Do's And Dont's Of Professional Flex Development

By Author: Garry Smith
Total Articles: 2
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Coding habits differ from developer to developer. Some are bad, while some are good to learn from. Flex development requires a consistent pattern to build enterprise web applications as not just the developer but the users too, use the code to extend the component and modules. Coding habits are not taught at generally at any institution, it is the developers who learn themselves by looking at their tutors. Here we shall discuss about the best Flex application development techniques that are recommended to be followed while enterprise Flex development. Enterprise applications are big and hence require some advanced programming such as the use of the MVC architecture.

Here is a useful list of some Do's and Don't's to start with professional Flex development:

DO's:

1.DO use an MVC framework/architecture.
When writing large scaled applications, it is often hard to control the flow of information and logic. Hence developers worldwide use the Model-View-Controller technique to create a simplistic code design that can be managed easily. Moreover, the use of the MVC architecture encourages developers write ...
... similar codes that look similar and speak the same language. MVC architecture for Flex development helps where there are quite a few developers working on the same project and they need to share their work with each other continuously.

2.DO use resource bundles. 
Enterprise Flex application development is all about building a fully functional system with its source open to all for customizing it when necessary. Even the text should be customizable including an ability to change the language as the application is to be deployed across countries abroad as well.

3. DO maintain a library of reusable generic UI components.
Flex components are the small functional modules that are used and reused across the whole enterprise system. Such components should be able to be accessed by other developers for implementing the similar functionality. A component should not be dependent for a specific application. Keeping such components clear of the actual system makes it easy to access them by all the team members during the Flex application development.

DONT'S:

1.DON'T worry on XML handling.
The larger enterprise applications load and use the same XML time and again during runtime. While it may be a sport in handling XML in smaller applications, for the enterprise applications it is redundant to load and parse XML every time.

2.DON'T use the Flex Builder WYSIWYG Editor.
The WYSIWYG Editor - Flex Builder is extensively used by developers for Flex application development where small applications are required. But when a large application is developed using the Flex Builder tool the code become unmanageable and hence it is better to avoid such tools.

3.Don't mix AS with MXML.
There are two main aspects of Flex development - design and intelligence. While the design and the UI part is described using the MXML, the business logic and intelligence is implemented through ActionScript. These two should always be kept apart and never mixed. There are a number of methods are available to help you keep these two separate such as the View Helper pattern for creating a clear separation between layout and functionality. It will also be easier to manage and your code will be readable to others.