Components Needed for Dynamic Application

Report · Aug 28, 2008

I'm going to need some help from those of you familiar with my situation. Until now, I have always worked on the front end of dynamic applications. However, I am now putting on the swimsuit and taking a plunge head first into the world of developing Rich Internet Applications. Here's my scenario:

I'm running on a Mac (Intel) with OSX Leopard 10.5 installed. I want to build a site for my side business using a combination of programs that will let me deliver an interactive experience. So far, I've come up with the following:

Flex and Actionscript for the front end.
MySQL for the database storage.
ColdFusion for the web application development and database manipulation.
Apache as the local server.

Here's where I'm getting confused. From my understanding, Leopard comes preinstalled with the Apache server software. Is Apache similar to IIS with Windows in that one must select it as a local server before proceeding with the Coldfusion development?

My next question revolves around the cooperation from Flex>Coldfusion>MySQL. Some of the documentation I've found mentions that LiveCycle has something to do with this interactivity. Is this true, and if so, what do I need to know to be squared away?

Finally, assuming my previously mentioned setup is compatible with one another, is this enough to be able to host my own web site independently on my computer?

Thanks in advance for the help any of you can offer. I have experience using each of these programs to a certain degree, but never have I attempted to integrate each of them together into a fully functional unit.

Report · Aug 28, 2008

turansformer wrote:
>
> My next question revolves around the cooperation from Flex>Coldfusion>MySQL.
> Some of the documentation I've found mentions that LiveCycle has something to
> do with this interactivity. Is this true, and if so, what do I need to know to
> be squared away?

Just for some types of interactivity. If your application will only
pull data from the server then liveCycle is not required. As well as
LiveCycle data can be pulled using http, web services, and a couple of
others.

If you want the server to be able to push data to clients then LiveCycle
is required. But a free production server limited to a one CPU server
is included in ColdFusion 8 installations.

Buy the way LiveCycle's is the new name of the original Flex Data
Services you may see in some older documentation.

Report · Aug 28, 2008

I only know part of the answer.

At the end of the day you will have either an .html or .cfm page with a swf file on it. That should be ok with any webserver/os combination.

Regarding Flex > Cold Fusion > MySQL, the arrows go in both directions. Cold Fusion is basically the bridge between your Flash app and your MySql database. I think that you have all the software you need, but this is not my area of expertise.