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IFBIN Flex-ColdFusion example updated
When we submitted our Flex-ColdFusion example to IFBIN, Flex was in an early beta, which means that the example doesn't work with the final release.
All IFIBIN authors have their signature "Hello World" example. Because what it represents us is the integration of Flex and ColdFusion, we decided that our Hello World needed to have ColdFusion in the mix.
I just updated the example and I am posting it here for download. I will submit the update to IFBIN soon. As you will see, it is very simple, as "Hello Worlds" should be. It shows how to use the RemoteObject tag to communicate with ColdFusion, how to deal with the server response and how to make a simple state transition.
View example
Download the source
I won an iPod Nano on Blingo!
Believe it or not, people actually win on Blingo (a search engine that gives out prizes). Some time ago, I won an iTunes gift MSN Messenger Nicknames and now I won an iPod Nano (I would
instant messaging and teen safety or parent advice
to thank Maria and Achtepa for that). I use Blingo almost exclusively now and since multi instant messager is powered by Google, you get similar (if not the same) results you get from Google. I usually search directly from Firefox's search box so I added it to the list of providers and set it as the default. Also, if any of your "friends" win, you win too!
FlashForward finalists
HomeLocator has been nominated as a finalist for the FlashForward Film Festival in the Online Application category, so we
Dead Aim Instant Messenger
in our way to Austin, Texas!
With contestants like Nike and Converse, we dont have much hope
free chat software BB
winning, but it will be fun nonetheless to meet with friends we only get to see at instant messanging lesson plan />We hope to see you there!
CFDJ article: Your First Flex Application with a ColdFusion Backend
Our Flex "My To-Do List" tutorial has been published in the June issue of the ColdFusion Developer's Journal (and we made the front page!). It can be read online and the source can be found internet properties programs windows messaging explorer the project page.
Although simple, we tried to be as complete as possible for New Display Pictures for MSN Messenger first Flex app". It shows how to use the CF wizards, use events, create custom components and use the RemoteObject tag to send and retrieve data from the server.
IFBIN: free andsource Flex examples
We were involved in the IFBIN project as Flex by Example authors where we submitted
Lycos Free Text Messaging
example for an
final messaging kirix
Flex beta that demonstrated the use of Remote Object and ColdFusion. We are happy to see IFBIN now evolve into ansource and free collection of great Flex and Flash examples. If you are learning Flex or Flash, we highly recommend you to download it. Although there are no tutorials that accompany the examples, the sources are heavily commented. Enjoy! java system messaging server jhmi jhmin1
Inserting Yahoo! maps in a Flex 2 application
One of the most challenging parts of creating Home Locator was the integration with Yahoo! Maps since there was no Flex 2 version of their API (they have a Flex 1.5 version, which does not work in Flex 2).
A lot of people asked me at CFUnited and by email about how I did it. In response to that, I made this simple example that shows the details, although not all of the functions are implemented.
It is important to say before we start that I don't recommend using this technique unless you need it right away. It would be better to wait until Yahoo! releases the Flex 2 version of their API. If you can wait, it will be so much easier for you and you won't have to deal with the whole Local Connection stuff (I will explain this in a minute).
As I mentioned before, Yahoo! doesn't have a Flex 2.0 map API, so if we want to have a map, we need to use the Flash API. But having the map in Flash and the rest of the app in Flex it is not as simple as having everything written in Flex. This is because now the player has 2 virtual machines, one for Flex that runs ActionScript 3 and another for Flash that runs ActionScript 2. The problem is that the communication between both VM is not straightforward. It is not very clean and it's not as robust as I would like it to be. But we need to communicate in some way and that way is by using Local Connection. Peter Ent from Adobe made a great post explaining the details of how to communicate Flash and Flex via Local Connection so I highly recommend you to read it.
These are the steps to put the map in a Flex app:
You need to download and install the Yahoo! Map Flash component Get a Yahoo! ID. Create a .fla movie and drag the Map component from the component panel to the stage. Put an instance name to your map. In my case a used "myMap". Write the Yahoo! ID on the parameters of the component. Write your ActionScript code and compile it. You can experiment a bit with the code, mine is very basic as you can see below (I did it on the fist frame of the movie): // ActionScript file
import com.yahoo.maps.markers.CustomPOIMarker;
import com.yahoo.maps.tools.PanTool;
import com.yahoo.maps.widgets.NavigatorWidget;
// register as a listener to get notified when the map finishes the initialization state
myMap.addEventListener(com.yahoo.maps.api.flash.YahooMap.EVENT_INITIALIZE, onInitMap);
function onInitMap(eventData)
{
// create tools and widgets to control the map
myMap.addTool(new PanTool(), true);
myMap.addWidget(new NavigatorWidget("closed"));
// notify Flex that the map finished the initialization state
connectedMap.send("_flexClient","mapInitialized");
}
var connectedMap:LocalConnection = new LocalConnection();
connectedMap.addMarker = function (connectionData:Object):Void
{
//Add the marker to the map
myMap.addMarkerByAddress(CustomPOIMarker,connectionData.address, connectionData.marker);
myMap.setCenterByAddress(connectionData.address, 2500);
}
connectedMap.connect("_flashClient");
What I did in the Flash movie is to set a listener for the "initialize" event. This event gets fired when the map finishes its initialization. Inside this event, I added a "Tool" and a "widget" to be able to control, drag and zoom the map. I also call the Flex application to let it know that flash finished its initialization, and it's ready for use. This also helps me forcing the connection from Flash, because I found (in the beta, that is. I don't know if the bug is fixed now) that if you don't start the connection from Flash the connection sometimes doesn't work.
I also want to mention that I used an underscore in the beginning of the connection name because I found (also in the beta, but I think that is fixed now) that the connection does not work if you name it without it. For example I used "_flexClient" and "_flashClient" for my names.
I included the .fla in the source code. So you only need tothe file, include your ID following the steps described at Yahoo!, compile the swf , and you are ready to go.
Now let's look at the Flex side. There are two files. One is the mxml application (MapExample.mxml) where all the components are.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" xmlns:local="*" viewSourceURL="/assets/content/exampleFiles/flex/map/srcview/index.html">
<local:MapConnection id="mapConnection"/>
<mx:Panel x="10" y="10" width="392" height="336" layout="absolute">
<mx:SWFLoader id="map" width="370" height="260" source="assets/mapExample.swf" autoLoad="true" x="1" y="1"/>
<mx:TextInput id="address" x="63" y="268" width="229" enter="mapConnection.addMarker(address.text)"/>
<mx:Button x="301" y="268" label="Search" click="mapConnection.addMarker(address.text)"/>
<mx:Label x="10" y="271" text="Address:"/>
</mx:Panel>
</mx:Application>
In this file, we have the SWFLoader tag that will be loading the map into our flex app. In this file we also have a tag that it is the instance of our local connection. MapConnection it is actually an ActionScript class that it is defined in its own file and extends from LocalConnection.
package
{
import flash.net.LocalConnection;
public class MapConnection extends LocalConnection
{
private var isInitialized:Boolean;
private var index:uint;
public function MapConnection(server:String = "_flexClient")
{
try {
connect(server);
}
catch (error:ArgumentError)
{
// server already created/connected
}
super();
}
public function mapInitialized():void
{
isInitialized = true;
trace("SearchConnection init")
}
public function addMarker(address:String):void
{
var marker:Object = {index:++index, title:"title", description:"description", markerColor:0x990099, strokeColor:0xFFFF00 };
if(isInitialized) send("_flashClient","addMarker", {address:address, marker:marker});
}
}
}
In this other file we have one constructor and two methods. One method is "mapInitialized()" that will be called by Flash when Flash finishes the initialization of the map. The other is "addMarker()" that is called by the button that sends the info on the text field as the "address" parameter. What the method does is take that info, create a marker object, and send that to the Flash client (the map) using the local connection method "send()" that we inherit from LocalConnection.
As you can see, this example is very straightforward. You enter an address or just a zip code (easy to type) and click search to see the address marked in the map.
View Example
Adobe Flex Developer Derby winners
The winners of the Flex Developer Derby contest have been announced last week. We are happy to say that MSN Messenger Emotion Icons Home Locator was selected as the winner of the Product configurators/self-service guided applications category. There were many good entries, which are no nokia 6610 MSN messenger application shown at Adobe Labs. I think they will post them all at Adobe again when they get updated to fremont news messager final release. You can view the winning entries of the six categories in this article: Announcing the Flex Developer Derby Winners.
Update: Actually, the entries are still there, just not linked from the main page: Flex developer entries
messaging services tool ict e-mail project list initiator
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