Flex vs AS3

I'll echo LuigiL's points.

Being an early adopter of Flex (I'm a long-time developer), I'll say that the Flex framework is particularly suited to developing structured applications.

Whether you'd be able to learn Flex in a month's time depends on your skill as a developer. One can put something together fairly quickly, but to develop a maintainable (and perhaps extensible) app, you're going to have to have more than just a casual knowledge of app design. Have you looked at Flex Builder or downloaded the SDK yet?

You would obviously also be able to create the application in Flash, but Flex is a particularly excellent framework for app development.

If you're inclined to consult or subcontract on this job, PM me.

TS

You need a week to learn the basics in Flex (in fact, Adobe has posted a special series to learn Flex - in a week!). After that you will still have a lot of questions on how to really change the look and feel, CSS and other skinning techniques set aside, though you can use Flash CS3 to generate components you can use in Flex and skin the Flex Components. So, if you are on a deadline prepare for a bumpy ride and nights without sleep.

Why your client is asking you if you can do it in Flex, well, for a data driven website I don't think you can develop any faster than in Flex. Lots of things you need to do manually in Flash are automated in Flex. It's sheer power at your disposal. But, there is no comparison. Flash is a completely different tool that is used to create highly interactive content - which you then can use in Flex, sure. But beware, no timeline, no library in Flex, just code.

A month and right away a commercial project, well, some people need this to learn quickly but others might go nuts :-)

dmodie,

> So here are my questions:
>
> -why would he ask me to do it in Flex? (I don't know the advantages
> of Flex)

Flex is something of a buzzword. Please, Flex fans, no flamewars! All
I mean is that suits who don't know anything about either tool -- Flash or
Flex -- lately tend to think of Flex as the newer, cooler thing (hence,
buzzword). It certainly is the newer tool, but at rock bottom, they both
produce content for the same Flash Platform. They both produce SWFs.

It sounds like you're already familiar with Flash, so I won't go into an
extensive summary. Flash has drawing tools, a Timeline panel, and can be
used to produce anything from movies with no code at all -- think TV
output -- to ActionScript-heavy Rich Internet Applications (RIA).

Flex has no drawing tools or Timeline panel. Instead, Flex gives you
the Actions panel on steroids. It gives you the Flex framework, which
includes dozens of UI components not included with Flash, all geared toward
facilitating the RIA workflow.

> -if you've learned Flex, after you knew AS3, how brutal was the learning
> curve?

If you're using Flex, you're using AS3. You might, in addition, use
MXML, an XML-based markup language, to position your UI components. You
might use the Flex framework API, but you might not. Up do you. In a
sense, Flex could be nothing more than a superhero Actions panel, and you
could compile your work in Flash to create the SWF(s). If you're only using
Flex to write your AS3 class files, you may not see much of a learning curve
at all. If your client expects you to use the Flex framework -- that is,
the UI components, data components, and the like -- you'll have to learn a
new API. The API is written in AS3, so it won't be in completely
unfamiliar territory.

What doesn't make sense to me is why your client cares what tool was
used to make the SWF. The only reason that might matter -- that I can think
of, anyway -- is that the client may want to revise your source files later
in Flex, or uses many Flex developers inhouse. If the client doesn't
especially need your source files (who knows?), you could build this product
without using any Adobe tools at all, outside of the Flex SDK compiler.
(For example, you might use FlashDevelop, a free scripting IDE comparable,
in some ways, to Flex.)


David Stiller
Adobe Community Expert
Dev blog, http://www.quip.net/blog/
"Luck is the residue of good design."