Beginning Java and Flex (eBook)

Filippo di Pisa is a Java and ActionScript/Flex developer. He has been developing in different languages for more than 10 years, focusing on enterprise applications and games. Thanks to his strong passion for language programming and software engineering, he learned different high-productivity technologies like Java, Spring, Hibernate, Ageci Security, ActionScript, Flex, ColdFusion, Fusebox, JavaScript, Perl, and others. Because of his interest in game development, he trains daily using artificial intelligence, physics, mathematics, and 3D engines like Papervision. Filippo is also a fan of agile and XP development. In 1995, while he was working for his own company, he also managed a small web room to provide hosting and housing solutions, and he learned a lot about Linux distributions Debian and Red Hat, Windows NT, DNS servers, mail servers, and so on.

Contents at a Glance 5
Table of contents 6
About the Author 13
About the Technical Reviewer 14
Acknowledgments 15
Introduction 16
Who This Book Is For 16
The Book 17
CHAPTER 1 Developing with Java and Flex 19
Why Java? 19
Why ActionScript? 20
Why Java and ActionScript Together? 20
Introduction to Spring 22
Programming Using Lightweight Frameworks 21
Benefits of Lightweight Frameworks 21
Introduction to Hibernate 26
The Benefits of Hibernate 27
Introduction to BlazeDS 28
BlazeDS vs. Adobe LiveCycle Data Services 29
Introduction to Flex 31
Flex vs. Ajax 31
Flex, Flash Cs3, and ActionScript 32
ActionScript vs. MXML 33
Introduction to UML 33
Basic Diagrams 33
Summary 36
CHAPTER 2 Presenting the SampleApplication 38
Architecture 38
The Presentation Layer 42
The Service Layer 42
The Data Access Layer 44
The Domain Model 45
Summary 47
CHAPTER 3 Configuring YourDevelopment Environment 48
The Source Code Editor: Eclipse IDE 48
Eclipse Projects 49
Eclipse Plug-ins 52
Installing Eclipse 53
Configure Eclipse for Flex and J2EE 54
Version Control: Subversion 57
Subversion Installation 59
Basic SVN Project Structure 59
Using SVN with the Command-Line Client 59
Installing Subclipse 65
The Database Tools: MySQL 66
Install MySQL on Windows 67
Installing MySQL on a Mac 69
Adding the MySQL GUI Tools 70
Basic MySQL Operation from the Command Line 71
Basic MySQL Operations Using MySQL Query Browser 74
The Java Application Container: Tomcat 80
Installing Tomcat 81
Tomcat Directories 82
Tomcat Configuration Files 82
The Presentation Tools: Flex Builder 83
Installing the Flex Builder 83
Installing the Flex SDK 4 86
The Build, Test and Deploy Tool: Maven 88
Installing Maven 89
Configuring Maven 89
Installing the Maven Eclipse Plug-in 90
Creating Your First Maven Project 90
The POM Document 92
Building a Project with Maven 94
Using Maven Plug-ins 94
Using Maven Dependencies 96
Using Repositories 96
Deploying Your Application 98
Creating a Maven Archetype 99
Flex Maven Archetypes 100
Useful Maven Commands 100
Summary 104
CHAPTER 4 Inversion of Control 105
Spring Modules 107
Spring Maven Dependencies 109
Creating a Spring Project 113
Configure the Spring Container 124
XML-Based Configuration 124
Writing XML Bean Definitions 125
Constructor Dependency Injection 125
Setter Dependency Injection 127
Inner Beans 128
Injecting Lists and Collections 128
Annotation-Based Configuration 133
Spring Configuration Annotations 133
Using the Annotations @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy 136
Using the Annotations @Component and @Repository 138
The Bean Factory 141
ApplicationContext and WebApplicationContext 141
Properties 141
Summary 145
CHAPTER 5 Spring JDBC and Hibernate 146
The DAO Design Pattern 146
Introduction to Plain Old JDBC 148
Introduction to Spring JDBC 156
JDBC Template 156
JDBC DAO Support 157
Hibernate and Spring 163
Add Hibernate to your Spring Project 163
Configure Hibernate 165
XML-Based Configuration 168
Mapping a Database Table 169
Annotation-Based Configuration 172
Mapping a Database Table 172
Mapping a One-to-One Relationship 176
Mapping a One-to-Many or a Many-to-One Relationship 179
Mapping a Many-to-Many Relationship 182
Using Hibernate with Spring 188
Querying Using HQL 189
Passing Parameters in HQL Queries 190
Named Queries 191
HQL and Hibernate Support Matrix 192
Use Native SQL 194
Introduction to Transactions 194
Summary 197
CHAPTER 6 Spring Security 198
Introduction to Spring Security 198
Web Authorization Using URL Patterns 199
The Importance of Filters 199
Authentication and Authorization 201
Authentication Methods 202
Decision Managers and Voters 207
Summary 209
CHAPTER 7 Flex (The View Layer) 210
The FlashPlayer Overview 210
Flex Components 210
Flex Development Overview 213
Flex Builder 213
Create a Project 214
Flex Builder Perspectives 220
Build an Application 220
Run an Application 221
Debug an Application 222
Navigate between Classes 222
Shortcut keys 223
Flex Components 224
Containers 228
Layout Containers 228
Navigation Containers 229
Control Components 230
Standard Controls 230
Data-Driven Controls 232
Text Controls 233
Menu-Based Controls 233
Using External CSS Styles 234
Use Flex with Flash IDE 237
Create Flash Animations for Flex 241
Flex Events 244
Custom Events 248
Data Binding 252
Creating Custom Components 254
MXML Custom Components 255
AS Custom Components 256
Deploying Custom Components 260
SWC Libraries 261
RSL libraries 262
Summary 264
CHAPTER 8 Working with Data in Flex 265
An Overview of Data Models 265
Structuring Data for Views 270
Data Collections 270
Access to Remote Data 275
HTTPService Components 276
Building Our First Java and Flex Application 277
RemoteObject Component 300
WebService Component 303
Using Eclipse Web Services Explorer 305
Using the WebService Component 307
Creating ActionScript Code to Consume a Web Service using Flex Builder 308
Storing Data on the Local Machine 312
Summary 314
CHAPTER 9 BlazeDS 316
Flex BlazeDS Architecture 316
Configuring BlazeDS 318
Using Remoting Services 322
Creating a Flex Java POJO BlazeDS Application 324
Creating the DAO Layer 330
Creating a Test Case Using JUnit 335
Creating the Service Layer 339
Configuring Eclipse to Run and Debug a Maven Application 341
Creating the Flex Client 345
Using Messaging Services 351
Real-Time Messaging with BlazeDS 351
Creating a Simple Chat Application 351
Creating and Configuring the Maven BlazeDS Project 352
Creating the Flex Project 357
Creating the Flex Code for Real-Time Messaging 361
Summary 365
CHAPTER 10 Using Flex, Spring, and HibernateTogether 366
The Flex-Spring-Hibernate Maven Archetype 366
Using the Flex-Spring-Hibernate Archetype 370
Configuring the Application 374
Planning the Application with UML 376
The Data Model UML Diagrams 376
The DAOs UML Diagrams 378
The Service Layer UML Diagram 379
Architecting Application Security 380
Injecting the Spring Beans 381
Flex Client GUI Architecture 382
Develop the Flex-Java-Spring-Hibernate Application 386
Coding the Domain Objects 386
Coding the Hibernate DAO objects 393
Create a Test Case 395
Coding the Service layer 399
Export Spring Services to BlazeDS 403
Coding the Flex GUI application 404
Add a Login Form to Flex 408
Summary 427
Index 428