Restricting WebORB console to localhost

Today we received four requests from different people asking the same thing: how to restrict console to run only on localhost. I posted a detailed response to the WebORB discussion forum and then decided to use that content to write a tech note. You can see the it at the following URL:

http://www.themidnightcoders.com/weborb/dotnet/articles/secureconsole.shtm

The technote references WebORB for .NET, but the same configuration steps are applicable to WebORB for Java and PHP

WebORB for .NET 3.5 is available

On the heels of the new PHP release, I'd like to deliver the news about WebORB 3.5 for .NET. The new release is available for download and brings you the following features and bug fixes:

• Support for ColdFusion Components (CFCs) - We revised integration with BlueDragon by New Atlanta Communications. WebORB now supports BlueDragon version 7.0.1 and provides the following features:
• CFC invocations from Flash, Flex, AJAX and soon Silverlight clients
• CFC inspection in service browser in WebORB Management Console
• Remoting code generation for CFC selected in service browser. This includes basic AS3/AS2 remoting, Cairngogm, PureMVC
• Invocation test drive for CFC methods. Select a method and the console will let you enter method arguments and invoke the CFC right from the console. It will also display the result in a tree-like structure.
  
You can read more about the CFC integration in the WebORB user guide.


• Command line remoting code generator and - If you tried WebORB, you know about our code generator. You select a class in the service browser in the console and we automatically generate all the client side code you could use to invoke the selected class. There are several styles for the client code including ActionScript 3 remoting, CairngormPureMVC to name a few. One of the frequently requested features is support for the same code generation but from the command line. We listened, we delivered. WebORB 3.5 includes command line remoting code generator utility. Check out WebORB user guide for details.
  
  
• RTMP Client for server-to-server invocations - WebORB 3.5 makes it easy to integrate separate server-side processes via the RTMPClient API. The API enables server-to-server invocations between servers supporting the RTMP protocol. That means you can have a .NET process that uses our API to make invocations of methods in remote WebORB, FMS or Red5 servers. The API also supports "server-to-client" invocations where the client is the process using the RTMPClient API. There is more information on the RTMPClient API in the WebORB User Guide.
  
  
• Improved support for generics - There are several improvements in the invocation test drive and code generators in the management console. Generic types and genetic collections now have better visual representation in the console. When you invoke a method accepting a generic collection through TestDrive, the user interface will format itself to accommodate the generic type.
  
  
• Bug fixes:
• Fixed serialization of date objects in query results
• Fixed authorization handling bug. Authorization handling results were cached after the initial authorization decision.
  

WebORB for PHP 3.0 is available

I am very happy to announce a release of a new major version of WebORB for PHP - 3.0. The new release includes a bunch of new features as well as important bug fixes. Here's what we've got for you:

• Flex Messaging implementation - This is by far the most requested feature next to data management. The concept is very simple: Flex client can send a message to a destination, WebORB receives and delivers the message to all other Flex clients subscribed to the destination. Our implementation includes a simple ActionScript API (similar to Adobe's Producer/Consumer) to publish/receive messages to/from a messaging destination. There is also a basic Flex chat example demonstrating the API.
  
  
• Improved service browser with lazy structure loading - previously our console used to load the entire directory structure with all the PHP classes in a single request. That led to several problems including slow performance as well as PHP class loading issues (for bad PHP classes). The new approach uses lazy loading where we load information about classes and methods only when you select a particular node in the service browser.
  
  
• Error reporting in the service browser - PHP classes that do not pass validation are shown with a warning sign in the service browser. You can get the text of the error just by rolling mouse pointer over.
  
  
• Flex destination management - There is a new configuration panel in the WebORB management console you can use to create new destinations, set channels and assign user roles to the destinations.
  
  
• PureMVC code generator - We added a new code generator to the service browser. When you select a PHP class in the service browser, and choose PureMVC in the "code style" list, the code generator creates PureMVC-conforming code you can use to invoke methods on the selected class.
  
  
• Improved AS3 code generation - The AS3 code generator has been improved. The new generator creates a bindable model class to make it easier to update the UI when you get remote invocation results.
  
  
• Added support for downloading generated code in a ZIP file - Previously when you used code generators in the WebORB console, you had to copy and paste the generated code from the console into Flex Builder project files. This is very inefficient and can be a tedious process if the code generator produced a lot of classes. The new release makes it significantly simpler where with a single click you can get a zip file with all the generated code.
  
  
• Performance improvements - WebORB 3.0 is about 200% faster than our previous implementation. The latest release takes advantage of the optimizations built into the AMF3 protocol and the size of WebORB response messages is smaller too.
  
  
• New examples (chat, file upload, custom security, XML serialization) - be sure to check out all the new examples shipped with the product.

I am very excited about this release as it sets the stage for some fantastic features we're working on now. The next release will bring an implementation of WDMF for PHP, a data management framework you will love to use. I also would like to thank everyone who has helped us out with the beta testing of WebORB for PHP 3.0. Your help and loyalty is remarkable!

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that though WebORB for PHP is a free product, product support is not free. If you find WebORB useful, I encourage you to obtain a support package to help us help you. You can see all available support packages at:
http://www.themidnightcoders.com/weborb/weborb_support_packages.shtm

Back to blogging

It has been a loooong time since I blogged anything and I do not feel good about it. It is not easy to find time when you're behind on 1000 things, but I have all the intentions to blog more often.

We have been extremely busy across the board! The product development is going extremely well and I am about to announce two new version releases. Additionally, we're working on a new revolutionary product that will change the way businesses run their RIAs. That's all I can say for now, but I guarantee you will want it when you see it.

Finally, our consulting team is kicking some serious butt. After seeing the kind of applications we developed for our clients, I know we have the best Flex talent in the world. If you're looking for Flex consultants, drop us a line.

WebORB 3.4 for .NET is released as a FREE product

It is with great pleasure I would like to announce availability of WebORB 3.4 for .NET. The new release offers several new features, variety of improvements and bug fixes. But most importantly is that with this release we are changing our licensing policy for WebORB. So without
any further ado (...[drumroll]...) I'd like to announce that WebORB for .NET is now a FREE product. We have merged all editions (Standard, Professional and Enterprise) into one and the product is available as just "WebORB for .NET". You do not need any license keys and can use the product without extra license cost for development, staging and production purposes.

Additionally, we put together several product support plans to address the support needs of organizations varying in size and response time requirements. Check out WebORB support plans page.

Below is a list of new features and changes in 3.4:

• Significant performance improvements
• Major enhancements in the AMF3 protocol compliance
• RTMPT support
• Support for the RTMP bandwidth detection
• DataTable/DataSet row serialization configuration
• NHibernate proxy serialization support
• ArrayCollection serialization support
• Configurable support for Enum type serialization
• WebORB configuration file hot deployment
• Added PureMVC code generator template support (available through the service browser in the console)
  
• VideoChat example now has audio support
  

Check out the updated WebORB for .NET product page.

We are very excited about this release and can't wait to see what you will build with it. If you run into any problems with the product, please post your findings to the WebORB discussion group.

And lastly, if you're looking to hire someone to help you with your Flex project, we have a fantastic Professional Services team. We have done a number of project ranging from small to large and built a solid expertise around creating phenomenal online user experiences. Give us a
call to discuss your project: 1-888-MYWEBORB (select option 1).

Our goals for 2008

This is always a tough one to write, but it is an important one to have. I certainly have the plan and making it public adds some pressure to execute it right. So here they come, our goals for 2008:

1. Bring all editions of WebORB (Java, .NET, PHP and Ruby) to the same functional level. Right now WebORB for .NET is well ahead of others and sets the bar quite high. We're actively working on all four versions of the product and should be leveling the feature-set quite soon. The biggest challenge is providing rich media streaming support for the PHP and Ruby environments. That might continue to be the only difference there.


2. Publish complete documentation for WDMF. The framework is very solid now as we have used it in several consulting engagements. Mostly all of the projects are in production and I feel quite confident about the stability of WDMF. The timing could not be better for everyone to start using the functionality.


3. Double our professional services/consulting staff. We already had significant growth in 2007 and now do a lot of professional services work, but we're getting inquiries for more work than we can handle.


4. Establish official WebORB training curriculum and start formal WebORB certification program. Enroll training partners.


5. Introduce and evolve our business intelligence product offering (sorry, can't say more now, but, this is going to kick butt).


6. Quadruple annual sales while lowering the price point. We have already reduced the price to ZERO for all editions of WebORB for Java and we're dedicated to providing a very affordable integration platform for all other backends.


7. Fully embrace Silverlight and AJAX in the same capacity as Flex/Flash. We recognize that Silverlight is going to be a major player in the RIA space, especially with the 2.0 release later this year. WebORB has always been a client-agnostic development/runtime platform, so addition of SL fits perfectly into the product architecture.


8. Kill the competition (you know who you are). No, we will not send tough, kneecaps-breaking Russian guys in black uniforms to you, but your nightmares will be just as scary.

I plan to pair up our accomplishments with these goals at the end of the year and see how well we've done. This is going to be a very exciting year!

Happy Birthday Midnight Coders!

Five years ago today I had a New Year resolution to spend a few hours every day working on something cool. I was working late evenings and some weekends and referred to the work I was doing as 'midnight coding'. As a result, picking the company name was easy. Six months later I had a product that was a commercial alternative to the Macromedia's Flash Remoting. Fast forward five years and we have thousands of dedicated users, solid product providing integration between Flex, Flash, AJAX and a variety of backend systems. Our professional services team is working on five concurrent projects and we plan to double our capacity this year. We are also working on a business intelligence solution specifically targeting the RIA space and plan to release it this year. We're still young, but it feels great to be 5 years old! Here's to a fantastic 2008!

What is Adobe up to with AMF?

Ted Patrick (an Adobe Evangelist) wrote a blog post on the benefits of the AMF format and briefly mentioned that "There is some big AMF news coming in December". There is a lot of speculation on what exactly the news are going to be, so I thought I'd share my predictions. As many others commented in the blog post, I believe the news would be a opening up the protocol specification. Knowing how big companies usually do it, I suspect it is going to be a lot more than just the spec. Here's what I suspect it will include:

1. AMF Format specification (published in the PDF format of course)
   
2. Reference implementation (more than likely implemented in Java)
   
3. Compliance test suite (so implementations can validate their accuracy)
   
4. Certification guidelines (this would be in the form of getting Adobe's stamp of approval)
   

I am curious if the reference implementation would be just a serializer/deserializer of the protocol messages, or a mini-server implementing basic remoting.

As for #3 (compliance test suite), some companies offer them as commercial products (Sun for instance used charge thousands for their test suites, not sure if they still do). I hope Adobe does not impose any fees for that.

If all of this is true, is this a good move for Adobe? Absolutely! Is it timed well? No. I think releasing just the AMF spec would be too little too late. There is an implementation of the protocol in all most popular languages (Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Python). It will definitely help the company to fight against the "proprietary" arguments, but in the end I do not think it is a big deal.

Just my $0.02.