Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide

DataGlue

Typically, when working with recordsets in server-side applications and HTML pages, the most tedious part is formatting the recordset on a page or in a user-interface element, such as a list box. Fortunately, the RecordSet class, in combination with the DataGlue class, simplifies this immensely. The DataGrid and the Dynamic Chart components are perhaps the most impressive, but any data-aware component can be dynamically populated with a RecordSet object with one line of code:

               myComponent.setDataProvider(myRecordset_rs);

This code effectively binds the recordset to the component and creates the visual output in the Flash movie.

Using the DataGlue Class

So-called data-aware components can interact with DataProviderClass objects to easily attach a data source to the component. Components that support DataProviderClass objects include:

• ComboBox

• ListBox

• Tree

• BarChart

• LineChart

• PieChart

• DataGrid

These items support DataProviderClass methods, such as addItem( ), addItemAt( ), getLength( ), removeAll( ), removeItemAt( ), replaceItemAt( ), setDataProvider( ), and sortItemsBy( ). These methods are handy when you’re working with static data, but when you’re working with a RecordSet object there is one added bonus: changes to the RecordSet object are reflected automatically in the UI component’s display. The DataGlue.bindFormatStrings( ) class-level method effectively glues the recordset to the UI component; so, when you use one of the RecordSet methods, the component that is tied to the RecordSet ...