Flex -Spring Integration architectures

[srikanthvishwanath]

Hello All,

We are working on a project which uses Flex as UI layer and Spring as the middle layer which handles persistence and some web services which we need to invoke (hosted on ESB).

I am really looking for some expertise who can advise what is the best architecture that I can choose with these technologies.
One flow would be to access the database starting from Flex and the other to access web services from Flex. How do I use Spring along with Flex in both of these scenarios and have the best possible performance,scalability,etc.

Please advise.

Thanks for your help.

[kollepara2004]

One of the good possible architecture would be

Flex Web Application gets data from java objects thru BlazeDS .
this java ojbect could be some kind of facade to business logic/dao operations which work on spring frame work.I did some kind of prototype on this architecture.
We have a application where front is developed in extjs / struts and business logic/dao written in java ,spring/ibatis.so i removed presentation layer and i directly used service classes from the flex client using blazeds integration mechanism.it works well.

[srikanthvishwanath]

What best possible architecture would be for the accessing web services?
Is it directly from Flex or again Remoting through Blaze DS.

Again the worry that I have is why do we want to go an expensive remoting calls if there is something else better possible.

Please advise.

[jcarter]

Here's my (imperfect) understanding.

From Flex, there is really only one mechanism: HTTP. There are different serialization techniques of which AMF and XML must be viewed as the leading candidates. Various authors have compared the technologies [1] for general settings, but in the Flex space, AMF would appear to have a performance advantage [2].

Performance may not be the primary consideration. An investment in XML gives you the flexibility to service Flex and AJAX clients from a single interface or to apply XML-specific tools (e.g. stylesheets).

AMF has other traits. It opens up the world of managed data and aligns your project with Adobe's future investments.

Based on my understanding, I offer this guideline: if you want a general solution, XML; if Flex/AIR are the only UI, go with AMF.

[1] http://www.insideria.com/2008/09/amf-vs-json-vs-xml.html
[2] http://www.jamesward.com/blog/2007/12/12/blazebench-why-you-want-amf-and-blazeds/