Flex Data Access

The Flex SDK contains features for accessing server-side data. Flex data access components are based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA). These components use remote procedure calls to interact with server environments, such as PHP, Adobe ColdFusion, and Microsoft ASP.NET, to provide data to Flex applications and send data to back-end data sources.

Depending on the types of interfaces you have to a particular server-side application, you can connect to a Flex application by using one of the following methods:

  • HTTP GET or POST by using the HTTPService component
  • Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) compliant web services by using the WebService component
  • Adobe Action Message Format (AMF) remoting services by using the RemoteObject component

This is a quick comparison of the three Flex Data Access methods

HTTPService
 WebService
 RemoteObject
Methodology
 RESTful web service SOAP compliant web service AMF
Data format
 Text (usually XML or JSON) Text Binary
Client side memory requirement
 Medium High Low
Technology dependencies
 None None Java, ColdFusion
Note: AMFPHP provides a 3rd party solution for developing PHP based applications
Speed Medium Slow Fast

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Published:
September 22, 2009 / 11:14 am
Category:
Flex
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