The last several weeks, readers will note that the majority of my posts have been devoted to AJAX, particluarly Adobe's Spry Framework. My main infatuation is that AJAX allows for clunky page-reload based web activity to be replaced with instant, on-the-fly interaction, not only with constituent portions of the website, but more importantly, with server-side processes (especially databases).
All this time, I have flirted around with Adobe's Flex 2, an incredibly rich platform for developing ActionScript 3.0 applications. While I have played around with it from time to time (basically, when I get a new computre--the trial period is only 30 days), I have not really gotten into significant development...until now.
One of the issues with Flex is that, like javascript, it has not native way to interact with a database. For this, one needs an application server of some kind, or to create myriad XML files to store data. Now I've always known that Flex could integrate nicely with ColdFusion, allowing the developer to access independant ColdFusion components to leverage processing logic and database interaction. However, I did not know how ridiculously simple it was.
So one might wonder what the big deal is. So Flex can easily connect to ColdFusion--so what? Well, a major issue is Flex Builder's built-in components. Using Builder, I can create, for example, a slick form--including rich text editor--to create a blog post--all in about, oh, 90 seconds. In HTML, that would take me a while, especially trying to get the CSS to behave on the form fields (urghh...). So now, instead of tearing out my hair trying to build and style a form, I'm already done and I can concentrate on creating validation rules.
But what is especially great about Flex and ColdFusion together is that accessing the component's methods is hauntingly similar to how one would do it in ColdFusion natively.
Consider the following example:
The way I see it, the "RemoteObject" that I create is alot like my "cfinvoke" tag in ColdFusion--I point to a partcular component (here "source"), define the method (here "createPost") and finally pass in any arguments that I need to (here the "arguments" Array). The best part about this, however, is that in all of this, I have not had to use a postback; I've not had to reload the page; and if I wanted (and probably will do) I could fade out this form to reveal some other bit of content in its place. All seamless, all clean and user-friendly.
Now, if only I could find the $500.00 bucks I need to license it...hint, hint...
Well, Adobe's AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) must be getting ready for primetime, for today a brand-spanking new logo was unveiled.
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The last several weeks, readers will note that the majority of my posts have been devoted to AJAX, particluarly Adobe's Spry Framework. My main infatuation is that AJAX allows for clunky page-reload... [more]
Okay, so for people who are javascript heroes, what I'm going to write about is ridiculously lame. But I think it's cool.
Yesterday, I was working on an application for a client. Part of...
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If one has been on the internet for 3 seconds, it is obvious that dynamic photo galleries are useful and popular things. After all, who wants to scroll through pages of pictures when they can all be... [more]
I know I've been posting alot about Spry lately, but the more I use it, the more I love it! Using the simple-to-implement tools which Spry provides, I am able to spend more time dealing with server-... [more]
And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
In an age in which global warming, climate change and concerns about the viability of our planet's environment ar...
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Just a quick reminder: blogactionday (October 15) is approaching rapidly--next Monday! This is a day where bloggers are encouraged to devote a posting to the environment, regardless of their views o... [more]
On the whole, I tend to be fairly loyal in media technologies. I do what I can to support Adobe --I use ColdFusion, the more]
Within the last six months, my little brother has introduced me to some seriously cool music. One of my favorite bands from this "education" is Emery, a hard-hitting "screamo" band hailing from the ... [more]
A few days I blogged about Adobe's release (and sexy-fication) of the javascript framework Spry 1.6. While I have not had a lot of time to play around with the absolutely unique elements, some cool ... [more]
Welcome to my blog. I am often asked what "Exist/Dissolve" means. Well, that is certainly a good question, and I am currently in the process of discovering the answer myself. Prima facie, it strikes me as encapsulating the existensial crisis that is our lives as finite, contingent beings. For a brief moment, we exist, and the next we dissolve into the nothingness of non-existence. From a theological perspective, it is, for me, a sort of ad hoc apologetic for resurrection - i.e., if to exist/dissolve is the human dilemma, there is nothing inherent to the person that guarantees existence, either now or "after" death. Therefore, resurrection is at the same time both the height of absurdity (for it is a notion entirely alien to the paradigm of existence to which we are naturally enculturated) and the only hope for the human to persevere beyond the pale of death.
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deviantmonk
Knight
56 posts
November 08, 2007 at 08:06:09 AM
deviantmonk wryly intimates:
love means flashing the bling.