Macromedia MX: Building Rich Internet Applications

Rating:
Summary: From A Web Programmer And Teacher: it's worth looking at.
Review: (Barry L Beattie is an ASP,ColdFusion and database programmer and teacher at a Multimedia training college)

This book covers building internet applications (more than just web pages) using some of the newest and most exciting technologies available for the web. While a large part of these Rich Internet Applications (RIA's) involve new Macromedia Flash functionality, the strength of RIA's (and this book) is how it integrates with other technologies: databases, streaming audio and video, and webservices.

First some background.

I was looking for a book like this for two reasons. The first was to build on my web programming skills and RIA theory. The book should assume I wasn't a Flash guru and use concise and practical examples with easy to understand explanations.

The other reason was for a "suggested reading" text for my students to integrate their flash skills with the internet programming I was teaching, especially ColdFusion. The aim was to equip try and "future-proof" students with some experience in cutting edge internet technologies.

This book has met these expectations nicely. It is well written and structured, with easy to read overviews of the technologies used (databases, server-side code, webservices, remoting, communication server, etc). It has sufficient explanations of protocols (like Flash remotings' AMF, XML and SOAP) and technologies without boring my students with too much detail or myself with stuff I already knew.

The use of notes, tips, sidebars and cross-references provide more than just a book about theory. Combined with screenshots and easy to understand diagrams, the book is broken up sufficiently to make reading - and understanding - easier. While it is not the last word in RIA's, it successfully covers almost all of the topics and technologies with a sufficient depth to get myself and my students up to speed quickly.

A special note should be made of the examples provided on the accompanying CD-ROM. Each example is built up slowly, having multiple versions to build up to the completed functionality. This includes both the source code and the final versions and work easily, showing in detail how the RIA's work. I was very surprised to get the examples to work as easily as they did, and they showcased the application of the technologies well.

The examples are used as talking points for design and implementation considerations. Sure it might feel like a cookbook at times, but that hand-holding is invaluable to first-time users and serves to demonstrate putting the theory in the book into practice.

So this book is suitable for both the internet programmer wanting a solid introduction into RIA's and Flash users wanting to extend their skills in a new facet of their chosen tool. Combined with practical examples, this book provides an excellent introduction into Rich Internet Applications.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding! Very useful for FlashCom App development!
Review: As a fcs app developer, i recommend this book to those who look for a good reference and practice of fcs apps. As most of you know, at the present time (2005/1/26) there are still little resources around on internet, and this book is a really good deal and start.

From the ground up, the authors of this book explored a lot of fcs app capabilities with very good examples that take the reader from the beginning to the end.

Although it doesn't go in depth with the fcs components, it showed general uses of them that are quite helpful, and other ways that u can do things without the components.

Nevertheless, other than the new book "Programming FlashCom" that will come up in Feb, this is a really good book to get on fcs development!

Never mind the beginning of this book, at my first look, i almost thought this book might be useless since it's just a lot of introductions, but the good stuff comes later :-)

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive RIA Companion
Review: Everything I need for building RIAs all under one cover. I highly recommend this book. The explanations in the book are thorough, lucid and well-written. I expect nothing less from these two writers.

Rating:
Summary: An Honest Review
Review: Have you ever looked at your parent's book collection? Notice how they tend to pick up books by the same author, time and time again. I can say that after reading the first 8 chapters of Building Rich Internet Applications that I will be looking for more titles from both of these authors.

First of all the title of this book is a little misleading,
because it delivers A LOT more than just information and hands on demonstrations for building RIA w/MX.

Other things you'll learn
- Object-oriented programming concepts and practice.
- Proper coding syntax for writing actionscript.
- How to use actionscript to create a user interface with flash.
- How to write ColdFusion components that allow Flash to access databases via Flash Remoting.

These are just a few things I have picked up on after reading about half of the book. You will also learn how to put together a nice workflow process for a dynamic site from the database to the UI. There is also a great website that goes with the book where you'll ACTUALLY get to communicate with the authors directly.

That's all for now... After I finish the book I'll have to come back and let you know how the rest of it went. I recommend this book for anyone at any skill level who has an interest in extending Flash to it's full capabilities.

Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: I have been working with Flash MX, ColdFusion MX and Dreamweaver MX since they were in beta and therefore had dabbled in dynamic rich applications that were driven by remoting, but I wasn't a key developer in those applications, nor was I a beta tester for Remoting etc... So when this book arrived I was eager to see what it had to offer.

Being an author and contributer myself, I'm usually very critical of how information is presented. I always think... "This could be said so much better." etc... But that was not the case with this book. Robert and Simon have done an excellent job in presenting concepts that come across in a simple, clear and thorough manner.

What can I say? It's a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource from two leading experts
Review: I received my copy of Macromedia MX: Building Rich Internet Applications today, and I am very impressed. Robert and Simon do an excellent job of making the MX suite of products really accessible to beginning AND advanced developers, and I think everyone can find something of value in the book. I think they achieved a good balance between theory and hands-on, practical exercises in order to help you to not only grasp the concepts, but also learn how to apply those concepts to real application development.

I think it is important to point out that this book is not intended to replace other books that address each of the products/technologies in depth. Instead, I see that this book does two very important things: First of all, it helps readers find a really solid starting place with all these technologies in order to know what does what and how. And secondly, this book complements other related books in that it is the only book (that I know of) that shows you how to integrate all these products to produce rich internet applications.

As always, Robert and Simon have translated their knowledge, expertise, and experience into a format that is easy and enjoyable to read. I have worked together with both Simon and Robert, and it is a real treat to see the fruits of their collaboration. Macromedia MX: Building Rich Internet Applications is a real winner.

Rating:
Summary: Mac users beware
Review: I would have given this book 4 stars if the CD was Macintosh-compatible, as stated on the cover.
It isn't.
It's Macromedia's fault for not offering a Mac version of ColdFusion or Flash Remoting (yet), but this book is by Macromedia Press, so I hold them accountable.
Unless you have already figured out how to set up your Mac as a server, and/or have Virtual PC running on it, don't look for answers on Flash/database connectivity here.

Rating:
Summary: Complex Topics, Easy to Follow
Review: In this their latest book, Reinhardt and Allardice have written a wonderfully comprehensive, easily understandable explanation of the numerous new technologies (Flash Communication Server, Flash Remoting) with which Macromedia is radically changing the Web. Their thorough explanations satisfy both the needs of the newbie, and the desires of the expert. I am highly recommending this book for consumption by all of my University students.

Rating:
Summary: All You Need To Know About RIA'S !!
Review: The latest offering from Robert Reinhardt and Simon Allardice, "Macromedia MX: Building Rich Internet Applications" offers some great insight into not only using flash remoting with coldfusion and other app servers, but some very good teachings on the macromedia flash communication server MX as well.
Not an easy challenge at all, the authors have presented the most important information in a clear and concise format. The book is very well laid out and it tells its story well.
One thing i liked about this book as that it did not try to tackle topics that were beyond it's scope in too much depth, preferring to stay on the path of the explanations and tutorials involved.
If you are a flash developer with a comfortable knowledge of actionscript, or a coldfusion developer with good coding skills, i highly recommend this book if you wish to learn more about building RIAs (Rich Internet Applications).

Rating:
Summary: Leading Edge Solutions Linking Flash with Databases & More!
Review: This is a really interesting book. I am a long time Flash developer (since Flash 4) looking to expand my knowledge into areas such as integrating databases with Flash front-ends, learning more about the new Flash Comm Server, and incorporating Cold Fusion into my designs (I am also an intermediate ActionScript programmer). Well, this is the book to do it. Flash Remoting, Flash Comm Server, Cold Fusion MX, and even a bit on Dreamweaver MX (exclusively on server-side applications) is covered in the book. There is also a chapter on Web Services, which is very enlightning. There is a lot of new information and technologies for Flash developers to absorb. The book has excellent examples and a companion web site with a forum. Overall, an excellent choice especially those wanting to learn the Flash Comm Server. This book should be flying off the shelves! Get it!