Step 1: Experience Flex
Visit the Flex Showcase for a list of Flex applications powered by Ruby on Rails back ends.
Step 2: Download Flex
Download the Free Adobe® Flex® 3 SDK to build and debug Flex applications.
Adobe Flex Builder™ software, an Eclipse™ based IDE, provides a rich set of tools to speed app creation. Try Flex Builder free for 60 days.
Step 3: Learn Flex
Read the Getting Started guide for Flex.
Ruby and Flex
Flex applications can retrieve data from a Ruby back end using web services, including SOAP and REST based web services. Simply use the Flex SDK or Flex Builder to build your Flex application.
You can also transfer objects and other data types directly from Ruby to Flex, and vice versa, over Action Message Format (AMF). Several open source AMF solutions are available, including WebORB for Ruby from the Midnight Coders.
Ruby and Flex community
A number of talented companies and individuals are doing interesting work on Flex and Ruby:
- Peter Armstrong is writing a PDF book titled Flexible Rails.
- Derek Wischusen blogs at FlexOnRails.net and is a regular contributor to the Ruby on Rails RIA SDK.
- Stuart Eccles blogs about Flex and Rails integration at liverail.net.
Ruby and Flex jobs
Post and find jobs that require Flex and Ruby knowledge through the Flex and Rails jobs e-mail list at Google Groups, which is run by Peter Armstrong.
