits right into our workflow and so far I have been impressed. That being said, it lacks some very fundamental things for enterprise software development, the main thing being a strong charting capability.
April 22nd, 2004 at 5:01 am
I’ve installed it successfully and have been using Flex for a few days and I’m also very impressed. Flex is aimed more at the Enterprise application development and as intended, fits seamlessly into our current development processes. Macromedia says that Flex is aimed at Real-Time applications, including charting and graphing, and I’ll be looking into this aspect specifically, so Rob’s comment concerns me somewhat.
What is so impressive though is the sheer speed in which you can put together not just a Rich User Interface, but a fully functional RIA with minimal lines of code. It’s support for CSS, as well as other standards (SVG so I’ve read), in my opinion makes this a very powerful tool and hints at the future for Enterprise RIA development.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hi, Graham you are right, My case is just same, I would like to say same but you said before me, so I quote your words
I’ve installed it successfully and have been using Flex for a few days and I’m also very impressed. Flex is aimed more at the Enterprise application development and as intended, fits seamlessly into our current development processes. Macromedia says that Flex is aimed at Real-Time applications, including charting and graphing, and I’ll be looking into this aspect specifically, so Rob’s comment concerns me somewhat. What is so impressive though is the sheer speed in which you can put together not just a Rich User Interface, but a fully functional RIA with minimal lines of code. It’s support for CSS, as well as other standards (SVG so I’ve read), in my opinion makes this a very powerful tool and hints at the future for Enterprise RIA development.Muscle Gaining Secrets