Adobe’s Enterprise Evangelism team including Greg Wilson, Christophe Coenraets, and myself are in Tampa, FL this week. On Thursday night we are rounding up the local geeks at Taverna Opa for free beers and drunken confabulation about Flex, The Flash Platform, and other topics that bore most normal people. Hope to see you there!
Flex and The Cloud
The combination of Flex and The Cloud is quickly becoming an IT and paradigm changing combination. Here are a number of recently published resources for learning more about this :
- An article I wrote has been published on the online Flash & Flex Developer’s Magazine: Flex and The Cloud: Is this really just Client/Server 2.0?
- I’ll be speaking on Thursday, February 18 2010 at the Denver Flex User Group about Flex and The Cloud
- The recording of a webinar I co-hosted on the new Salesforce.com Cloud platform for developers has been posted
- Jeff Douglas has posted a video walk through showing how to use the new Salesforce.com Flash Builder 4 extension for Flex + Cloud apps
Exciting stuff! Let me know what you think!
Flex 4, Java, Spring, and Hibernate in Flash Builder 4
Last week I posted a screencast that walks through the basics of connecting a Flex 4 application to a Java / Spring back-end with the new Data Wizards in Flash Builder 4. Here is a new video that extends beyond just simple RPC method calls and adds Hibernate for persistence. Let me know what you think.
Right90’s Super-Sexy Enterprise Flex RIA
While at Dreamforce 2009 I was able to see some amazing enterprise Flex RIAs. Here is an RIA Cowboy Video of Right90’s Sales Forecasting application. Let me know what you think.
Flash Builder 4 Data Wizards with Java / Spring
Connecting a Flex 4 application to a Java / Spring back-end couldn’t be easier in Flash Builder 4’s new Data Wizards. I’ve recorded a screencast that shows how to set up the web application project, configure Spring & BlazeDS, and then build a Flex 4 application that connects to the Java / Spring back-end. Check it out and let me know what you think.
(Open full-size video in a new window)
Intuit Cloud Webinar on January 14
Edit: Whoops. It’s on the 14th not the 24th!
Intuit’s Cloud / Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology called the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) has quickly matured into a first class Client + Cloud solution. Building a custom user interface with IPP is done through Flex. This is a perfect combination and opens many opportunities for developers to build and sell apps into Intuit’s extensive ecosystem. They are doing a Webinar on January 14 about what’s new in IPP v2.4. This is a great opportunity to learn more about how you can build apps for the IPP with Flex. Definitely a session not to miss!

Drunk on Software Episode 22: Sleeping on the Couch
Episode 22 of Drunk on Software is certainly one of my favorites. Jon and Chet seem to think I fell asleep during the episode. Personally I think that I was temporarily abducted by some angry aliens that don’t like humans who wear bear hats. Hmmm.. Like the episode that makes no sense. So grab your favorite adult beverage (if you are of legal age) and enjoy!


First Steps in Flex Screencasts
A little over a year ago Bruce Eckel and I published First Steps in Flex. So far we’ve had great feedback on the book. The concise examples seem to resonate with how developers learn new technologies. Another way that developers learn is through seeing technologies firsthand. To better support that model of learning Bruce and I decided to create screencasts for each chapter of the book.

We took a very casual approach to the screencasts. They were not scripted. We wanted them to feel as though you are sitting in the room with us as we discuss the code. Check them out and let us know what you think.
BTW: The viewer app for the screencasts was created with Flex 4!