Features Of Flex 4 A Flex Developer Cannot Ignore To Admire

By Author: christogelson
Total Articles: 8
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By now I am sure most of the Flex developers would have got the chance to experiment with the latest version of Flex which is Flex 4. Codenamed Gumbo it had an open development process on Adobe's open source site. Introduction of Flex 4 was initiated by the company by playing a pivotal role in starting the thread. This was a golden opportunity for any Flex developer who always wanted something different from all the traditional Flex versions for flex development. Many developers contributed to its making.

While a Flex developer is sure to see some changes in the latest version there are few features that have remained unchanged. But do not be disappointed because those features which have changed are sure to make a big difference for any developer working on a big Flex development project.

1) Namespaces : Since time Flex was introduced to the software development niche Flex developers have been using Namespaces. Why they are used? Namespaces help identify the language versions in which the application is built; inform compiler about the location where the custom components are saved as well as decide scope with ...
... which the XML tag can be matched to a particular ActionScript class. In the latest Flex 4 XML has been restored to MXML 2009 namespace and contains current language tags. Hence components of both Flex 3 and Flex 4 namely Halo and Spark display their own namespaces.

2) Declarative Graphics : FXG the latest graphics format converter in Flex 4 will provide more versatility to the applications developed using CS4. Flash Player 10 as well as Flex 4 will deliver FXG graphical components like text primitives, graphics, gradients, fills, bitmaps, strokes, alphas, blend modes, masks and support for filters.

3) Layouts : While developing a Flex application the Flex developer chooses the components depending on their layout properties. For example a developer might choose Canvas as it will give him absolute positioning of x and y. Flex 4 has an updated layout tag which allows a Flex developer to select from all three layouts.

4) States : Most of the Flex developers feel that states can be best created using Flex Builder. In the previous version of Flex that is Flex 3 states showed how visual elements can be subtracted or added from the visual layer programmatically with similar tags for style, events and property modification. In plain simple words states allows a Flex developer to efficiently use the visual elements to make effective changes to the UI.

The main reason why a developer prefers to use Flex Builder is that the IDE is well equipped to record all the various steps taken to alter states and translate the same into the required code. Yes the end result which is the code can be manually written but takes lot of time and hard work.

Flex 4 contains several renovations with respect to states which have been developed by derogating tags used previously. Visual components have been empowered with changes required for various states. Unlike previous versions where components were to be added programmatically while moving to a particular state in Flex 4 components are permanent, they will be there in each state.

Flex developer working with a prominent Flex development company iFlexweb have explored all the useful features of Flex 4 and are using it for application development.