FotoFlexer and ColdFusion

[Guest]

How do I run FotoFlexer in ColdFusion?  I see the php version.  Has anyone set it up in ColdFusion?  It seems like this would be standard since it is written in Adobe Flex (Adobe ColdFusion)?  Any help would be appreciated.  I'm ready to get this rolling!  Thanks!

[ilssac]

Flex IS NOT ColdFusion.  One is a client side presentation language that uses MXML and ActionScript to leverage the Flash Player for event driven user interface applicaitons.

The other is a server side middle ware language that uses CFML to interact with databases and other data stores to retreive and work with data to be delivered to user interface.  Since the original user interface was HTML it as a lot of capablity to gernerate HTML user interfaces, but it has long since grown beyond working only with HTML.

Flex and ColdFusion hapily work together if a designer would like them to.

Now I will go and google this FotoFlexer and see what you are asking about.

[Guest]

Thank you for your prompt response.  I'm trying to figure out how Flex plays with ColdFusion.  I've been so focused on ColdFusion development that I haven't resurfaced to see what else is out there - which is a LOT!  I want to integrate some of Flex's features on my ColdFusion apps.  I don't even know where to begin.

[ilssac]

There is ALOT, that is for sure.

Flex is to replace the HTML interface that you have probably been using todate with your ColdFusion development.  If you want to tie Flex and ColdFusion together, you would use ColdFusion soley as the middle ware to get data from databases or other sources to be sent to the Flex interface and receive data from the Flex interface to be stored in databases or other sources.

Flex has NO CONCEPT of a database.  It can not connect to one, you don't write SQL code in flex.  It is all about a Event Driven, Object Orientated User Interface that runs in the Flash Player.  What Flex can do, is make several types of requests to a server, HTTP request, XML request, web service request, AMF request, ect.  It can then respond to the event of receiving data back in response to these requests.

ColdFusion would then just be simple .cfm or .cfc that is waiting for these request process the info from the request, retreive relevant stored data, format in the desired fromat, HTML strings, XML packages, JSON, ect. and then return that to be sent by the web server back to the Flash player running in the clients browser.

HTH a little

Ian

[Guest]

Ahhhh, I'm starting to get it.   Thank you!

[Guest]

Thanks for your info.  The place that I read that FotoFlexer was built with Flex was http://www.adobe.com/devnet/projects/ria/.

I'm still learning.

[ilssac]

I'm sorry, you are right.  I did not notice the "Flash blocker" tab that tells me my browser is running a Flash player instance the first time I looked at it.

It is indeed a Flash interface that apparently was built with Flex.

But you have nothing to do with the Flex of this app.  You would just use the API to make requests of the Fotoflex web service and have you 'call back' page, easily a ColdFusion page, process the respone you get back from the request.

The flex has already been built for you.

Now if you want to build your own Flex User Interface, that is a whole other story.

[ilssac]

Ok, I googled FotoFlexer and I get a web site http://fotoflexer.com/ for "The worlds most advanced online image editor".  How did you plan to integrate this web site applicaiton into ColdFusion or any other sever technology that you control?

[Guest]

Well, I was going to have it as an option in their website manager to manipulate images for their website postings.  It would be a back-end feature for the administrator.

[ilssac]

I have now dug a little deeper and see that there is an API with PHP example code.  I can only presume this is what you where asking about in the orginal question.  It would have been very helpful if you had mentioned this up front.  If I had not had some time to kill, I would normally not have dug this deeply.

Anyway the API, is set up that you use Javascript to call the FotoFlexer code and generate the image manipluation requests.  Apparently you provide ad 'callback' page for where the manipluated image will delivered.

A php samle call back page has been provided.  Not really knowing PHP, what I see that page doing is accessing a get (AKA URL) variable.  In ColdFusion, this would be URL.image OR URL["image"].

It then does a check of that url string to make sure it is from the FotoFlexer web site.  A security measure I presume.

It then gets the image from the content_type.  I don't know if this means the image was already delivered, or if this is some type of PHP function that makes a request.  If the latter that would be the <cfhttp...> tag.  If the former that would be using CFMLs request content processing, I'm not familar enought with that to sugest tags or functions, but I'm sure the can be found with a search of the documentation or the internets.

It then saves the image to a local file.  That would be through the <cffile...> or possibly the new <cfimage...> tags.

HTH

Ian

P.S. I see no indication this web service makes use of FLEX.  I see no indication that flash player is running when I access it.  I suspect JQUERY, but I did not dig to find out.