MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING FLASH Use Manual page 279

A typical workflow for an application that works with data would include binding an array from
the XMLConnector component to the DataSet component's
can directly bind UI components to fields within certain records of the array, as shown in the
example application in
could be used to manage the data. The fields within the data set could then be mapped to any of
the UI components using data binding.
For more information on the XMLConnector component, including its properties, methods, and
events, see "XMLConnector component (Flash Professional only)" in Using Components. For a
common workflow using this component, see "Using the XMLConnector component (Flash
Professional only)" in Using Components.
You can also read the following tutorials on Macromedia DevNet: "Bike Trips Sample" at
www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/xmlconnector.html
Using ASP" at www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/flashpro_asp.html.
About data connectivity and security in Flash Player
Many developers are interested in using an industry standard such as SOAP web services as the
data-exchange mechanism between their client and server. One reason this approach is gaining
favor is the increasing number of popular servers that support exposure of logic using SOAP.
There may be cases where you want the client software to use web services that are published by
third parties or hosted on servers that fall outside the Flash Player sandbox. Access to external data
through any connector component is subject to the sandbox security model in Flash Player, for all
Flash applications that run in a web browser. The sandbox security model restricts a Flash
document from accessing data from any domain other than the one in which it originated (this
includes public web services). There are a couple of ways to accomplish what you want to do,
while still preserving the user security and privacy that the Flash Player sandbox provides:
•
Create a policy file that is hosted on the server containing the web service to be used. For more
information, see "Flash Player security features" in Using ActionScript in Flash and the security
tech note 14213 at www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/loadvars_security.htm.
•
Create an intermediary object that resides on the server to act as a bridge between your client
and the public services you want to use. This approach offers several advantages:
Public web services can be aggregated. With this approach you can provide fail-over safety
and load balancing when a request is made for data.
You can control the flow of data in your application. If the web service goes away or the
URL is down, you can decide how to respond.
Data can be optimized. Multiple requests can be cached.
You can have custom error handling. You can determine what errors to send back to
the client.
Data can be manipulated, converted, or combined. You can pull data from several sources
and return one data packet with the combined information.
"Creating an indexed binding" on page
dataProvider
270. In this scenario, the data set
and "Data Integration
Data connectivity (Flash Professional only)
property. Or, you
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