Thursday, August 01, 2002
Announcing CFMX/FMX/Flash Remoting Directory Browser Beta
I've had a demo application for CFMX/FMX/Flash Remoting floating around since Neo, it does vitrually the same thing as the Java file browser that has been part of the ColdFusion administrator ever since I've been using CF.
This is a beta that I've recently done a little more work on that I'm making public.
Flash Remoting has to be the sleeping giant, the ability to develop applications that combine the power of ColdFusion with Flash MX components to deliver complete applications that only need the Flash player for deployment is going change everything.
I was inspired by Neo as a beta tester and as a brain exercise I've been playing off and on with a file browsing application for Flash Remoting to demonstrate the power of various MX applications working together.
Rather than keep it to myself I thought that I'd release it in it's rough state so that others can give it a go.
As you can see from this screen shot it looks similar to the Windows Explorer, on the Flash MX side it was built using the Tree component from Flash UI Components Set 2. ActionScript is doing almost everything else.
The Tree grabs the drives, both local and network, from the server as the Flash movie loads, then grabs additional directories and their contents on demand as the user expands nodes. Once loaded a node is cached in the Tree.
ActionScript internally constructs the file path as a complete value and passes it to the server with every call to Flash Remoting.
On the ColdFusion MX side we're using a CFC (ColdFusion Component) to handle the requests from the Flash movie via Flash Remoting.
The CFC has two methods, one to retrieve the server's drives on load, and another to retrieve the contents of the drives and directories selected in the Flash movie.
The CFC takes advantage of COM on Windows servers to retrieve necessary drive details, it uses CFDirectory otherwise. The COM object that we're using offers performance enhancements to the application in additional to drive information such as drive type (local/network etc.) as well.
ColdFusion also identifies the file type and passes information to the Flash movie to modify the file icon based on MX application support.
Download all required files as a zip (size: 68239 bytes).
Posted by at 09:40 AM | Permalink
Trackback: http://blog.daemon.com.au/cgi-bin/dmblog/mt-tb.cgi/31
Any chance of putting up the FLA for download?
Posted by: martin on August 1, 2002 09:49 AM
Martin, clicking on the word "download" in the article above should give you the linked .zip with all the bit & pieces.
Posted by: Andrew on August 1, 2002 09:55 AM
Andrew, the FLA isn't actually included in the zip. Is that by design?
Posted by: Phil on August 1, 2002 11:57 AM
I think Andrew is looking at releasing the underlying source when it's been tested a bit more.. you know developer pride and all that :)
Posted by: Geoff Bowers on August 1, 2002 12:47 PM
There's some dogey stuff in there that I want to hack away at before I let the FLA escape folks, will eventually post here.
Posted by: Andrew on August 1, 2002 01:15 PM
I'm anxiously waiting for the FLA too.... I'd love to work in it a well.
Do you know whats causing the slownewss problems you've been writing about?
thanks
alessandro
Posted by: alessandro on August 1, 2002 07:24 PM
Where's the right-click feature!!! :) (ie move dirs etc) :D
See now your just the Flash Master, but if you build that feature into the overall component, you will become the JEDI Flash Master :D
Scott
Posted by: Scott Barnes on August 5, 2002 12:19 PM
what, no .FLA yet?
do i like have use ASviewer or something? :)
please please give us the fla im dying to see how you implemented dynamic loading client-side.. i've been wanting to do the same for a while...
10x ale
Posted by: alessandro on August 21, 2002 12:37 AM
On the Right-Click, heres an alternative:
http://www.pixelplay.org/jeff/rightClick
Posted by: Scott Barnes on September 3, 2002 03:48 PM
Looks like it could be a cool tool.
Is there anything about the SWF that requires the code be placed in a specific directory? I wouldn't expect it to be so.
But I find when I run the flashDirectoryBrowse.html file in the zip (yes, unloaded into the CFMX web server dir and browsed via the web server), the flash movie displays but never says anything but "retrieving initial directories".
Posted by: charlie arehart on October 4, 2002 01:49 PM
This is wicked awesome in concept. I've been searching all over the net for something like this. Can I paypal you some cash ($100?) to make this fully useable? IE you navigate down to a directory and can select/highlight a bunch of files, and it returns back a form variable with the directory and the names of the selected files that would be chillin. And I think to help on the performance (I get the same problem as alessandro), be able to give it a starting path.. As opposed to the entire drive.
I've been trying to use the applet based on that comes with cold fusion, and it's too damn hard to get working well.
You would be my personal hero. :)
Posted by: Tariq Ahmed on June 19, 2003 03:32 AM
Any chance of putting up the FLA for download?
Posted by: martin on August 1, 2002 09:49 AM
Martin, clicking on the word "download" in the article above should give you the linked .zip with all the bit & pieces.
Posted by: Andrew on August 1, 2002 09:55 AM
Andrew, the FLA isn't actually included in the zip. Is that by design?
Posted by: Phil on August 1, 2002 11:57 AM
I think Andrew is looking at releasing the underlying source when it's been tested a bit more.. you know developer pride and all that :)
Posted by: Geoff Bowers on August 1, 2002 12:47 PM
There's some dogey stuff in there that I want to hack away at before I let the FLA escape folks, will eventually post here.
Posted by: Andrew on August 1, 2002 01:15 PM
I'm anxiously waiting for the FLA too.... I'd love to work in it a well.
Do you know whats causing the slownewss problems you've been writing about?
thanks
alessandro
Posted by: alessandro on August 1, 2002 07:24 PM
Where's the right-click feature!!! :) (ie move dirs etc) :D
See now your just the Flash Master, but if you build that feature into the overall component, you will become the JEDI Flash Master :D
Scott
Posted by: Scott Barnes on August 5, 2002 12:19 PM
what, no .FLA yet?
do i like have use ASviewer or something? :)
please please give us the fla im dying to see how you implemented dynamic loading client-side.. i've been wanting to do the same for a while...
10x ale
Posted by: alessandro on August 21, 2002 12:37 AM
On the Right-Click, heres an alternative:
http://www.pixelplay.org/jeff/rightClick
Posted by: Scott Barnes on September 3, 2002 03:48 PM
Looks like it could be a cool tool.
Is there anything about the SWF that requires the code be placed in a specific directory? I wouldn't expect it to be so.
But I find when I run the flashDirectoryBrowse.html file in the zip (yes, unloaded into the CFMX web server dir and browsed via the web server), the flash movie displays but never says anything but "retrieving initial directories".
Posted by: charlie arehart on October 4, 2002 01:49 PM
This is wicked awesome in concept. I've been searching all over the net for something like this. Can I paypal you some cash ($100?) to make this fully useable? IE you navigate down to a directory and can select/highlight a bunch of files, and it returns back a form variable with the directory and the names of the selected files that would be chillin. And I think to help on the performance (I get the same problem as alessandro), be able to give it a starting path.. As opposed to the entire drive.
I've been trying to use the applet based on that comes with cold fusion, and it's too damn hard to get working well.
You would be my personal hero. :)
Posted by: Tariq Ahmed on June 19, 2003 03:32 AM