Flex Developer Certification

An Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) has earned a certification created specifically for graphic designers, Web designers, video professionals, system integrators,value-added resellers, developers, or business professionals seeking recognition for their expertise with Adobe products. Levels: Single product certification: Recognizes your proficiency in a single Adobe product. Specialist certif cation: Recognizes your proficiency in a specific medium:Print, Web or Video. To become certified as a Specialist, you must pass the exams on the required products listed below. Master certification: Recognizes your skills in terms of how they align with the Adobe product suites. To become certified as a Master, you must pass the exam for each of the products in the suite. Registration: www.pearsonvue.com www.2test.com Cost: Each exam is US$150 or local currency equivalent. How to prepare for an exam: experience with the product study visit Adobe's training resources page Adobe online training from Element K ( http://adobe.elementk.com ) Tutorials and materials from Total Training ( http://www.totaltraining.com ) Other online training resources ACE exams are computer-delivered, closed-book tests consisting of 60 to 90 multiple-choice questions. Each exam takes one to two hours to complete, and results are given to you at the testing center immediately after you finish.Adobe recertification exams are Web administered exams that are available to current ACEs only. The exams are delivered to your desktop via the Web. The tests consist of 30-60 multiple choice questions. Each exam takes approximately 30 to 60 minutes to complete. Results are revealed immediately online after you finish. Following is a detailed outline of the information covered on the ACE Exam. 1. Flex Application User Interface (UI) Creation Identify and describe the basic UI controls used in a Flex application. Identify the purpose of UI containers and when to use them. Identify how to change the look and feel of a design by using API styles and style sheets. Recognize how to customize changes, control-related presentation layouts and navigation in an application by using view states, and using transitions and eff ects. 2. Flex System Architecture and Design: Recognize how UML and Use Cases are used in object-oriented design. Identify the relationship of design patterns with respect to system architecture. Recognize and describe event-based programming model in events. Identify how to build loosely-coupled components. Recognize how Inheritance, Encapsulation, and Polymorphism works. Recognize the structure of a J2EE architecture. 3. Flex Application Programming Fundamentals Identify the properties and relationships between classes and objects and how they work in flex. Identify how to display data in Flex. Identify how to manipulate data in Flex. Recognize how to validate data by using built-in and custom validator classes. Recognize how to create and use ActionScript classes. Identify the purpose and uses of handling events in Flex. Recognize how to use XML data in Flex. Recognize how to create and use custom components in Flex. Recognize how to display data using diff erent chart types, formats, and legends. 4. Interacting with Remote Data and Flex Applications Recognize how to use Remote Procedure Call (RPC) services. Recognize how to manage data using Flex Data Services (FDS). Sample questions : 1. Identify the purpose of UI containers and when to use them.Which two UI containers support absolute layout positioning? (Choose two.) Tile Grid VBox Canvas Application Correct Answer: D, E 2. Identify how to change the look and feel of a design by using API styles and style sheets.Your application includes the following declaration: <mx:Style>.largeFont { fontSize: 15 }</mx:Style> You want to assign a visual control to be a member of the myFontStyle class.Which syntax should you use? class=”myFontStyle” class=”.myFontStyle” styleName=”myFontStyle” styleName=”.myFontStyle” Correct Answer: C 3. Identify how to change the look and feel of a design by using API styles and style sheets.Which statement about Cascading Style Sheet properties in Flex is true? Spaces are allowed in property names All CSS properties are available in Flex Components CANNOT by styled using CSS Class selectors can be applied to a component using the styleNameproperty Correct Answer: D 4. Recognize how to customize changes, control-related presentation layouts and navigation in an application by using view states, and using transitions and effects.Which kind of data should be passed to the targets property of an effect? Array Object Control Container Correct Answer: A 5. Identify how to build loosely-coupled components.Which statement about loosely-coupled components is true? They decrease reusability An event model CANNOT be used Data can be sent by binding variables to component attributes They have direct knowledge of the properties and methods of other components Correct Answer: C 6. Recognize how Inheritance, Encapsulation, and Polymorphism works You have a custom ActionScript class named MyClass that implements an interface named MyInterface. You want to create an instance of the class, and be able to pass it to a method that accepts any class that implements the interface.Which syntax should you use? var obj:MyClass = new MyInterface(); var obj:MyInterface = new MyClass(); var obj:MyClass = new MyClass() as MyInterface; var obj:MyInterface = new MyInterface(new MyClass()); Correct Answer: B 7. Recognize how to create and use ActionScript classes.You have created a custom ActionScript class called MyClass. You want to be able to pass in an optional argument that is typed as an Object.Which is the correct signature of the constructor method? public function MyClass(item:Object) public function MyClass(item:Object = null) public function MyClass(item:Object):MyClass public function MyClass(item:Object) as MyClass Correct Answer: B 8. Recognize how to display data using diff erent chart types, formats, and legends.Which type of variable should be passed to the series property of a charting component? Data Transfer Object A single Series object Array of Series objects ArrayCollection of Data Transfer Objects Correct Answer: C 9. Recognize how to use Remote Procedure Call (RPC) services. You are accessing multiple remote methods from a WebService object. You need to defi ne different result events for each method call.Which tag nested inside the WebService tag block should you use? <mx:result> <mx:method> <mx:operation> <mx:remoteMethod> Correct Answer: C 10. Recognize how to manage data using Flex Data Services (FDS) Your application uses the Data Management Service to manage distributed data.You have returned an instance of the AsyncToken class upon calling the DataService commit() method, using this syntax: token = myService.commit();token.action=”saved”; <!– You have defined a result handler method that is called upon the result event of the DataService. The method signature is: resultHandler(event:ResultEvent):void –> Which expression within the handler method will return the value of the token object action property? event.action event.token.action event.token.result.action event.result.token.action

Update Flash Detection Scripts to support Flash Player 9

It is time to update site detection scripts, yet again. Many sites search for a version lower than a fixed player version and break when you visit with Flash Player 9. Flash 9 is compatible but your site's JavaScript needs an update.Future-Proofing Flash Player Detection ScriptsI have long advocated using SWFObject for Flash Player detection because its simple to use and it works. Basically SWFObject overwrites an HTML DIV tag with minimalist Object/Embed if a player version is supported. For Flex 2 applications, I recommend sticking with the default HTML/JS templates in Flex Builder 2 and the generated HTML/JS from MXML files in FDS. These templates include some new code that seamlessly enables Express Install within Flex application. If a Flash Player views this HTML/JS and they have Flash Player 6 r65 or higher they will automatically be prompted to upgrade their player. After the download the Flex 2 application is displayed. The user experience here is really great and there has been allot of hard work to enable this killer upgrade feature for Flash Player.Geoff, contact me so that we can get SWFObject working seamlessly with Flex 2 applications. We need to make it drop dead simple to get Flex 2 SWF into HTML applications in the small and in the large. :)Again update your JS/HTML to be compatible with Flash Player 9.

Installing the Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3

First of all, what *is* the Flex Component Kit, you may be asking yourself. If you havent tried the kit before, the Flex Component Kit (or the semi-awkwardly initialled ‘FCK’) was first released on Adobe Labs for Flex Builder 2.0.1 (see “Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3“) in April of 2007. It allowed developers to“create interactive, animated content in Flash, and use it in Flex as a Flex component” (to quote the previously mentioned Adobe Labs page). To use the kit, all you needed was Flash CS3, Flex Builder 2.0.1 (or Flex 2.0.1 SDK), the Adobe Extension Manager 1.8 (which I believe should get installed when you installed Flash CS3) and a Flex 2.0.1 patch for CS3 Compatibility.
Well, with Flex Builder 3 (or Flex 3 SDK), the set up is a bit simpler as the Flash extension files (the MXP) are shipped with the Flex SDK, and you no longer need the patch for CS3 compatibility. Simply download the latest Flex 3 SDK, extract, and double-click the MXP file to install the Flash extension.
Full details after the jump.
System Requirements for the Flex Component KitTo use the Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3, you’ll need to have the following software installed:
Flex 3 (download free SDK) or Flex Builder 3 (download beta free trial)
Flash CS3 Professional (download free trial)
Adobe Extension Manager CS3 (Version 1.8) — this should have been installed with Flash CS3. If not, you can download the Adobe Extension manager from www.adobe.com/go/em_download.
Downloading the latest Flex 3 SDKPoint your browser of choice over to: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/sdk/flex3sdk.html and click the check box stating you have read whatever needs to be read. This enables the display of nightly SDK builds so that now if you scroll down to the “Recent Nightly Builds of the Flex 3 SDK” section, you should see a list of available builds. Click the “Download” link next to the latest build and save the ZIP file somewhere easily accessible (such as your user directory or your desktop). Once the download completes, locate the file and extract the files from the ZIP archive. At this point, you can (and probably should) install the latest SDK build by following these instructions “Installing the latest nightly Flex 3 SDK build into Flex Builder 3“.
Installing the Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3Once you have the SDK files downloaded, you can locate the MXP file and double-click it to install the Flash extension. If you have a previous version of the Flex Component Kit already installed, I’d recommend uninstalling it before proceeding. Currently (as of September 2, 2007), the latest version of the Flex Component Kit is 1.1.1.
To uninstall the Flex Component Kit, open the Adobe Extension Manager by selecting “Start > All Programs > Adobe > Adobe Extension Manager CS3″ (in Windows XP). Conversely, you can also launch the “Extension Manager.exe” file from “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Extension Manager”. To delete your existing copy of the Flex Component Kit, highlight the extension with your mouse and click the “Remove Extension” button (trash can icon), or select “File > Remove Extension” from the main menu. With the old extension removed, next we’ll look at installing the Component Kit MXP from the ZIP archive in the previous section.
To install the Flex Component Kit, locate the MXP file in the ZIP archive you downloaded and extracted in the previous section, “Downloading the latest Flex 3 SDK”. The MXP file, FlexComponentKit.mxp, is located in the “[flex_sdk_3.zip]\frameworks\flash-integration\” folder. To install the file, simply double click the MXP file to launch the Adobe Extension Manager and then read and accept the disclaimer. Once you are finished you can close the Adobe Extension Manager. There is also a readme.txt file in the same directory as the MXP file, and the readme contains a few useful links, system requirements, and installation instructions.
If you want to view the source of the Flex Component Kit (*.JSFL, *.FLA, *.AS), you can find the full source in the following directory: “[flex_sdk_3.zip]\frameworks\projects\flash-integration\” (note the addition of the “projects” folder in the path. This folder also includes a readme.txt file which contains a URL to some documentation and a reference to find the MXP file which we covered above.
Updating existing files to use the latest Flex Component Kit codeIf you’ve already published files with an older version of the Flex Component Kit (1.1.0, for example), you can follow these quick and easy steps to update the code without having to rebuild the assets from scratch:
Open the FLA.
Delete the FlexComponentBase symbol from the Library.
Drag the FlexComponentBase symbol from the Components panel to the Library.
Publish the FLA.