Resources for learning Flex using just the open source compiler, not the IDE

Question

I'm interested in learning just enough Flash/Flex to do things that I can't do from HTML and JavaScript alone - play sound files and video, use multiple file upload things, perform cross-domain Ajax requests using the crossdomain.xml file etc. As such, I don't really want to learn (or pay for) the Flex IDE. I'm not much of an IDE guy in any case.

The problem is, most of the tutorials I've found talk about the IDE. I've figured out how to compile .mxml files at the command line using bin/mxmlc - now I just need to learn MXML, ActionScript and the various APIs! What are the best resources for learning these? I'm fine with buying a book, I just don't want to shell out for the API itself.

Answer 1

You could probably benefit from using Project Sprouts. This tool will help you automatically generate new projects, classes and test cases and might make the transition a little easier.

You probably want to stay away from the Flex framework, and stick to pure ActionScript projects as it sounds like you're just looking for embedded tools, rather than full stand alone applications.

Answer 2

First Steps in Flex which I co-authored with Bruce Eckel focuses on the APIs and language rather than the tooling (with the exception of the first chapter). We have also published screencasts for the first few chapters. Although we use Flex Builder in the screencast you could easily create the same samples using on the open source Flex SDK.

Another great resource is Tour de Flex which has numerous code samples for many of the components in the SDK and from the community.

Answer 3

I second the recommendation for Sprouts. Generating the build scripts is probably the biggest hassle you are going to run into developing Flex application without the Flex Builder IDE. I know you aren't an "IDE guy", but the open source FlashDevelop IDE will give you most of features you'll find in the Flex Builder IDE without the cost. Getting code assist with MXML is a little more complicated but there is a schema out there for Flex 3, so you can get some code assist using a schema aware XML editor.

As far as learning resources I usually find all the help I need in either the Flex help or the Flex API reference (these exist for Flex 2 and Flex 4 as well). Adobe's Devnet also has some good "getting started" tutorials, just make sure that they are related to the same Flex SDK version you are developing with.

I don't agree with the recommendation that you should steer clear of the framework classes however. It is probably true that you could meet your development requirements using just the base Actionscript libraries found in PlayerGlobal.swc, and you might want to reevaluate whether you need the framework at all. To the point of your question however the framework libraries are what Flex is essentially, so if you aren't leveraging them then you aren't developing Flex applications.