FlashDevelop IDE Project Source for sample application here
Working Example here
So I followed the three video tutorials here:
- http://theflashblog.com/?p=705
- http://theflashblog.com/?p=744
- http://theflashblog.com/?p=804
Lee Brimelow, the author, composed this inside Adobe Flex Builder 3.0 which is commercial and has a trial but ultimately you have to purchase. I used FlashDevelop IDE to create the same small APP, and I have no complaints. The biggest difference you will experience is not having design time support for the interface. This is not an issue for me on a few levels but primarily because I am not a designer and programmatic layout is fine for me.
Watching the third tutorial in the series I found out about an amazing site called ScaleNine. It is a community based site with designers skinning the component set provided by flex, and outputs the application to look like the above. The normal default flex look is like this:
I, and I think you the reader will also prefer the above to the default one. Using FlashDevelop IDE and the Flex SDK you can develop Flex applications totally free, with no over head apart from hosting your application somewhere. With the FlashDevelop IDE you can also develop Adobe AIR applications which is what i want to try next. Ultimately you will need to get learning Action Script 3.0 but once on your way, it is a really nice language to work with. If you come from a C++, Java or C# background then the syntax will be a breeze. The event model is similar to Java whilst Action Script 3.0 harness get and set keywords like C#.
Click here to get the Flash Develop IDE
Click here to get the Adobe Flex SDK
Cheers,
Andrew