Controlling An Embedded Device Using Flash

JimCricket writes "Art & Logic has just released a web server toolkit based on the open source GoAhead WebServer. The cool part is that it can communicate with Flash presentations using XML-RPC. The idea is to create GUI's to control embedded devices using Flash in addition to (or instead of) HTML. They've posted a little demo running on Windows, but in the real world the server would run on a low-power device. Seems like a great idea for the embedded world, given that Flash interfaces _can_ be very low-memory (as long as Flash designers stick to the vector-based graphics and ActionScript)."

Comments

All I got was

[Technician]

Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6
on the little demo page. Too bad I removed FLASH due to it's abuse by web advertisers. I hope Macromedia will put out a player that can be set by default to not play flash. HINT HINT! I'm not going to install it to watch a demo and remove it for the rest of my browsing. Is a play button too much to ask?

Re:All I got was

[alexburke]

Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6
on the little demo page. Too bad I removed FLASH due to it's abuse by web advertisers. I hope Macromedia will put out a player that can be set by default to not play flash. HINT HINT! I'm not going to install it to watch a demo and remove it for the rest of my browsing. Is a play button too much to ask?

Two quick questions:

(1) If you knew you didn't have the plugin installed, why did you bother clicking through? The demo was clearly described as being Flash.

(2) What the fuck good would a Flash plugin be that, by default, doesn't play Flash? Does your web browser, by default, not render HTML?! (I'm sure there's a Netscape joke in there somewhere, but I'm generally not one to make cheap shots.)

If you're so worried about ads, do yourself a favor and install Guidescope. It's a little proxy that sits in your system tray, bound to port 8000 of (only) your localhost interface, and you tell IE that localhost:8000 is your proxy for HTTP content. It then replaces known ads with a gray box the same size as the ad, so it won't break the layout of pages. (Optionally you can have it nuke them altogether.) It can optionally block some or all cookies, too.

as a hardware designer

[Anonymous Coward]

flash for an interface is just a stupid idea.

why goto the trouble/expense of including a vfd or a full color lcd. then emulating all the things flash needs to run. vs making a custom lcd/vfd display with your buttons on it (even if it looks just like the flash) and use that.

oh morphing interfaces you say. the answer... do we really need a remote control with skins. do we need a tv that has some silly panasonic movie running on it all day.

Look at all the crap thats gotten into car stereo head units these days. I mean the rice-boys love it but i still cant find a decent nice sounding stereo system for under 500 bux that has all the outputs and FUNCTIONAL abilities i want. Instead to get (rca) instead of line leads off a device you have to goto the $700 (cdn) range and end up gettin these stupid pixel usually like 320x100 displays and they distract the hell out of you while driving... I DONT NEED A GRAPHIC EQUALIZER...

oh yes you can turn the crap off but at the end of the day you've paid an extra 200 for the stupid display.

leave hardware alone, keep it away from macromedia and microsoft. embedded linux is nice because its just so barebones simple when it gets to that level. flash would seriously gum it up.

keep hardware devices simple. provide functionality not flash. its not a website they're not sitting there for the purpose of that site. With hardware you want to use the damned thing not have it look pretty.

The ONLY exception might be in the intergrated appliance market eg a microwave that has a vfd display that is a picture on the wall for example (like in anti-trust the movie).

in which case however flash still isnt the answer. a custom application is. faster better and most importantly designed to do the job specifically.

flash really is bloat ware when it comes to the stuff needed to properly impliment it and short of a specialty product from macromedia trying to adapt it is just plain silly.

Flash: Remote, not local, interface

[Dr. JJJ]

The point of this story was to illustrate the use of Flash in building user interfaces for remote web-based control, not for use as a primary interface on the device itself.

XML-RPC?

[togofspookware]

I'd think that if you want this to be a low-bandwidth interface, XML-RPC is about the last thing you'd want to use. What's wrong with good old fasioned URL-formatted parameters?

I mean,

<?xml version="blah"?>

<methodCall>

<methodName>eat_cheese</methodName>

<params>

<param>

<name>amount</name>

<value>lots</value>

</param>

</params>

</methodCall>

just seems like overkill to me when you could just do:

action=eat_cheese&amount=lots

I guess I'm just behind the times...