It's Flex'O Mania

Recently I was working on a webservice application in Flex and had a real tough time with it. The webservice was not getting resolved and I was continuously slapped with a ‘WSDL.BadElement’ error. I was clueless, as the same webservice was working nicely with SAP Netweaver Visual Composer. This meant that there was some problem with Flex. While Googling for a solution I came across Flex 2.0.1 Hotfix 3. I quickly downloaded it and followed the steps for its installation as mentioned on the web site.
Darn!! The error was gone and my application was running smoothly. Thanks to Hotfix 3

Adobe Flex 2.0.1 Hotfix 3 is really handy when your Flex application is not able to resolve a webservice call. Typically, you get errors like faultString = ‘WSDL.BadElement’ or ‘element not resolvable’ or sometimes flash player doesn’t return any runtime errors. At this point try installing Adobe Flex 2.0.1 Hotfix 3 on Flex builder 2 and it will resolve these problems.

One more interesting finding when I tried to call the same webservice with Flex Builder 3; it was not giving me ‘BadElement’ error. Cool!! It means that Adobe has resolved all the major issues in Flex 2 and is ready with Flex Builder 3.

Recently I wrote a big fat article on Customizing Gauge Component of SAP Netweaver Visual Composer using Flex. It was published on SDN as a tutorial and now it is on Adobe site.

You can have a look at it here

I took a plunge and got certified in the Certified Usability Analyst exam conducted by Human Factors International Inc. (CUA). Now I can proudly call myself Certified Usability Analyst. I must admit that this was one of the toughest exams I have ever taken. I had scheduled my exam one month in advance so that I can get a nice time for preparation. I started the test with my heart pounding real hard, but my anxiety vanished as soon as I got the first question on the screen. My hard work and efforts received sweet rewards when the exam result popped up. Oh Boy!! I scored 83% (much more than I had expected). Last week I received my CUA certificate and a stamp. HFI gives you a personalized self inking stamp after successfully passing this exam, which you can put on all the documents signed by you. Creative idea!! isnt it??

CUA exam is conducted at all HFI centers once in two months, so attend their training, prepare for the exam and get certified. I can assure it really helps you in building credibility in your organization.

Preparation track

To be a HFI CUA, it will be great to attend HFI’s certification track training course. The courses included are:

• User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design (UCA)
• The Science and Art of Effective Web and Application Design (Design)
• Practical Usability Testing (UT)
• Putting Research Into Practice (PRP)

More information on HFI’s training is available here
This exam is a test of knowledge and not the course content; hence thorough reading of study material is a must. It is an open book test, therefore you are expected to answer some scenario based questions. My tips for all who are preparing or planning to take this exam are :

My Tips

1. Attend all four training courses of HFI
2. Give yourself at least three weeks to prepare for the exam
3. HFI’s training material is more than enough to study. Read it carefully and thoroughly.
4. Use sticky notes to mark important sections on your training books so that you can directly flip to it rather than searching all the pages during the exam.

Insights of the exam

This exam consists of 100 questions and the duration is 2.5 hours (4 hours for other languages) with a passing of 70 marks. It is divided in 4 sections viz UCA (26 question), Design (38 question), UT (26 question), and PRP (10 question). PRP section is the easiest with only 10 questions so you can spare about 10-15 minutes for it.
So folks I must say that it was a really nice experience to pass this exam and to get certified. I would recommend all usability specialist do this certification as it will not only make your resume elegant but also boost your self confidence.