Comments on: TWiCF 03 – To Flex or Not to Flex http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/ This Week in ColdFusion Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:35:48 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Wade http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-96 Wade Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:13:40 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-96 In reference to conferences, I went to CFUnited this year. All the big coldfusion guys were there, but they were very accessible and I only went to the Saturday session. I was able to talk to the presenters after their sessions and generally had a great time. In reference to conferences, I went to CFUnited this year. All the big coldfusion guys were there, but they were very accessible and I only went to the Saturday session. I was able to talk to the presenters after their sessions and generally had a great time.

]]> By: Jon http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-93 Jon Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:09:47 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-93 Like your conversations, very informative. Your thoughts about going to conferences is wrong. Going to them should not be about the cost, it is about meeting other developers and being exposed to technology that you are not normally exposed to. I have gone to quite a few MAXs and have always take away new ideas that have helped my career. Like your conversations, very informative.

Your thoughts about going to conferences is wrong. Going to them should not be about the cost, it is about meeting other developers and being exposed to technology that you are not normally exposed to. I have gone to quite a few MAXs and have always take away new ideas that have helped my career.

]]> By: Adrian http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-79 Adrian Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:31:04 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-79 Hi Guys Thanks for the podcast, nice to get someone view point on CF stuff. I remember having a play with Flex after doing the first Lynda.com tutorials on it and one of things that annoyed me was the whole compile/deploy aspect. When youve got a bug that is 5 steps in to a process you have to make a change and then compile it and then do those 5 steps again. I am not sure what changes there has been since then but i do remember thinking how would you ever build a reasonable sized app using this. Saying that in doing a reasonable size ext js app i am sure you have the similar issues but with a press of f5 to just reload and start from scratch. Hi Guys
Thanks for the podcast, nice to get someone view point on CF stuff.

I remember having a play with Flex after doing the first Lynda.com tutorials on it and one of things that annoyed me was the whole compile/deploy aspect.

When youve got a bug that is 5 steps in to a process you have to make a change and then compile it and then do those 5 steps again. I am not sure what changes there has been since then but i do remember thinking how would you ever build a reasonable sized app using this. Saying that in doing a reasonable size ext js app i am sure you have the similar issues but with a press of f5 to just reload and start from scratch.

]]> By: Shaun McCran http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-74 Shaun McCran Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:23:00 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-74 No problems, it is interesting to hear what the ColdFusion community is doing state-side. To answer your question, my first 2 or 3 flex applications were entire sites. The whole framework was built on a flex front end, and a CF and PHP back end. This quickly became cumbersome though, and I realized that producing a 2.2mb swf file of an entire application was seriously affecting usability. Since then I have integrated flex apps into a standard framework, like FuseBox, Mach 2 etc. I’ve found it works much more effectively if flex is used to provide specific functionality, like a login application or a shopping cart etc that is embedded into you ‘normal’ templates. P.s. Thanks for the mention! Was listening while writing this! No problems, it is interesting to hear what the ColdFusion community is doing state-side.

To answer your question, my first 2 or 3 flex applications were entire sites. The whole framework was built on a flex front end, and a CF and PHP back end. This quickly became cumbersome though, and I realized that producing a 2.2mb swf file of an entire application was seriously affecting usability.

Since then I have integrated flex apps into a standard framework, like FuseBox, Mach 2 etc. I’ve found it works much more effectively if flex is used to provide specific functionality, like a login application or a shopping cart etc that is embedded into you ‘normal’ templates.

P.s. Thanks for the mention! Was listening while writing this!

]]> By: Micky Dionisio http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-38 Micky Dionisio Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:12:39 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-38 @shaun - thanks much for the note and taking the time to listen to us. quick question for you - would you say for most of the development you do that uses flex, the front end is completely flex-based or do you sprinkle in flex components/widgets as needed while still leveraging {insert typical front end language of choice}? @shaun – thanks much for the note and taking the time to listen to us.

quick question for you – would you say for most of the development you do that uses flex, the front end is completely flex-based or do you sprinkle in flex components/widgets as needed while still leveraging {insert typical front end language of choice}?

]]> By: Shaun McCran http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Shaun McCran Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:05:15 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-36 Hi, Just finished listening, congrats on the webcasts, its an interesting way of delivering your views! On the subject of Flex or AJAX or XJS, I've been using Flex since version 2 (1 and 1.5 was horrible) and I have to say I love it. It has the odd quirk, but once you get it hooked up to your back end CF it becomes really powerful. Its really worth getting the amf gateway working, once you are returning typed objects (custom structutes if you will) then everything becomes a lot easier, and you can leave that XML behind! I prefer it over AJAX as I think it has a different, more polished finish on screen. Hi,
Just finished listening, congrats on the webcasts, its an interesting way of delivering your views! On the subject of Flex or AJAX or XJS, I’ve been using Flex since version 2 (1 and 1.5 was horrible) and I have to say I love it. It has the odd quirk, but once you get it hooked up to your back end CF it becomes really powerful.

Its really worth getting the amf gateway working, once you are returning typed objects (custom structutes if you will) then everything becomes a lot easier, and you can leave that XML behind!

I prefer it over AJAX as I think it has a different, more polished finish on screen.

]]> By: Chung http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Chung Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:33:55 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-33 Yeh went and looked it up after listening and I'm trying to figure things out again. I haven't touched flex for a long, long time but over the year dabbled around with it with friends and stuff. That's about it. I just played with it and say "cool" then went to go do thing to try and pay da billz. lol And when it came to flash, flex+flash was cool and all but I program directly in flash with actionscript and using CF thru XML... etc to do what I probably could have done in flex. I guess the biggest argument with some friends I have are "Yeh, but I don't need to know all the fancy designer stuff!" and I guess that's what makes it so worth it for them to learn it quicker than I but I look at some of the things they produce and it's pretty bland, though functionally it was great. Yeh went and looked it up after listening and I’m trying to figure things out again. I haven’t touched flex for a long, long time but over the year dabbled around with it with friends and stuff. That’s about it. I just played with it and say “cool” then went to go do thing to try and pay da billz. lol

And when it came to flash, flex+flash was cool and all but I program directly in flash with actionscript and using CF thru XML… etc to do what I probably could have done in flex.

I guess the biggest argument with some friends I have are “Yeh, but I don’t need to know all the fancy designer stuff!” and I guess that’s what makes it so worth it for them to learn it quicker than I but I look at some of the things they produce and it’s pretty bland, though functionally it was great.

]]> By: Mike Chandler http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Mike Chandler Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:14:17 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-29 Chung, that's what we were struggling with in the conversation in regards to licensing. Initially, licensing was an issue if you were using Flex Data Services as Brian pointed out, but I really wasn't sure if licensing was still a consideration under the Adobe label since they transformed Flex Data Services into Adobe LiveCycle data services. As we were chatting I was trying to do a quick look-up on LiveCycle to see if there was pricing listed but I was quickly side-tracked. Chung, that’s what we were struggling with in the conversation in regards to licensing. Initially, licensing was an issue if you were using Flex Data Services as Brian pointed out, but I really wasn’t sure if licensing was still a consideration under the Adobe label since they transformed Flex Data Services into Adobe LiveCycle data services. As we were chatting I was trying to do a quick look-up on LiveCycle to see if there was pricing listed but I was quickly side-tracked.

]]> By: Chung http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-28 Chung Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:02:42 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-28 Just finished listening the who thing. I haven't played with xjs much but flex is definitely some great stuff. Went on of those coldfusion groups over in Industry City a while back where Ben Forta was showing some stuff off with Flex. First thing I did was install the thing and play around with it at home and made a simple dinky chat interface. I wish I'd had more time or projects to play with Flex but the problem I run into is the cost for buy the flex server enterprise that clients usually just don't bother with. Just finished listening the who thing. I haven’t played with xjs much but flex is definitely some great stuff. Went on of those coldfusion groups over in Industry City a while back where Ben Forta was showing some stuff off with Flex. First thing I did was install the thing and play around with it at home and made a simple dinky chat interface.

I wish I’d had more time or projects to play with Flex but the problem I run into is the cost for buy the flex server enterprise that clients usually just don’t bother with.

]]> By: Chung http://www.twicf.com/2009/10/twicf-03-to-flex-or-not-to-flex/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Chung Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:52:57 +0000 http://www.twicf.com/?p=39#comment-27 Flexbuilder been around since Flex came out. From the beginning as Brian said. Flexbuilder been around since Flex came out. From the beginning as Brian said.

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