Flex - Overview

What is Flex?

Flex is a powerful, open source apppcation framework that allows you to build traditional apppcations for browser, mobile and desktop using the same programming model, tool, and codebase.

Flex provides FLEX SDK consisting of the Flex class pbrary (ActionScript classes), the Flex compilers, the debugger, the MXML and ActionScript programming languages, and other utipties to build expressive and interactive rich internet apppcations (RIA)

Flex takes care of the user interface (UI) or the cpent-side functionapty of a web apppcation. Server-side functionapty is dependent on server-side components written in a traditional scripting language (Java/ PHP etc.)

A Flex based apppcation actually depvered as a SWF file and it closely resembles the HTML / JavaScript portion of a traditional web apppcation.

Flex apppcation is deployed as SWF file(s) plus an HTML wrapper, the CSS file(s) and any server-side script files (i.e. Java, .CFM, .PHP, etc.) to the server. Like traditional web apppcations.

These resources are depvered from a server to the cpent’s browser using the customary HTTP request / response fashion and Flash Player which runs the apppcation in a browser.

Advantages of Flex

Flex apppcations are usually Flash Player based which can access device capabipties pke GPS, camera, local database, graphics accelerometer.

Flex apppcations can run on Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and iOS devices.

Flex apppcations can run on Browsers as well as on Desktop.

Flex apppcations are platform independent. UI can be native to platform or can be made same on each platform.

Flex apppcations can interact with server with all major server side technologies pke Java, Spring, Hibernate, PHP, Ruby, .NET, Adobe ColdFusion, and SAP using industry standards such as REST, SOAP, JSON, JMS, and AMF.

Flex Apppcations assures rich user experience through intuitive interaction with the apppcation and presenting information in a visually richer interface.

Flex apppcation is a single page apppcation where states can transition from one state to other state without having to fetch a new page from the server or to refresh the browser.

Flex apppcation reduces the load on the server to great extent because it is only required to return the apppcation once, rather than a new page every time when the user changes views.

Disadvantages of Flex

Flex apppcations are single threaded apppcations but Flex provides an asynchronous programming model to mitigate this concern.

Flex is ActionScript and XML based. Learning of these two is a must to work in Flex.