"Live Help / Call Center" application packaged using Flex Java WTP project and Export Flex Project Wizard
I am a little bit obsessed lately with the need to share a Flex project as easy as possible and to import a project with minimum work on my part. For example, I grabbed the LiveHelp / Call Center application made by Christophe Coenraets and I made it a single Flex with Java combined project with support for BlazeDS. What does this mean? It means if you have installed Flex Builder 3, WTP, and Apache Tomcat 5.5 you should be able to download this zip file, and then import the project using the Import > Flex > Import Flex project Wizard. You will have the BlazeDS server, Java code and Flex code in this project. After this, you’ll need to add this application to the Tomcat server. You can start the server from within Eclipse and run the mortgageapp.xml and callcenter.mxml and it should work like a charm.
However, because WTP links the name of the local JRE used in its configuration files, it is possible that the project will not work on your machine. The solution is very simple: just open the properties for the project and go to “Java Build Path”, then select the “Libraries” tab. Here you need to delete the “JRE System Library” entry and then click “Add Library” button. In the new window select the “JRE System Library” list item and click “Next”. On the next page select JRE 1.5 or newer and you are done.
Flex and AIR Cookbook
In case you didn’t know about these two great resources, I think it is time to take a look: Flex Cookbook and AIR Cookbook. Here you can learn or share with others: solutions, tips and tricks, hacks and more. Starting today, I have two “recipes” over there!
MAX 2008 North America website
MAX 2008 website was launched: http://max.adobe.com/na/experience/. It is a really cool site, made entirely in Flash, you can click on the background and play around (solve puzzles, discover who built them). Or you can just browse for information and register.
Flex / AIR projects and source control
Sooner or later every Flex developer will have to either work on the same project with others or send their project to someone (for example as an email attachment or via an FTP server). This task can look deceptively simple, but in fact there are some challenges. For example, let’s say we have a Flex PHP project and when we created the project we entered this information:
First Thermo screenshots
Ted Patrick published today the first screenshots of this new product Thermo. Thermo will help designers to create the UI for Flex/AIR applications. Developers will continue to use Flex Builder. I can’t wait for Adobe MAX 2008 to see the demos and maybe a beta.
Holland Flex User Groups meeting
This Friday (June 13th) I will do a presentation about Flex Builder tips and tricks and some Flex - PHP examples. I can’t wait for it. I have only one problem: the meeting place is about 100 km from Amsterdam in a small town. I hope I will manage to get there in time. So if you don’t see my blog post about it this weekend then I got lost over there 
Adding a Flex Nature to an existent Java (WTP) project
Sometimes you already have a J2EE project (made with WTP) and you want to be able to make it also a Flex project. Probably you don’t like the idea of creating a new Java/Flex project and copy the files. Neither do I (If you want to create a new Java/Flex project then check my previous posts about creating a Java/Flex project and debugging this project).
Fortunately the solution is there in Flex Builder. You need to select the project in project explorer and right click to bring up the contextual menu for the project. Then you should select Flex Project Nature > Add Flex Project Nature:
Selecting this command will open a wizard that looks like the one for creating a new Flex project (the differences are that some options are disabled as the project already exists and you are just adding new things to it). So here is the first page and you can see you have the option to choose if you want to use LiveCycle Data Services / BlazeDS or not. On the second page you can enter the path for Flex WAR file (if you choose remote object access on first page). Click “Finish” and you got yourself a Java/Flex combined project.
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Final words
I will not lie to you, these two features (combined Java/Flex project and Add Flex Nature) are very dear to me as I was the engineer who worked on them for Flex Builder 3 
But besides the sweet memories and countless meetings to shape up these wizards and endless fights with my quality engineer on what should happen, I had another reason to write my first technical post on this subject: I talked in the last couple of months with Java developers who work with Flex and they didn’t know about these features yet 
So, I am really curious if you guys find this helpful or not and if there are other things you still need (I have friends inside Flex Builder team so we can push our wishes ).
Debugging a combined Java/Flex project
In my previous post I described how you can install WTP in Flex Builder and how you can create a combined Java/Flex project and run it.
But what if you want to debug both the Flex and Java code from the project at the same time?
Actually, it is pretty simple. The steps are very similar with the ones described in the previous post for running the application.
Read more
Creating a combined Flex/Java project in Flex Builder w/o LCDS/BlazeDS
Whenever I work on a Flex project with Java backend I create a project in Flex Builder that combines Java and Flex. I find that this is the easiest way to work even if I don’t touch at all Java code and I just mess around with Flex/AS files. This is one piece of news brought by Flex Builder 3.
What advantages do you have using this setup? You can edit/run/debug both Java and Flex files in the same editor and same project; you can see the changes as soon as you save the modified files.
Let’s see what you need and how you can create a combined Flex/Java project with or without LiveCycle Data Services or BlazeDS.