What Is Flash Remoting?

Macromedia Flash Remoting, in technical terms, is an application server gateway that provides communications between Flash and remote services. I will revisit the definition throughout this chapter to bring more clarity to the meaning. In practical terms, Flash Remoting is a tunnel that allows data to flow between an external data source and the Flash Player within your web browser.

Although many other methods exist for connecting Flash to external databuilt-in functions such as getURL, loadVariables, loadVars, and XMLSocketFlash Remoting is becoming the recommended method to connect to databases and web services. What makes Flash Remoting so different?

• The Macromedia AMF (Action Message Format) protocol used to provide a lightweight means to transport data

• Performance

• Ease of use versus other methods such as XMLSocket

• Client-side data management

Flash Remoting is one of the most essential components within the Macromedia family of products and the Flash Platform. The Flash Platform has taken Flash from a lightweight animation tool to an application and communication tool with the capability to incorporate various types of rich media.