19.6. Calling Flash Remoting Methods with Components

Problem

You want to call a Flash Remoting method without having to write much Action-Script.

Solution

Use the RemotingConnector component.

Discussion

Flash Remoting is a technology that enables incredibly effective and efficient client server communications with Flash applications. Flash Remoting works in a manner similar to that of web services in many respects. It allows Flash clients to call methods of services that may be written in Java, PHP, .NET, or other languages. However, Flash Remoting uses a binary messaging format called AMF that is native to Flash Player. Thus Flash Remoting is often significantly faster than web services.

Flash Remoting requires a server-side gateway that is capable of receiving the AMF requests, delegating the requests to the appropriate services, and returning the AMF responses. ColdFusion ships with a Flash Remoting gateway by default. So does JRun. Macromedia also sells Flash Remoting gateway products for J2EE application servers and .NET. You can learn more about the Macromedia Flash Remoting products at http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashremoting. In addition, there are non-Macromedia Flash Remoting gateway products. WebOrb (http://www.themidnightcoders.com) is available in both standard (free) and professional editions. WebOrb is available in both J2EE and .NET versions. FLAP (http://www.simonf.com/flap) is an open source product for Perl and Python. AMFPHP (http://www.amfphp.org) is an open ...

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