WebFOCUS Enable initiates several custom components that both developers and advanced analysts can use to create Flex-based Business Intelligence applications. For example, the ibiDataGrid component displays tabular data, the ibiPieChart component displays data in a pie chart, and so on.

The Information Builders components display custom properties in addition to common Flex properties. They simplify development, as many parameters are entered directly in the properties sheet for the component, thus eliminating the need to write custom ActionScript functions. Custom components allow you to streamline and standardize routine tasks and extend the capabilities of Flex.

Defining the properties is based on the simple and intuitive WebFOCUS language syntax. For example, to define the columns in an ibiDataGrid component, you set the property ibiUseColumns, simply listing the columns (for instance, COUNTRY, STATE, SALES) or subset of columns from the original WebFOCUS procedure (.FEX file). Setting that property creates a grid. To aggregate the grid (for instance, to sum the SALES values), you define the BY fields as you do in the WebFOCUS language. With WebFOCUS Enable, you list the fields (for instance, COUNTRY, STATE) in the ibiGroupBy property. To define the aggregation, you use the prefix Sum in front of the field to aggregate, changing the value of the ibiUseColumns property to COUNTRY, STATE, Sum.SALES. The types of aggregation prefixes available are: Sum, Average, Max, Min, Count, Distinct, Percent, and Grand Total.

You can use any combination of uppercases or lowercases when entering prefixes to add aggregation functions to the data such as Sum.SALES, sum.SALES or SUM.SALES or to add data visualization effect or to change column names using AS names in IBI data grid. This applies to all supported prefixes including Sum, Average, Max, Min, Count, Distinct, Compute, Percent, and GrandTotal. The first letter of the prefix must be in uppercase when used in IBI chart components. The field names will remain case-sensitive because it has to match the data retrieved in the xml file.

Custom components are written in ActionScript. The front end of a SWF application is written in MXML, a mark-up language based on XML. In Flex, MXML defines the user interface. More specifically, you write a Flex application as an XML document. The XML document uses tags to define pieces of structured information and the relationships between them. In MXML, the <mx:Application> tag defines the root of the application. You define the parts of the application in tags that are children of the <mx:Application> tag.

When a custom component is used in an application, the mark-up is created automatically as the user drags and drops the component on the application canvas. The ActionScript is encapsulated in the component and is included when the application is compiled.

Developers can combine Information Builders custom components with Flex Builder components.