Adobe Flex Builder 2 + Charting (EN) Win32, TLP Educational 1-999 54020031ER User Manual
Product codes
54020031ER
1
Adobe Flex 2
Flex and portals
Portals facilitate the aggregation of web content and applications in an integrated user interface.
While many portlets are rendered in HTML, developers can use Flex to render the user interface
of portlets and greatly improve the user experience within a portal. In addition, using Flex Data
Services, developers can integrate the Flex application with existing security profiles and
business logic running in the portal environment or within other applications running at the
server tier.
While many portlets are rendered in HTML, developers can use Flex to render the user interface
of portlets and greatly improve the user experience within a portal. In addition, using Flex Data
Services, developers can integrate the Flex application with existing security profiles and
business logic running in the portal environment or within other applications running at the
server tier.
JSR 168 created a common method to expose web applications as portlets so that they can be easily
aggregated into a portal. Much of the pain of aggregating disparate web applications lies in
dealing with application state. Flex applications avoid this pain because the state of a Flex
application primarily lives on the client. This also simplifies the process of exposing Flex
applications as remote portlets.
aggregated into a portal. Much of the pain of aggregating disparate web applications lies in
dealing with application state. Flex applications avoid this pain because the state of a Flex
application primarily lives on the client. This also simplifies the process of exposing Flex
applications as remote portlets.
To integrate Flex with a portal environment, developers will generally create a JSP, HTML, and/or
Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) wrapper that includes the compiled Flex application.
When the portlet is requested, the compiled Flex application is delivered to the user and included
in the portal page. Either the Flex application can run as a small window within a page that
contains multiple portlets, or it can be launched as a full-screen application once the user selects
it from the navigation bar.
Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) wrapper that includes the compiled Flex application.
When the portlet is requested, the compiled Flex application is delivered to the user and included
in the portal page. Either the Flex application can run as a small window within a page that
contains multiple portlets, or it can be launched as a full-screen application once the user selects
it from the navigation bar.
The original portlet spec (JSR 168) was primarily about aggregation, but it failed to address issues
like interportlet communication, which becomes particularly relevant to rich client applications
built with Flex or Ajax. While there are no issues with using the existing WSRP standard for
remote Flex portlets or with using existing vendor-specific interportlet communication APIs inside
Flex applications, JSR 286 was begun to standardize interportlet communication and to remedy
other shortcomings of JSR 168. Adobe is participating in JSR 286 as an expert group member to
help ensure better support for client-side state and asynchronous requests.
like interportlet communication, which becomes particularly relevant to rich client applications
built with Flex or Ajax. While there are no issues with using the existing WSRP standard for
remote Flex portlets or with using existing vendor-specific interportlet communication APIs inside
Flex applications, JSR 286 was begun to standardize interportlet communication and to remedy
other shortcomings of JSR 168. Adobe is participating in JSR 286 as an expert group member to
help ensure better support for client-side state and asynchronous requests.
For more information on using Flex in a portal environment, visit www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/
articles/flex_portals.html.
articles/flex_portals.html.
Flex and the Microsoft .NET platform
Flex applications can deliver a rich user interface for back-end systems implemented on Microsoft’s
.NET platform. Since application clients built in Flex are server agnostic, they can communicate
with web services or HTTP services built with ASP.NET or C# just as easily as they can with
systems implemented in Java, ColdFusion, or other technologies.
.NET platform. Since application clients built in Flex are server agnostic, they can communicate
with web services or HTTP services built with ASP.NET or C# just as easily as they can with
systems implemented in Java, ColdFusion, or other technologies.
Additionally, while Flex Data Services is implemented in Java, it can be deployed with a .NET
environment. As illustrated in Figure 13, the destinations exposed by Flex Data Services can be
composed from multiple services built in .NET technologies.
environment. As illustrated in Figure 13, the destinations exposed by Flex Data Services can be
composed from multiple services built in .NET technologies.
User
App
Server
Server
Resource
Tier
Tier
SOAP
SOAP
.NET Objects/Services
.NET Objects/Services
XML/
REST
XML/
REST
COM
Adapter
COM
Adapter
Flex Application Client
Flex Data Services
Figure 1: Flex in a .NET environment.