1. Remoting Fundamentals

   1. Chapter 1 Introduction to Flash Remoting

      1. What Is Flash Remoting?
      2. How Does Flash Remoting Work?
      3. Benefits
      4. Flash Remoting Requirements
      5. Supported Platforms
      6. Hello World
      7. Workflow Example
      8. Architecture for Flash Remoting Applications
      9. Wrapping Up

   2. Chapter 2 Installing, Configuring, and Using Flash Remoting

      1. Installing Flash Remoting
      2. Naming Your Services
      3. The Authoring Environment
      4. Sequence of Events in Flash
      5. Making a Remote Call
      6. Wrapping Up

   3. Chapter 3 Client/Server Interaction, UI Components, and RecordSets

      1. User Interface Components
      2. Flash UI Components Set 2 and Flash Charting Controls
      3. Macromedia's DRK
      4. Text Objects
      5. Building Forms in Flash MX
      6. The RecordSet Class
      7. DataGlue
      8. Wrapping Up

   4. Chapter 4 Flash Remoting Internals

      1. The NetConnection Class
      2. Using NetServices
      3. Creating Responder Functions
      4. RecordSet Object
      5. The Timeline
      6. Catching Errors
      7. Registering Objects
      8. Wrapping Up

2. The Server-Side Languages

   1. Chapter 5 Flash Remoting and ColdFusion MX

      1. Introduction to ColdFusion MX
      2. How ColdFusion Fits into Flash Applications
      3. Service Name Mappings
      4. ColdFusion Pages Versus ColdFusion Components
      5. Loading Query Data Incrementally
      6. ColdFusion Security: Authenticating Users
      7. Updating Data on the Server
      8. Wrapping Up

   2. Chapter 6 Server-Side ActionScript

      1. What Is Server-Side ActionScript?
      2. The CF Object
      3. When to Use Server-Side ActionScript
      4. Datatype Conversions
      5. Handling Errors with try/catch
      6. Extending Server-Side ActionScript with Java
      7. Wrapping Up

   3. Chapter 7 Flash Remoting and Java

      1. The Flash Remoting Gateway
      2. Supported Platforms
      3. Setting Up Flash Remoting for J2EE
      4. Service Types
      5. Datatype Conversions
      6. Service Lookup
      7. Invoking Service Methods
      8. Architecture and Design
      9. Referencing the Request and Session
      10. Saving and Sharing State
      11. Databinding
      12. Security
      13. OpenAMF
      14. Wrapping Up

   4. Chapter 8 Flash Remoting and .NET

      1. Overview of .NET
      2. Connecting to .NET
      3. Datatype Conversions
      4. Database Access with ADO.NET
      5. State Management
      6. Error Handling in Flash Remoting with .NET
      7. Wrapping Up

   5. Chapter 9 Flash Remoting and PHP

      1. Introduction to PHP
      2. Installing AMFPHP
      3. Datatype Conversions
      4. Using AMFPHP with Web Services
      5. Using AMFPHP with PHP Classes
      6. Working with a Database
      7. Wrapping Up

3. Advanced Flash Remoting

   1. Chapter 10 Calling Web Services from Flash Remoting

      1. What Is a Web Service?
      2. Why Use Flash Remoting?
      3. Web Services from a ColdFusion Server
      4. Web Services from an ASP.NET Server
      5. Wrapping J2EE and JRun Web Services
      6. Web Services from PHP
      7. BabelFish Web Service
      8. Datatype Conversions
      9. Creating a Flash MX Web Service Extension
      10. Wrapping Up

   2. Chapter 11 Extending Objects and UI Controls

      1. Principles Behind UI Components
      2. DataProviderClass and DataGlue
      3. Enhancing a Standard Control
      4. Enhancing the RecordSet Class for Interactivity
      5. Adding Validation to a TextField
      6. Wrapping Up

   3. Chapter 12 Flash Remoting Best Practices

      1. Separation of Tasks
      2. Separation of Functionality
      3. Server-Proofing the Application
      4. Component Use
      5. Clean API
      6. Loops and Repeated Operations
      7. OOP or Not OOP
      8. ColdFusion RecordSets
      9. Implementing Caching
      10. What to Walk Away With
      11. Wrapping Up

   4. Chapter 13 Testing and Debugging

      1. Debugging Flash Remoting Applications
      2. Trapping Errors
      3. The Flash ActionScript Debugger
      4. NetConnection Debugger
      5. NetDebug.as
      6. Trace Debugging
      7. Testing Server-Side Code
      8. Using a TCP Trace Utility
      9. Debugging SQL Code
      10. Wrapping Up

   5. Chapter 14 Real-World Application

      1. General Considerations
      2. Requirements
      3. Specifications
      4. The Modules
      5. Flash Remoting Code
      6. Testing and Debugging
      7. Completed Application
      8. Future Expansion
      9. Wrapping Up

   6. Chapter 15 Flash Remoting API

      1. Entry Headings
      2. DataGlue Object
      3. DataGlue.bindFormatFunction( ) Method
      4. DataGlue.bindFormatStrings( ) Method
      5. NetConnection Class
      6. NetConnection.addHeader( ) Method
      7. NetConnection.call( ) Method
      8. NetConnection.clone( ) Method
      9. NetConnection.close( ) Method
      10. NetConnection.connect( ) Method
      11. NetConnection.getDebugConfig( ) Method
      12. NetConnection.getDebugId( ) Method
      13. NetConnection.getService( ) Method
      14. NetConnection.ReplaceGatewayUrl( ) Method
      15. NetConnection.RequestPersistentHeader( ) Method
      16. NetConnection.setCredentials( ) Method
      17. NetConnection.setDebugId( ) Method
      18. NetConnection.trace( ) Method
      19. NetDebug Object
      20. NetDebug.trace( ) Method
      21. NetDebugConfig Class
      22. NetDebugConfig.getDebug( ) Method
      23. NetDebugConfig.setDebug( ) Method
      24. NetServices Object
      25. NetServices.createGatewayConnection( ) Method
      26. NetServices.getVersion( ) Method
      27. NetServices.setDefaultGateway( ) Method
      28. RecordSet Class
      29. RecordSet.addItem( ) Method
      30. RecordSet.addItemAt( ) Method
      31. RecordSet.addView( ) Method
      32. RecordSet.filter( ) Method
      33. RecordSet.getColumnNames( ) Method
      34. RecordSet.getItemAt( ) Method
      35. RecordSet.getItemID( ) Method
      36. RecordSet.getLength( ) Method
      37. RecordSet.getNumberAvailable( ) Method
      38. RecordSet.isFullyPopulated( ) Method
      39. RecordSet.isLocal( ) Method
      40. RecordSet.removeAll( ) Method
      41. RecordSet.removeItemAt( ) Method
      42. RecordSet.replaceItemAt( ) Method
      43. RecordSet.setDeliveryMode( ) Method
      44. RecordSet.setField( ) Method
      45. RecordSet.sort( ) Method
      46. RecordSet.sortItemsBy( ) Method

4. Appendixes

   1. Appendix A ActionScript Datatype Conversion

      1. ColdFusion Datatype Conversion
      2. Java Datatype Conversion
      3. C# Datatype Conversion
      4. Visual Basic Datatype Conversion
      5. PHP Datatype Conversion
      6. SOAP Datatype Conversion

   2. Appendix B Books and Online Resources

      1. Flash Remoting Resources
      2. Flash and ActionScript Resources
      3. Other Books of Interest
      4. Other Links of Interest

   3. Appendix C Specification and Implementation for a Real-World Application

      1. Notes from the Designer

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide is a cuttlefish. Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are commonly found in the eastern Atlantic from England to North Africa and throughout the Mediterranean Sea. This softbodied marine creature belongs to the Cephalopoda class and, like all cephalopods, has a large head ringed by arms. Cuttlefish have eight arms, plus two long tentacles with suckers on their ends. Cuttlefish are usually about a foot long, and they move through the water by rippling a skirt of fins. They are sometimes called the chameleons of the sea because they can easily change their striped skin color to hide from predators or communicate with other cuttlefish.

In addition to the camouflage offered by their ability to change color, threatened cuttlefish use ink to defend themselves. Their ink glands produce a foul-smelling dark brown ink that distracts enemies such as sharks, larger fish, and even other cuttlefish. They can then fill the ink funnel with water, expel it, and propel themselves to safety. Cuttlefish ink (also called sepia) was once used to color photographs; however, they are no longer fished for this purpose, and cuttlefish caught in trawl nets usually wind up on a dinner table.

Cuttlefish are also well-known for the one bone in their body, called the cuttlebone. This bone is made up of porous calcium carbonate that allows the cuttlefish to control its buoyancy by changing the proportions of liquid to air within chambers of the bone. Cuttlebones often wash ashore and are the only remains of a cuttlefish after its death. These bones are often sold as bill-sharpeners for captive birds or are ground up and offered as a source of calcium for other pets. Genevieve d'Entremont was the production editor for Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide. Brian Sawyer proofread the book. Emily Quill and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Mary Agner, Jamie Peppard, and James Quill provided production assistance. Octal Publishing, Inc. wrote the index.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from Cuvier's Animals. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Andrew Savikas and Julie Hawks to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Philip Dangler.