A.2 Java Datatype Conversion

Java, unlike ActionScript 1.0, is a typed language. The Flash gateway on the server takes care of the datatype conversions back and forth between the Flash client and the Java server. Table A-3 shows the conversion from Flash ActionScript to Java. Refer also to the ASTranslator library, as discussed in Chapter 7. Chapter 7 also discusses intimate details of datatype conversion from ActionScript to Java and vice versa.

Table A-3. Flash-to-Java datatype conversion

Flash (ActionScript)	Java
ActionScript object	flashgateway.IO.ASObject (implements java.util.map)
Array (indexed)	ArrayList
Array (associative)	java.util.map
Boolean	Boolean
Date Object	Date
Number	Number
RecordSet	-
String	String
Undefined	Null
XML Object	org.w3c.dom document
Null	Null

Table A-4 shows the conversion from Java to Flash ActionScript.

Table A-4. Java-to-Flash datatype conversion

Java	Flash (ActionScript)
Struct	Associative array
Java object (flashgateway.IO.ASObject)	ActionScript object
Java object (flashgateway.IO.ASObject with type property set)	ActionScript object of that type
Collection, Object[], array of primitive types	Array (indexed)
java.util.map	Array (associative)
Boolean	Boolean
Date	Date object
Number	Number
disconnected RowSet [2]	RecordSet
flashgateway.sql.PageableResultSet [2]	pageable RecordSet
String	String
org.w3c.dom document	XML object
flashgateway.io.ASXMLString	XML object
Null	Null

^[2] Only with Flash Remoting MX Updater 1 and later.