Action Message Format (AMF)
We have recently built a Flash Game – Traitors – for the Top Gear website:
The game, sponsored by Nissan, requires the user to speed through 3 levels controlling their speed by repeatedly pressing X-Y buttons as fast as they can and using their booster. For the purpose of data submission and receiving data while interacting with the webserver we decided to use AMFPHP which is open-source implementation of the Action Message Format (AMF) and allows binary serialisation of Action Script (AS2 and AS3) native types and objects to be sent directly to server side services. Phew…
The crux of this is the ease of implementing data transfers to and from the webserver (less code on both client application and on the webserver) and the efficiency of the resultant transfer (the data being transferred is binary format which is also compressed further in AMF3 so the amount of data being transferred is smaller). This is brilliant for rapid development (which we do a lot of) and performance of the finished article.
For instance, on the webserver you don’t have to loop through a database recordset, compose some XML and return that XML to Flash which would then load and parse the XML: you can essentially return the recordset directly from php to Flash and the query is automatically converted to the corresponding ActionScript type. There are several processes being skipped and the data being transferred is far smaller (being compressed binary as opposed to XML).
Kirsten, or the K-dog as he is known on the mean streets of his North London home, is the pater familias of UVd and has seen the company through nearly a decade of trading in Brick Lane, East London (be wary of 'back in the day' stories). Experienced snowboarder, footballer, gardener and general healthy person. Do not underestimate his ability to gain injury from any one of these extreme sports!
Leave a Reply