Flex on Java

Unlike many Flex books that presume readers want to develop applications from scratch, Flex on Java is for developers in the real world-where Flex is one more technology being added to existing systems developed in Java, and where integration is the key indicator of success. Written for Java developers beginning to use Flex, Flex on Java shows how to use Flex alongside existing Java applications, and how to integrate Flex using familiar server-side technologies such as Spring, EJBs, JMS, and more. The authors, both Agile development experts, focus on Agile and test-driven development to enable readers to redesign applications that deliver more value and with zero defects. Throughout the book, readers will apply these techniques to refactoring a single application into a rich internet application using Flex and the BlazeDS framework. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. BJ Allmon is also a writer and developer with Pillar. He specializes in enterprise open source tools and frameworks. A former college instructor, he has written articles for a variety of publications including IBM DeveloperWorks. Jeremy Anderson is a freelance writer and developer for Pillar Technology Group. He has been developing web based applications and various enterprise integrations using Java and .NET for almost 5 years. 1 Some Flex with your Java?......Page 4 1.1.1 MXML and ActionScript......Page 6 1.1.2 The FlexSDK......Page 8 1.2 Inside Flex on Java......Page 9 1.2.2 Building a Flex Interface......Page 10 1.2.4 Integration with BlazeDS, Logging and Messaging......Page 11 1.2.8 Flex on Grails......Page 12 1.3 Summary......Page 13 2 Beginning with Java......Page 14 2.2 Generate the application structure with Maven......Page 15 2.2.2 Download and Install MySQL......Page 16 2.2.4 Create a Maven Multi-module Project......Page 17 2.2.5 Maven provides a buildable Project......Page 21 2.2.6 Running the Flex-Bugs-Web application......Page 22 2.3 Build the Model Objects......Page 23 2.4 Build the DAOs......Page 27 2.5 Build the services......Page 29 2.6 Wiring things together with Spring......Page 33 2.7.1 Build the Struts action classes......Page 34 2.7.3 Add some JSP resources......Page 36 2.7.4 Add some property resources......Page 40 2.7.5 Configure the struts.xml......Page 41 2.7.6 Configure Hibernate......Page 43 2.8 Summary......Page 44 3.1 Generate the application structure......Page 45 3.2 Configuration for the flex-bugs-ria module......Page 46 3.3 Configuring Maven for the flex-bugs-web module......Page 49 3.5 “Hello World” in Flex......Page 51 3.6 Developing the FlexBugs application......Page 53 3.6.1 Introducing the ViewStack......Page 54 3.6.2 HeaderView......Page 56 3.6.3 FooterView......Page 59 3.6.4 MasterView......Page 60 3.6.5 DetailView......Page 61 3.7 Laying out the components......Page 63 3.8 Creating a popup component......Page 65 3.9 The finished application......Page 67 3.10 Summary......Page 68 4 Connecting to Web Services......Page 69 4.1 Model View Presenter......Page 70 4.3 Dispatching and handling events......Page 71 4.3.1 Creating a custom event......Page 72 4.3.2 Event dispatching......Page 73 4.4 Creating Issue and Comment transfer objects......Page 74 4.5.1 Creating a Presenter for the Master View......Page 76 4.5.2 Creating an Issue Model......Page 78 4.5.3 Updating the Master View......Page 79 4.6.1 Creating a DetailPresenter......Page 82 4.6.2 Updating the Issue Model......Page 85 4.6.3 Updating the Detail View......Page 86 4.7.1 Creating a Comments Presenter......Page 87 4.7.2 Creating a Comment Model......Page 91 4.7.3 Comment View......Page 92 4.8 Adding a popup form for editing Comments......Page 93 4.8.1 Updating the Comment Presenter......Page 94 4.8.2 Updating the Comment Model......Page 96 4.8.3 Creating the popup component......Page 97 4.8.4 Update CommentsListView......Page 98 4.9 Summary......Page 99 5.1 Introducing BlazeDS......Page 100 5.2 Getting BlazeDS......Page 102 5.3 Building a BlazeDS Configuration Maven Module......Page 103 5.3.1 Configuring BlazeDS......Page 106 5.4.1 Web Module Configuration Updates......Page 110 5.4.2 Expose AMF Remoting Destinations......Page 112 5.5 Connect to Java with BlazeDS......Page 114 5.6.1 BlazeDS Logging......Page 116 5.6.2 Built-in BlazeDS Benchmarking......Page 119 5.7 Summary......Page 122 6 Flex Messaging......Page 123 6.1.1 Modify the services-config.xml......Page 124 6.1.2 Updating the webapp server-side module......Page 126 6.2.1 Modify the ChannelSetFactory......Page 128 6.2.2 Modify the IssueModel......Page 130 6.3 Summary......Page 132 7 Securing and personalizing your application......Page 133 7.1.1 Creating a ChannelSetFactory......Page 134 7.1.2 Creating a UserEvent......Page 135 7.1.3 Creating a Login panel......Page 136 7.1.4 Creating a Login Presenter......Page 139 7.1.5 Creating a Login manager......Page 141 7.1.7 Enabling security for Flex......Page 142 7.2 Authorization......Page 143 7.2.1 Flex Spring Security primer......Page 144 7.2.3 @Security annotations......Page 146 7.2.4 Overriding the default security settings......Page 148 7.2.5 Updating IssueModel and CommentModel......Page 149 7.3.1 Adding the UserService to the LoginModel......Page 151 7.3.2 Updating the LoginPresenter......Page 152 7.3.3 Updating the DetailPresenter and CommentsListPresenter......Page 154 7.4 Summary......Page 157 8.1 Drawing in Flex......Page 159 8.2 Common Degrafa concepts......Page 161 8.3.1 Creating a new custom event......Page 163 8.3.2 Creating the PieChart component......Page 164 8.3.3 Creating the PieChartSlice......Page 166 8.3.4 Creating a custom ItemRenderer......Page 167 8.3.5 Creating a Presenter for our PieChart......Page 168 8.3.6 Creating a Model for our PieChart......Page 171 8.4.1 Updating the GraphView......Page 172 8.4.2 Creating a Presenter for the GraphView......Page 174 8.4.3 Creating the Graph model......Page 176 8.5 Beyond our example......Page 178 8.5 Summary......Page 180 9 Desktop 2.0 with AIR......Page 181 9.1 Creating a common library......Page 182 9.1.1 Creating an SWC project......Page 183 9.1.3 Extracting a MainCanvas......Page 185 9.2 Creating the AIR application......Page 187 9.3 Packaging your AIR application......Page 189 9.3.2 Generating a certificate......Page 190 9.3.3 Adding some icons......Page 191 9.3.4 Adding the AIR configuration......Page 192 9.3.5 Configuring the package build......Page 194 9.4.1 Assembly configuration......Page 200 9.4.2 Updating build......Page 201 9.4.3 Creating a download badge......Page 203 9.5 Summary......Page 205 10.1 Unit testing and TDD......Page 207 10.2 Updating the project......Page 209 10.3 Testing the Presenter......Page 211 10.3.1 Testing refresh issues......Page 213 10.3.2 Issues result event test......Page 215 10.3.3 Testing issue removed......Page 216 10.3.4 Remove issue result test......Page 217 10.4 Testing the View......Page 218 10.4.1 Testing the issues set property......Page 219 10.4.3 Testing refresh issues button click......Page 220 10.4.4 Testing DataGrid item select......Page 221 10.5 Testing the Model......Page 222 10.5.1 Mocking and RemoteObject......Page 223 10.5.3 Test get single issue......Page 225 10.6 Continuous integration with Hudson......Page 226 10.6.1 Downloading and installing Hudson......Page 227 10.6.2 Configuring Hudson......Page 228 10.6.3 Configuring a Hudson job......Page 232 10.7 Summary......Page 235 11.1 Why Groovy and Grails?......Page 237 11.3 Creating the Grails application......Page 239 11.3.1 Create the Contact domain model......Page 240 11.3.2 Create the ContactService......Page 241 11.4 Getting Rich with Flex......Page 242 11.4.2 Creating the domain classes in Flex......Page 243 11.4.2 Creating the Flex application......Page 244 11.4.3 Adding the RemoteService......Page 247 11.4.4 Putting it all together......Page 248 11.6 Add the ActiveMQ Spring Bean......Page 249 11.7.1 Update the services-config.xml......Page 250 11.7.2 Modifying the ContactService......Page 252 11.7.3 Update the Main.mxml......Page 253 11.8 Summary......Page 254