CFUNITED – The premier ColdFusion conference Flex 2.0 and ColdFusion Integration – 101 Nahuel Foronda Laura Arguello

Flex 2  Tool to build GUIs  No server required

Flex 2  Composed of: SDK (Compiler and framework) Flex Builder (IDE) Flex Data Services (Server product) Charting components Flex-ColdFusion connectivity

Flex SDK  Compiler  Languages: MXML and ActionScript 3  Flex Framework Class Library Components Layout managers  No server required  Free!

Flex Builder  IDE based on Eclipse  WYSIWYG  ColdFusion wizards

Flex Data Services  Server product  Messaging and Publish/Subscribe  Push data  Data synchronization

MXML, ActionScript and CSS  MXML XML-based language that defines user interface  ActionScript 3.0 scripting language that processes logic on the client  CSS styles to define look and feel

MXML

MXML: What it defines

CSS

CSS

CSS: What it makes it look like

ActionScript

ColdFusion + Flex  Flex replaces user interface (HTML) only, we still need server-side logic  ColdFusion provides database interfacing and other services

HTTP Services  Send HTTP GET and POST requests  Consume simple XML/Rest-style/XML- RPC services 

Web Services  Flex applications can Interact with web services that define their interfaces in a WSDL document Connect to a SOAP-compliant web service 

Remote Objects  Access the methods of server-side objects, such as ColdFusion CFC objects  Data is transferred in the binary Action Message Format (AMF) 

My To-do list sample application  CF Wizards (Flex Builder extensions) Generate a complete application to add/edit/remove database records Generate CFCs (DAO, Bean, Gateway objects) only

Class Mapping  Flex-ColdFusion class mapping

Bean & DAO

Active Record

Home Locator case study

Organization of an application  We must separate it in pieces  We can use events to communicate between components

XML namespaces  xmlns=“*” for the same folder components  xmlns=“myFolder” for components in custom location <mx:Application xmlns:mx=" xmlns="*" xmlns:views="com.homelocator.views.*">

Resources  Frameworks ARP: Cairngorm: cairngorm.html  Presentation Slides