Flex 4 Sample Application using a Java Back-End, BlazeDS 4 and Flash Builder 4 Data Wizards

March 23, 2010 By 37 Comments

I put together a new Test Drive environment to allow you to explore the development of Flex 4 applications with a Java back-end using the new “Data-Centric Development” features of Flash Builder 4. These features include service introspection, value object and service stub generation, etc. This Test Drive is still work in progress: it currently consists of a single application called InSync (a complete Flex 4 rewrite of my contact management sample application), but I think it’s already valuable to understand the impact of the new Flash Builder 4 data features. Insync also demonstrates some of the new features of Flex 4: skinning, skinnable components, layout managers, etc.

Watch the video below to get familiar with the Test Drive environment and the sample application:

Installation Instructions

  1. Download flex-java-testdrive.zip, and unzip the file in your root directory.
  2. Open a Command Window or Shell, navigate to /flex-java-testdrive/tomcat/bin, and start Tomcat (for instance: catalina run).
  3. Open a browser and access http://localhost:8400/testdrive/InSync/InSync.html.

Importing the projects in Flash Builder 4

  1. In Flash Builder 4, click File > Import > General > Existing Projects into Workspace.
  2. Specify flex-java-testdrive/projects as the root directory and click finish.
  3. Explore the projects: InSync is the Flex project and java-testdrive is the Java project for the server-side classes.

In the InSync project, the classes in the services and valueObjects packages have been generated automatically by Flash Builder 4. My next blog post will show you how to generate these classes based on existing Java services deployed in BlazeDS.

NOTE: Because BlazeDS 4 hasn’t yet been released, this version of the Test Drive uses a nightly build of BlazeDS 4.

Filed Under: BlazeDS, Flex, Flex4, Java

Model Driven Development with Flex 4 and LCDS 3 Screencast

September 17, 2009 By 38 Comments

I recently presented a new “Model Driven Development with Flex 4″ session at a few conferences and Flash Camps, so I figured I would record a screencast of the demo app for people who did not attend. If you saw a previous version of this demo, this screencast is still worth watching because I’m using the latest daily builds of Flash Builder 4 and LCDS 3 and we made really good progress!

You can watch it in the player below, however I recommend you click here to watch it in HD (go full screen for a better viewing experience. Also make sure HD is on).

A few things I’m not mentioning in the demo:

  • Value objects and service stubs are automatically generated based on the model
  • Data persistence occurs through JPA/Hibernate, but you don’t have to know that if you just want it to work
  • Code generation of form is template-based (you can modify the existing template or create new ones)

Filed Under: Flex, Flex4, LCDS, MDD