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Who
Jesse Warden
Flex & Flash Consultant
Career: Director, Flash, Flex
Education: Art, Self-Taught Coder

Robotlegs/Gaia
Gaia
Robotlegs
Using Them Together

Why?
Flash Sites: Scaleable Mess
Flex Sites: Re-invent the wheel

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Gaia
Framework & Toolset for Building Flash Websites
Inspired by Ruby on Rails

Gaia Inventor
Steven Sacks
Gaia Inventor
stevensacks.net
Twittah: stevensacks

Industry Tools
SWFObject
SWFAddress
TweenLite
Thunderbolt

Example Sites

Site XML

Scaffolding

Gaia’s API
goto();

Transitions
transitionIn();
transitionOut();
transitioninComplete();
transitionOutComplete();

Flows

Depth

Assets

Preloading
multiple Files, Byte Accuracy
Override Runtime API
Pre-loaders for Pages
Pre-loaders for Assets

Other Features
SEO Scaffolding (yes, it works)
DEEPlinking API on top of SWFAddress
Bindings support in Site.xml

Gaia
Bread and Butter

Robotlegs
MVCS Framework
ActionScript 3

Robotlegs
Pure AS3 = Yes
Flex = Yes
AIR = Yes
Flash = Yes (CS4/CS5)

Robotlegs
Shaun Smith
Robotlegs Inventor
Shaun.boyblack.co.za
Twittah: darscan

Robotlegs
Comes with a Reference Implementation (MVCS)
Robert Penner’s “Signals”
Elad Elrom’s “Passive View Example”
AsyncCommand

Dependency INjection
The New “New”
All you need to know: [Inject]
SWiftSuspenders
SmartyPants IoC
GUICE: A Different Java Spring

Dependency Injection
Solves PureMVC’s Casting Problem
var myView: viewObject as MainView;
var proxy:MyProxy = facade.retreiveProxy(MyProxy.NAME) as MyProxy;
Easier to code to Interfaces

DI Example
private var proxy:MyProxy;

var proxy:MyProxy = facade.retreiveProxy(MyProxy.NAME) as MyProxy;
trace(proxy.myVO);

---------------------------
[Inject]
public var model:MyModel

trace(model.myVO);

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Events
Communications Through Events

Event Gotchas
Tons
Sub-Systems
More Events > More properties

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View
GUI
Form
Chart
Video Player
List of Images

Dumb View
Dumb
2 things
Accept Data
Dispatch User Gestures

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ValueObject
HOld “Value”
2nd Most Valuable Class
Strongly Typed
Can Differ From Server to help GUI

VO Gotchas
To Build yerself...
...or have a Factory do it
constructor Params foil Serialization
Use Optional Values if you must
It changes, affects Entire App

Robotlegs
Context
Mediator
Services
Model
Command
Actor (Base Class)

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Context
Initialize Framework
Event Bus
Multiple Contexts for Modular Development

Actor
Base Class for Model and Service
Has Context Injected
Base Class to communicate to the Framework

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Mediator
Mediator Pattern
View Communicate w/ Framework
1 View per Mediator
Keeps Framework out
Not all views need Mediators

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Service
Retrieve and/or Send Data
Remote and/or Local Services
Parse Data to VO’s
Dispatch Success or Failure
Don’t Listen to Framework Events
Great Unit Test Candidates

Service Practices
Doesn’t Store Data
Dispatch Event, has Data in It
Extend Actor
Store’s Data
Dispatch Event, NO Data in It
Extend EventDispatcher

Service Gotcha’s
Foreign Data
FActories:
#1 Source of Bugs
Compiler Doesn’t
Help you
Manual Timeouts
Explode Early

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Model(s)
Observer Pattern
Stores Global Data
Usually Wraps a VO
Doesn’t Listen for Framework Events
Dispatches Data Changes
Persists
Extends Actor

Model(s)
Re-Factor to:
Data needs to persist
1> Mediator/Command Use Data

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Command
Command Pattern
Controller Work
DRY
Re-Factor To
Doesn’t Listen to Framework Events

Command Example
Login Form
Update Profile
Edit Server Data

User Gestures
Command’s are Usually User Gestures
Login, Logout, SaveUser
AddTag
Save

Command Pro’s
DRY
Centralized Logic
Data Problem = 2 places to look
Service
Command
Not Hunting Through Mediators
RAD (Rapid Application Development)

COmmand Con’s
Code Bloat Early in Project
Handling Context Sensitive Data?
...2 Commands
20 User Gestures = 40 Commands
Commands for Everything

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AsyncCommand
Asynchronous Command
Why?
Java/C/C++ Devs Invented Command Pattern
Blocking Language
Executes Server Request and Code
pauses

AsyncCommand
ActionScript is not Blocking
It is Asynchronous
Sometimes things need to wait
To wait, they need context
To have context, they need to exist
Commands die immediately

AsyncCommand
AsyncCommand’s do not Block
You Control when they die
You can handle Server responses
with Context
React & Respond w/ Less code
fork to call other Commands

Gaia + Robotlegs
Gaia builds yer Site
Robotlegs Handles:
Business Logic
Application Logic

Why?
Agency
Shields from Ever Changing client Visuals
View Changes, App/Biz Logic Doesn’t
Dev
Don’t Break Gaia’s modules
RAD & Scaleable

How?
Export SWC “Magic Checkbox”

Step by Step
Setup Gaia Project
Register Context in Main.as
Page or child View implement Interface
Register Interface for Mediator

Rules n’ Gotchas
Interface for Bridge Pattern
Gaia Pages use Bridge Pattern
Not all Gaia Pages need a Mediator

Conclusions
Gaia is the Foundation for Site
Robotlegs Handles Biz & App Logic
Together, they Build a Scaleable & Flexible Site

Questions?
Jesse Warden
Twittah: jesterxl
jessewarden.com