Flex Ajax Bridge

I recently posted about the ExternalInterface class in Flash 8, which allows for tight integration of Flash and JavaScript. Adobe (formerly Macromedia) announced today the Flex/Ajax bridge. This will provide even tighter integration of the two environments. I call them environments from the simple fact that they didn’t use to play so well together.

Developers can now access any ActionScript functionality directly from JavaScript…this is HUGE. I can only imagine using Flex to layout the application and letting JavaScript handle all the client-side logic. Actually, forget that, JavaScript could be used to dynamically instantiate Flex objects so technically all you would need is a Flex shell. The instantiation of a Flex chart from JavaScript looks like:

var chart = FABridge.swf.create(”mx.charts.ColumnChart”);

You can see a demonstration of the FABridge in action by clicking here and be sure you have the Flash 8.5 player.  There’s been insane buzz around Ajax over the last year and it’s exciting to see Adobe step up to the plate. I believe enabling developers to leverage both Flex and Ajax will lead to more compelling applications. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see the adoption rate since there are die-hard advocates of each technology.