Flash Communication Server - Chapter 2. Communication Components

Flash Communication Server

Flash Communication Server

Table of Contents

About the Authors

Robert Reinhardt

What Does FlashCom Offer?

What's in This Book?

How to Use This Book

ActionScript 1.0 Versus ActionScript 2.0

Server-Side ActionScript

The flash-communications.net Site

Director, Breeze, and Other Options

Flash Video Options

Licensing and Hosting Options

Conventions Used in This Book

Using Code Examples

Comments and Questions

Acknowledgments

Part I: FlashCom Foundation

Chapter 1. Introducing the Flash Communication Server

Section 1.1. Clients and Servers

Section 1.2. Creating an Application

Section 1.3. Real-Time Messaging Protocol

Section 1.4. The Communication Classes

Section 1.5. Communicating with Application Servers, Databases, and Directory Servers

Section 1.6. Firewalls and Security

Section 1.7. Getting Started

Section 1.8. Hello Video!

Section 1.9. Conclusion

Chapter 2. Communication Components

Section 2.1. Overview of Communication Components

Section 2.2. Summary of Communication Components

Section 2.3. Creating an Application that Monitorsa Connection

Section 2.4. Building a Simple Chat Room

Section 2.5. Adding Audio and Video to the Chat Room

Section 2.6. Forgoing the SimpleConnect Component

Section 2.7. Conclusion

Chapter 3. Managing Connections

Section 3.1. Making a Connection

Section 3.2. Managing a Connection

Section 3.3. Reusing a NetConnection Object

Section 3.4. Multiple Simultaneous NetConnection Objects

Section 3.5. Testing and Debugging Network Connections

Section 3.6. Subclassing the NetConnection Class

Section 3.7. Communication Components Without SimpleConnect

Section 3.8. Conclusion

Chapter 4. Applications, Instances, and Server-Side ActionScript

Section 4.1. Scripting Application Instances

Section 4.2. Differences Between Flash ActionScript and Server-Side ActionScript

Section 4.3. The Life of an Application Instance

Section 4.4. Running a Simple Hello World Test Script

Section 4.5. A More Realistic Example

Section 4.6. Instance-to-Instance Communications

Section 4.7. Script Filenames and Locations in Detail

Section 4.8. Testing and Debugging Server-SideScript Files

Section 4.9. Designing Communication Applications

Section 4.10. Conclusion

Part II: Audio, Video, and Data Streams

Chapter 5. Managing Streams

Section 5.1. A Simple Publisher/Subscriber Example

Section 5.2. Stream Names

Section 5.3. Publishing Streams in Detail

Section 5.4. Playing Streams in Detail

Section 5.5. The Stream Class

Section 5.6. Publishing and Playing ActionScript Data

Section 5.7. Creating Synchronized Presentations

Section 5.8. The NetStream and Stream Information Objects

Section 5.9. Stream Enhancements and Limitations

Section 5.10. Conclusion

Chapter 6. Microphone and Camera

Section 6.1. Working with Microphone/Audio Input

Section 6.2. Working with Camera Input

Section 6.3. Building a Message-Taking Application

Section 6.4. Building a Surveillance Application

Section 6.5. Conclusion

Chapter 7. Media Preparation and Delivery

Section 7.1. Audio and Video Compression

Section 7.2. Converting Prerecorded Materialto FLV Format

Section 7.3. Using Flash Pro's Media Components

Section 7.4. Enabling Multiple Bit Rate FLVsWithin an Application

Section 7.5. Streaming MP3 Audio

Section 7.6. Conclusion

Part III: Remote Connectivity and Communication

Chapter 8. Shared Objects

Section 8.1. Objects and Shared Objects

Section 8.2. Getting a Shared Object in Flash

Section 8.3. Updates and Frame Rates

Section 8.4. Scripting Shared Objects on the Server

Section 8.5. Temporary and Persistent Shared Objects

Section 8.6. Proxied Shared Objects

Section 8.7. Shared Objects and Custom Classes

Section 8.8. Avoiding Collisions

Section 8.9. Optimizing Shared Object Performance

Section 8.10. Broadcasting Remote Method Callswith send( )

Section 8.11. A Simple Video and Text Chat Application

Section 8.12. Conclusion

Chapter 9. Remote Methods

Section 9.1. Why Use Calls?

Section 9.2. The send( ) and call( ) Methods

Section 9.3. Client-to-Server Calls

Section 9.4. Server-to-Client Calls

Section 9.5. Server-to-Server Calls

Section 9.6. A Simple Lobby/Rooms Application

Section 9.7. Debugging Calls

Section 9.8. Advanced Topics

Section 9.9. Conclusion

Chapter 10. Server Management API

Section 10.1. Connecting to the Admin Service

Section 10.2. Using the Server Management API

Section 10.3. Server Management API Uses

Section 10.4. Conclusion

Chapter 11. Flash Remoting

Section 11.1. The Remoting Gateway

Section 11.2. Remoting Basics

Section 11.3. Role of Remoting in FlashCom Applications

Section 11.4. Securing Access

Section 11.5. Conclusion

Chapter 12. ColdFusion MX and FlashCom

Section 12.1. Understanding ColdFusion MXand Flash Remoting

Section 12.2. Using Flash Remoting to Log Events

Section 12.3. Getting a List of Streams

Section 12.4. Using ColdFusion and FTP to Mirror Streams

Section 12.5. Conclusion

Part IV: Design and Deployment

Chapter 13. Building Communication Components

Section 13.1. Source Files

Section 13.2. People Lists

Section 13.3. A Simple People List

Section 13.4. Listenable Shared Objects

Section 13.5. Status and People List

Section 13.6. Text Chat

Section 13.7. Shared Text

Section 13.8. Video Conference and Video Window

Section 13.9. PeopleGrid

Section 13.10. Summary

Section 13.11. Conclusion

Chapter 14. Understanding the Macromedia Component Framework

Section 14.1. The Component Framework

Section 14.2. Under the Hood of the Chat Component

Section 14.3. Creating a Simple Component from Scratch: SharedTextInput

Section 14.4. Creating a Container Component: SharedAddressForm

Section 14.5. Creating an Authenticating Component

Section 14.6. Integrating Components with Your Existing Applications

Section 14.7. Understanding the Framework

Section 14.8. Conclusion

Chapter 15. Application Design Patterns and Best Practices

Section 15.1. Shared Object Management

Section 15.2. Moving Code to the Server

Section 15.3. Building Façades on the Server

Section 15.4. Server-Side Client Queues

Section 15.5. A Framework for Recording and Playing Back Componentized Applications

Section 15.6. Components and Component Frameworks

Section 15.7. Conclusion

Chapter 16. Building Scalable Applications

Section 16.1. Coordinating Instances

Section 16.2. Scalability and Load Balancing

Section 16.3. Conclusion

Chapter 17. Network Performance, Latency,and Concurrency

Section 17.1. Latency

Section 17.2. Bandwidth

Section 17.3. Concurrency

Section 17.4. Conclusion

Chapter 18. Securing Applications

Section 18.1. The Three A's: Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting

Section 18.2. Authentication

Section 18.3. Authorization

Section 18.4. Accounting

Section 18.5. Suggestions and References

Section 18.6. Conclusion

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Chapter 2. Communication Components

Macromedia introduced components with the release of Flash MX. Components allow a Flash designer or developer to quickly add interface elements or interactive behaviors to a Flash movie. The default installation of Flash MX 2004 enables the UI components, which are basic GUI enhancements, such as scrollbars, list boxes, and push buttons. Macromedia has continued to release additional component packages for Flash MX 2004, especially those to complement Macromedia MX server products such as Flash Remoting MX and Flash Communication Server MX. In this chapter, you will learn about the communication components and how the essential components can be used to create basic FlashCom applications.

Before you begin this chapter, make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest communication components.

If using Flash MX, obtain the communication components here:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/download/components

If using Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Pro 2004, download the updated components here:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flashcom/downloads_updaters.html

You don't have to rely solely on Macromedia's components. You can download third-party components from the Flash Communication Server category of the Exchange (http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/) and install them with the Macromedia Extension Manager. You can also create your own custom components as described in Chapter 13.

The original communication components released for Flash MX featured the Flash MX UI Components with new skins, decorating push buttons with rounded bluish rectangles. The communication components for Flash MX 2004 still use the older Flash MX UI Components, except that these versions use the original gray themed skins. The newer v2 UI components of Flash MX 2004 are not used by either version of the communication components. While the look-and-feel of the older components is not as refreshing as the newer ones, keep in mind that the older UI components are compatible with all minor releases of Flash Player 6, while the new UI components are compatible only with the last releases of Flash Player 6 and higher.

This chapter and its figures show the look-and-feel of the communication components for Flash MX 2004.