Course Synopsis: In the 2-day Flex 3: Extending and Styling Components course, students will use their object-oriented skills to create custom classes that programmatically draw skins and extend the functionality of built-in Flex classes. Experienced Flex developers will have an opportunity to explore hands-on, practical code examples for creating drag-and-drop user interfaces that also incorporate
user-triggered transitions and smart components that resize based on available space. Other learning objectives include creating popups, embedding fonts, implementing custom application look-and-feel and positioning stage- and mouse-aware elements.

Who Should Attend: This course is designed for application developers who want to bring the power of Rich Internet Applications to their web applications.

Prerequisites: This course targets experienced Adobe Flex developers who:
• Want to use the built-in Flex components as a basis for their own custom component development.
• Want to incorporate interactive, position- and size-aware elements into their applications.
• Need to skin Flex applications to meet corporate marketing demands.

What You Will Learn:
• Embedding Images and Fonts
• Modifying Graphical Skins using Flex
• Creating a Popup Window
• Extending Flex Components
• Creating Behaviors in ActionScript
• Implementing a Programmatic Skin
• Create Mouse-Aware Applications
• Drag and Drop Functionality

Time: Class time is 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. Breaks are scheduled throughout the day and lunch is typically scheduled 12-1. Students provide their own lunch.

Locations: We have company-operated facilities in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, San Diego and Washington DC. We also work with a network of rental facilities to offer our classes regularly across the United States and in Canada. Please double-check the location of your class with our office to make sure you get to the right location.

Related Courses: We recommend the following courses that relate to this class: Adobe Flash Action Script and Fast Track to ColdFusion 8. Please take a look at our other course outlines at our web site, http://www.ledet.com.

Goals: Sterling Ledet and Associates realizes the importance of education and we take pride in being able to offer you classes that are more custom fit to your needs. Call us at (770) 414-5007 if you have any special questions or e-mail us at sales@ledet.com.

Registration: Please fill out our registration form and fax it to us at (312) 896-9094.

Adobe Flex 3.0 Training Course Outline

LESSON 1
Introducing Flex 3: Extending and
Styling Components
• Programming the Visual Experience
• Understanding Project Roles
• Introducing Mastery Learning
• Understanding the Course Format
• Reviewing the Course Prerequisites
• Reviewing the Course Outline

LESSON 2
Embedding Images and Fonts
• Embedding Images at
Compile-Time
• Layering Content
• Using Absolute Layout
• Creating a Reusable Embedded
Image
• Creating Instances of an Embedded
Image Class
• Understanding Device Font
Limitations
• Embedding Fonts with Absolute File
Paths
• Embedding Fonts using Adobe Flash

LESSON 3
Modifying the Look and Feel of Flex
Components
• Exploring Filters
• Applying Blends
• Modifying the Look-and-Feel of Flex
Components using MXML Styles
• Modifying Graphical Skins using Flex
• Skin Design Extensions for CS3
• Installing the Flex Skin Design
Extensions for Flash
• Selecting which component to
modify in Flash
• Importing the Flex skins artwork

LESSON 4
Creating Popups
• Creating a Popup Window
• Passing Data to the Popup Window

LESSON 5
Extending Flex Components
• Exploring Display Object Basics
• Extending Flex Components
• Implementing the createChildren()
Method
• Implementing the updateDisplay-
List() Method
• Improving Custom Component
Reusability with Stylesheets

LESSON 6
Drawing Shapes and Skinning
Programmatically
• Understanding the Relationship
Between Display List Objects and
the Graphics Class
• Calling the clear() Method
• Drawing Lines
• Creating a Visual Element as an
ActionScript Class
• Creating Shapes
• Defining Fill Methods
• Implementing a ButtonSkin from
the mx.skins.halo Package
• Implementing a Programmatic Skin

LESSON 7
Animating Components and View States
• Creating Behaviors in ActionScript
• Reviewing View States and Transitions
• Using the CurrentStateChange Event

LESSON 8
Creating Mouse-Aware Applications
• Detecting the Mouse Position
• Detecting the Stage Dimensions

LESSON 9
Implementing Drag and Drop
Functionality
• Understanding the DragManager
• Specifying the Data to Display in a List
Control
• Enabling Dragging on Non-List-Based
Controls
• Controlling Dropping with Formats
• Handling Data in Drag and Drop
Operations