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Chapter 1: Getting Started
For more information about using software design patterns with Flash Remoting, see Software
Design Patterns for Flash Remoting on the Macromedia website at
www.macromedia.com/
devnet/mx/flashremoting/articles/facades.html
.
Understanding the Flash Remoting service adapters
Flash Remoting automatically maps incoming requests to the appropriate
service adapters
, each of
which
provide a direct connection to a specific application server technology. When an HTTP
request arrives at the server and contains AMF, Flash Remoting maps the request to the
appropriate adapter by name. To avoid naming conflicts, you specify the directory structure, fully
qualified class or package name, or Web Service Description Language (WSDL) URL of the web
service in ActionScript.
Building Flash applications with Flash Remoting
Flash applications that use Flash Remoting resemble other client-server development platforms,
including traditional HTML-based web applications. For example, Flash applications usually
appear in the context of a browser window, much like HTML pages. In addition, Flash
applications can contain controls for displaying text and graphics, gathering user input, and
communicating with a remote server, much like HTML.
Understanding the Flash Remoting development environment
Because Flash Remoting connects two distinct and separate runtime environments, you build
Flash Remoting applications in two programming languages: ActionScript and the programming
language of your application server. Therefore, building Flash applications with Flash Remoting
demands knowledge of at least two different development environments:
•
Flash
To create Flash applications that use Flash Remoting, you use the Flash authoring
environment to design the user interface and write the client-side ActionScript.
•
An application server tool
For ColdFusion, Java, or .NET development, you typically use a
text editor or an integrated development environment (IDE) that supports the associated
programming languages and APIs. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 supports ColdFusion,
JSP, and ASP.NET development.
Note:
For Java or .NET development, you need a Java or .NET compiler to create executable
code.
Because of the separation between the client and server environments, you might develop Flash
Remoting applications as a team project. In traditional HTML-based web applications,
responsibilities usually fall into two general roles: designer and developer. The designer creates the
HTML user interface and the developer creates the application server logic.
When developing Flash applications using Flash Remoting, you might find it useful to organize
development roles as client-side designer, client-side developer, and server-side developer. Under
this division of labor, the client-side designer creates the Flash user interface, including layout,
animation, and effects. The client-side developer creates the ActionScript to connect to the
remote service and handle the results. Finally, the server-side developer builds the business logic
on the application server to serve as the remote service.
