DIGG IT! I spent my first week at Adobe in Newton learning Flex Data Services. This product is amazing and will result in a new class of rich applications. Unfortunately many developers are going to miss out on the opportunity within FDS. Let me explain...
In talking with developers in the community, I get the sense that Flex Data Services is misunderstood as a product. There seems to be allot of rumor and misinformation about what the product does and the benefits to developers and applications. I want to shine a bright light on Flex Data Services (FDS) and let everyone know exactly what it does and more importantly how it will dramatically change rich applications.
Q: What is Flex Data Services? (My Definition!!!)
A: Flex Data Services adds rich collaborative data into RIA's.
Flex Data Services is composed of 4 parts:
1. Web Tier Flex Compiler
Think -> MXML compilation on the server.
2. RPC Services - Remoting, Web Services, Proxy.
Think -> Exchange objects with Java and Web Services.
3. Messaging - Multi-user messaging with JMS support.
Think -> Distributed events between clients and services.
4. Data Management - Distributed Data Synchronization and Paging.
Think -> Distributed Objects/Collections with multi-user editing and synchronization.
What is interesting is that developer productivity is very high with FDS. With one or 2 tags, you can add RPC, Messaging, and Data Management seamlessly and integrate with existing java classes, JMS, data storage, and legacy services.
Next week I will be covering FDS Messaging and I will have 2 sample applications for you to download and work with. Although to be able to work with these examples, you are going to have to do a little homework first...
Homework:
1. Download Flex Data Services 2.0 Beta 3 from Labs.
2. Review the sample applications and source code.
3. Have Fun. There is some great stuff in FDS, you will not be disappointed.
More to come...
Cheers,
Ted :)
I'm very interested in FDS, however, I'm not willing to invest any time in learning it until I find out what it is going to cost me for deployment. Adobe should be more forthcoming on this information before it expects people to get too excited.
Nathan,
I hear you loud and clear. When pricing is announced, I will post.
"We will also have a completely free version of Flex Data Services." - Mike Chambers
See: http://tinyurl.com/k2fnu
The details on this will be announced with pricing.
Regards,
Ted Patrick
Hey Ted,
I'm still expecting the tutorial on custom built preloaders in Flex.
William,
I hear ya and I am working on it, good things take time. I want to make sure that you can use both Flash and Flex to create really great preloaders.
Ted :)
Ted, apart from pricing ("Flex is FREE!") another killer is documentation/resources to lesson the learning curve to get it all happening.
eg: I'm having a hell of a time with Flexbuilder, FDS and CF on IIS configuration and could really use a bit more background info than I'm finding
Sure it's still early days but... just a reminder, OK?
Barry B,
I hear you loud and clear. There are lots of developer resources on the way for release so this will get better.
Just remember that Flex 2 is still Beta software and that development is ongoing until its released.
Ted