?One of the key features of Web 2.0 applications is that they provide aseparation between the data within an application and the interface. Insome cases, these applications can consume data from a different domainentirely. This is possible because of web standards and standardapproaches like RSS and Atom.

When consuming an RSS feed, thespecification details how the information will be delivered. Developerscan use this knowledge to construct the application interface.Information provided through Web services is available through apublicized API. You can see examples of this in Google and Amazon.

Ajaxprovides one way to separate a Web 2.0 interface from the data source.Another approach is to use Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash or Flex.Both of these products generate SWF files that can be viewed with theFlash Player plug-in.

Macromedia first coined the phrase RichInternet Applications in a white paper that it released in 2002. Sincethat time, the phrase has been applied to any Web 2.0 application thatuses enhanced interface features, including Ajax style applications.

Flashand Flex include a range of interface components that mimic and extendthe functionality available in XHTML and DHTML. In addition,applications created in Flash and Flex allow developers to includemultimedia elements. Both can work with sound and video as well asvarious types of animations.

In this article, I want tointroduce you to Flash and Flex as well as explaining the differencebetween the two products. I'll show examples of Flash and Flexapplications as well as looking at hybrid approaches with Flash/Flexand Ajax.

Let's start by looking at Flash.


What is Flash?

Theterm Flash is used to refer to both the IDE (Integrated DevelopmentEnvironment) where Flash movies are created and the Flash Player. Youcan think of the Flash Player as a virtual machine for playing theFlash movies created in the Flash IDE or by other development software.

TheFlash authoring environment creates FLA files, called movies, that canbe compiled into SWF files. The Flash Player allows these SWF files tobe viewed, usually in a Web browser. Effectively, a SWF file is anobject added to an XHTML page.

Flash movies can providefunctionality from simple animations through to full Web applications.They can connect to external data sources such as text and XML filesbut, like Ajax applications, require server-side intervention to workwith databases, send emails or interact with the File System.

Flashmovies can be controlled by a scripting language, ActionScript, that isvery similar to JavaScript. ActionScript is based on ECMAScript andincludes classes for the interface elements in a Flash movie as well asmultimedia objects.

ActionScript 1.0 was first introduced inFlash 5 although scripting functionality was available in earlierversions of Flash. ActionScript 2.0 was introduced with Flash MX 2004(version 7). This version made the language more robust with theinclusion of strong variable typing and class-based programmingfeatures. The latest version of ActionScript is version 3.0.

SWFfiles can be viewed in any Web browser that has the Flash Playerplug-in installed. This plug-in comes in different versions. At themoment, the latest version is Flash Player 9 and this version supportsActionScript 3, 2 and 1. Developers can target different Flash Playersto provide support for different features.

The Flash Playerplug-in is small compared with other pagans such as Adobe Reader orQuickTime. SWF files are generally quite small due to their use ofvector graphics. However, SWF files that rely heavily on the use ofbitmaps and complex animation effects can be larger and processorintensive.

The Flash Player is available for a range of devicesin addition to desktop computers. It can run on Windows, Macintosh andLinux platforms as well as Pocket PC, Palm and Symbian. This makesFlash applications available to handheld devices such as PDAs andmobile phones.

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