RE: Stripping content from other sites using "socket" connections

The point of Flash Remoting is that only the tiny window gets refreshed
when you hit 'submit', not the whole page.  So you reduce traffic, you
reduce bandwidth, and you make the page run smoother and quicker.

An example I have seen is an electronics manufacturer.  When you get to
the shopping cart, you select the broad category of appliance you're
looking for (say tvs) and when you get this kind of gizmo thing, you
click the dial on the gizmo and it turns, changing the content in the
screen.  You get the pictures of the tvs available, along with the
details of the tv.  And its only the contents of this screen that are
being sent and received. The rest of the page remains and is not
refreshed.  All the product description pricing and images etc come from
the database that's being used by the rest of the company for inventory,
accounting, warehouse management etc.   If you can't see that as a
benefit, then you're more one-eyed than I thought. 


As to the proprietary thing... almost all dynamic sites are built on one
or another proprietary technology. It's futile to try to debate it.  You
can get all in a twist about licensing, but I haven't paid any license
fees.  I have 20 ColdFusion sites.  My hosting provider has paid
licensing, but my sites come out cheaper and faster - in 10th of the
time it took me to do simple tasks using perl, and FAR more dynamic and
easy to modify when the need arises.    When it comes down to it, my
sites are far cheaper even allowing for my share of the ColdFusion
licensing than the sites I used CGI on.


But you go ahead and stick with whatever technology you use now.  That's
fine. As long as the end result is up with what the world is doing.  Who
cares what technology you use, as long as it's competitive when you add
in your development costs and it can do the jobs the site owners want.


I am not going to enter into any further discussion about whether perl
is better than php is better than asp is better than cold fusion.    I
have more interesting ways to spend my time.


Cheers,
Michael Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
AFP Webworks.





-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org]
On Behalf Of Frank Boumphrey
Sent: Sunday, 29 December 2002 3:36 PM
To: Octavian Rasnita; hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
Subject: Re: Stripping content from other sites using "socket"
connections

Both php and perl (but not AFIK asp) allow you to grab a remote file
(it's
almost trivial with php). If this remote file is set up as an XML web
service then you can easily parse it's content and get every thing you
want.

Maybe it's easier to do with a proprietary solution such as flash and
macromedia but then you will have to pay those hefty license fees, AND
you
web apps be held hostage  to  the whims of a  corporation (rumor has it
that
M$ is eying flash, doesn't that send fingers of fear down your spine!).
So
much better to use the open source solution.

Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: "Octavian Rasnita" <orasnita(at)home.ro>
To: <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 1:11 PM
Subject: Re: Stripping content from other sites using "socket"
connections


> Wouldn't be more simple and powerfull to use a CGI script instead?
>
> Teddy,
> Teddy's Center: http://teddy.fcc.ro/
> Email: orasnita(at)home.ro
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Kear" <mkear(at)afpwebworks.com>
> To: "'Mike Taylor'" <lonewolf(at)one.net>; <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 4:44 PM
> Subject: RE: Stripping content from other sites using "socket"
connections
>
>
> It's a major feature of Macromedia's new MX series of products,
> specifically FlashMX and ColdFusionMX.   Together they have a feature
> called Flash Remoting.  It's specifically designed to simplify
> Syndication of Content (which is the web buzzword for this kind of
> thing) so people who have information can set up a web service with up
> to date data stored on their own databases, and make it available to
all
> kinds of web sites on all manner of financial arrangements - free or
> otherwise.
>
> On the site using the info, all they do is set up a Flash component
and
> the only part of the page that changes as the data changes or as
people
> enter information in the forms is the small window inside the flash.
>
> For example .. suppose you have a travel site, because you're a travel
> agent.  One thing you might want to have is a little block on the side
> of your page with the current exchange rates.   You make a Flash image
> that consists of a little form where users click the currencies
they're
> interested in, and a button, and in the back of the flash component of
> your page, you have set up a link to a web service run by a financial
> institution.   When the user clicks the button on the small form, it
> doesn't refresh the whole page - ONLY the small part containing the
> currency information in the flash component.   It's Flash Remoting
> that's connecting to the financial institution and grabbing the data,
> then reformatting it how you want it displayed.  You control how it
> looks, but the data comes from the institution.   On this hypothetical
> travel site, you might also have Flash Remoting getting room rates,
> booking information,  airline schedules etc all from different
> information providers, who have set up these web services.
>
> It's been done before in one way or another, but it's going to be a
HUGE
> development in the future as more and more people set up web services
> and make their information available to other sites, to get revenue
from
> their information, or to get more exposure to their data by having it
on
> zillions of sites.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Michael Kear
> Windsor, NSW, Australia
> AFP Webworks.
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
[mailto:owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org]
> On Behalf Of Mike Taylor
> Sent: Friday, 13 December 2002 2:43 AM
> To: hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
> Subject: Re: Stripping content from other sites using "socket"
> connections
>
> ---------  Original message --------
> From: Hank Marquardt <hmarq(at)yerpso.net>
>
> > So, now that I showed you 'how' -- a couple pitfalls/problems:
> >You could be violating the TOS of the site doing this; this is
> >particularly a problem if you integrate stuff below the link level
>
> Hank,
>
> Thanks for the examples, as well as the rest who have offered their
own
> links.
>
> I'd like to clarify that, for the record, the site I referenced in my
> first
> message was legally pulling data from the third-party site.
>
> As for ASP alternatives, I can only think of a couple COM components
> that
> accomplish this like ASPTear, ASPHttp and the Microsoft's XMLHTTP
> object.
> I've just never seen the inner workings of these objects and wanted to
> know
> how it all worked.  I've heard about querying the host via a socket
> connection, but never knew the specifics to make it happen.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Mike
>
>
>

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