1. Blackboard Building Blocks Building Blocks and Macromedia Flash/Flash Remoting Saturday, August 08, 2015 Timothy Chi, Senior Director of Technology

2. Presentation Overview Blackboard and Macromedia corporate relationship Breaking the HTML barrier Introduction to Flash and Flash Remoting Building Blocks and Flash Case Study: The Blackboard Group Management Project

3. Blackboard Inc and Macromedia Inc Corporate Relationship

4. Blackboard and Macromedia Corporate relationship since 2001 Various groups work together, usually with executive sponsorship Many opportunities to explore as new products are brought to market Exciting opportunities in e-Education arena

5. Examples of discussions “Publish to Blackboard” feature in Macromedia Dreamweaver MX “Publish to Blackboard” feature in Macromedia Contribute MX Enhanced support for Flash applications within Blackboard environment Upcoming Macromedia products (recently Macromedia Breeze)

6. Breaking the HTML Barrier The value of Rich Internet Applications for e-Education

7. Rich Internet Applications Rich client environment for Internet content and applications Improved quality of end-user applications, leading to more relevant and easier to use end- use experiences Providing dynamic data in a way that takes advantage of new media, layout, and design options

8. Rich IA using Flash MX Allows developers and designers to “break the HTML barrier” –Creativity in layout, tweening, multimedia, navigation, and workflows Build applications that are easier to use Enhance the efficiency of a workflow Delivers an entirely “new” experience to end users

9. Ideas for Blackboard Drag-and-drag management of users to for course or organization Rich UI for Gradebook for sorting, re-arranging columns, reporting Rich UI for creating/managing assessments including using question pools, re-arranging questions, drag-and-drop questions Many more…

10. Flash MX and Flash Remoting Just the basics

11. Flash MX Basics Macromedia client software for developing highly visual interactive content and applications The Flash Player is used by over 414 million people, and installed in 98% of all Internet-enabled devices

12. Flash MX Basics – cont’d The IDE has a timeline based metaphor for developing highly interactive and rich applications Action Script is a proprietary scripting language used to extend functions built in the IDE Pre-built User Interface Components accelerate time to market

13. Flash Remoting MX Overview Gateway technology that connects Macromedia Flash MX components on the client side with server-side application services. Flash Remoting enables a Flash MX client to seamlessly interface with remote components running on an application server in a fast, efficient, secure, and reliable way. Flash Remoting service in ColdFusion MX can also be used with other server technologies, such as Java classes, EJBs, Mbeans,and.NET Framework languages like ASP.NET, VB.NET, and C#. Flash Remoting Components for Flash MX at http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashremoting/download s/components/ http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashremoting/download s/components/ Flash Remoting Server Files available at Macromedia Site

14. Building Blocks and Flash Piecing it together to develop a compelling Rich UI Building Block

15. Review Flash applications are designed to run within a web-browser Flash Remoting is a technology that allows Flash applications to connect to server- side applications For us, this means that Flash applications have access to all the objects, methods, and data available through Building Blocks!

16. Hooking It Up (part 1) 1.Install Flash Remoting Components for Flash MX 2.Install Flash Remoting Server Components on any machine 3.Drop the flashgateway.jar file into the Building Block package (WEB-INF/lib) 4.Edit the web.xml file to register the servlet mapping for the Remoting Component FlashGatewayServlet Servlet-based plugin to the Flash Server Gateway flashgateway.controller.GatewayServlet 1 FlashGatewayServlet /gateway/*

17. Hooking It Up (part 2) 5.Create your Java Data Access Layer, and ensure that you have complementary ActionScript objects (wrapper layer for Blackboard APIs) 6.Build the Flash application 7.Create a JSP page launch point for your Building Block &gatewayUrl= ">

18. Hooking It Up (part 3) 8.Depending on your application server (Weblogic/Tomcat), edit the.policy file to allow for certain permissions to be used (necessary for Flash Remoting) permission java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission "suppressAccessChecks"; permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.macromedia.mxExamples.groupManagement"; 9. Package and try your new Flash Building Block out (on a development machine!)

19. Case Study: Rich UI for Group Management A joint project by Macromedia and Blackboard designed to reduce the learning curve for Building Block developers

20. Goals –Prove that Flash (via Flash Remoting) could indeed be used with Building Blocks –One of Macromedia’s first proof of concepts with the launch of the MX line of products –Showcase the power of Rich Internet Applications and the potential impact on user interface design for Blackboard Case Study: The Bb Group Manager

21. The Development Team John Bennett Macromedia Inc Strategic Services Group Branden Hall FigLeaf Inc Product Development Timothy Chi Blackboard Inc Product Development

22. Development Methodology Initial meeting : Design, architecture, and development of object model Simultaneous development of Flash application, Data Access Layer, and Building Blocks code Component testing Joint testing after component testing completed Beta, Release, etc

23. The End Result One-click toggles for group options Sort-able columns “Show Members” feature Drag-and-drop assignment of members to a group during creation and modification User role displayed by different icons “Assign” feature allows for multiple members to be assigned to multiple groups at same time Random assignment of members to groups

24. Tips Wherever possible, place both the data and logic on the server. Only send data for display to the client. Take advantage of locating (or caching) data on the client for your application when possible. The client-side software is what makes a rich user experience possible. Acquire Macromedia Flash and ActionScript development expertise Leverage the Macromedia Flash component reuse model Utilize available tools –Macromedia Flash debugger –NetConnection debugger –Macromedia Flash debug player –Application Server logfiles Use component-based development to eliminate bugs early Be creative!

25. Conclusion Rich Internet Applications will bring us into the next creative frontier, adding a new dimension to online teaching and learning. Having a platform for creating and delivering Rich Internet Applications will be increasingly important Now you know how!

26. Thank You Demos to Follow >