Flash.NET - Dynamic Content for Designers with Flash Remoting MX and ASP.NET

Summary

The absolute cutting edge for application development at the moment is using Macromedia's Flash MX (the premier software for designing fantastic looking interfaces) with Microsoft's .NET framework (tremendously powerful server-side technology).

Combining these technologies has been greatly aided by the release of Macromedia's Flash Remoting MX, which is covered fully in this book. Designers and developers involved in the creation of this technology impart their knowledge to you in this book through extensive case studies.

Flash Remoting is not the only way to combine these technologies however, so this book will fully cover Flash/.NET integration using ASP.NET.

This book is for readers who are looking to integrate their Flash movies with a .NET enabled back-end. It assumes no prior knowledge of server side technologies but does require a knowledge of Flash MX and ActionScript.

Table of Contents

chapter 1: Flash and .NET Clients and servers Dynamic content ASP or ASP.NET? Installing the IIS web server Testing the IIS installation Calling up a web page A new start Careful coding Objects, objects everywhere General syntax Variables and data types Converting data types Operators Loops and conditionals Flash clients Avoiding cached data		chapter 2: Talking to the server Flat data Sharing flat data with the server Using LoadVars to pull in data from the server Using LoadVars to send data to the server Structured data Understanding XML Working with XML in Flash Writing ASP.NET pages that generate XML Rich content Setting up Limit scrollbar Scale and the zoom buttons Scroll pane and the refresh button Zooming Updating the image
chapter 3: Storing and sourcing data Different sources of data Setting up read/write access Setting up the passwords Defining the secure content Building the ASP.NET page Building the Flash front-end Setting up the hit count Building the ASP.NET page Building the Flash front-end Defining the news stories Building the ASP.NET news reader page Building the basic Flash front-end Building the ASP.NET admin page Building the Flash admin interface Image gallery Using TerraServer		chapter 4: Databases Introducing MSDE Installing and configuring MSDE Talking to databases with .NET Designing the ASP.NET web service Designing the Flash MX solution Scripts for StartFrame (frames 1-10) Scripts for ReadMessage (frames 11-20) Scripts for NewMessage (21-30) Scripts for NewUser (frames 31-40) Scripts for LoginForm (frames 41-50)
chapter 5: Flash Remoting Flash Remoting components Installing the Flash Remoting service for .NET Testing the installation Writing a service function Building the client Connecting to the server Using the service object Handling feedback from the server A more flexible way to use the MM:Flash control Different data types Passing data back and forth Using the NetConnection Debugger Custom event tracing Flash Remoting and databases Creating the database Writing the service function The Flash movie Flash Remoting and web services Using the doGoogleSearch() web method Creating the Flash interface
case study 1: Airport weather Starting out What are the goals of the project? Choosing a suitable web service Getting to know the web service Service description Have some class Sticky GUI		case study 2: PenPad Methods of drawing Code, code, and more code Exploring the main timeline The movie clip buttons The library Extending movie clips Marquee Interface communication The code not taken Interface Enhancements The Shape Class Anchors Methods of manipulation Drawing the curves Shapes XML Packaging the shapes Sending picture data to the server Storing data in the file Verifying the save operation Hang ten Fill it up