Macromedia Flash MX Training 2004: Application Development for Programmers

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Programmers: Application Development provides application server programmers with no Flash experience the knowledge and hands-on practice they need to build a rich Internet application with Flash. This course focuses exclusively on teaching students what they need to know about the Flash interface and the ActionScript language to build a real-world rich internet application interacting dynamically with the user and retrieving and sending data to XML files, web services, and ColdFusion, Java, or C# classes on the server. This course is 5-days in length. Note: This course has similar content to the Advanced Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Application Development course but is for experienced programmers who have little or no experience with Flash.

This course is for experienced programmers who are new to Flash and want to learn to create applications with Flash. To gain the most from this class, you should already have:

• Experience creating data-base driven web applications
• Knowledge of basic programming constructs including loops, functions, arrays, objects, and classes
• If you are a ColdFusion programmer, equivalent knowledge from the Fast Track to ColdFusion MX and Advanced ColdFusion MX Development courses - including experience developing with components

Unit 1: Introducing the Flash Interface

• Creating a Flash document
• Manipulating panels
• Using the toolbar
• Adding text
• Publishing a Flash document
• Organizing content into layers
• Adding images
• Creating a Flash project

Unit 2: Learning ActionScript Basics

• Using the Actions panel
• Creating variables
• Creating loops
• Using conditional logic
• Creating functions
• Including external ActionScript files
• Handling exceptions

Unit 3: Learning the Flash Player Object Model

• Introducing object-oriented programming
• The built-in Flash classes
• Using static methods of the Math class
• Creating and using instances of the Date class
• Manipulating strings using the String wrapper class
• Creating and manipulating arrays
• Creating custom objects
• Manipulating visual TextField objects
• Responding to user events for the TextField object

Unit 4: Creating Button and MovieClip Objects

• Creating a Button object
• Responding to user events for the Button class
• Creating MovieClip objects visually
• Setting MovieClip properties
• Referencing objects in different timelines
• Responding to user events for the MovieClip class
• Using MovieClip methods to drag and drop objects

Unit 5: Creating Custom Classes and Components

• Creating a class and a class constructor
• Creating properties
• Creating methods
• Inheriting from other classes
• Creating a component
• Creating static properties and methods
• Creating an interface
• Understanding intrinsic and dynamic classes

Unit 6: Learning the Flash Application Framework

• Introducing the Flash application framework
• Building applications with screens
• Adding UI components
• Retrieving dynamic data with data components
• Adding behaviors
• Using data binding with components
• Loading content into a screen

Unit 7: Using Text UI Components

• Introducing components
• Using the TextInput component
• Validating input with the TextInput component
• Using the Label component
• Using the TextArea component
• Skinning components

Unit 8: Using Selection UI Components

• Using the CheckBox component
• Using the RadioButton component
• Using the List component
• Using the ComboBox component
• Using the NumericStepper component
• Using the ComboBox component

Unit 9: Loading XML

• Introducing XML
• Loading XML using the XMLConnector component
• Binding XML data to UI components
• Handling responses from XML requests
• Loading XML with ActionScript
• Creating and populating an XML object
• Searching XML objects with XPath

Unit 10: Calling Web Services

• Introducing web services
• Getting information about a web service
• Calling a web service using the WebServiceConnector component
• Binding web service data to UI components
• Handling responses from web service requests
• Calling a web service with ActionScript

Unit 11: Accessing Remote Services using Flash Remoting

• Introducing Flash Remoting
• Configuring Flash Remoting
• Using the NetConnection Debugger
• Invoking remote service methods
• Handling responses from remote service calls
• Understanding Flash Remoting data conversion
• Returning complex data

Unit 12: Using the DataGrid Component

• Introducing Flash Remoting
• Populating a DataGrid
• Manipulating DataGrid columns
• Manipulating DataGrid data
• Handling DataGrid events
• Customizing the DataGrid
• Putting MovieClips in DataGrid cells

Unit 13: Submitting User Data Using Forms

• Manipulating MovieClip depth
• Attaching MovieClips dynamically from the Library
• Attaching components dynamically
• Creating empty MovieClips using ActionScript
• Loading JPGs into a MovieClip
• Loading SWFs into a MovieClip

Unit 14: Persisting Data on the Client

• Introducing Shared Objects
• Creating Shared Objects
• Accessing data in a Shared Object
• Handling Shared Object events