Flash Remoting

by Tom Muck

Flash Remoting MX lets developers easily integrate rich Macromedia Flash content with applications that are built using Macromedia ColdFusion MX, Microsoft .NET, Java, PHP, or SOAP-based web services. The result is complex client/server applications that more closely resemble desktop applications than traditional web pages. Gone is the click/wait/reload approach of HTML. Your web application uses Flash as the front end while Flash Remoting handles...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059600401X
• ISBN13: 9780596004019
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 612 Pages
• Weight: 2.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.8" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Don't worry about the MX 2004 Classes

There are very few books that cover Flash Remoting, fortunately O'Reilly's Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide is on hand to do the job. This is the definitive guide, it covers the concepts and techniques neccesary to connect Flash to a remote server and then do something usefull. Flash MX 2004 was released after this book, as a result I hesitated in getting a book that didn't cover the "latest". I was wrong. The Flash MX 2004 Remoting Classes have not affected what this book has to offer in any way. Remoting is not about connecting to the server, that's the easy part. Remoting is about doing something usefull once you have connected. Flash Remoting the Definitve Guide offers plenty of practical information as well as theory. My favorite is the exhaustive coverage of the RecordSet class. The section on best practices is also excellent. I used to think a good software book was the newest. Now I am of the opinion that even in the constantly changing field of software, some books do stand the test of time.

Great book about a complex subject

I have to take issue with the 1 star review. The reviewer obviously had some hidden agenda, with statements like "Virtually anything that could be done with Remoting could be done without it" and "unless you're a hard core Flash nut bent on Macromedia domination front end and back this book is awful". If the reviewer had done his homework he would have seen that Flash Remoting is not only the fastest way to move data into a Flash movie (remoting packet sizes are much smaller than typical methods such as XML or web services), but it is also the most efficient use of the end-user's computing power. A Flash movie that uses components (such as a rich internet application) will bog down if you try to parse data and populate components. Using any other method of passing data to Flash (LoadVars, XML, Web services) the data has to be parsed. Using Flash Remoting, you don't have to parse the data -- it is ready to use. The book clearly explains the advantages and also explains how the results were obtained. The other reviewer obviously didn't read the book. The examples were clear and easy to read, and the text explained complex concepts much more clearly than any of the Flash Remoting documentation. This book gets 5 stars and sits on my desk next to ActionScript: The Definitive Guide.

Flash MX 2004 and Pro code is online

The author's site includes updated information. The code presented in the book works "as is" in the latest version of Flash, I believe. The caveat is that Flash MX 2004 and Pro users must download some libraries from Macromedia's site. In any case, detailed instructions for working in Flash MX 2004 and Pro are posted on the author's web site (flash-remoting.com). See especially the article on that site addressing the topic: http://flash-remoting.com/articles/fr2004pt1.cfmDisclaimer: I'm the book's editor.FWIW, the book was published before Flash MX 2004 and Flash Pro were released. Furthermore, for many months after the official release, Macromedia didn't upgrade the remoting components to ActionScript 2.0.Any questions about the content or upgrading to Flash MX 2004 or Pro can be addressed to me, the author, or O'Reilly technical support.

Must Book for Anyone Who Wants to Understand Flash Remoting

There are very few books on Flash Remoting. I previously studied another book that was helpful, but I didn't feel I attained the necessary skills I needed to implement Flash Remoting. This book was a welcome addition and left me feeling I could finally utilize Flash Remoting in real-world application.The instructions and examples are written well, easy to understand and make sense. What's really amazing is that all the example programs in this book actually work (with no corrections)! My programming background is advanced programming experience with ColdFusion MX and Visual Basic, minimum experience with JavaScript and ASP scripting. Having never programmed in ActionScript before, I felt the programming concepts were clearly explained, allowing me to grasp and understand object oriented techniques, good programming standards, ActionScript syntax, and Flash Components. This book was extremely helpful with learning how to utilizing ColdFusion Components for Flash Remoting.I think anyone who wants to gain a detailed understanding of Flash Remoting would be very satisfied with this book. After studying this book intently, I feel I've gained the necessary understanding and skills to make Flash Remoting a central part of any Rich Internet Applications I develop.

All in One

Keep this book next to your copy of ActionScript for Flash MX, the Definitive Guide (second edition), that's how useful it will be. I was skeptical about this book before even opening it, thinking that one book could not possibly cover Flash Remoting in the depth and breadth that I was looking for. I had bought several other Flash Remoting books, each focused on one server-side technology. How much nicer it is to be using just one resource! This book provides a strong understanding of how Flash Remoting works, why Macromedia designed it the way they did, and what you need to do to use it. Although this reference is designed for people with some ActionScript experience, the author delivers the content with a great deal of context that is both conceptual and practical without overdoing it.