Using Web Services in Flash MX 2004 Pro

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Using Web Services in Flash MX 2004 Pro

• in 60 Minutes or Less

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Theo Rushin JrWeb Application Developer/Trainer

• I am an avid snowboarder and skier always looking
  for the deep powder. When Im not carving my
  way through the trees or dreaming of the next big
  snowfall, I work as a consultant at the National
  Institutes of Health (NIH) where I lead the
  design and development of many web-based
  solutions.
• I have spent the past 6 years establishing myself
  as an expert Coldfusion and Flash Rich Internet
  Application Developer and Trainer. During my 6
  years of web application development I have
  created and supported many enterprise-wide
  web-based applications.

I can be reached at rushint_at_mail.nih.gov or on
the snow
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Presentation Agenda

• An introduction to Web Services
• Flash MX 2004 and Web Services
• Six Easy Steps
• Now Its Your Turn

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What is a Web Service?

• According Wikipedia, the free (and mostly
  accurate) online encyclopedia

A web service is a collection of protocols and
standards used for exchanging data between
applications or systems. Software applications
written in various programming languages and
running on various platforms can use web services
to exchange data over computer networks like the
Internet in a manner similar to inter-process
communication on a single computer.
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Why should I consume web services?

• The major reasons for using Web services are to
  gain
• Interoperability among distributed applications
  that span diverse hardware and software
  platforms.
• 2. Accessibility of applications through
  firewalls using Web protocols.
• 3. A cross-platform, cross-language data model
  (XML) that facilitates developing heterogeneous
  distributed applications.

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What are some of the standards used?

• XML
• SOAP
• WSDL

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I think I know what XML is

• Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a
  general-purpose markup language for creating
  special-purpose markup languages. It is capable
  of describing many different kinds of data. Its
  primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of
  data across different systems, particularly
  systems connected via the Internet.

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So what is SOAP?

• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) defines the
  XML based message format that applications use to
  communicate and inter-operate with each other
  over the internet. The heterogeneous environment
  of the internet demands that applications support
  a common data encoding protocol and message
  format. SOAP makes object access simple by
  allowing applications to invoke object methods,
  or functions, residing on remote servers. A SOAP
  application creates a request block in XML,
  supplying the data needed by the remote method as
  well as the location of the remote object itself.

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And what is WSDL?

• WSDL (Web Service Description Language - often
  pronounced "Whiz-Dull".), the proposed standard
  for how a Web service is described, is an
  collection of metadata about XML-based service
  used for describing what business do and how to
  access their services electronically. We can say
  WSDL is a XML- Based service IDL (Interface
  Definition Language) that defines the service
  interface and its implementation characteristics.
  WSDL describes the SOAP messages that define a
  particular Web service.

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What are some of the advantages of using web
services?

• Web services provide interoperability between
  various software applications running on
  disparate platforms.
• Web services use open standards and protocols.
  Protocols and data formats are text-based where
  possible, making it easy for developers to
  comprehend.
• By utilizing HTTP, web services can work through
  many common firewall security measures without
  requiring changes to the firewall filtering
  rules.
• Web services easily allow software and services
  from different companies and locations to be
  combined easily to provide an integrated service.
• Web services allow the reuse of services and
  components within an infrastructure

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What are some of the disadvantages of using web
services?

• Web services standards for features such as
  transactions are currently nonexistent or still
  in their infancy compared to more mature
  distributed computing open standards such as
  CORBA.
• Web services suffer from poor performance
  compared to other distributed computing
  approaches such as RMI, CORBA, or DCOM. This is a
  common trade-off when choosing text-based
  formats.
• By utilizing HTTP, web services can evade
  existing firewall security measures whose rules
  are intended to block or audit communication
  between programs on either side of the firewall.

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Where can I find some publicly accessible web
services?

• http//www.xmethods.com/
• http//www.strikeiron.com/
• http//www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/102-2847179-6
  675355?node3435361
• http//www.google.com/apis/
• http//www.forta.com/cf/tips/syndhowto.cfm

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Flash MX 2004 and Web Services

• Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 provides a
  powerful, rapid development tool for building web
  service consumers. New tools and components in
  Flash MX Professional 2004 simplify and speed the
  development of web service-based applications.

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Flash MX 2004 and Web Services continued

• Flash MX 2004 comes with two client side methods
  for connecting to web services. The first is by
  using the WebServiceConnector component, the
  second is by using the web service classes and
  actionscript.

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Are there any disadvantages to consuming web
services within Flash?

• Both of the methods for connecting to web
  services in Flash MX 2004 have a couple of
  disadvantages.

• Can be slow when returning large datasets
• The security features of Flash could prevent
  access to web service

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When returning large datasets

• It can be really slow when returning larger
  datasets (1000). The reason for this is that,
  even with the MX 2004 speed improvements, it can
  take a lot of processor power to convert the
  returned xml into flash actionscript objects.
  When returning large result sets from a web
  service it is a far better solution to go with
  Flash Remoting. Flash remoting will return the
  result set as AMF instead of XML which has a much
  faster transfer speed (much more compressed) and
  does not need to be converted to flash
  actionscript (as it already is).

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AMF?

• In a nutshell
• The AMF protocol, which is proprietary to
  Macromedia, is a very lightweight binary format
  that cuts the bulk out of packets, meaning data
  exchange is a lot faster than with XML.

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Security Cross domain policy

• The second disadvantage of using the new built in
  client side web service features of Flash MX 2004
  are the security features. In order to use a web
  service that is not located on the same server,
  the owner of that service would need to place a
  cross domain policy file allowing the flash movie
  access to it's service.

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Cross domain policy?

• Since you asked
• For security reasons, a Macromedia Flash movie
  playing in a web browser is not allowed to access
  data that resides outside the exact web domain
  from which the SWF originated. A cross-domain
  policy file is a simple XML file that gives the
  Flash Player permission to access data from a
  given domain without displaying a security
  dialog. When placed on a server, it tells the
  Flash Player to allow direct access to data on
  that server, without prompting the user grant
  access.
• (Macromedia TechNote tn_14213)

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So why should I even use Flash?(instead of
ColdFusion, ASP.NET, etc.)

• Greater degree of interactivity.
• Combine audio and video to produce a richer
  experience.
• You dont have to choose!
• You can leverage your existing server-side code,
  written in Coldfusion, .Net, PHP, etc., to
  consume web services using Flash MX 2004!

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What do I need to do to get started?

• Discover the web service.
• Deploy the user interface components.
• Register the web service in Flash.
• Configure the WebServiceConnector.
• Bind the user interface components to the
  WebServiceConnector.
• Trigger the WebServiceConnector.
• And Thats It!

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• And Now On With The Show!

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Additional Reading

• Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 Application
  Development Training from the Source
• Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional for Server
  Geeks
• http//www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/webservi
  ces.html