LocalRemote Hybrid Applications

Local/Remote Hybrid Applications

In Flash MX, local shared objects were introduced. Developers could store data in these shared objects between sessions of a Flash application. Through a creative architecture, in which a Flash application has some initial static data and the ability to connect to the Internet and work with dynamic data, a hybrid local/remote application can be constructed . With this architecture, if the application is run in a non-networked environment, it will operate off the static local data; however, when connected to the Internet, the data can be updated and stored in a local shared object. This way, each subsequent time the application is run without an Internet connection, the data loaded into the local shared object can be used by the Flash application. Figure 10.1 shows a flow chart detailing how such a system might be architected.

Figure 10.1. This flow chart details the decisions that determine where a hybrid application will get the data it uses.

N OTE

For more information on local shared objects, see Chapter 11, "Reading Data Files."