Charting with CF and Flex

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Google App Engine and Flex

Andrew Schwabe

Chief Technology Officer – IEXP | FusionDox

www.fusiondox.com

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Who is this guy anyway?

A. ColdFusion developer since version 3

B. Flex Developer since Flex 2 Betas

C. Worked in web development for 13+ years

D. CTO with IEXP | FusionDox, Member of Magic Industries Australia,Private consultant

E. Lead Architect for:• FusionDox Document Mgt Technologies

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Terminology Disclaimer

A. We will be using terms from ColdFusion, Flex and Java

B. Google is your friend

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If you are not a Java Programmer...

A. Its ok :) Open your mind...

B. Copy & Paste to get started

C. I don't code in Java every day

D. As a CF developer, it is good to know a little

E. This is a crash course, not an authoritative lesson in Java coding discipline!

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What is Google App Engine (GAE)

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A. Lets you run your applications on Google's infrastructure

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B. Virtualization Technology

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C. Uses Python and Java

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C. Uses Python and Java

D. Its OPEN

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Why bother?

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Why bother?

A. We can use Flex :)

B. Scalability is handled automatically by Google!

C. Open

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Why bother?

A. We can use Flex :)

B. Scalability is handled automatically by Google!

C. Open

FREE HOSTING

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FREE? But What is the catch ?

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FREE? But What is the catch ?

A. Have to use Google's Web Toolkit (GWT)

B. Get up to 500MB of free storage

C. Supports about 5 million page views per month

D. Host it at myapp.appspot.com or myapp.mydomain.com (using Google Apps)

E. Above 500MB/5M views costs $$$

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Do I have to use Google Web Toolkit???

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A. YES.

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A. YES.

B. But its not that bad – and actually we won't be doing much with it anyway

C. And apps written with GWT can be hosted on your own server on your own JVM if you wanted

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From Here to There...

A. Build your app with Google's tools on your local machine

B. Publish the app to Google

C. Use Datastore for storage

D. No filesystem writing capability

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Datastore

A. Kind of like a database

B. You have to work a bit harder to relate your data

C. Why?

D. Not sure. Maybe b/c it is FAST and DUMB

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No Filesystem Writing

A. No custom logging

B. You can't easily “tweak” things once they are on the production system

C. Forces you to plan your app. (Not a bad thing)

D. Not suitable for hosting your MP3s or WaReZ

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Java NOT Python

A. Originally planned to use Python

B. Since the topic was chosen, Google came out with Java tools

C. I re-built all the demos using Java tools

D. CF is much closer related to CF than Python

E. Learning a little Java is a good thing

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Java NOT Python

A. Originally planned to use Python

B. Since the topic was chosen, Google came out with Java tools

C. I re-built all the demos using Java tools

D. CF is much closer related to CF than Python.

E. Learning a little Java is a good thing

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Development Environment

A. Flex Builder

B. It really does help to have Flex Builder installed as a plugin in a full Eclipse installation

C. Most developers probably will not, so we will use a standalone Flex Builder install for the demos

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Development Environment

A. Download a full Eclipse installation

B. Install Google Eclipse Plugin for JavaC. http://code.google.com/eclipse/docs/download.html

D. PyDev if you want to develop with Python

E. Includes Google Web Toolkit (GWT)

F. Consider some add-ons like Aptana(has a nice XML editor among other things)

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Starting a new GAE Java Project

A. From Projects View

B. New → Project → Google Web ApplicationC. Give it a name

D. Give it a package namespace(i.e. com.yourcompany.projectname)

E. Keep the rest of the defaults and finish

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Starting a new GAE Java Project

A. It will add a lot of stuff to your project

B. The “src” directory is where you will add your Java related code

C. The “war” directory is essentially your webrootThis is where your html/flex/etc. files go

D. The default project adds a “greeting” app so that your app does something right away

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Running the new GAE Java Project

A. Select your project

B. Run As... Web ApplicationC. It should open the GAE window and a web browser

to your default document

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Important Files

A. war/WEB-INF/web.xml– Sets the start up page for your app– Configure your servlet here

B. war/WEB-INF/appengine-web.xml– Defines the unique ID for your app– Defines the version number for your app

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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface

A. A Fast Web Log aka FLOG application

B. UI in Flex

C. Back end in Java using HTTP to send/retrieve with XML

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A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)

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A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)◊ Contains all the data we want to persist◊ Declare the class as @Persistent◊ Define private vars for each value you want to store◊ Define getters and setters for each◊ Copy/paste the rest and don't worry about it :)

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B. Add a Service Implementation (FlexServiceImpl.java)

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◊ Define one function called doGet()◊ It handles multiple actions (save, delete, list)◊ Construct XML to send back to flex via HTTP◊ Take note of PersistenceManager

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C. Update web.xml

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C. Update web.xml◊ Add our servlet and servlet-mapping◊ Change the default page

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A. Create the Flex App◊ All requests are managed through an HTTP

request

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A. Browsing the datastore

http://localhost:8080/_ah/admin/datastore

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DEMO 2: Flex + BlazeDS

A. Use Spring AMF configuration (needs extra jars and xml files)

B. webAppContext.xml points to your service implementation (FlexService2)(much cleaner)

C. In Flex, create an Entity class to match your server-side one (good practice)

D. Use RemoteObject pointing to servlet-mapping we setup

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GET ON WITH IT !

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GET ON WITH IT !

A. Demo 3 – Using OpenBD!– Has trouble with WSDLs (demo uses http/xml)– Limitations with writing to local file system

B. Demo 4 – Requiring Authentication– Require google login (web.xml)– Use ajax to call servlet for auth info

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Publishing to Google's System

A. Right click on project → Google → Deploy

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Tips and Such

A. Don't forget to edit appengine-web.xml and give your app a UNIQUE id(frustration with publishing if you don't)

B. If you have multiple GAE projects in your workspace, sometimes the google VM can get confused. Use the “Compile/Browse” button to force it to rebuild

C. Consider renaming your default page/app

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Tips and Such

A. Since GAE can use Java, many technologies can be re-tasked to run

B. Alternatives to BlaseDS config– GraniteDS

http://blog.allurefx.com/2009/05/cloud-to-ria-accessing-google-app.html

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Useful Sites

http://appengine.google.com

http://code.google.com/eclipse/docs/download.html

http://localhost:8080/_ah/admin/datastorehttp://wiki.openbluedragon.org/wiki/index.php/GoogleAppEngine:Datastore

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Thank you!

A. All updated files will be on my blog here:

http://blog.schwabe.net

and posted on cfunited.com

B. Questions? Email me at

[email protected]

Charting with CF and Flex

Technology

Transcript of Charting with CF and Flex