I've done a few blog entries recently showing simple examples of connecting to a ColdFusion CFC via Flex. My last blog entry demonstrated this using Flash Builder 4. A reader there asked me to create an example of this in AIR. It just took a few minutes, so let me walk you through the process (and please forgive me but let me give the normal disclaimer, I'm new to Flex, blah blah blah).

First, when creating the new Flex project, be sure to select AIR (Desktop):

After that, follow the same directions from the last blog post, specifically ensuring you select ColdFusion and Flash Remoting in the Server Technology part.

Once I had the file, I pasted in the same MXML I had used previously:

<s:layout> <s:VerticalLayout/> </s:layout>

<mx:Button label="Talk to ColdFusion" /> <mx:TextArea id="resultBox" />

I had reinstalled Flash Builder 4, so I quickly went to my Data Services panel and added my CFC. An important note: I'm testing locally, so I used the same CFC as before, testa. Once I went through the process of adding the CFC and defining the return types, I then switched to Design mode. I dragged my method onto the Button, and then dragged it onto the TextArea and selected the response. (Again, this is detailed in my last post.)

At this point I had the following code - remember - I had just typed the layout and initial components, Flash Builder 4 did all the rest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <s:WindowedApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo" xmlns:cfservice="services.cfservice.*"> <fx:Script> <![CDATA[ import mx.controls.Alert;

protected function button_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void { echotestResult.token = cfservice.echotest(); }

]]> </fx:Script>

<s:layout> <s:VerticalLayout/> </s:layout> <fx:Declarations> <s:CallResponder id="echotestResult"/> <cfservice:Cfservice id="cfservice" destination="ColdFusion" endpoint="http://localhost:80/flex2gateway/" fault="Alert.show(event.fault.faultString)" showBusyCursor="true" source="testa"/> </fx:Declarations>

<mx:Button label="Talk to ColdFusion" id="button" click="button_clickHandler(event)"/> <mx:TextArea id="resultBox" text="{echotestResult.lastResult}"/>

</s:WindowedApplication>

I did a quick test to ensure it ran, and it did just fine. Ok, now for the fun part. I modified my CFC to make the echotest a bit different:

<cffunction name="echotest" access="remote" returnType="string"> <cfreturn "CFJ: The time is #timeFormat(now())#"> </cffunction>

Notice the CFJ? I uploaded this to www.coldfusionjedi.com/demos. Back in Flash Builder I modified the service tag:

<cfservice:Cfservice id="cfservice" destination="ColdFusion" endpoint="http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/flex2gateway/" fault="Alert.show(event.fault.faultString)" showBusyCursor="true" source="demos.testa"/>

Notice I changed the endpoint to point to my service, and I had to tweak source a bit. Whereas before testa.cfc was in web root, now it's in the demos folder. Once again I clicked the little run button and it worked like a charm:

Woot. Just call me an Experience Designer! If you want to confirm this works, I've placed the AIR file online here. I also included the source. (Easily one of the coolest features of Flex Builder 3/Flash Builder 4 is the ability to include the source code in your apps!)