Flash MX Pro and ASP.NET

[Andy G]

I have a client that is really pushing me to start using Flash MX
Professional to replace VS.NET. Main arguement is that it looks better and
flows nicer than visual studio developed applcations (this client is a
designer not a programmer). I believe that Flash is a 'Tool' not a
'Solution'. My 'Solution' is an ASP.NET application but I would like to use
Flash as a 'Tool'. I am having very hard time seeing any documentation on
the intergration of Flash with an ASP.NET application. Anyone like to chime
in on above comments and question?

Thanks
Andy

 

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

Andy,
Flash can provide the interface, but you still will need a lot of
programming. Frankly, Flash is much more difficult to make things in and
often takes longer to load. If you have to do a lot of database calls,
you'll need a way to handle that from Flash. Flash can do a lot of things
beautifully, but it's a lot more effort. If Flash was an easy solution you'd
see more web site applications using it for data-driven apps. The fact is,
it's not. It's a huge learning curve, it's not as powerful as the
capabilities you have through ASP.Net and the .Net Framework. When
Macromedia re-designed their site to use flash, they also had an instant
backlash and had to do some re-designs. Basically, it's expensive,
time-consuming, and much harder to alter than a typical ASP.Net app and may
be more headache for you than it's worth. Of course, it could also jump your
fee up incredibly but remind your client that most companies that have
web-applications using Flash also have large teams of very well paid Flash
developers.

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Boy, this message looks suspiciously (and exactly) like this message you
posted yesterday:

I have a client that is really pushing me to start using Flash MX
Professional to replace VS.NET. Main arguement is that it looks better
and
flows nicer than visual studio developed applcations (this client is a
designer not a programmer). I believe that Flash is a 'Tool' not a
'Solution'. My 'Solution' is an ASP.NET application but I would like to
use
Flash as a 'Tool'. I am having very hard time seeing any documentation on
the intergration of Flash with an ASP.NET application. Anyone like to
chime
in on above comments and question?

Thanks
Andy

Any idea why?

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Neither a follower
nor a lender be.

 

[Andy G]

Hey Spenc, I posted it to google groups also to see some more view points,
didn't realize that it postback here too. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi Andy,

You might try posting it to some Macromedia newsgroups for more viewpoints.
Just a thought.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Neither a follower
nor a lender be.

 

[Mark Redman]

Hi Mark,

We write web applications using ASP.NET, one part of our application
required a very rich user interface and it needed to be cross platform,
where about 40% of our uses are mac users. I used Flash MX 2004
professional calling asp.net webservices. ASP.NET webservices and flash work
fantastically well, Things like supplying object arrays from actionscript
into webmethods and casting them to C# objects (and vide-versa) all works
pretty well. The learning curve is quite steep but the final result is
pretty awesome.

With regards to replacing VS.NET, you cannot, you still have to write the
back-end, and I wouldnt advise using flash for the entire front end. As you
say, use flash as a tool to write specific components of your user interface
and use asp.net as much as you can.

Actionscript is basically Java, so picking that up is fairly straight
forward, but there are a lot of flash/macromedia/designy/non standard things
you have to put up with and its really difficult to produce an
architechturally elegant design within flash, this is very fustrating!
But at the end of the day, its all worth it.

If you have any specific questions, just ask.

Mark Redman