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Macromedia Flash Article

Helen Triolo
flash-creations.com

This article describes the process of creating two ColdFusion MX web services; one based on ColdFusion components (CFCs), and the other based on Server-Side ActionScript (SSAS). These two web services parse an SVG file containing path tags and create an array of shape objects to pass to Macromedia Flash MX for display with the Macromedia Flash drawing API. If you like, you can download the sample files used in this project and compare them to the client-side Macromedia Flash-only version posted on the Actionscript Toolbox website.

This is a work-in-progress, so these files are not provided as an expert example of how to create or consume web services. Rather, this tutorial offers a suggestion of how one might implement a project which takes advantage of ColdFusion MX server-side abilities (like XML parsing) for data-handling and using Macromedia Flash as the presentation tool.

Sample files
Before you begin, download the files to follow along with this tutorial:


Windows		Macintosh
	parse_svg.zip (148K)		parse_svg.sit (112K)

Table of contents

·	SVG Definitions of Vector Graphics
·	Getting the SVG Path Information into Macromedia Flash
·	ColdFusion MX Web Services
·	Web Services Based on Server-Side ActionScript
·	Displaying or Saving the Object Returned to Macromedia Flash

Helen Triolo is the owner of i-Technica, a web design shop in the Washington DC area. An electrical engineer turned-programmer turned-web designer, she became fascinated with Flash after obtaining a copy of Macromedia Flash 4 and discovering the limitless possibilities for programmable animation that it offered. Addicted ever since, she's used Macromedia Flash in a variety of client websites and CDs, posted an archive of Flash Q&A's and ActionScript tutorials, and teaches and writes about ActionScript whenever possible.