Updating the existing Air database
The article offers one possible solution what to do with an existing local databases when you have to change the table structure? Sooner or later you happen to be in an Air project where you have programmed an excellent application that stores all the user related data in a local database. Suddenly, a new excellent idea how to extend the application comes to your mind but the bad thing is that it does not fit into the existing database structure. In case you are in the development phase, you can of course drop the tables and start happily from the beginning but what if a lot of people are already using your application and you don't want to frustrate them with a message that they have to delete the locale database or run manually a database update.
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Survival Tutorial: Drag the Files from Desktop to Adobe Air Application
This article is written for Adobe Air and Flex developers who want to integrate their applications with the user desktop. The article concentrates on dragging the files from user desktop to the Air application and storing them as BLOB objects in SQLite that database. There is also an installable prototype application to test it out - the user can drag jpeg files from their desktop to the application and see them displayed inside the application. As the pictures are stored in the database, the prototype in the article can be easily extended to a simple form of a photo album.
In every developers life comes a moment when his/her i-product does not surprise anymore anybody and the last SOA project was just not enough for getting the attention and pay raise in the cube farm. When this moment arrives, it is good to know that there exist Adobe Air and Flex which give you countless possibilities to brag in front of people with standard components. If you happen to have more time, you could even change the color of the components but then you have to be prepared to land on some underfinanced project with high expectations as you are The Air-Flex Guru in the company. Therefore, think a bit before you read on whether you would like this kind of phase in your life.
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Securing your Flex app: smart card authentication with Spring Security (Part 2)
In this article I am going to show you how to implement Smart Card authentication mechanism in a Flex application with Spring Security. I will use X.509 certificate authentication and database authorization simultaneously. To get a full picture of the topic, you should take a look at my previous article Securing your Flex application with Spring Security and Active Directory.
The application used in this article is based on the previous sample project available for download here (current version included). You could install it and as you read, make appropriate modifications described below. Last time we integrated our Flex application with Microsoft Active Directory LDAP server by using the authentication and authorization mechanism offered by the Spring Security. Spring Security framework is an excellent tool for implementing security requirement for enterprise applications as it offers comprehensive security services for J2EE-based enterprise applications. These services are simple enough to implement even for those, who have little background in Java.
Now, I will show you how easily the login mechanism can be changed and how to mix different scenarios together. Once a user is authenticated with the smart card, the next step is to load roles from a sql server database. If the client does not have valid certificate, database authentication mechanism can be used.
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Eye Care Software Using Adobe AIR
RelaxMyEyes is an eyecare software that helps to avoid computer eye-strain. Our mission is to make the use of a computer less harmful for eyes. RelaxMyEyes keeps track of your working pauses all day long. Just start it and like a small sentinel it starts to plan relaxing pauses to your workday. When it's time to take a break, it displays a message on your screen. You can add your own messages that are displayed when it is time to take a break, display a picture in the alert and set your own work period length if you want. To take the first step towards a healthier life and to increase your everyday wellness.
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Returning Data from SQLite by Using the Responder Object
Adobe Air offers two ways to return data from local SQLite database: by SQLEvent and by Responder object. As the SQLEvent method is more popular since it follows the general logic of events, this article sheds light on the the use of Responder object that is quite useful in certain cases. In the end of this short article we will have an Air application that allows to enter users from an application form and displays them by using a Responder object. Read more »
Windows Classic skin for Flex 3: Updated
During this weekend I have updated my Windows classic skin for Flex. See original blog entry for details, or go directly to the demo page by clicking here. Transition to release 3 wasn't smooth enough. Some skinning components worked consistently even from Flex 2.0.1 to Flex 3 beta3 broke with the final SDK.
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Using Adobe Flex 3 for Analyzing Stocks
Flex is very suitable for applications that require handling of tabular data as it provides by default functionality, which would be very difficult to achieve in HTML. We have been hearing business requirements about all kind of extreme sorting and dragging-dropping for years but thanks to Flex we can now start to take these requirements seriously. The following article is an example how Flex could be used as a business intelligence tool for analyzing stocks. Read more »
Securing your Flex application with Spring Security and Active Directory
 Download Sample () |
See also my follow up article: Securing your Flex app: smart card authentication with Spring Security
The goal of the current article is to provide a clear overview how to integrate a Flex application with Active Directory using the authentication and authorization mechanism offered by the new Spring Security.
Before downloading the sample project, you should have: Java web app server (I'm using Apache Tomcat) and Active Directory with login credentials. Instead of AD you can use any LDAP directory server (for example ApacheDS).
To run the sample Flex project you don't need download extra .jar or .swc libraries or create a Java project with an IDE. Just unzip the sample project into your Tomcat webapps directory and change LDAP server settings. However, to recompile the Flex project you should download the Flex source project with Granite DS library granite.swc, add it to the Flex Build Path and to define Flex Server. The directory structure for the project looks like.
For those who don't know: Spring is an lightweight Java framework. Spring Portfolio includes now the Spring Security 2.0. providing comprehensive security services for J2EE-based enterprise applications. Spring Security 2 builds upon the popular Acegi Security, but it is much easier to use than former Acegi Security. Rod Jonson, creator of the Spring framework, noticed recently that one of the problems with Acegi Security was that it was very powerful but it wasn't simple to use.
Visiting the First European Flex 360 Conference
Flex is like a new island in the ocean about what you have read from books, heard from friends and decided that this is probably the place where you would like to live. 
The only reason you haven't moved there yet is that you still don't know exactly how is the weather there, is it going to be too crowded or too lonely, and is there something else to eat but bugs. As an unique opportunity, we found from Internet that there will be a so to speak tourism fair concentrating only on Flex island. There was no hesitation, we packed our bags and flew directly to 360 Flex Europe in Milan. The main reason why we wanted to be there was our doubt that the Flex tree grows poorly in Europe and we wanted some proof that this is not true (see previous post by Martin Where do the Flex Developers Live). Read more »
Using the GraniteDS and Cairngorm together
I have been using the Cairngorm framework in my application from the day I started to develop it. It has helped me a lot in understanding the Flex as it is somewhat different that is done in Java. At some point I wanted to start using the GraniteDS because of Spring but at the same time I didn't want to give up Cairngorm. Read more »
Where do the Flex Developers Live
We started this blog approximately a month ago. There were several reasons why we did it but the main one was and still is that we believe that Flex has a future and we would like to involve as many people as early as possible. Business people have waited for a long time to have finally good looking tables with sortable and draggable columns without an extra development request and Flex has it. Ok, there is of course a lot more in it but they don't care...at least today. As the guy in this clip says: "when I see the little kid and the look in his eyes...that's all I need" and probably it will be the same story with a Flex programmer and a business person for a while. Read more »
Java classes to Actionscript3 classes using Maven 2
At some point I found myself in a situation where I had data objects in Java and in order to use the same objects in Flex application I had to duplicate these classes in Actionscript 3. It was pretty boring and in addition to that, the possibility to forget to add or change some attribute was very high and it happened of course more than once. As I started to look around in web I had very low expectations to find a tool for converting Java classes to Actionscript classes. After some digging I found that actually there is a great tool, which does exactly what I needed. Read more »
Setting up a Java and Flex Project in Maven 2 for Beginners
Maven is a tool that provides an uniform and easy build process for your projects. In real life this means generally that you describe your project in one xml file and Maven reads this information to compile and package your project. The pros of this approach are that the project can be set up quickly in new environment, you can quite transparently add new features, and you have all the time clear overview of libraries that are used in your project.
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Sun Certified Java Programmer Mock Exam in Flex
You can jump directly into the Java mock exam demo here (written in Flex).
If you are ever planning to take the Sun Certified Programmer exam, you need at least four things: 1) the Java language specification; 2) a good study guide; 3) a exam simulator; 4) and free time for coding. The spec isn't an easy reading material, but with an "brain-friendly" study guide (by Sierra and Bates) they are essential to passing the SCJP exam.
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Installing Flex Builder 3 Pro Educational license
As Adobe Flex Builder 3 Professional is available for free to all education customers, I ordered it last week and today I got it. To get your free education license go here: http://flexregistration.com. Tanks to Adobe to making such a great tool available for free to educational users. I am using Adobe Flex daily at work, building financial software, but there is only Windows. Now I can use Flex in my MacBook Pro for academic purposes: the combination is so natural! A bad new is that I also got the same error (see screenshot) also reported by the other developers.
Setting up the environment for Flex and Java development with Maven 2
To start developing Flex you have two choices: to use FlexBuilder or Flex plugin for Eclipse. As we would like to develop Flex and Java parallely, the Flex plugin approach is the only reasonable way to continue. At first you must have Eclipse (~100MB) installed. It can be obtained from here (must be at least version 3.3 or higher) and it must of course have Java development support. The plugin itself (~300MB) can be downloaded from here but you must have an Adobe ID to download it.
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Experience of Developing Flex with Maven
If you are building a small Flex application then the Maven is of course an absolute overkill but if you are working in a team and have to release the application that uses Java then Maven is worth considering. I myself started to use Maven in the Flex project because of Java. As it worked well I tried to move on and use it also with Flex. It took some time but in the end I was quite happy when I could just type in the command "mvn install" and the Maven took the Flex and Java source code, compiled it, packed into a war and deployed to my Tomcat server. The major reason why I initially started to use it was that I had to share the project source code and it would have taken a lot of time to setup the environment in the other computers. With Maven, I ended up having only one property file which had environment specific stuff in it and I could set up the project in Mac and Windows without problems.
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Windows classic skin for Flex 3
See also: Windows classic skin for Flex 3: Updated
While I generally think that imitating operational system isn’t a good idea at all—in particular old-fashioned Microsoft Windows—however I have found that sometimes it is suitable, and even the best way to sketch-up your new Flex application. Especially when you are rewriting an old Windows legacy software and your client is a Mr. Dursley. Why not let him to use a familiar look and feel?
Therefore I created an new skin for Flex. This skin imitates Windows classical look and feel. I have used Flex 3 beta 3 and Flex skin design extensions for Adobe Flash. All you need is to import the skin artwork, or simply put .SWC file your in the Flex project folder. You should use both—Flash .SWC library and the cascading style sheet file.
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