One thing I’ve never liked about a lot of training out there is that while you build pieces of an app, you don’t build the whole thing.  There’s always things skipped, code prewritten for you, so you never get that continuous feel of going from nothing to finished product.  That will not be the case here.

We will be building a simple survey app that asks questions and displays the results.  Since it is November, I thought it would be fun to incorporate that in to app.  Here’s the splash screen:

Splash Screen

There’s no styling in the screen shot.  (Hey, I don’t want to give it all away before you show up!)  But you will learn how to not only build the app, but then add styling and cool animation effects that we know and love Flex for.

The core concepts that will be taught are ones you will (or should be) using every day in your Flex development job.  You will learn how to layout applications, break it up in to components, reuse those components to speed up development.

I’m very excited and am probably creating far too many labs for us to work through, but better to have too much than not enough.  Don’t worry, the labs work will be staggered.  We’ll touch an area, leave room for improvement, then move to the next.  This way we’re guaranteed to get a working app that we can then go back later and add some more finishing touches.

On Sunday, we’ll then take this app and recreate it in 3 different frameworks: Cairngorm, PureMVC and Mate.  You’ll learn how not only to build an app, but then also how to add a framework to help ease further development.

For those of you already registered, it’s gonna be a blast!  For those not registered, hurry up there’s still time!  Register now for the low price of $149 for both days.

Some of you are excited, but want a little more meat.  That’s understandable, since traditional training seems to be a focused on the Flex Skills, but not the other stuff you need to succeed.

Here’s why 360|Flexpress is going to be different than a traditional training program.  I will be writing my own curriculum and exercises for you all to go through.  The list below is my table of contents for the day.

Over this week, I’ll go into more details on each section to give you a better idea of which each entails.  As you can see though, it’s going to be a great learning experience.

Thinking Through Your App Before You Code:

Beginning Your Application:

• Laying Out Code Packages (i.e. Directories)
• Creating DataObjects/ValueObjects
• Creating Components
• Putting Components Together to Create Screens
• Component Communication Via Events

In The Zone:

• Communicating with the Outside World
• Something’s Wrong, Debug It
• Redesign Time, Moving Code
• Commenting to Help Others (and Yourself)
• Keep the Code Simple, Don’t be a Hotshot

Wrapping Up

• Skinning Your App
• Adding Animation Effects
• Refactor Out Unneeded Code

If  any of the above topics sound like something you need to learn, get on it. Tickets are flying fast and we’ve only planned for roughly 100. Register now for a mere $149 to get in on what’s sure to be a great learning experience for all.