Programming Flash Communication Server

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Preface

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Server-Side ActionScript

There are two distinct types of ActionScript: client-side ActionScript—which

includes both ActionScript 1.0 and ActionScript 2.0—and the server-side version,

known as Server-Side ActionScript (SSAS). Client-side ActionScript is used to create

.swf moves that run in the Flash Player on the user’s machine. Server-Side Action-

Script is stored in .asc files that run on the FlashCom Server. As you’ll see, Server-

Side ActionScript does not support the OOP features of AS 2.0. Instead, Server-Side

ActionScript is like JavaScript 1.5, which is very similar to AS 1.0 (all are based on

ECMAScript 3). For more on the differences between client-side and server-side

scripting, see “Differences Between Flash ActionScript and Server-Side ActionScript”

in Chapter 4. FlashCom SSAS is not the same as the Server-Side ActionScript that

can be used to script Flash Remoting applications in ColdFusion and JRun. For more

information on that topic, see Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly).

The flash-communications.net Site

As FlashCom evolves, you will find new information on the companion site to this

book:

http://flash-communications.net

You can also find the examples from the book, additional tutorials and tech notes,

news, additional sample files, and errata.

As people use and adapt code from the book—especially the communication compo-

nents —you’ll find bug fixes and enhancements on the site as well.

Director, Breeze, and Other Options

In addition to creating Flash movies that connect to a FlashCom Server, you can also

connect using Director movies. Working with Director is not covered in this book.

However, the same communication classes used in Flash can be accessed from Direc-

tor, so Director developers will find a lot of useful information here. Additional

resources are available at:

http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/director/cross_product_integration.html

After releasing FlashCom, Macromedia purchased a company named Presedia, Inc.

Presedia’s products included:

• A PowerPoint-to-Flash converter that has the ability to record audio for each

PowerPoint slide in order to make self-running presentations

• A server product that stores, organizes, and plays presentations created with the

converter and that can host standards-compliant tests and quizzes as well as

track user progress through them

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

xxiv

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Preface

Macromedia renamed the Presedia product Breeze and used FlashCom to add a new

module named Breeze Live. The Breeze Live module is possibly the most complex

and feature-rich FlashCom-based product on the market. It provides an extensible

online meeting environment that includes the ability to play converted PowerPoint

presentations, share each user’s video screen, upload and download files, use a

whiteboard, conduct instant polls, load web pages into users’ browsers and more.

The Breeze Live user interface is composed of “pods.” For example, the Whiteboard

and PeopleList components in Breeze are both pods. Macromedia makes available a

software development kit for Breeze pods so developers can extend Breeze Live to

include custom features. Information on Breeze is available here:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/breeze

This book does not cover Breeze development, but Breeze developers will find much

of the book lays the foundation they need for developing Breeze pods, because

Breeze is built atop the FlashCom Server platform. Pods rely on the communication

classes described in Chapters 3 through 9 and are similar in many respects to the

communication components described in Chapters 13 through 15. More informa-

tion on developing with Breeze is available here:

http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/breeze

Breeze is a large and full-featured application for conducting corporate training,

holding meetings, and hosting presentations. Macromedia acts as a Breeze hosting

provider and provides pay-per-use and monthly fee plans. The Breeze software can

also be licensed from Macromedia. Should you be using Breeze? That depends. It is

certainly a well-engineered and capable product, but it is also fairly expensive. If you

want to create custom applications or have simpler requirements, FlashCom may be

more cost-effective for your needs.

After Breeze Live was announced, some people were concerned that it would replace

FlashCom. However, Breeze’s reliance on the FlashCom platform has spurred fur-

ther development of the Flash Communication Server by Macromedia.

Another product built on top of FlashCom is ASAP from Convoq. ASAP supports ad

hoc and scheduled meetings. The user interface is similar to instant messaging sys-

tems but includes video conferencing and other features. Information on ASAP,

including subscription pricing, is available at:

http://www.convoq.com

Chris Hock maintains a site that lists many of the other applications built using

FlashCom:

http://flashcommunicationserver.net

I can’t offer detailed advice on when to buy and extend an existing communication

application and when to develop your own. However, you may want to consider the

following things: