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Flash Communication Server
Flash Communication Server
Table of Contents
Copyright
About the Authors
Brian Lesser
Giacomo
Joey Lott
Robert Reinhardt
Justin Watkins
Foreword
Preface
What Does FlashCom Offer?
What's in This Book?
How to Use This Book
Audience
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
Voice
Using Code Examples
Safari Enabled
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
SYMBOL
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W

Acknowledgments

Pritham Shetty and his colleagues at Macromedia have helped create a unique and powerful new way to develop richer and more compelling Internet applications. Working with their creation has been a wonderful opportunity for me to rediscover the value of the Internet and how it can facilitate communications between people. Looking back through the emails I've filed away from many engineers and others, I'm surprised by how many Macromedians have so patiently answered questions and been so generous with information since FlashCom was released. My thanks to Pritham Shetty, Srinivas Manapragada, Giacomo "Peldi" Guilizzoni, Brad Edelman, Brian Payne, Manish Anand, Slavik Lozben, Jonathan Gay, David Simmons, Chris Hock, Sarah Allen, Edward Chan, Peter Ryce, Elliot Winard, Colin Cherot, Asa Whillock, Rick Jashnani, Damian Burns, Peter Santangeli, Hava Edelstein, Jim Whitfield, Mike Chambers, and Stephen Cheng.

This book took a long time to write. When I first read that Bruce Epstein was interested in receiving proposals for an O'Reilly book on the FlashCom Server, I knew there was no way I could write the book alone. I worked with a few other people to produce a proposal and start work. Some of the original coauthors had to drop out of the project because of other commitments. So I am especially appreciative of the efforts of my coauthors: Giacomo Guilizzoni, Joey Lott, Robert Reinhardt, and Justin Watkins, who saw this project through with me. All of them, like me, worked many long hours trying to balance work, family, and the extra effort of writing a book about a new technology for O'Reilly. See the About the Authors section in the back of the book for each author's biography and a list of the chapters each contributed.

My coauthors and I are all indebted to the people who took time to carefully review chapters in the book: Srinivas Manapragada, David Simmons, Asa Whillock, Edward Chan, Brian Robbins, Nigel Pegg, Will Law, and Brad Edelman. The book is so much better because of their efforts. The book also benefited from reviews, comments, or short contributions from Craig Moehl, Graeme Bull, and Chafic Kazoun.

The FlashComm mailing list available at http://chattyfig.figleaf.com has been an excellent resource for developers using the Flash Communication Server. Contributions to the list by Pritham Shetty, Srinivas Manapragada, Giacomo Guilizzoni, Jonathan Gay, David Simmons, Chris Hock, Edward Chan, Mike Chambers, and Asa Whillock at Macromedia have been tremendously helpful. But the list has also seen valuable questions, experiments, sample code postings, and other contributions from Samuel Wan, Justin Watkins, Branden Hall, Brian Hogg, Robert Reinhardt, Joey Lott, Aral Balkan, aYo Binitie, Jesse Warden, John Robinson, Jorge Maiquez, Peter Hall, Greg Burch, Marc Vezina, Nick Kuh, Phillip Kerman, Fernando Flórez, Chris Harper, Bill Sanders, and many others. I am thankful for being able to correspond with so many interesting people with so many different perspectives. The archives of the FlashComm mailing list can be searched at http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/private/flashcomm.

Thanks to Ryuichi Matsuse for inspiring me to look more seriously at remote objects that are also locally persistent.

Bruce Epstein made this book possible. From his original request for proposals, through his guidance in shaping our work, to his tireless work as the editor of the book itself, he never failed to astonish me with his knowledge, attention to detail, and energy. Bruce is always working for the reader so if you enjoy reading this book it is partly because of his hard work.

Thanks to the entire O'Reilly staff who contributed to this book's publication, including the production editor, Adam Witwer; the copyeditor, Norma Emory; the proofreader, Sada Preisch; as well as Rob Romano, Bill Takacs, and Julie Hawks.

I have the privilege to work with many talented and hardworking people at Ryerson University who were quite understanding when my work on this book took me away from spending extra hours on other projects. My thanks to Renee Lemieux, Larry Lemieux, Grace Chan, Robin Whittamore, Wendy Freeman, Ken Woo, and Ira Levine, and to everyone in CCS and my students.

Thank you so much, Norma and Emma.

Brian Lesser

Toronto, Canada

December 2004