New tutorial from Macromedia: Using the Google web service in Macromedia Flash MX. A nice tutorial of how you can implement Google search with Flash MX and ColdFusion MX.
There are several things that bug me though. First, why is it that Macromedia is only able to provide the tutorial as a PDF file? I can’t see any good reason why the tutorial couldn’t have been delivered online by HTML with the PDF download optional. And, why is it that the files are distributed as “windows source files”, I get that the Dreamweaver MX for Mac does not support web services (I purposely did not use the word understand, because I don’t understand why Macromedia aren’t supporting web services in Dreamweaver MX for Mac) but the files should be usable even on Mac, and should even be deployable directly on your machine if you have OSX and have taken the time to fix your own installation of ColdFusion MX (again I am amazed that Macromedia has failed to deliver a OSX distribution of ColdFusion MX).
Its weird really, this new tutorial from Macromedia for hooking into web services with ColdFusion MX and Flash MX showcases Macromedia’s understanding and lack of understanding of the web all at the same time.
[Via Mike Chambers]
“First, why is it that Macromedia is only able to provide the tutorial as a PDF file?”
I’m with you. Make it HTML or SWF. If you could drop that request off at the feedback page then that would help buttress my own internal requests, thanks.
For DW/Mac and web services, I tried to get to the bottom of this but am not confident I got it… there’s some lack of introspection on the Mac due to inability on that platform of proxy generators, or something like that… I *want* to better understand the platform difference here, but I haven’t been able to boil it down to a testable sentence yet, sorry.
For CF/Mac, I’ve also been pushing for a better public story on what this would entail. It’s very helpful if these requests come in through the feedback page so the entire product team gets the public word directly, as well as indirectly. From what I understand there are non-Java native components which are platform-specific, but the main cost is in testing the various external cofactors: testing with various Mac HTTP servers, testing various local databases, testing various connecting database drivers. That’s why they leave “mac” blank on the product page now, but I agree that we need a more readily-understood public story on this.
jd
Here’s my implementation (completed before the MM went up).
Floogle MX:
http://www.flash-db.com/Google/FloogleMX.html
The Download and Documentation:
http://www.flash-db.com/Google/
The comparison between CF and PHP:
http://www.flash-db.com/Google/Compare.php
(use’s MM’s client for both CF and PHP);
Some other web Service’s I’ve put up for download in the past couple weeks/months:
http://www.flash-db.com/Currency/ (Currency Conversion)
http://www.flash-db.com/Translate/ (Language Translator)
By looking over the code – It should be really easy for anyone to implement a Web Service in Flash.