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Zend Framework and Zend_AMF :: Yes I am content

Nov 21, 2008 In Adobe Flex, PHP, Zend Framework

This post’s purpose is to thank the ZF and Zend_AMF developers, especially Wade Arnold, and Adobe for providing the resources to complete that project.

The Zend Framework is easily the best PHP framework around hands down, and the backing of Zend and Adobe really says something about its quality.

I find that creating RIAs that consist of a service gateway (Zend_AMF) to class library to be the fastest way to create scalable maintainable applications.

The great thing is that once you have the AMF gateway up and running it isn’t that much work to get and XML-RPC version going, or a SOAP version and even JSON version. The server classes are all similar, you just have to deal with the parameter and return type mappings for each protocol.

I guess what I really like about the setup is that it frees you from the stateless page refresh land that is web application development. And allows you to go up a level on the MVC paradigm where:

Zend Framework based library = Model

Flex/Flash/Air = View

Zend_AMF service gateway = Controller

Which if you ask me is quite a bit easier than implementing all of that by manipulating redirects and controller classes and view scripts on the server. Not that the Zend_Controller frame work is bad, I just find it to be very verbose. If you have to spit out HTML though it is definitely the way to go.

Anyway thanks again!

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Top 5 Adobe Flex Issues

Nov 6, 2008 In Adobe Flex

Ok, I really love Adobe Flex for the most part, but I have a few really large issues with it. Some of these issues have been around for ever, and are not exactly linked to the Flex SDK but to the Adobe Flash player in general.

  1. No mouse wheel support in Mac OS X without rediculous Javascript hacks. This issue has been around for far too long in the Flash Player to have not been fixed, and for some reason no one at Adobe wants commit to a Flash Player version for a resolution. UNACCEPTABLE. Go here to vote or post a comment to get this fixed (apparently the open bug disappeared)
  2. The RichTextEditor component sucks. Its output isn’t even valid XHTML.
  3. There is no component (again without terrible JS hacks) that can render HTML. Basically this means that if you want to write a Flex WebMail Client that renders HTML mail you are screwed. This issue has been around since Flex 1. I realize it is a complex issue, but once again I would like to know when I can expect it to be addressed without having to resort to hacks, and wrappers or iFrames. Go here to vote or post a comment to get this fixed (this bug has been defferred and hasn’t been assigned a version)
  4. The printing API sucks. Basically everything about it. Also, and correct me if I am wrong, but I could not find a way to send a raw print job to a local printer, I ended up having to hack together a raw socket connection and feed a byteArray to a network printer.
  5. Creating a custom preloader is far too much work, there should be a standard component that you can simply drop your animation in to.

So if those major problems were to be fixed I think I could continue to develop in bliss. For now I will just continue to be frustrated until such a time.

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