MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 7.0.2-USING COLDFUSION MX WITH FLEX... Mounting instructions

Using ColdFusion MX with Flex 2

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Acknowledgments
Project Management: Randy Nielsen
Writing: Anne Sandstrom
Editing: Linda Adler
Production Management: Adam Bernett
Media Design and Production: Masayo Noda
Special thanks to Linda Adler, Randy Nielsen, Bill Sahlas, Farah Gron, Bob Powelll, Mike Nimer., Dean Harmon, and
Tom Jor d h a l
First Edition: June, 2006
Adobe Systems Incorporated
601 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
Contents
Chapter 1: Using Flash Remoting Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About Flash Remoting Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Using Flash Remoting Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Data translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Chapter 2: Using the Flex Messaging Event Gateway . . . . . . . . . 13
About Flex and ColdFusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Configuring a Flex Messaging event gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Enabling communication with Flex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Sending outgoing messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Handling incoming messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Using session and client variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Data translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 3: Use ColdFusion Event Gateway Adapter . . . . . . . . . 25
Set up your development environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Create the Flex application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Import the required ActionScript classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Create the ColdFusion application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Test the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 4: Using the Flex Data Service Assembler . . . . . . . . . . 35
About Flex and ColdFusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Application development and deployment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Enabling SSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Data translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Example application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4Contents
Chapter 5: Using the ColdFusion Extensions for
Flex Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
About the ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Installing the ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Eclipse RDS Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
ColdFusion/Flex Application wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
ActionScript to CFC wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
CFC to ActionScript wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
RDS CRUD wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Services Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

5
1
CHAPTER 1
Using Flash Remoting
Update
You can use Macromedia Flash Remoting Update to create rich Internet applications in
ColdFusion MX 7.0.2.
Contents
About Flash Remoting Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Using Flash Remoting Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
About Flash Remoting Update
The Flash Remoting Update lets you create rich Internet applications (RIAs) by using Adobe
Flex Builder 2, with the advanced data retrieval features of ColdFusion, such as the cfpop,
cfldap, and cfquery tags. In addition, you can use Flash Remoting Update to create
Macromedia Flash Forms and Flash applications that contain features such as server call backs
and customized user interface.
You can use Flash Remoting Update with all configurations of ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 (server,
multiserver, and J2EE) on all the platforms that ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 supports.
To use Flash Remoting Update, you must have the following installed:
■Flex Builder 2
■Flash Player 9
■ColdFusion MX 7.0.2

6 Using Flash Remoting Update
Using Flash Remoting Update
To specify a CFC to connect to, you do one of the following:
■Specify the CFC, including the path from the web root, in the MXML.
■Create a named resource for each CFC that you connect to. This is similar to registering a
data source.
To specify the CFC in the MXML:
■Specify the CFC, including the path from the web root, in the MXML; for example:
<mx:RemoteObject
id="myCfc"
destination="ColdFusion"
source="myApplication.components.User"/>
The destination “ColdFusion” is preconfigured in the services-config.xml file, which is
located in the ColdFusion webroot\WEB-INF\flex directory, with the wildcard *as the
source. To use the source attribute in MXML, you can use any destination by specifying
the source="*". If you specify a source other than “*”, that source definition overrides
the source specified in the MXML.
To create a named resource for each CFC that you connect to:
1. Edit the services-config.xml file by adding an entry for each CFC that you connect to, for
example:
<destination id="CustomID">
<channels>
<channel ref="my-cfamf"/>
</channels>
<properties>
<source>dot_ path_to_CFC</source>
<lowercase-keys>true</lowercase-keys>
</properties>
</destination>
The source attribute specifies the dot notation to the CFC from the web root (the
classpath to the CFC).
2. Restart the ColdFusion server.

Using Flash Remoting Update 7
To use the CFC resource in your Flex Builder 2 project:
1. For each Flex Builder 2 project, set the Flex compiler property by doing the following:
a. Select Project > Properties.
b. Select the Flex complier option.
c. Enter the following in the Additional Compiler Argument text box:
--services=C:\CFusionMX7\wwwroot\WEB-INF\flex\services-config.xml
2. In the mxml file, you use the <mx:RemoteObject> tag to connect to your CFC named
resource. With this connection you can call any remote method on the CFC.
3. Use the destination attribute of the <mx:RemoteObbject> tag to point to the name that
you defined in the services-config.xml file; for example:
<mx:RemoteObject
id="a_named_reference_to_use_in_mxml"
destination="CustomID"
result="my_CFC_handler(event)"/>
4. Call a CFC method, for example, as the following example shows:
<mx:Button label="reload" click="my_CFC.getUsers()"/>
In this example, when a user presses a button, the Click event calls the CFC method
getUsers.
5. Specify a handler for the return result of the CFC method call for the <mx:RemoteObject>
tag, as the following example shows.
private function my_CFC_handler( event:ResultEvent )
{
// Show alert with the value that is returned from the CFC.
mx.controls.Alert.show(ObjectUtil.toString(event.result));
}

8 Using Flash Remoting Update
Flash Remoting Update and authentication
The Flash client passes the username and password, which are set in the Flash client, to the
CFC. To authenticate users when using Flash Remoting Update, you can then use the
cflogin tag to authenticate the user.
Flash Remoting Update supports the same authentication mechanism as any HTTP request
from the browser, including getting and setting cookies. This mechanism allws you to take
advantage of the same authentication systems you use for any normal HTTP request. To take
advantage of this functionality in a Flash application, you need to set the HTTP authorization
headers by specifying the user’s username and password with the RemoteObject
setRemoteCredentials method. When ColdFusion receives the Flash Remoting /http
request, ColdFusion populates the cflogin.name and cflogin.password variables (inside the
cflogin tag) with these values. For more information, see the documentation for the
cflogin tag.
Example application
The following sample application lets you test authentication. It consists of a Flex application,
and a ColdFusion application that consists of an Application.cfm file and the ColdFusion
component that the Flex application calls.
The Flex application appears as follows:
The Flex application above lets you enter a username and password. It creates a remote object
to the CFC. Because the application creates a remote object that is managed by a CFC, you
can set a username and password for the authentication mechanism of the remote service.
When you click the Login button, the application calls the setRemoteCredentials method,
using the username and password entered in the text boxes. This sets the properties in the
mx:RemoteObject tag, which are passed in all future requests.

Using Flash Remoting Update 9
When you click the Logout button, the application calls the setRemoteCredentials
method, which sets the username and password to null, and logs out the user on the client
side. In addition, the application calls the logoutuser method, which handles server side
logout.
When you click the Get Secure Data button, the application calls the getData method in the
MXML file, which, in turn, calls the getData function in the CFC. The getData function in
the CFC returns a string for purposes of this simple test application, but could be modified to
return data such as the results of a query.
The Flex application also includes the serverFault and serverResult methods, which
display an alert box to indicate whether the login was successful or not.
The MXML file appears as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" xmlns="*"
layout="absolute">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
import mx.utils.ObjectUtil;
import mx.controls.Alert;
import mx.rpc.events.FaultEvent;
private function logIn():void{
cf.setRemoteCredentials(this.username.text, this.password.text);
}
private function logOut():void
{
cf.setRemoteCredentials(null, null);
cf.logoutuser();
}
private function getData():void
{
cf.getData();
}
private function serverFault(event:FaultEvent):void{
Alert.show( ObjectUtil.toString(event.fault) );
Alert.show( "error" );
}
private function serverResult(event:ResultEvent):void{
Alert.show( ObjectUtil.toString(event));
Alert.show( "success" );
}
]]>
</mx:Script>

10 Using Flash Remoting Update
<mx:RemoteObject id="cf"
destination="ColdFusion"
source="CFIDE.samples.LoginTest.logintest">
<mx:method name="getData" result="serverResult(event)"
fault="serverFault(event)" />
<mx:method name="logoutuser" />
</mx:RemoteObject>
<mx:Form x="10" y="10">
<mx:FormItem label="username">
<mx:TextInput id="username" text="admin"/>
</mx:FormItem>
<mx:FormItem label="password">
<mx:TextInput id="password" text="adminpwd"/>
</mx:FormItem>
<mx:FormItem direction="horizontal">
<mx:Button label="Login" click="logIn();"/>
<mx:Button label="Logout" click="logOut()"/>
</mx:FormItem>
<mx:Button label="Get Secure Data" click="getData();"/>
</mx:Form>
</mx:Application>
The Application.cfm file authenticates the user and identifies the user with the flexadmin role.
<cfapplication name="loginTest6" sessionmanagement="true"
setclientcookies="true">
<cflogin>
<cfif isDefined("cflogin.name") or isDefined("cflogin.password")>
<cfloginuser name="#cflogin.name#" password="#cflogin.password#"
roles="flexadmin">
</cfif>
</cflogin>