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January 12, 2010
Question

Need Help with Live Webcam and text chat

  • January 12, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 443 views

I am a web designer with some Flash design and minor Flash development experience.  I have picked up a client that would like live webcam video and text chat as part of their website and I am wondering what Adobe software solution is necessary to meet my clients needs.  I would like to know what program is used to develop the video and chat interface and if I need streaming media server to host the content.  Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.  Also, I hate to gripe, I find it extremely disheartening that Adobe lists on its own website on the social media tools page that part of the flash platform would be useful for exactly what I need but then fail to give any additional detail and then when I call the sales/customer service number the reps. say they can't answer that question.  Why claim your software is good for something and then not be able to answer questions about what pieces you need.  To me then the reps. are not salespeople but order takers.  I am sorry, but I had to vent that.

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    1 reply

    January 12, 2010

    I don't mean to sound discouraging or preachy, but [properly built] video chat apps really do require some development experience. As you'll soon find, it's fairly easy to string together some prefabricated components and basic server side code to put together something functional, but if you want to show your client real value, you'll need to gain some real understanding about application development and application security [or farm the work out to someone who really knows what they're doing]. If you plan to approach this yourself, you should let your client know that you're venturing into uncharted waters, as not doing so would be a bit unfair.

    That said, if you want a video chat application that runs in the Flashplayer, you'll need a few things:

    1. Flash or Flex. You can code your client side application in Actionscript 2 or 3

    2. Flash media interactive server, or another programmable RTMP server (there are a few Java options out there)

    A streaming server (Flash Media Streaming Server for example) isn't adequate for a chat application. Along with your video streams, you'll need to manage users and application logic (user lists, user authentication, etc), and FMSS doesn't support the server side code you'll need to deploy.

    When it comes to getting started with developing FMIS applications, I tend to recommend Brian Lesser's "programming flash communication server". While the book is pretty old, and most of the client side programming techniques are outdated, the server side coding principles haven't changed. My advice is to overlook anything that has to do with the prefabricated "communication components set" that is available from Adobe, and focus on the core programming principles and server side actionscript APIs so you can write code for yourself (using those components will quickly lead you to the brick wall where you need to start modifying the components to serve need they weren't build to serve).

    Good luck.

    calmchessplayer
    Inspiring
    January 12, 2010

    took me three years to learn flash media server and i still have to ask jay and others for help once in awhile.....you can do it ......i suggest you download the as 3.0 documentation in pdf format and sever side language pdf you can find it on adobe site there are peices in both.