Marco Casario | RIAvolutionize the web

Spring Certification Training in Rome

Comtaste, the italian Spring Training Center, is organizing and hosting a Spring Certification course in Rome.  This is a great opportunity to learn more and get certified on Spring framework that is now more integrated in BlazeDS and Livecycle DS.

In fact SpringSource and Adobe started a partnership with the goal of making easy the integration between Spring and BlazeDS. Child of this partnership is the Spring BlazeDS Integration project, which allows you to integrate BlazeDS with robust server-side Spring services.

In this 4-day bootcamp you learn how to use the Spring Framework to create well-designed, testable business applications in an agile manner.
Through our trainings, you benefit from the wide experience and architectural expertise of our team. We bring that experience to you in a 
highly interactive, intensely hands-on setting. The Core Spring course not only focuses on explaining Spring features and how to use them, 
but also on fundamental architectural issues.

Date: 16 - 19 June 2009
Time: 09:00 AM - 17:00 PM (4 days)
Location: Rome (language: English)
Price: € 1500,- (last minute offer, normal price € 1975,-)
Discount: Register 2 students (10%); Register 3 students (20%)

During the course you will learn how to:

• Work with the Spring Inversion of Control (IoC) Container
• Effectively use JDBC and Hibernate for data access
• Use JUnit, Spring, stubs and mocking frameworks to effectively implement automated unit and integration tests
• Take advantage of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) to keep code clean and maintainable
• Use Spring Security to secure web and standalone applications
• Manage live applications with ease using Spring's support for Java Management Extensions (JMX)
• Become a SpringSource Certified Spring Professional
• And much more

It's time to start learning Spring to integrate Flex and BlazeDS with robust server-side services

Spring is one of my favourite frameworks. It's an open source framework that helps the developers' life. Thanks to the Inversion of Control (IoC) pattern that Spring uses, it will save a lot of time in developing.
In fact there are some factors you have to consider when you develop a Java application.Using the standard JEE approach you'll tend to write a lot of unuseful and repeatedly code or implementing J2EE design patterns that are workarounds for technology limitations rather than real solutions to a problem.
The Inversion of control - also known as IoC - is a concept, and an associated set of programming techniques, in which the control flow is inverted compared to the traditional interaction model expressed in imperative style by a series of procedure calls. Thus, instead of the programmer specifying, by the means of function calls, a series of events to happen during the lifetime of a programme, they would rather register desired responses to particular happenings, and then let some external entities take over the control over the precise order and set of events to happen (from Wikipedia).

That's why is important to have the possibility to easily integrate Spring to Flex applications.

Luckily SpringSource and Adobe started a partnership with the goal of making easy the integration between Spring and BlazeDS. Child of this partnership is the Spring BlazeDS Integration project, which allows you to integrate BlazeDS with robust server-side Spring services.

We strongly believe in this integration and that's why Comtaste has recently signed a partnership agreement with Spring Source, to support and train people and companies in Italy using the Spring framework.

These are the upcoming official courses scheduled:   

• Rich Web Applications con Spring Training (Rome 21-24 April2009)    
• Core Spring - Spring Framework Training (Milan 5-8 May 2009, Rome 16-19 June 2009)    
• Enterprise Integration con Spring Training (Rome 19-22 May2009)

We're also working on a training course dedicated to the Spring BlazeDS Integration project
where we want to introduce developers how to integrate the two frameworks.

Comtaste is offering a promotional code for the upcoming Core Spring course

This is an interesting offer that I want to share with my readers since there's a integration (and a public  agreement) between Adobe Flex, BlazeDS, Livecycle DS and SpringSource called Spring-Flex.
Comtaste , Spring Official Training Partner , is glad to offer his readers a discount code to use for the upcoming course in Rome: Core Spring.

Use the following promotional code when registering: ROMA10

Core Spring is our four-day flagship Spring training course covering:

* The Spring Lightweight Container Architecture, including Inversion of Control
* Agile, domain-driven design techniques with Spring
* Effective JDBC and Hibernate data access
* Declarative transaction management
* Pragmatic AOP
* Unit testing in isolation
* Rapid system integration testing
* Introduction to "Spring Web"
* Remoting
* Web Services
* Spring Security
* JMS
* JMX

In this course, students build a Spring-powered JEE application that demonstrates the Spring Framework in an intensely productive, hands-on setting. Completion of this course entitles each student to waive the registration fee for the SpringSource Certified Professional Examination.

If you want to register you can use the following promotional code when registering to the Core Spring: ROMA10

You can read on the Spring site the Syllabus of the Core Spring course.

This is an interesting offer that I want to share with my readers since there's a integration (and a public  agreement) between Adobe Flex, BlazeDS, Livecycle DS and SpringSource called Spring-Flex.
Comtaste , Spring Official Training Partner , is glad to offer his readers a discount code to use for the upcoming course in Rome: Core Spring.

Use the following promotional code when registering: ROMA10

Core Spring is our four-day flagship Spring training course covering:

* The Spring Lightweight Container Architecture, including Inversion of Control
* Agile, domain-driven design techniques with Spring
* Effective JDBC and Hibernate data access
* Declarative transaction management
* Pragmatic AOP
* Unit testing in isolation
* Rapid system integration testing
* Introduction to "Spring Web"
* Remoting
* Web Services
* Spring Security
* JMS
* JMX

In this course, students build a Spring-powered JEE application that demonstrates the Spring Framework in an intensely productive, hands-on setting. Completion of this course entitles each student to waive the registration fee for the SpringSource Certified Professional Examination.

If you want to register you can use the following promotional code when registering to the Core Spring: ROMA10

Enterprise Flex Development Best Practices

Recently I've presented at the JavaDay conference about enterprise Flex and Livecycle DS development. The audiance was, of course,  made up of Java/JEE developers so it was very interesting to give some tips very close to their world (enterprise developers). I've talked about:

• UML Modeling Tools (autogenerating ActionScript 3 code shema)
• Source code management (SCM) Tools (integrated with Eclipse and Flex Builder)
• API documentation generation for ActionScript 3
• Build management tool
• Unit testing framework
• Java Frameworks integration
• Open Source Flex and ActionScript 3 libraries and components
• Flex architectures

I thought to recap all the things said and showed:

UML Modeling Tool (autogenerating ActionScript 3 code shema)

• Enterprise Architect - $239-$135 
• Visual Paradigm - $70-$59
• VASGen - Free
• UMLet – Free
• StarUML - Free

Source code management (SCM) Tools (integrated with Eclipse and Flex Builder)

• CVS (Version control system)
• Subversion
• Perforce / P4WSAD
• Clearcase

API documentation generation for ActionScript 3

• ASDoc

Build management tools

• Flex Ant Tasks
• Flex-Mojo, a Mavan Flex plug in

Unit testing framework

• Flex Unit

Java Framework integration

• Spring-Flex: it provides Spring BlazeDS Integration (RemoteObject e message services), SpringSource Adapter for LiveCycle Data Services ES which will provide integration with Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ( server push-based applications )
• Grails

Open Source Flex and ActionScript 3 libraries and components

• as3corelib
• Flexlib

Flex architectures

• Cairngorm
• PureMVC
• Mate
• Degrafa

Enterprise Flex / Livecycle DS / Blaze DS Courses and Training

• Flex 3 and Flex Builder 3 Developing Rich Internet Applications with the new Flex 3 SDKs
• Enterprise Flex Applications with LiveCycle Data Services and J2EE (Java EE)
• Enterprise Business Application with with BlazeDS and Java (Java EE)
• Designing Flex and AIR user interfaces and layouts
  
• Developing desktop applications with Adobe AIR, Ajax and Flex

Flex books

• Adobe Flex 3: Training from the Source
• Programming Flex 3
• Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers
• Enterprise Development with Flex
• Flex 3 Cookbook: Code-Recipes, Tips, and Tricks for RIA Developers
• Flex 3 Component Solutions: Build Amazing Interfaces with Flex Components
• Creating Visual Experiences with Flex 3.0
• AdvancED Flex 3

LiveCycle Data Services and Flex Best Practices Development event in Milan

Comtaste and Adobe Italy are organizing a series of  events dedicated to the Enterprise RIA development using Livecycle Data Services and BlazeDS with Flex 3 and AIR.
On November 5th in Milan, there will be  one of those meetings titled:

Creating Enterprise RIA with Livecycle Data Services and Flex

In this event Comtaste will show some of their projects we're working on in the Enterprise contexts (an Enterprise Dashboard application, a multimedia recruiting system, a customized start-page library and many other).

This is the agenda of the event:

09.30 - Registration
10.00 - Presentation of Comtaste's RIA showcases
10.15 - LiveCycle Data Services installation Best Practice 
10.30 - Architectures, Framewors and Design Patterns
11.00 - Integrate LiveCycle Data Services in J2EE architectures
11.30 - Coffee Break
11.45 - Enterprise LiveCycle Data Services Application development with Flex
12.00 - Desktop applications with Adobe AIR
12.15 - Integrating LiveCycle Data Services with AIR
12.30 - Q&A  

The event is totally free but you need to register from the Adobe Tech Connection site.

Specifying an ActionScript Value Object as data type of the elements of an Array using the [ArrayElementType]

It's a fact that ActionScript does not support typed arrays. It means that you can't specify the data type of the elements of the Array. Flex SDK provides the [ArrayElementType] meta tag that allows you to specify Array type checking using Flex Builder and the Flex compiler:

[ArrayElementType("int")]  private var _intArray:Array;

[ArrayElementType("String")] private var _stringArray:Array;

In the above example I've specified the data type for the Array elements. In the first Array,_intArray , the elements of the Array must be int, while in the second Array, _stringArray, the elements of the Array must be String. If you try to put different data types into the Array the Flex compiler will issue a syntax error.  Cool and simple.

But you can also use the [ArrayElementType] to specify an ActionScript Value Object (it's an ActionScript class) as data type of the elements of the Array. In this scenario you pass the fully qualified package reference of the ActionScript Value Object as type of the ArrayElementType:

[ArrayElementType("com.casario.vo.UserVO")]
protected var _users:Array;

Then you can populate the _users property using, for istance, the push method:

_users.push( new com.casario.vo.UserVO ( id, name, role, description ) );

The ActionScript Value Object should look like this:

package com.casario.vo
{
    [Bindable]
    public class UserVO
    {
        public var id:String;
        public var name:String;
        public var role:String;
        public var description:String;

        public function UserVO(
                                id:String,
                                name:String,
                                role:String,
                                description:String,
                              )
        {
            this.id = id;
            this.name = name;
            this.role = role;
            this.description = description;

        }
    }
}

Forcing the value object as data type you'll get compile-time errors if you'll attempt to assign elements of a data type other than the UserVO ActionScript Value Object to the Array in an MXML file.

Differences between BlazeDS web messaging and the messaging service in LiveCycle Data Services

I've decided to make this post because recently I'm receiving a lot of  questions from our clients about how  BlazeDS web messaging differs from the messaging service in LiveCycle Data
Services ES.
The answer is pretty simple and well explained by Adobe on the FAQ page (you can read it at the end of this post).
But a point of confusion is probably the Adobe LiveCycle Data Services Community Edition licensing against the standard Adobe LiveCycle Data Services and BlazeDS.

The Adobe LiveCycle Data Services Community Edition offers  as a subscription service that  includes certified builds of BlazeDS along with Adobe support (you can choose from Bronze or Gold support).

There is a useful comparison table where you can better understand differences between the three data services solutions Adobe offers: BlazeDS, Adobe LiveCycle Data Services Community Edition, Adobe LiveCycle Data Services.

How does BlazeDS web messaging differ from the messaging service in LiveCycle Data
Services ES?

BlazeDS’s web messaging, using COMET-style long polling or the new HTTP streaming channel that
establishes a persistent connection between client and server for true data push, is capable of
handling roughly 100-200 users per CPU, depending on many different factors. Scalability is
constrained by the current servlet specification where each persistent connection utilizes a servlet
thread. In contrast, LiveCycle Data Services ES provides a dedicated messaging service that runs on
a separate process and is capable of supporting thousands of users per CPU, bypassing the servlet
scalability limitation and reducing the amount of memory required. The dedicated message
service also supports the RTMP protocol, which offers more advanced two-way communication not
supported by the HTTP protocol.
For applications that require massive scalability and performance, such as real-time stock trading,
most customers will require the more specialized features of LiveCycle Data Services ES.

Using Flex 3 with BlazeDS and Java (JEE) training course released by Comtaste (London,Milan,New York)

Comtaste Training is proud to announce its new training course about Flex 3 development using BlazeDS. The course is the result of several enquiries made by our clients about those topics.
I've worked on the outline of the course and it's ready and I've just published it on the italian section of Comtaste's site (I'm working on the english outline for this training course):

Enterprise Flex Applications: Using Flex 3 with BlazeDS and Java (JEE)

The Flex 3 and BlazeDS course adds to Comtaste's course programs and it is the open source alternative to the Enterprise Flex Applications:Using LiveCycle Data Services and J2EE (Java EE) training course.

The Flex 3 with BlazeDS is a 3-consecutive-day lessons and we're scheduling it in the following three locations: London, Milan and New York City.

Enterprise Flex Applications: Using Flex 3 with BlazeDS and Java (JEE): Overview

BlazeDS is the open source technology released by Adobe and based on Java Remoting and web messaging. BlazeDS allows developers to easily connect to J2EE distribuite (Java Enterprise)architecture and to carry out real time data pushing to Rich Internet Applications created with Flex 3 or to desktop applications created with Adobe AIR. BlazeDS uses AMF format to transfer data in binary mode, a technique that increases the performance of the application compared to XML or SOAP formats. In this course we will illustrate the techniques to install, configure and connect Flex and AIR applications to BlazeDS in Java server logic, and how to exploit the characteristics of this technology.

Training objectives
The final laboratory of this course will allow participants to built complex and interactive Enterprise applications distributed in Java Enterprise JEE architectures.

Enterprise Flex apps with Livecycle DS and BlazeDS

Tomorrow I'll be in Adobe Italy headquarter in Milan to present the following event : Enterprise Flex Applications with LiveCycle Data Services and BlazeDS.

During the event I'll show examples,  share development approaches to use Flex, LiveCycle Data Services and BlazeDS in enterprise contexts (mainly with J2EE). The event is based on Comtaste's courses oriented to enterprise Flex 3 development :

• Enterprise Flex Applications: Using LiveCycle Data Services and J2EE (Java EE)
• Enterprise Flex Applications: Usign Flex 3 with  BlazeDS and Java (JEE)

If there'll be the time I want to discucss about the benefits of using AIR  in enterprise's world. 
So if you want to know more about the features of BlazeDS and Livecycle DS my advice is to partecipate. See you there !

The event is totally free but you need to register to it.

Flex, Livecycle Data Services, BlazeDS and AIR development for the Enterprises

For Adobe Italy Comtaste has created a series of  free events where we'll talk about the use of Flex, Livecycle Data Services, BlazeDS and AIR development in enterprises contexts.

The first event will be in Rome on June 18 : AIR development for Enterprise desktop applications

We'll show how to create desktop applications using AIR and how to integrate them to JEE enviroments with  LiveCycle Data Service and BlazeDS.

The second event was scheduled in Rome on July 2 and Milan on June 25. The tile of the event is  Enterprise Flex Application with  LiveCycle Data Services.

The events are totally free but you need to register on the Adobe Events site.