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1. User request the server page
2. Web server locates the file and passes it to the application server for processing.
3. Business logic of the code accesses the system resources like database, mail server and file system.
4. Server generates a dynamic HTML page from the requested data and service.
5. This dynamically generated HTML page is returned to the browser for rendering.
Apache Flex:
How adding an compiled SWF file in the server works
1. User request the server page
2. Web server locates the file and passes it to the application server for processing.
3. Business logic of the code accesses the system resources like database, mail server and file system.
4. Server generates a dynamic HTML page from the requested data and service.
5. the generated HTML code with and embedded SWF file reference. (JavaScript code auto-generated by the Flash Builder is used for embedding SWF file into the HTML file).
6. the HTML code reaches browser for rendering
7. Browser requests that the SWF file be downloaded and rendered in Flash Player (as a small widget or an entire application view in the HTML page).
8. the SWF file in the browser can directly communicate with the server code. This allows for dynamic content to update the Flex application UI without refreshing the HTML page and decreases the number of requests to the server and the amount of content that is transferred over the network.
Another good comparision of Flash vs HTML 5 is available at the website.
http://flashvhtml.com/
Flex framework automatically takes care of adjusting the application layout as per the form factor of the device running the application while in HTML 5 the developer needs to take of detecting the platform and device and laying out the components as per the target form factor. But this gap is getting closed widget frameworks like JQuery which are also supporting eventing and data binding and the forward momentum is with Html and JS.
Read this Interesting Blog published by Gartner about "HTML 5 vs Flash".
Features not possible to implement without Flash.
1. Copy to Clipboard
As of Today (September2014) its not possible to implement Copy to Clipboard functionality in a web page that works consistently and flawlessly across all major browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer). Suppose you want to develop a button on click of which you want to copy to your Windows or Mac Clipboard some text content say value of any text area within a form. This can only be achieved by using Flash. With JavaScript only approach you would only be able to do this for Internet Explorer (IE). Presently the most reliable solution is to use ZeroClipboard (http://zeroclipboard.org/) which internally make use of a hidden Flash movie and JavaScript interface to achieve this functionality in a secure way.
Related Articles;
- Adobe Flash Player 11.2 Beta for Desktops
- Adobe Flash Player and its Future
- Flash Player Demise on Desktop Inevitable, but Years Away, Say Analysts (pcworld.com)
- The web in 2011: HTML5 dominates Flash, trouble for data capped mobile surfers (extremetech.com)
- Adobe: here come 5+ years of Flash advancements (news.cnet.com)
Howto Embed Flash Using JavaScript(raventools.com)
Google Swiffy updates Swiffy converts Flash SWF files to HTML5,...(flashdaily.net)
