SWX: SWF Data Format

Download SWX MAMP Bundle Beta 1.2 from the downloads page.

I've just released SWX Beta 1.2. Get it from the download page.

What's new in Beta 1.2:

• PHP Service Browser is now known as the SWX Service Explorer (or "Explorer" for short).
• SWX Analyzer is now known as the SWX Data Analyzer (or "Analyzer" for short).
• Implemented a consistent look and feel for the SWX Service Explorer and Data Analyzer.
• Explorer: Replaces the methods grid with a drop-down box (usability).
• Explorer: Now shows busy cursor on service calls (usability).
• Explorer: Grouped action buttons into control bars (usability).
• Explorer: Now defaults to the correct gateway URL (amf.php instead of gateway.php).
• Explorer: You now get a friendly error message if the gateway cannot be found/is wrong and easy access to the Preferences window so you can change it.
• Explorer: Now uses its own shared object and will not conflict with AMFPHP service browser.
• Analyzer: Reduced size of header and made it consistent with Explorer.
• Analyzer: The common LocalConnection-related conflict is now handled in a friendly way.
• Added a new navigation bar to the Start Page and made it conform to the Beta 1.2 look and feel.

Most of the updates in Beta 1.2 focus on the new SWX Service Explorer (previously the PHP Service Browser).

I haven't updated the SWX MAMP Bundle to Beta 1.2 yet but will be doing so shortly (I'll blog an update when I do). I am also going to be recording a new screencast or two that use Beta 1.2. The current screencast features Beta 1.1 (you can still follow along in the meanwhile but the tools will look slightly different to the ones you see being demonstrated).

Get SWX Beta 1.2 from the download page.

SWX Beta 1.1 and the SWX MAMP Bundle are now available for download.

Read more about this release.

SWX Beta 1.0 is now available for download.

Read more about this release in this post and on the download page.

SWX Alpha version 0.2.2 is now available for download.

Read more about this release in this post and on the download page.

SWX Alpha version 0.2.1 is now available for download.

The big new feature in this release is compression. SWX files are now compressed by default. You can set the compression level of the SWX gateway by modifying the compressionLevel setting in the SWX configuration file (php/swx_config.php). Valid values range from 0 (no compression; fastest) to 9 (maximum compression; slowest).

Otherwise, the only other addition to this release is a very simple Flash Lite 2.1 example. POST appears to be broken in loadMovie() in Flash Lite 2.1 so make sure you use GET instead. This is not a huge limitation as the amount of data you send from the client to the server in mobile applications is usually quite small and should fit within the limits imposed by GET. However, I have already brought this issue to the attention of several people at Adobe at FITC and I will be working with them to make sure that this gets fixed in future versions of Flash Lite.

An Apollo version of SWX Analyzer is now available so you can run the analyzer as a desktop app on OS X and Windows.

This will be part of the next release but in the meanwhile, you can install it separately: swx_analyzer.air.zip.

Noate: You will need to have the Apollo runtime installed to install the AIR file. I also zipped it up because Safari wasn't downloading the AIR file correctly (it just displayed its contents).

SWX Alpha version 0.2.0 is now available for download.

SWX 0.2.0 is another huge release and brings with it cross-domain data exchange as well as an API change.

For a comprehensive review of this release, see this blog post on aralbalkan.com.

Please read the release notes below for a full list of changes in this version.

• API change: Prepare.forPhp() has been replaced with SWX.prepare(). See the updated introductory blog post on SWX for usage examples.
• You can now do cross-domain data exchanges with SWX. If you want to disallow cross-domain access to your data, set the allowDomain paramater to false in the swx_config.php file (php/swx_config.php).
• Added PowerPC support. Should now work on older (bi-endian) Macs.
• The SWX analyzer now also works across domains. This means that once open, it will display data loading from any domain, local or remote.
• GET support was broken on SWX gateway. This has now been fixed.
• SWX now uses JSON instead of PHON when serializing arguments sent from the client to the server.
• Fixed setVariable (bytecode) bug and removed respective workaround in SWFCompiler class.
• Tested with PHP versions 4.4.2, 4.4.4, 5.1.4, 5.1.6, 5.2.1. Confirmed to *not* work with the PHP 4.3 branch (this branch and earlier versions are not supported.)

I just wrote up a short blog post on what to expect in the 0.2.0 and 0.2.1 releases.

Also, for Ubuntu/Linux users, Folkert Hielema sent me this bit of information that may help:

With Apache/2.2.3 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.1, make sure you have curl installed (the Twitter examples use curl.) If Apache is installed with command line you should add the curl package. For Ubuntu that's (for PHP 5): sudo apt-get install php5-curl

SWX Alpha version 0.1.9 is now available for download.

This is a major release that brings with it Amfphp compatibility, PHP object support (see notes), new sample apps and improvements to the SWX Analyzer and to the documentation.

For a comprehensive review of this release, see this blog post on aralbalkan.com.

Along with this release, the version numbers for SWX have changed to major.minor.revision format.

Please read the release notes below for further changes.

• Added Amfphp to the build.
• SWX now works with Amfphp services (except those that return RecordSets). Fixed include path mismatch with Amfphp in service class includes, which was the only remaining issue.
• Added interim workaround for object support (they are converted to associate arrays).
• Added History Panel to SWX Analyzer.
• Added SWX Twitter Badge sample app
• Added SWX Twitter Stream sample app
• Updated SWX gateway path for Flash examples. They now use http://localhost:8888/php/swx.php. This is in preparation for the MAMP bundles in 0.2.1).
• Added config file SWX to allow custom services folder.
• Integrated SWX config file with globals.php in Amfphp.
• Renamed Amf gateway to amf.php (from gateway.php) to be consistent with other gateway naming conventions.
• Changed include_once statements to include statements to decrease load.
• Changed Analyzer and service browser to use UFO
• License information added to build and start page
• Started the move to friendlier end-user documentation (very early stages)
• Added basic error checking to SWX Analyzer.
• Tested with MAMP 1.4.1
• Updated to work on (and tested with) PHP 4.4.4

Enjoy, and don't forget to have fun!