Flex 3 Beta 2 - CRUD Wizard for ASP.NET, PHP, JAVA and WSDL Introspection
DIGG IT!
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Published
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
at
7:00 AM
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Flex Builder 3 Beta 2 has a new feature for generating server side code for data exchange with ASP.NET, PHP, and JAVA. Simply select a database, select the tables you want to edit, and presto, full CRUD, Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete. Here are some images:
To top that, we added WDSL Introspection to allow you to work with Web Services using Strong typing. Simply enter a WSDL URL, select the methods and types you want to generate for and sha-zam, a set of classes is generated for your application. Here are some images:
So there you have it, backend CRUD generation for ASP.NET, PHP, JAVA and support for strongly typed Web Services.
Flex 3 and Flex Builder 3, the best Flex yet!
Cheers,
Ted :)
Or just use Rails and scaffolding ;)
Nice. This could save some time for creating prototypes or wireframes for real app classes.
ok ok im very childish but...
"backend CRUD generation"
really is that the best wording?
Hi Ted,
that's a great addition! A lot of questions pop up right away :-)
- does it work with amf3?
- and if so do we still need a separate amfgateway
- are relations possible?
- are the code templates editable?
really looking forward to play with these features!!!!
gotta love flex!
Arnoud
Great - but what about the same for SQLite? Will there be a wizard to generate the ActionScript code and forms for a SQLite based AIR application?
I love the looks of the WDSL Introspection (I was actually trying to find the word for that the other day). It would be nice to see an example of the CRUD output.
In all, great work Flex team :)
Cheers
Jason
Ted...
This is just an outside cover(snaps).
Where is main pulp...
Is it true, that M3 Release (Beta 2) - Feature Complete will be in October-2007...???
Great! What kind of persistence framework that Flex 3 uses to generate server side Java code? JPA, hopefully?
I really think that the time spent on the development of the CRUD generation was a waste of time. It makes me think of the fat client/server timeframe and Microsoft Access generated forms. They probably interesting as 'study' material for Flex beginners but in that case a couple of online examples would do just as well.
But thanks a thousand times for the strongly typed web services. This really makes sense (I still wonder how this will work given the fact that there's no support for generics - still typecasting I guess).
It would have been nice if the CRUD development time was spent on supporting typed .NET datasets through the strongly typed web service support. This would really help the .NET community to start using Flex. Now the road to Silverlight remains a better option for 50% (or whatever) of the worldwide development community.
And where can we donwload Beta 2 because I just checked in Adobe Labs and it's still Beta 1 there.
We have this sold out conference in Chicago this week if that gives you a hint about Flex 3 Beta 2's debut.
Ted :)
The CRUD generation is a simple case and is designed to get something working so the code can be easily and openly explored.
Is it AMF based? NO it used XML.
Waste of time? Not really, this is an important feature for those integrating with existing tables and gets a working app build in seconds. Considering building CRUD takes a long time to get working without this, it is a great addition to Flex Builder.
WDSL Introspection ROCKS the LLAma! :)
Ted :)
Ted,
Sin lugar a dudas, este es un agregado importante que permitirá ahorrar tiempo para quienes desarrollamos aplicaciones con Flex. Además, estas características permiten que nos concentremos en la solución sin batallar con aspectos triviales en toda comunicación cliente-servidor.
Ahora, esperamos poder acceder pronto a este nuevo beta.
Sorry but working applications built in seconds s*ck most of the time. There's a big difference between showing RIA technology and building RIA applications. Only in the first case "applications" built in seconds are useful. Anyway - I hope that it helps a lot of people to get going with Flex.
I see that ColdFusion isn't in this list, Ted. Is it to be added at a later date, or is there something that is built into ColdFusion 8 that handles this type of functionality for you automatically, or something else?
Coldfusion has their own data generation wizard that kicks a*#. It is an installation option for Flex Builder.
Ted
Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but I agree with the post that this s not the best use of Adobe's Dev resources. I've never had much luck with code generators.
I've been using Flex on a large project with several developers sharing code -- actually 3 separate projects that are interrelated -- and I have to say the project management features are very weak. I've tried both Flex 2 and Flex 3 beta 1. (For starters, migrating a project from one machine to another is a major headache...) I hope these issues get addressed in the final Flex 3.
A few notes from engineering here:
1. .NET DataSet support in WebServices
2. Flex apps can now consume DataSet and DataTable objects from webservices implemented in the .NET framework.
Cheers,
ted :)
We NEED ruby and PYTHON.....come on!!!!!!!!
who use ASP more than ruby or python???? not me!!!
Ted,
Do you mean with 'consume .NET datasets' that I can also add/modify/delete records in these datasets and send the modifications back to the server??? If that is really the case then I'm 200% convinced that you want to embrace the .NET community. Please confirm that this is indeed the case. Please ... I'll bring you Belgian chocolates when you're in Barcelona :)
Tom
ASP.NET and no ruby or python....come on !!!!!
WTF !!!!
adampasz
You shouldn't rely on Flex Builder for project management. That is what source control is for. Grab Subversion, install it in Eclipse or Standalone, and rock your project.
As for migrating a project, just copy the files over and import the project. 2 step process...seriously.
For those thinking this is a waste of time, it simply isn't for you. Some code generators rock. We built one that generates ColdFusion CFC's according to our style. We have enjoyed every minute of it. .NET has a ton of great generators out there for DAL's as well. With FB3 providing this support, people have another option for quickly generating and integrating with backend data. This is a win-win and far from a waste of time (just because you won't use it).
Ted, I've had a bug listed for a while about this feature. One of the major downfalls is generating for 1 table at a time...that sucks. :-) The wsdl integration is pretty good (minus all of the files sitting in one folder).
I look forward to more upgrades on these features.
I dont know how this one works, but i played with this in Beta1. Anyway, it would be cool if generated view could be a component. So we can create multiply view's on different tables and get multiple components that we drag on the screen. I examined the PHP code and its to complicated, it could be simpler. Anyway great addition to Flex.
Ruby and Python are awesome languages. It looks like the CRUD generators are extensible and there is an entire set of folders here:
/Adobe Flex 3/plugins/com.adobe.flexbuilder.dbwizard_3.0.183522/templates
I need to check but it looks like adding a folder into the templates allows you to generate any type of code.
So on Monday, you can start extending this to support Python, Ruby, C, or Perl if you really want to.
Cheers,
Ted :)
Monday!!
interesting.
thanks again Ted.
one question while I'm here. Has the problem with the data wizards and Eclipse which has DTP 1.0.0 installed making the accessor not function at all been fixed. At least I think this was the reason beta 1 data wizards stopped working for me. you click the accessor and nothing at all happens.
cheers
glenn
--------------------------------
10 print "glenn "
20 goto 10
30 rem "was this really 1982, feels like yesterday"
working on eclipse 3.2 or 3.3?
Hey Ted... do you ever feel like you just can't please all the people all the time?
for all the knockers of this: settle down, puh-leeese!
Waste of resources? Hardly. Once Dean Harmon made the ColdFusion one for Flex2, other languages wouldn't have been too hard (nor time consuming).
You want a Python version? Perhaps see if you can hack this version to bits and leverage that... gut feeling says that it shouldn't be too hard.
as for the general usefullness... Not every Flex app uses Cairngorm et al. Sometimes Flex is chosen as a clean and sensible back-end admin for HTML websites (modal windows, no popups). Perfect for the boss to edit a record or two.
The most important part of this add-on is the automatic mapping of AS3 beans/DTO's to the backend objects. you can Rails/Spring/Model-Glue it up all you like then.
yeah, I'd like Flex3 to have a code coverage tool to hook into FlexUnit and the debug player ... but I'll take all the help I can get, OK?
You can't please all the people all the time, it is impossible. The best you can do is design features with a clear benefit to a majority. CRUD and WDSL Introspection are great features.
What I find interesting is very few people have used them yet.
I have and they rock! Easy CRUD, Duhhhh.
Ted :)
>>> "You shouldn't rely on Flex Builder for project management. That is what source control is for. Grab Subversion, install it in Eclipse or Standalone, and rock your project."
We do use SVN. Actually, Flex + SVN is a bit of a nightmare in its own right. Ever tried checking in your Bin directory? The compiler overwrites the .svn folder every time it does a build. Also, if you check in any hidden Flex project files, your project can get corrupted. When I have time I will expand on this issue in my blog, but I've literally burned days trying to get Flex and SVN to co-exist!
>>> As for migrating a project, just copy the files over and import the project. 2 step process...seriously.
Yes, for a simple project this is fine. But if your project has multiple external dependencies it becomes a major pain.
Or just try setting up your bin directory somewhere that is not the default location. Or try to have 2 projects that share a bin directory... Yes, I know there's Ant, and that would probably address my problems, but still I think this is something that should work much better out of the box.
I know I'm trolling around a bit here, and am completely off topic. So, I apologize. Don't get me wrong. I love Flex. So thanks for letting me vent my frustrations. When I have time, I will try write up some details.
adampasz
I understand the /bin issue. Just ignore that folder...no issue there. I've been using Flex+SVN for I guess a year+ now and all issues I've encountered have been resolved. None of the hidden files have been problematic either. I'll keep an eye out on your blog for more info.
As for the external bin folders, I've never had to or needed to do that so I'm of no help there. :-D
The connection object shows (empty) folders for sprocs and views leading one to presume we'll be able to call spocs via this tool?
Alas re: not AMF3. Any chance to apply XML compression workarounds within this flow?
many thankx
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