The current state of the Flex eco-system continues to remind me of Java in the mid-to-late-1990’s.  Overall, it is at such an exciting place.  At the same time it can be frustrating, as some of the immaturities can really make it challenging to build quality applications.  However, even that can bring more excitement, as it really just means more opportunities to contribute.  And, I am ecstatic that Gorilla Logic is now finding ways to do that!

A couple of months ago, I blogged about the state of Flex, including a post on the state of testing tools.  We never did find a tool that satisfied our needs.  So, Gorilla Logic (mostly Stu Stern) finally built one, and open sourced it!   The new project is called: FlexMonkey.

Here is an overview of FlexMonkey’s features:

• Non-invasive. Requires no modifications to your application source.
• Records and plays back Flex UI interactions.
• UI Interactions can be edited and replayed.
• Generates FlexUnit TestCases.
• Integrated with FlexUnit.
• Handles all Flex UI events.
• Uses Flex Automation API to provide native control over your flex app. Requires no javascript or browser plug-ins to use.
• Unit tests are written entirely in ActionScript. No other programming or special purpose scripting languages are needed to develop comprehensive UI test suites.

Check out the tutorial: http://code.google.com/p/flexmonkey/wiki/QuickTutorial

You can also check out an example application compiled with Flex Monkey: http://keystone.gorillalogic.com/~sstern/MonkeyContacts.html#.

I just finished up an InfoQ.com post where I interviewed Matt Quinlan of Appcelerator: http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/09/appcelerator-ria.  Check it out to learn more about another interesting option for building RIA’s.

I just got around to checking out James Ward and Bruce Eckel’s Flex RefCard on DZone: http://refcardz.dzone.com/refcardz/very-first-steps-flex.  It looks super useful for those new to Flex, but it also looks like a useful tool for those already working with Flex to get a quick review.  Check it out when you get a minute.