Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide

DataProviderClass and DataGlue

The DataProviderClass class binds data to a user interface control or other object. Flash Remoting would not be as easy to use if it were not for the hidden functionality of DataProviderClass.

Tip

Jesse Warden has made documentation on DataProviderClass available in standard Flash MX Reference format at http://www.jessewarden.com/downloads/DataProvider.mxp.

DataProviderClass operates behind the scenes on the components listed in Table 11-1.

Table 11-1. UI components that use the DataProviderClass class

Component	Found here
FComboBox	Flash UI Components
FListBox	Flash UI Components
FTicker	Flash UI Components Set 2
FTree	Flash UI Components Set 2
FTreeNode	Flash UI Components Set 2
FAdvancedCalendar	Flash UI Components Set 4
FSimpleMenu	Flash UI Components Set 4
FSmartComboBox	Flash UI Components Set 4
FDataGrid	Flash UI DataGrid
FBarChart	Flash Charting Components
FLineChart	Flash Charting Components
FPieChart	Flash Charting Components
FAccordianPane	Flash UI Components Set 5
FTabView	Flash UI Components Set 5
FWeekView	Flash UI Components Set 5

The RecordSet class inherits from RSDataProviderClass, a class with the same methods as DataProviderClass. RecordSet objects use a format of rows and columns, as do many of the Flash UI components tied to DataProviderClass, so this parallel makes sense.

You can picture a data consumer (the element that consumes the data from the data provider) as shown in Figure 11-1.

Figure 11-1. A ...