Programming Flex 2: The Comprehensive Guide to Creating Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex

Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex is a great book for more advanced Flex developers. This book covers many important topics like working with UI components, advanced component concepts, working with media and data, client and remote data communication just to name the few. The authors, Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott, are very experienced long-time Flash developers. They are well known in the Flash community, and are among the elite of the Flash development world. Chafic and Joey has been using Flex for a long time and it can be noticed by reader during reading this book which is full of practical leads. This book is intended for anyone looking to learn more about Flex 2. The authors recognize that the audience for this book represents a very diverse group of people with many different backgrounds. In my opinion this book is a great resource but not for the beginners. Lots of original ActionScript and MXML code examples help reader to look deeper inside Flex 2 internals. I definitely recommend this book!

This is a solid, well written into to Flex 2. I would highly recommend this as a starting to learning Flex 2 or 3. In about a week's reading time you will have a well grounded knowledge of what Flex is capable of. After reading this (along with the documentation provided by Adobe) I'd highly recommend: ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook; Essential ActionScript 3.0; and Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers.

So you're done all of Adobe's online quickstart tutorials for Flex and are looking for something more? This is the book to get! It's a very good starting point for learning Flex. Also, another good one on Flex is Adobe's 'Flex 2 Training from the source'. Between those two books you'll be able to do just about anything in Flex. I also would recommend Oreilly's Actionscript 3.0 Cookbook - if you're needing to know more about the ins and outs of Actionscript.

Great book for anyone looking for a firm foundation in Flex. I found this book well written and concise. I debated on which Flex book to buy first, having chosen Programming Flex2, I don't think I'll be buying another Flex book!!! 5 Stars.

The Flex 2 framework is built on Flash Player technology, and it leverages a very fast virtual machine built into Flash Player 9. Thus Flex 2 applications can utilize all the functionality of a Flash Player while vastly simplifying the creation of Flash Platform applications. This is a very good book that supplements the official Flex documentation quite clearly. Although aimed at anyone interested in learning Flex 2, the reader should already understand object-oriented programming concepts along with certain other computer science concepts such as run-time environments and compilers. You'll also get more mileage from this book if you already know ActionScript. This book is not intended to teach you that language. The following is a detailed table of contents and brief description of each chapter: 1.Introducing Flex - Introduces Flex and its technologies. Flex is compared with other methods for creating Internet applications. Understanding Flex Application Technologies; Using Flex Elements; Working with Data Services; Understanding the Differences between Traditional (HTML) and Flex Web Applications; Understanding How Flex Applications Work; Understanding Flex and Flash Authoring; Understanding Flex 2 and Flex 1.5; Summary; 2. Building Applications with the Flex Framework - Discusses the tools necessary for creating Flex applications and projects. Shows what makes up a Flex project and how to compile and deploy Flex applications. Using Flex Tool Sets; Creating Projects; Building Applications; Deploying Applications; Flash Player Security; Understanding HTML Wrappers; Using SWFObject; Using Runtime Shared Libraries; Summary; 3. MXML - Discusses the markup language that creates the UIs of Flex applications. If you are familiar with any other markup language, this chapter should be pretty easy. Understanding MXML Syntax & Structure; Making MXML Interactive; Summary; 4. ActionScript - A quick refresher on ActionScript. If you are a novice you'll need outside sources. Using ActionScript; MXML and ActionScript Correlations; Understanding ActionScript Syntax; Variables and Properties; Inheritance; Interfaces; Handling Events; Error Handling; Using XML; Reflection; Summary; 5. Framework Fundamentals - All about what goes on behind the scenes in Flex. You'll need to know this as you work your way up to more complex applications. Understanding the Flex Application Life Cycle; Differentiating Between Flash Player and Framework; Bootstrapping Flex Applications; Understanding Application Domains; Understanding the Preloader; Summary; 6. Managing Layout Flex Layout Overview; Making Fluid Interfaces; Putting It All Together; Summary; 7. Working with UI Components - Discusses all of the categories of UI components in the Flex framework at a high level. Understanding UI Components; Buttons; Value Selectors; Text Components; List-Based Controls; Pop-Up Controls; Navigators; Control Bars; Summary; 8. Framework Utilities and Advanced Component Conce