Somewhat ironically, considering the recent spat between Adobe and Apple, the next major version of Flex, codenamed “Hero”, will have specific support for developing Flash applications intended for mobile devices. Accomplishing this involves both adding new components and skins as well as making some modifications to existing components. Although Flash content can already run on some mobile devices, the smaller screen sizes can have unfortunate consequences. This new version of Flex, due out in beta version later this year, will address that issue by allowing for smarter scaling of the application’s size.
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That’s good news, although Flex 4 just came out, wonder how much they will change with Flex 5. Hopefully they will finish converting the halo components. I could have sworn I read something recently that called Flex 4.1 hero though?
I haven’t heard about Flex 4.1 being called “Hero”. I agree that they need to finish converting the Halo components to Spark, which I expect they’re continuing to work on and should hopefully finish this fall. They’ve already added a couple of new things in Spark since the book was written. I expect it’ll be at least a year until Flex 5 comes out regardless.
Is there an easy way to find out which components have been upgraded to be part of Spark?
Not that I know of but that sounds really useful! Flash Builder will recommend the Spark versions when available, of course, but if I were of the mind, I’d create a Web site that listed all the components that have been upgraded and those that haven’t.
There is this article from Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/flex3and4_differences_04.html, I printed it out for use some time ago but it’s a little out dated now. It’s a good quick reference for most components. Looking at the comments some other people would like an updated reference as well.
That’s the trouble with Adobe and their documentation, they have great documentation (maybe the best?) but they just don’t organise it the best way. I have a couple versions of the same PDFs, with different names, from their website.
I feel as if I’m going to be forced into buying a smart phone shortly. Even my mother has one! Have you done much mobile development of any sort Larry? Do you see yourself doing much Flex development for mobiles?
Hey Jason. Yes, Adobe’s documentation is very good but kind of hard to find sometimes. It was hard providing links in the book because they change the organization sometimes and there’s lots of overlap and different names, as you experienced. But they do a great job overall and spend a lot of money on getting articles and related content out there, too. For a commercial company, I would probably put Adobe at the top in this area.
I have not done much mobile development at all, primarily because it hasn’t fit in with my most common clients (largely educational in nature). I might dabble with a mobile version of a person project later this year, though. Although some of my friends have smart phones, I don’t, so when that time comes, I’ll need to turn to them for testing (although there are online resources that emulate phones, I believe). I’m just very much not a mobile person! Only about 4 people have my number, my wife is the only person that texts me or that I text, and most days I don’t even turn it on! I think I’m a dinosaur in this regard, though…
Are those application support to IPhone or IPad?
No, not unless Apple decides to start allowing Flash content on their mobile devices.
Flash on mobile is very exciting!
Thanks for your feedback. Just to be absolutely clear, this is not Flash on mobile. That’s still not possible on all the iOS devices. This is Adobe AIR on mobile, and Adobe AIR content can be created using Flex. It is exciting, but it’s not the same as Web-based Flash running on a mobile device.