read and the little bit of sample code I have seen. The problems I have
with going the Flex route are as follows:
1) this project is extremely time sensitive.
- thus the web service route seems more feasible. I already know how to
program a web service using CF (CFCs) and consuming a web service with
Flash is supposed to be pretty straight forward. Learning Flex (the way
I take it) and integrating CF would be quite a bit more time consuming
than simply using AS to handle data returned by CF.
2) the interfaces that the design team has come up with for this project
are VERY detailed and do have quite a bit of animation
I guess the biggest challenge at the moment is making these decisions.
At the moment the choice seems pretty simple as I stated above. Web
Services + Flash, as I already know how to develop Web Services so all
that would be needed it so learn how to consume said web services with
Flash. However, the last thing I want to do is head down the wrong path.
Id like to explore all the options out there and I agree, Flex seems
like a very viable option if this application had been designed to
harness it from the get go.
-chris.alvarado
[ application developer ]
4 Guys Interactive, Inc.
281.807.4344 x1716
_____
From: Dick Applebaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 3:06 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: Re: SOT: Flash Remoting vs Web Services vs XML
Have you considered Flex (or as I like to call it FlexFlash)
In my very limited experience Flex programming of RIAs is much easier
than Flash programming unless you are into heavy animation, visual
effects, etc.
You can get all you need for development with the Flex evaluation CD.
Then you can install flex to run in conjunction with CFMX -- which is
the best of both worlds (server-side power and client-side RIA)
The big barrier may be the price of Flex.... but I understand that this
may be negotiable.
Your timeframe may also be a consideration -- there have been hints
that the next release of CFMX (BlackGuard, BlackHart, BlackMagic,
BlackBeauty, BlackStone, whatever) will include Flex capabilities.
The way it (current CFMX Flex) appears to work is this:
1) You create CF templates with imbedded (or included) Flex source
containing special XML (MXXML) and ActionScript (similar to
_javascript_).
The CF template gets compiled to Java Byte code
The Flash portion of the template gets compiled to a SWF
Both are served to the requestor;
Here are the headers for a very simple CFMX Flex program (a Menu Tree)
"GET /cfusion/flex/CFFlexTree.cfm HTTP/1.1" 200 1753
"GET /cfusion/flex/CFFlexTree.cfm HTTP/1.1" 200 1753
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal?action="" HTTP/1.1" 200 1244
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal?action="" HTTP/1.1" 200 1244
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal/history/history.html HTTP/1.1" 200 1257
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal/history/history.html HTTP/1.1" 200 1257
"GET /cfusion/Flex/244813253.mxml.swf HTTP/1.1" 200 116528
"GET /cfusion/Flex/244813253.mxml.swf HTTP/1.1" 200 116528
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal?action="" HTTP/1.1" 200 2656
"GET /cfusion/flex-internal?action="" HTTP/1.1" 200 2656
It appears as if there are separate requests generated for:
1) the cf template
2) flex js
3) flex history
4) a swf containing the Flex portion of the CF template (mxml.swf)
5) a generic swf
This is quite a fewf connections for a simple program, but I am told
that as complexity increases, there should be fewer connections than
with a typical html page.
FlexFlash and Flash remoting tend to change the way you program -- not
always for the better
1) rather then populate the initial page with initial data as with
CF/HTML it is cleaner to do the following with FR:
--download the RIA client
--the client, when loaded, makes the request for initial data.
2) from a programming standpoint it is easy to ignore the overhead of
exchanging large XML packets between host and client
3) if you give a lot of capability to the client (updating records on
the client with out contacting the host) you can add orders of
magnitude of complexity to the host (lockouts, deadlocks,
synchronization) and to the RIA client -- what happens if the browser
crashes after you've made 20 minutes of updates?
4) Multiple browser windows with a Flash RIA clients, each consume
client resources even when inactive. They compete with each other and
other desktop apps.
So, everything you've learned with CF still applies -- Flash can
improve the UI, and the UE (User Experience) --
but, better to be a little skeptical
HTH
Dick
On Apr 13, 2004, at 12:06 PM, Chris Alvarado wrote:)
> Hello all,
>
> I am starting a new project that will require some fairly heavy Flash
> /
> CF integration including but not limited to: visual display of data
> stored in a database, insertion of data into a database supplied in
> Flash forms, a complete security model that requires not only
> authentication but user level access restrictions (role based model).
> I
> just ready the article on Macromedia DevNet about the various options
> for developing RIAs (Remoting, Web Services, XML) and am having a bit
> of
> a hard time deciding which route to pursue. Are there any RIA
specific
> mailing lists etc that anyone can recommend. Additionally can anyone
> here point me in the right direction? I am a complete rookie when it
> comes to Flash but have nearly 7years of CF experience so the CF
> concepts are easy to grasp for me, im just sort of a bit inundated
> with
> the Flash portion. If anyone has any suggestions on where to get
> started
> they would be greatly appreciated. I picked up "Macromedia Flash MX
> Profession 2004 for Server Geeks" and it seems like an excellent
book,
> but if anyone has any other suggestions that would fit well within
the
> project described above I would really appreciate it.
>
> Thanks everyone,
>
> Looking forward to seeing any feedback.
>
> -chris.alvarado
>
> [ application developer ]
>
> 4 Guys Interactive, Inc.
>
> 281.807.4344 x1716
>
_____
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