Developing Rich Clients with Macromedia Flex
by Steven Webster, Alistair McLeod
Category: Computers

Web applications have extended the reach of enterprises to customers, offering anywhere and anytime access, but at the expense of the overall user experience, which is diminished by delivery through the Web browser. Rich Internet applications address this problem by coupling the ubiquity, small footprint, and interactive capabilities of the Flash Player with server-side technologies such as J2EE and .NET, to deliver highly effective and intuitive applications. What has been missing so far, though, is a way for developers of traditional enterprise software to deliver these rich Internet applications using familiar technologies that fit within their existing development workflow. Enter Macromedia Flex: a presentation server solution that provides an XML-based language MXML, for integrating rich-client interfaces with new and existing infrastructures. If you've ever developed dynamic enterprise Web applications with technologies such as JSP or ASP, you can transfer those skills immediately to developing rich-client solutions with Flex.