Everyone,
I thought that rather than using the thread that took a left turn into Flash,
that I would start a new thread
that focused on that issue to address some of the topics and discussion that
has come up around the
use of Flash technology.
There are a number of places within the product where Flash technology has been
used. This includes
the browser display when using IE, Flashboards, Calendar widget, Atrium
Explorer, and the CMDB
console screens.
There are a variety of reasons - from good ones to kind of questionable ones -
for the use of the technology
in each of these situations.
Now, there are some challenges with the use of Flash when you talk about
display on some types of
devices and with the overhead in some uses.
BMC made the decision several years ago to move away from Flash as a technology
to use within
BMC Remedy components. So, you will see that there has been no increase in use
of Flash over that time
and there will be no new use going forward.
In addition, we have made progress in moving away from the use of Flash in some
areas - with some
still to go.
IE - With the 8.1 mid-tier, there is no longer any use of Flash technology for
the mid-tier when using IE. There
never was use of this technology for the mid-tier display with any other
browser, but there were several
features - rounded corners on fields being one - where the support was not
present in IE and Flash provided
that support. Prior to 8.1, the use of flash could be disabled with a
configuration setting. The product worked,
but some screen "prettiness" was lost. With 8.1, no functionality depends on
or uses Flash on any browser.
Status: No Flash used from 8.1 forward - config setting to not use prior to
8.1
Flashboards - Originally, Flashboards was implemented with a graphic library
that did not use Flash. Later we
added an implementation that uses Flash to give more polished graphs and
features like gradient colors. The
product has always had an option to configure the system to use the original
library and not use Flash if the
customer chooses. You do lose some level of polish on the charts, but you can
eliminate use of Flash
Status: Flash still used for now for polished Flashboards - config setting
to not use Flash is available
Calendar widget - The calendar widget of Change Management was originally
written in Flash. The new
calendar with significantly more functionality that is shipped with the 8.1
release does not use Flash.
Status: No Flash used from 8.1 forward. Is used prior to 8.1 ITSM release.
Atrium Explorer - Atrium Explorer is written in Flash and continues to use
Flash at this point.
Status: Flash is used.
CMDB Consoles - The main CMDB consoles used by CMDB administrators are written
in Flash. The forms
used by users are not in Flash but are standard AR system forms.
Status: Flash is used for these consoles.
The direction and intention of BMC is to continue to move away from using
Flash. The only area of the
BMC Remedy product line still requiring Flash is the CMDB - consoles and Atrium
Explorer. There are long
term plans to move both of these away from that technology so that no part of
the product requires Flash.
I hope this helps to define where Flash has been and is currently used within
the BMC Remedy product and
what the current state of the use of that technology is and where it has been
removed or where there are
options to disable its use.
We do believe that HTML/DHTML/and the related technologies are the direction
forward and those are
the technologies that we will be implementing (and converting remaining pieces
to) as we go forward.
Doug Mueller
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