Thank you all for the great help. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.
One note. I mentioned the command line debugger in my initial post. I got this working in linux (Ubuntu 6.10). I had to manually install the flashplayer executable from the Adobe website (I couldn't find it in the SDK) and I also linked gflashplayer to flashplayer so the debugger (fdb) would work. Ian On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 17:45 -0500, Tracy Spratt wrote: > I have never been comfortable with the “black box” conversion from xml > to mx:Object. I went with xml in 1.5 and am delighted with e4x. I > read the post above on XMLEncode with interest and plan to look at > that, but since I hav so far been in control of both ends, the data > type problems has not been an issue. > > > > You should know about AsyncToken and the ACT pattern. It lets you > match up results to the corresponding data call, so you can decide how > to porcess the result. You can even define a handler function, which > I think is known as “closure”. More info is availble on all this. > > > > Tracy > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Chris Luebcke > Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:48 PM > To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [flexcoders] Re: Flex 2 HTTPService best practices > > > > > So I tried setting the resultFormat to "object" for a service that > returns a fairly deep XML structure. I found that it did a pretty good > job of mapping the text nodes to the correct types (Boolean, String > and Number); it didn't map "2006-11-17" to a Date, but hey, you can't > be all things to all people. > > Anybody else out there have experience with resultFormat="object"? Is > there any documentation that specifically describes how the object > graph is put together and what the text-node-to-object rules are? I > suppose I could go look at the source code, but figured I might as > well ask around first. > > Thanks, > Chris > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Luebcke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > Hi Ian, I'm using XML over HTTPService in my current app and may be > > able to help with some of this. Responses inline below. > > > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, Ian Shafer <ian@> wrote: > > > ...regarding using HTTPService: > > > > > > * Should I be using it? I'm choosing to use HTTPService because I > don't > > > want to pay for FDS and it (HTTPService) *seems* simple so that if > there > > > are problems, I could easily be able to fix them (as opposed to > using > > > FDS and Adobe's proprietary encoding). Also, XML over HTTP is > simple and > > > always works. Hooking up remote objects just seems like a pain. > > > > The answer to that question ultimately comes down to your specific > > project needs, of course. I'm not using FDS (for the usual reasons), > > and there doesn't appear to be an open-source (or otherwise really > > cheap) alternative to using AMF3 to communicate to a Java backend. > So > > that really leaves some flavor of XML over HTTP as the raw message > > language and protocol. We deliberated between SOAP, REST and > homegrown > > XML message protocols, and ultimately settled on homegrown for a > > variety of reasons I won't bore you with. Again, it really depends > on > > your specific needs, but so far our solution is shaping up very > nicely. > > > > > * What is the best resultFormat to use. As far as I can tell, > there are > > > three: object, e4x, and xml. The xml format seems obsolete since > we now > > > have e4x. Is there any reason to use xml? I get e4x (pretty sweet, > I > > > think this is a *great* language feature). The only drawback I've > found > > > so far is the datatype of e4x values. They all seem to be Strings. > I get > > > this, but I wonder if there's an easy way to say "all @quantity > fields > > > are numeric" so it'll sort nice in a DataGrid. object seems cool, > but > > > I'm not 100% clear how it works. > > > > Me neither, frankly. I might consider trying it, though, given that > > there is apparently some basic type casting done when you use this > > format, according to the dev guide: > > > > "By default, the resultFormat property value of HTTPService > components > > and WebService component operations is object, and the data that is > > returned is represented as a simple tree of ActionScript objects. > Flex > > interprets the XML data that a web service or HTTP service returns > to > > appropriately represent base types, such as String, Number, Boolean, > > and Date. To work with strongly typed objects, you must populate > those > > objects using the object tree that Flex creates." > > > > > Can I tell HTTPService which class to > > > bind the objects to? I don't use Flex Builder (again, I don't like > to > > > pay for software, and I don't have the money), so it's tough to > > > introspect the objects at runtime (although I did see something > about > > > command line debugging, I'll have to look into that). > > > > I believe this creates a new graph of objects with dynamically > created > > properties. I don't believe there's any configurable mechanism for > > mapping XML to particular object classes or types; I think if you > need > > mapping different from what resultFormat="object" gives you, you > need > > to roll your own. Not positive, though. > > > > > * I want to call (HTTPService.send()) my service with different > query > > > parameters. What's the best way to do this? Currently, I'm > creating a > > > new HTTPService in AS and generating the URL every time it is > called. > > > This doesn't seem right to me. > > > > Nah, it ain't :) Create a single HTTPService and modify its request > > property; this property takes "an object of name/value pairs", which > > just means that it'll treat every property name on the object as a > > parameter name and will call toString() on the property value to get > > the parameter value. > > > > You may want to look at Cairngorm's implementation of the Service > > Locator pattern, which provides an application-wide singleton that > > wraps you services, allowing central definition of services along > with > > global access to them. I like the pattern, your mileage may vary. > > > > > * Should I use a service-config.xml file? I haven't been able to > find > > > good documentation on this? > > > > Only applies to FDS, I'm pretty sure. > > > > >
