O’Reilly: Inside RIA

This article expands on the notion of Adobe Flex client-to-server object mapping per my first O’Reilly Inside RIA article titled AMF3 PHP Server Objects to Flex Client Object Relational Mapping ( http://www.insideria.com/2008/04/amf3-php-server-objects-to-fle.html ). You are encouraged to master the AMF 3 messaging protocol and object relational mapping basics discussed in my first RIA article. Occasionally, in this article, I refer to this first article using the notation of “in my first RIA Object Relational Mapping article,” which means navigate to the above URL for details about the basics.

Flex Based Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) by definition typically require server access to provide the information resources and repository. When jumping into the server side topics, are you confused and overwhelmed by the choice of server platforms, networking protocols, and messaging formats such as REST (XML), SOAP, and Adobe’s AMF? In this article I work to alleviate those fears and confusions about remote servers and messaging with the Flex client. This article provides a review of these alternatives along with an analysis of example remote messaging code utilizing the AMF 3 protocol.