Download Charting with CF and Flex

FUSIONDOX
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.
B.
C.
D.
ColdFusion developer since version 3
Flex Developer since Flex 2 Betas
Worked in web development for 13+ years
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.
B.
C.
D.
E.
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Its ok :) Open your mind...
Copy & Paste to get started
I don't code in Java every day
As a CF developer, it is good to know a little
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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What is Google App Engine (GAE)
A. Lets you run your applications on Google's
infrastructure
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What is Google App Engine (GAE)
A. Lets you run your applications on Google's
infrastructure
B. Virtualization Technology
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What is Google App Engine (GAE)
A. Lets you run your applications on Google's
infrastructure
B. Virtualization Technology
C. Uses Python and Java
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What is Google App Engine (GAE)
A. Lets you run your applications on Google's
infrastructure
B. Virtualization Technology
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.
B.
C.
D.
Have to use Google's Web Toolkit (GWT)
Get up to 500MB of free storage
Supports about 5 million page views per month
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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Do I have to use Google Web Toolkit???
A. YES.
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Do I have to use Google Web Toolkit???
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.
B.
C.
D.
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Kind of like a database
You have to work a bit harder to relate your data
Why?
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 Java
C.
D.
E.
F.
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http://code.google.com/eclipse/docs/download.html
PyDev if you want to develop with Python
Includes Google Web Toolkit (GWT)
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 Application
C. 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.
B.
It will add a lot of stuff to your project
The “src” directory is where you will add your Java
related code
C. The “war” directory is essentially your webroot
This 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 Application
C. 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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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
◊ Contains all the data we want to persist
◊ Declare the class as @Persistent
◊
◊
◊
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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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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
B. Add a Service Implementation
(FlexServiceImpl.java)
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
B. Add a Service Implementation
(FlexServiceImpl.java)
◊ Define one function called doGet()
◊
◊
◊
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It handles multiple actions (save, delete, list)
Construct XML to send back to flex via HTTP
Take note of PersistenceManager
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
B. Add a Service Implementation
(FlexServiceImpl.java)
C. Update web.xml
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Add an Entity Class (FlogEntry.java)
B. Add a Service Implementation
(FlexServiceImpl.java)
C. Update web.xml
◊ Add our servlet and servlet-mapping
◊ Change the default page
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
A. Create the Flex App
◊ All requests are managed through an HTTP
request
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DEMO 1: Flex + XML Interface
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/datastore
http://wiki.openbluedragon.org/wiki/index.php/Googl
eAppEngine: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]
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