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The Flex Framework is very robust and unfortunately, the cost of that robustness is its size. In the previous version of Flex, developers who built multiple Flex applications could extract common code between the applications into a runtime shared library or RSL. But most applications could not truly leverage an RSL in this manner.

The new Flash player update supports new cash for Adobe Platform components and the Flex Framework qualifies for this cash. The player cash is different from the browser cash in that and is maintained by the Flash player. Therefore, it is not cleared at the same time as the browser cash and will only store items that have actually been signed by Adobe. The first time an enduser downloads a Flex application configured to use the framework as an RSL; the user will receive a permanent copy of that RSL stored in the Flash player.

The next time the user sees a similarly configured Flex application regardless where it comes from, the player will use the copy of the framework from its built-in cash and not have to download it. Configuring a Flex application to use the framework as an RSL will result in a size reduction of anywhere from 90k to 500k. Note that this feature is implemented in a backwards compatible manner so that endusers who do not have the latest player update, will not be forced to upgrade their player to view the application.

Well, the new virtual machine introduced in Flash Player 9 is orders of magnitude faster and has better memory management than previous players. It is still possible to write an application that has performance or memory problems. Flex Builder 3 includes two new profilers to assist in tracking down these issues. The performance profiler tracks method invocations including how long executions last in any given area so that developers can determine where the application's performance can be optimized or a time lag can be eliminated all together.

The memory profiler allows developers to take snap shots of an application while it is running and track down objects that may be sticking around unexpectedly. With these new tools, Flex applications will really scream. Flex Builder also introduces new language intelligent features to support re-factoring in order to speed the development process. Now developers can find all references to a class, variable or method, rename it and update all classes at once.

Flex applications do not always live alone. In fact, Flex applications are often embedded in a larger HTML application. Adobe is making the integration between Flex applications and HTML wrappers easier by including a few different pieces of functionality. First, the Flex Ajax bridge library is now an official part of the Flex SDK, included as part of the available frameworks.

Next, Flex Builder now has wizards fore generating Java Script to call into a Flex application easily. Now, a Flex developer can expose properties and methods from the Flex application so that a Java Script developer can call in without needing to know the internals of the application, leveraging whichever JAVA Script code hinting his or her editor may support.

Finally, the Flex framework has also introduced a browser manager class to enable developers to easily interact with the browser in a cross browser manner. The browser manager allows developers to update the browser's address bar so that users can bookmark locations within the Flex application that will notify the developer if the address bar has changed, so that the application can set itself to the proper state. Wow!

Flex 2 supported global applications by supporting resource bundles and allowing applications to be compiled for specific locale. Flex 3 expands upon this by allowing the applications to change their locale at runtime. Similar to the Flex 2.0.1 runtime styling support, a Flex application can now be compiled one time to use as a many locales as the developer specifies switching between locales at runtime. New locales can be downloaded at runtime as modules as well.

Finally, while Flex 3 probably sounds exciting, developers may b

The Flex Framework is very robust and unfortunately, the cost of that robustness is its size. In the previous version of Flex, developers who built multiple Flex applications could extract common code between the applications into a runtime shared library or RSL. But most applications could not truly leverage an... click to read more