About three weeks ago I officially left EffectiveUI. This was an extremely difficult decision, one that I made in order to pursue career objectives outside of EffectiveUI. I have been contracting since, but will soon be on in a new full time position that I’m really excited about… more to come on that.

I wish all of my friends at EffectiveUI much success in the future.

Source: Hands On: eBay Desktop Opens to the Masses.

ADOBE MAX 2007, CHICAGO — October 3, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the winners of the 2007 MAX Awards. Now in its fifth year, the global awards program recognizes innovative applications of Adobe software for creating engaging experiences. Adobe received nearly 600 entries from 30 countries in seven categories. Finalists in these categories also competed for a People’s Choice Award selected by the MAX attendees.

“The MAX Awards recognize the incredibly innovative work our customers do with Adobe technologies,” said Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and chief software architect. “The awards not only highlight some of the best designers and developers around the world but their work also serves as inspiration for others in the community and teams here at Adobe, often pushing the edges of what’s possible in our software.”

Winners were announced last night at a ceremony at MAX 2007.

- The 2007 People’s Choice Award winner was eBay with EffectiveUI for eBay Desktop.

- In the Advertising and Branding category the winner was Interone Worldwide GmbH for Incredibly MINI The new MINI, and the finalist was Fuel Industries | Karbon Arc for The Passenger.

- In the Communication and Collaboration category the winner was MFG.com for its Online Marketplace for the Manufacturing Industry, and the finalist was Hong Kong Police Force for its Scenario-based Interactive Multi-player Simulation (SIMS).

- In the Enterprise category the winner was Wachovia Corporation with Cardinal Solutions Group, Inc. for Wachovia Corporation – Service Request Management (SRM) Workflow, and the finalist was GES Exposition Services with Four Point Solutions Ltd. for GES Intellikit(SM).

- In the Mobility and Devices category the winner was Shockwave & AddictingGames, a MTV Networks Company for Shockwave Minis, and the finalist was Dalrus Pte Ltd. for OwnTape.

- In the Public Sector category the winner was NASA for its International Space Station: An Interactive Reference Guide and the finalist was US Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security for its OASISS – Operation Against Smugglers Initiative on Safety and Security.

- In the Rich Internet Applications category the winner was eBay with EffectiveUI for eBay Desktop, and the finalist was BMC Software for its BMC Dashboards for BSM.

- In the Video category the winner was Big Spaceship with BBDO for HBO Voyeur, and the finalist was DHAP Digital, Inc. for Industrial Light & Magic’s The Show – The Visual Effects of Pirates of the Caribbean II.

Winners and finalists for the 2007 MAX Awards were selected by a team of Adobe judges. Selection criteria included innovation, application of technology, brand building and business impact and benefits. The winner of the People’s Choice Award was selected by Adobe MAX conference attendees. For more information on 2007 MAX Awards winners and finalists, visit http://adobemax2007.com/awards/2007/finalists/ .

Adobe – Adobe Press Room: For immediate release.

I was recently part of a group interview session with Stacy Cowley from CRN. Here’s a snippet of the article where I was quoted:

‘…Adam Flater, an EffectiveUI software architect, sees Facebook’s fluffiness as an essential part of its appeal.

“Users are adopting things for their sheer entertainment value right now. When a client wants adoption, these are the tools to do that with,” Flater said.’

Original article: http://www.crn.com/it-channel/202102503?pgno=1

What I found out recently was that binding will only fire if there is both a getter and a setter. So, here’s how I tackled it.

package
{

[Bindable]
public class MyReadOnlyConfigModel
{

//----------------------------------
// copyrightText
//----------------------------------

/**
 * Legal mumbo jumbo to show for copyright stuff.
 */
public function get copyrightText() : String {
    return this._copyrightText;
}

private function set copyrightText(text : String) : void
{
    this._copyrightText = text;
}

private var _copyrightText : String = null;

//----------------------------------
// setData
//----------------------------------

/**
 * Sets the properties of MyReadOnlyConfigModel
 */
public function setData(xml : XML) : void
{
    this.copyrightText = xml.copyrightText;
}

}
}

The cool thing about this approach is that the data in the model cannot be written over, but binding will still fire and allow UI components to update automatically when the data is loaded.

If you solved this problem with another solution, I’d love to hear about it.

Props to Andy for giving me the info on this one.

Here’s a quick test app to see it in action:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="absolute">

<mx:VBox>

<mx:Text text="{model.copyrightText}" />
<mx:Button label="set data" click="{model.setData(this.xml);}" />

</mx:VBox>

<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
 [Bindable]

 private var model : MyReadOnlyConfigModel =
    new MyReadOnlyConfigModel();

 private var xml : XML =
    <xml>
       <copyrightText>this is a copyright</copyrightText>

    </xml>
]]>
</mx:Script>

</mx:Application>

My posts on team development will start from a beginners understanding of programming, working up to an advanced look at architecture and design.

First thing’s first: What’s this MVC thing?

MVC stands for Model-view-controller. MVC aims to separate, or decouple, data (model) from the user interface (view) and functional logic (controller). You can read a lot more about MVC on the Wikipedia.

How do we use MVC in an RIA (specifically a Flex app)?

Well thought out architecture and design is important at every level of the application, but an RIA is different than a web app of the past in one important way: state. In legacy (HTML script-based) web apps state is, for the most part, required to live on the server. In RIA development we are not bound by this requirement. We can build RIAs that have state at the client or the server or a hybrid of both. This one fact completely changes the complexity and importance of what once was merely the view. In RIA development the part of our application that lives at the client level is not just an HTML rendering of a view, it can be a fully functional stand alone application. The client in a RIA has many of the characteristics of a desktop application and that is why MVC applies at this level.

Why is this called a micro-architecture?

We refer to architecture and design patterns at the Flex level as a mirco-architecture frameworks because the Flex application is a piece in the larger picture of the entire application. The Flex app may talk to one or more web services, consume an RSS feed, stream video, show images from the web, and so on. All of these services fit into the larger architecture of the web app. These architectural decisions are also important but a little harder to talk about generically. So, since this is a Flex blog, when I speak of architecture I’ll really be talking about client micro-architecture.

Why do you want to use a micro-architecture?

Actually, sometimes you don’t. If you’re creating a very simple app (something like a widget or a banner ad) MVC might not be for you. However, if you’re creating something that models data retrieved from a service, allowing the user to manipulate that data, and displaying the data in interesting ways… MVC is really a good choice to make.

What you get

1. A code base that facilitates team development.
2. A skill that will make your team more agile in their development life cycles.
3. Source that has a high level of maintainability and interoperability.

Ok.. let me unpack those a bit.

1. Your code base will facilitate team development most simply because the team is now coding to a convention. MVC isn’t really the big deal here, it’s the fact that a convention was decided on. MVC does offer some nice things in regards to team development that I’ll talk about in other posts, but my point here is that convention keeps everyone on the same page.

2. Every learn how to play an instrument or a sport? Each of these skills involves mastering patterns. The more your team implements on the patterns in MVC, the better skilled they will be at it. My point here is really that MVC should also be viewed as a problem solving tool. When you get developers thinking about solving architectural problems in the same way, everyone can solve that problem faster.

3. Maintainability and interoperability… again this really goes back to convention. Your code will be more maintainable by your dev team if it’s built on convention. If you chose a convention that’s fairly mainstream, then you gain a level of developer interoperability. Meaning, training in a new team members on the way you implement requirements will be a lot easier if your using a convention and on top of that a standard convention. In Flex development, Cairngorm is a nice way to go. It’s not necessarily the best framework out there, but it seems to be the most widely adopted Flex micro-architecture.

I’ll be delving deeper into MVC and Cairngorm in my next posts.

In the past year or so I’ve been playing the role of technical lead / architect on most of the Flex projects I’ve been working on. Usually this involves a team of 3-6 developers and 1-3 designers. The focus of my blog over the next few months will be to pass on the tips and tricks that I’ve learned as a lead developer working with other developers and designers, the bosses as well; PMs, technical managers, QA managers, customers… et al.

To get started a few tips:

Use source control

At EffectiveUI we typically use SVN repositories, but choosing the right technology isn’t really as important as making the choice to use source control. Also, make sure your source control servers are redundant, or someday you might wish you had.

Create an easy designer developer workflow

In the world of RIAs the ability to stay agile within a life cycle of a project hinges on this point. If getting from design to an implementation of that design is anything less than nimble, you’ll feel some pain.

Patterns, paradigms, and frameworks… oh my

Select and use a micro-architecture that makes sense for your dev group and/or application. Cairngorm is one of the more popular micro-architectures used in Flex development, it’s what we use at EUI.

The benefit and problem with most Flex micro-architectures is: keeping the framework light weight and simple also means that (while providing flexibility) they do not provide enforceability. In some areas this is, arguably, a good thing and in others it’s not so good.

Needless to say, most of my posts will focus on Cairngorm and how we have used and tweaked it to create a good software design as well as an agile development environment.

Stay tuned for more….
-adam

I’ll be presenting at the eBay Developers Conference on June 12th in Bosoton. My topic will be on using the eBay ActionScript SDK to create eBay Widgets.

I was the lead develoepr on the eBay ActionScript SDK project. (Read more on Ryan Stewart’s Blog: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=302) This project leverages the Apache Axis toolkit to generate web service call objects for the eBay WSDL specification.

The conference will be a great time to bring questions about the SDK. Also, for those of you new to Flex technology stop by and see what’s it’s all about. My presentation will mainly conssit of walking through examples of coding widgets that use the SDK.

Hope to see you there.

So, I worked up a quick proof of concept that showed the java system properties in a DataGrid of an Apollo app.

After I showed this prototype to Brook we chatted a bit more about the implications. Brook and I both have java backgrounds and have had some experience with Swing. After gaining exposure to the tools for buidling interfaces that are available with Adobe’s Flex we both knew that going back to something like Swing would be really painful. This led us to the idea of building a framework for java developers that would give them all the benefits of building UIs in Flex and writing their core code in java. Also, to allow Flex developers to have access to the myriad of java libraries that are commercially available as well as libraries available in the open source community.

Enter Tony Hillerson : “Artemis” is born. Tony came up with the name Artemis. For those of you not hip to Greek Mythology, Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo (Wikipedia: Artemis, Apollo). After Tony and I worked out the software design for the Artemis Framework we decided that he would focus on installation / deployment / class loading issues and I would tackle the communication protocols.

Not long after Sean Christman came into the mix. Sean had the idea of making the “wow” demo of Artemis: Controlling a Flash game with a wii remote. So he did:

Sean’s presentation at Apollo Boot Camp definitely wowed audiences and brought the Artemis name to the developer community. Sean is also spear heading the community aspect of Artemis. He came up with the idea to get the developer community involved in Artemis by contributing with Artemis libraries that could be used in the framework.

The Future of Artemis

We’re furiously working on getting the framework out of Alpha and into Beta. In the meantime, very soon you’ll be able to download samples and screencasts that demonstrate what Artemis can do. I’ll be posting announcements of these releases here on my blog.If you’re a developer and would like to get in on Alpha development of Artemis libraries please contact Tony, Sean, or me (adam.flater@effectiveui.com).

Other reading about Artemis:

Ryan Stewart’s blog post on Artemis
Tony’s blog post on Artemis
Athnoy’s blog post on Artemis