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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