O’Reilly: Inside RIA

The latest release of Flash Catalyst Beta 2 has brought us a lot closer to having a shipping application. We now have the ability to set a host of properties for each object, easier access to skin the wireframe components, and support for video and 3D rotation. Unfortunately, we do not have a full component set available to us. The reason behind not having all the components in Flash Catalyst is due to the different component architecture used in the Flex 4 framework (Spark) versus the Halo components used in the Flex 3 framework. Until a component has been rewritten in the Spark framework, Flash Catalyst cannot use it. The most notable absence is the comboBox. In this article I will show you a simple method to recreate one by creating a custom component. It is not perfect, but it just might be able to tide you over until we have an official component from Adobe.

This was my second MAX and, let me tell you, I enjoyed it a lot more than the last year’s one. This was an intriguing event with lots of interesting news, and promises of new releases. Among the announcements, news about upcoming developments for Flash Player 10.1, Flex 4, LCDS, Air 2.0, and Flash Catalyst.

With the release of the Flash Catalyst Beta 2, the public gets its next look at Adobe’s rapid prototyping tool. The application has continued to mature since the last release. Here is a brief rundown of some of the features...

David Macy (Senior PM for Illustrator) and NJ (Product designer and developer on Flash Catalyst) join us to talk about using Illustrator in RIA workflows. We also discuss the keynote from FOTB and upcoming MAX announcements. Experts: Leif Wells,...

Designer-developer workflow (D-D workflow) in conjunction with Rich Internet Applications (RIA) has become one of the most talked about buzzword in the Flash community in the last few years. It created a lot of debate and uncertainty on how designers and developers were going to work together. Now that Adobe Catalyst is public (since the release at the Adobe Max conference last year), and that we have had a chance to play around with the tool, I believe it’s time to open a discussion on how the direction the D-D workflow should be heading based on my experience. In this article I will talk about how Flash Catalyst (FC) should be used to allow designers and developers to work together.

Same gang, new application. In this episode Leif Wells and Zach Stepek joined me to take a closer look at the Flash Builder Beta. We discuss some of the lesser known features and its integration with Flash CS4 and Flash Catalyst.

Adobe has been busy and this summer we have seen some changes to their Flash Platform and some new tools for working with it. In the new Summer of Flash Podcast our panel (Garth Braithwaite, Stacey Mulcahy, Zach Stepek,...

Now that the first public beta of Flash Catalyst (formerly known as Thermo) has been released, we can start to explore some of the features that have been added since the Preview release from last November. I will assume you have worked through some of the other introductions to the Flash Catalyst user interface. One of new features that has been implemented in the release is the Data List Component.

Flash Builder 4 & Flash Catalyst are now officially available to the masses. Yes, the public beta has begun at http://labs.adobe.com/. Want to learn more about these new products? Check out our new features published today: Overview of Flex 4...

In the second half of this two part screencast I demonstrate some of the more advanced features of Flash Catalyst Beta 1. Specifically I show how to import images and artwork into an existing project, how to create a data list component, and how to import and export a fxpl library.

In this two part screencast I show some of the neat new features of the Flash Catalyst Beta 1 available on labs.adobe.com. I also demonstrate some good practices for preparing a file in Adobe Illustrator and how to keep yourself organized in Catalyst.

In this screencast I show how to import an FXP from Flash Catalyst into Flex Builder Gumbo. I also discuss the Flex Builder name change and show off some cool new features in the Gumbo Framework and the Builder itself.

There are some great RIA conferences but if you don't live close to the events it can be tough to take advantage of them. Luckily there are a ton of User Groups (i.e. Adobe User Groups) to bring it closer...

At the Adobe MAX conference in San Francisco, Adobe passed out DVD’s of both Flash Catalyst (code name Thermo) and Flex Builder 4 (code name Gumbo). These products together hope to bridge the gap between designers and developers, by giving designers the ability to control the look of the application and then handing off a project ready to be coded by a developer. This tutorial has been created with the version of Flash Catalyst that was distributed during the MAX conference last November. Since this is an early build of the software some features may change and others added before the final release.

FlashCamp is a free developer event taking place on May 29th in San Francisco. Session topics include Flex 4 (Gumbo), Flex Builder 4, and Flash Catalyst. With these advances in RIA development it will be an event worth attending. You...

In this screencast I discuss the intended workflow for Adobe Flash Catalyst and how it will integrate with the latest version of Flex Builder.

In this screencast we take a look at how use a design file from Adobe Illustrator to create a small gallery widget using Adobe Flash Catalyst. Specifically we will see how Catalyst will let you edit components in Illustrator and bring it back into Catalyst.

Thoughts on the preview release of Flash Catalyst and its role in aiding the designer-developer collaboration.

MAX has come and some have a slew of announcements from Adobe. This post includes new information on the following products: Adobe® Flash Catalyst™ previously code named Thermo Adobe Flex® Builder™ "Gumbo" Adobe® AIR™ 1.5 Adobe® Flash® Player 10 for 64-bit Linux Adobe® Flash® Player for Smartphones.