Re: FLASH: Entirely flash shoppingcart/catalog

[Neal Cabage]

Hey,


That was very helpful.  Very thorough.  Thanks for the feedback!


Neal


----- Original Message ----- 

From: RedStar <

redstarclix [dot] pt

>

To: <

flasherchinwag [dot] com

>

Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 9:53 PM

Subject: Re: FLASH: Entirely flash shoppingcart/catalog



Neal,


OK I'll try to address each of your points.


 

"1. for the catalogue portion I will need to load images into a specific

location on the stage dynamically.  From what I have read, I believe

this

can be done by compiling each image as a swf to be loaded dynamically

using

load movie."


Yes, this is the best way to do it. Some things you might want to

consider here are :

A - Try to access the swf'd images always using the same url. This way

if the user has to reaccess an image it will probably come from the

cache.

B - Spend some extra time optimizing the images for size, quality and

colour palette.


2. I can build off of Pipey's example of a dynamically populated list

box in

Flash to create a "view cart" page.


This is a very good starting point indeed.

 

"Further, I need to be positive that there are no security concerns

(which I don't believe there should be) by building with a Flash

front-end."


Using a Flash based front end will not alter the security grade of your

site. So no you don't need to be concerned about this. The current

release of the Flash plugin has, as far as I know, no known security

'bugs'.


"Can someone out there tell me if they know of any limitations to watch

out

for or if they can think of any reasons why *not* to proceed this way

(eg

proceed to make an entire Flash interface to the shopping

cart/catalog)?"


Recent discussions on this list would seem to point to limitations but

the answer is no, there are no additional limitations imposed by Flash

as a front end. The recent discussion on the size of the 'GET' elements

is not a Flash limit but a browser limit.

Flash supports 'GET' and 'POST'. The main thing to remember here is the

basic 'rule of thumb' : if your query doesn't alter state server side

use 'GET' if it alters state server side use 'POST'.


"I am being pressured to make a decision before I am ready to do so (eg

want to

do more research ...as I am fairly new to flash4) but i want to make

sure

there aren't any blind traps I should know about before i say it can be

done.  So far, it seems like it can ... but saying "yes" at this point

makes

me *really* nervous.  Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!"


This attitude is refreshing ! If you've followed this list for some time

you might have noticed others getting into trouble because they didn't

have this stance. Careful research before committing is a Good Thing

(tm).

All I can tell you is that, and I repeat, a Flash front end, does not

alter the security grade of your site and does not impose limits that

would not exist otherwise. 

Unless you consider the requirement that the client browser have the

plugin/control a limit, something I don't think can be done these days,

a browser without Flash is broken, isn't it ?



.redstar.


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