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Flash Remoting

Flash Remoting. Chafic Kazoun Senior Flash Developer - B-Line Express Work: http://www.blinex.com Play: http://www.rewindlife.com. What is Flash Remoting?. Flash Remoting is an infrastructure that provides a simplified and efficient method of connecting to back-end systems and webservices.

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Flash Remoting

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  1. Flash Remoting Chafic Kazoun Senior Flash Developer - B-Line Express Work: http://www.blinex.com Play: http://www.rewindlife.com

  2. What is Flash Remoting? • Flash Remoting is an infrastructure that provides a simplified and efficient method of connecting to back-end systems and webservices.

  3. Why Flash Remoting? • AMF communication protocol • Fast and easy development • Simplified communication • Automatic data conversion • Easier to debug • Compressed data • Promotes better application architecture and team workflow

  4. Requirements • Flash MX authoring environment • Flash Remoting components for Flash MX • Flash Remoting gateway • ColdFusion MX & JRUN (built-in) • .Net / Java (Add-on) • Other non-Macromedia solutions (PHP, Java, and Perl) • Flash 6 plug-in

  5. Diagram of the Architecture

  6. ColdFusion – Methods of connecting • ColdFusion Components (CFCs) • ColdFusion page (CFM) • Server-side ActionScript • WebServices

  7. ColdFusion Components and Flash Remoting • Similar to regular CFCs • <cffunction> Particulars to Flash Remoting • Access = “remote” • ReturnType will be returned to Flash • Name is the method Flash will call • Hint is useful for Flash Developers • A Flash client will require a gateway to connect to, for ColdFusion the gateway is usually “http://serverAddress/flashservices/gateway”

  8. Flash Remoting – Client Side • Client can be a Flash client or a Flash Communication Server connecting to a ColdFusion server • Steps involved in connecting to a cfc • Connect to the ColdFusion server gateway • Create a reference to a service • Create responder for the service method • Call the service method

  9. Connecting to a CFC (simple method) from Flash //include Flash Remoting classes #include “netdebug.as” //this is only for debugging. Remove after debugging #include “netservices.as” //Create a connection and service NetServices.setDefaultGatewayURL(“gatewayurl"); gateway = NetServices.createGatewayConnection(); service = gateway.getService(“service path",this); //result event handler function method_Result(result){ //do something with the result } //Status handler function method_Status(result){ //do something because of error } //call method service.method();

  10. A Real Yet Simple Application Steps for our application to list all the speakers at CFUN! • Create the Database • Create the Interface • Create the CFC • Create the Flash ActionScript code

  11. CFUN Topics Example (cfc) <cfcomponent> <cffunction name="getTopics" access="remote" returntype="query"> <cfquery datasource="cfun" name="q_getTopics"> select topics.first_name, topics.last_name, topics.id, topics.presentation_title, presentation_types.type from topics topics INNER JOIN presentation_types ON topics.presentation_type = presentation_types.id </cfquery> <cfreturn q_getTopics> </cffunction> </cfcomponent> Save this file webroot/com/rewindlife/cfun/speakers.cfc

  12. CFUN Topics Example (Flash) #include "netdebug.as" #include "netservices.as" NetServices.setDefaultGatewayURL("http://localhost/flashservices/gateway"); gateway_nc = NetServices.createGatewayConnection(); cfunTopics_service = gateway_nc.getService("com.rewindlife.cfun.cfun",this); function getTopics_result(result){ my_dg.setDataProvider(result); } Function getTopics_Status(result){ trace(result.details); } cfunTopics_service.getTopics();

  13. Using the NetConnection Debugger • Very useful tool built into the Flash MX IDE to debug service calls/results • To Open window > NetConnection Debugger • “netdebug.as” must be included in your client files for it to function (don’t forget to remove it once deploying a file) • You can inspect • Outgoing Calls, what parameters were passed, what method was called, and on what server • Errors • Incoming data/results

  14. Tips - Passing data • Recommend using structures. //create an object and pass it var o = new Object(); o.paramater1 = “xyz”; o.paramater2 = “123”; service.method(o); • Optimize structures (Don’t send all data everytime)

  15. Tips - A more friendly result handler • As seen before, we can handle results using a “methodName_result” function on the client. This works great but has some limitations • One single handler for all event calls of the method • When architecting OO applications, there is a better method • When making multiple calls there can be issues if your code has issues with some results returning before others • _Result just never really looked good to me

  16. Tips - A more friendly result handler (slide 2) • When setting up the connection you do not specify a default responder • Before: cfunTopics_service = gateway_nc.getService("com.rewindlife.cfun.cfun",this); • After: cfunTopics_service = gateway_nc.getService("com.rewindlife.cfun.cfun"); • You create a responder class: ResponderClass = function(){}; ResponderClass.prototype.onResult = function(result){ my_dg.setDataProvider(result); } ResponderClass.prototype.onStatus = function(status){ //error handling code here trace("error"); } • You call your service and provide the result handler • Before: cfunTopics_service.getTopics(); • After: cfunTopics_service.getTopics(new ResponderClass());

  17. Tips - A more friendly result handler (slide 2) • I have written a universal result handler. You can include this and use it easily • Code for our Application: #include "netdebug.as" #include "netservices.as" #include "BLServiceHandlerClass.as" //Setup our gateway NetServices.setDefaultGatewayURL("http://192.169.0.200/flashservices/gateway"); gateway = NetServices.createGatewayConnection(); //Setup our services service = gateway.getService("com.rewindlife.cfun.speakers"); //Our Result functions function onSuccess(result){ my_dg.setDataProvider(result); } function onError(error){ trace("error occured"); } service.getTopics(new BLServiceHandlerClass(this,"onSuccess","onError"));

  18. Tips - A more friendly result handler (slide 3) service.method(new BLServiceHandlerClass(listener,“event",“error“,”filter”,paramater object), paramater object); • Listener: The object that will receive the event once it occurs. This allows for a flexible system of seperating your object. • Event: This is a string value of the method that will be called on the listener object once something is returned from the server • Error: This is a string value of the method that will be called on the listener object if an error occurs (Note: the error result has properties that helps to debug an application) • Filter: This is an optional value that you can pass while making a call to a remote service that will be returned with the result as its own argument. This can be helpful when you want to separate certain events from another. • Parameter Object: This is the parameter object (structure) that we send out. We can have the result handler return this information if we find it useful. This is also optional • Don’t forget the parameters at the end if you need to pass them!!

  19. Webservice Example #include "netdebug.as" #include "netservices.as" NetServices.setDefaultGatewayURL("http://localhost/flashservices/gateway"); gateway = NetServices.createGatewayConnection(); myService = gateway.getService("http://www.xmethods.net/sd/2001/BabelFishService.wsdl", this); function BabelFish_Result(result){ trans_txt.text = result; } function translate(){ myService.BabelFish({translationmode:"en_fr",sourcedata:input_txt.text}); } submit_btn.onRelease = function(){ this._parent.translate(); }

  20. Other Things to get familiar with • The Recordset Object: A recordset object on the Flash client exists for the purpose of transferring recordset data to and from a remoting back-end easily. • The DataGlue Class: Allows us to manipulate a returned recordset without having to do complex parsing. • NetConnection: We used the NetConnection class in our examples but there are some things we did not discuss (specifically the setCredentials() method)

  21. Other Resources • Chafic Kazoun • You may contact me at chafic@rewindlife.com • http://www.blinex.com (company) • http://www.rewindlife.com (personal weblog with Sam Neff) • Websites • http://www.macromedia.com/flashremoting • http://www.flash-remoting.com • Books • Flash Remoting MX: The Definitive Guide by Tom Muck • Complete Flash Remoting MX by Joey Lott

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