Populating related cfselects via Flash Remoting

First of let me say that as much as I would love this to be my code it mainly comes out of two posts [1,2] on ASFusion.com.

To sidetrack for a moment, I must point out now is that even if you don't find answers in the Asfusion posts always check the comments out! They get up to 50+ comments on some posts with hints and tips there as well.

Back to the form. I had a project which started life as a 5 page HTML form with the need to make it a little user friendly to the eyes and more organised. Any form over 2 pages I hate in general and I seem to be the only person in the world who thinks one long page is better than X amount of multiple pages this is whether i'm filling them in or creating them.

In moving my HTML form over to <cfform format="flash"> I ran into the problem of having to duplicate some Ajax where one select is populated from a DB then another select is populated from there. It didn't take too much digging around and I thought i'd share in case it helps anyone else out. My Flash/As knowledge isn't 100% so if you see an easier way drop me a line in the comments.

First of the CFC

flashRemotingResponder.cfc

<cfcomponent name="flashRemotingResponder" access="public" description="Responds to Flash remoting requests"><cffunction name="getBrands" output="false" access="remote" returntype="query">            <cfset var qry = ""/> <cfset var brandQry = queryNew("brand_code,brand_name") />  <cfscript>    queryAddRow(brandQry);      querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_code','dell');     querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_name','Dell');   queryAddRow(brandQry);      querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_code','apple');      querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_name','Apple Inc.');   queryAddRow(brandQry);      querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_code','microsoft');      querySetCell(brandQry,'brand_name','Microsoft Corp.');              </cfscript>           <cfquery dbtype="query" name="qry">   SELECT     brand_code, brand_name   FROM brandQry </cfquery>  <cfreturn qry /></cffunction><cffunction name="getModels" access="remote" output="false" returntype="query"> <cfargument name="brand" type="string" />   <cfset var qry = ""/> <cfset var modelQry = queryNew("model_number,model_description,brand_code") />  <cfset var brand_code = arguments.brand />  <cfscript>    queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','123-qwe');      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','Apple Mac Book Pro 15.4"');     querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','apple');    queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','987123-123');     querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','Apple Mac Book Pro 17"');     querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','apple');    queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','asdpo-1232');     querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','Apple 72" Monitor');      querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','apple');    queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','d123');     querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','XPS Mobile Gaming Laptop');      querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','dell');   queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','d6534');      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','64" Monitor');      querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','dell');   queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','123-mqwe');     querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','DRM removal tool');      querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','microsoft');    queryAddRow(modelQry);      querySetCell(modelQry,'model_number','123-serr');     querySetCell(modelQry,'model_description','Windows Vista inc. SP4');      querySetCell(modelQry,'brand_code','microsoft');        </cfscript> <cfquery dbtype="query" name="qry">   SELECT      model_number,     model_description   FROM      modelQry    WHERE     brand_code = <cfqueryparam cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" value="#brand_code#" /> </cfquery>    <cfreturn qry/></cffunction></cfcomponent>

Second the action <cfform>

flashRemoting.cfm

<cfset brandQry = queryNew("brand_code,brand_name") /><cfset modelQry = queryNew("model_number,model_description,brand_code") /><cfsavecontent variable="getBrands"> <cfoutput>    //create connection   var connection:mx.remoting.Connection = mx.remoting.NetServices.createGatewayConnection("http://#cgi.HTTP_HOST#/flashservices/gateway/");   //declare service   var myService:mx.remoting.NetServiceProxy;  </cfoutput> var responseHandler = {}; //put the controls in scope to avoid calling _root  var brand = brand;    responseHandler.onResult = function( results: Object ):Void {   //when results are back, populate the cfselect    brand.labelField = "brand_name";    brand.dataProvider = results; }     responseHandler.onStatus  = function( stat: Object ):Void {   //if there is any error, show an alert    alert("Error while calling cfc:" + stat.description); }   //get service myService = connection.getService("flashRemotingResponder", responseHandler );  //make call myService.getBrands();</cfsavecontent><cfsavecontent variable="getModel"> <cfoutput>    //create connection   var connection:mx.remoting.Connection = mx.remoting.NetServices.createGatewayConnection("http://#cgi.HTTP_HOST#/flashservices/gateway/");   //declare service   var myService:mx.remoting.NetServiceProxy;  </cfoutput> var responseHandler = {}; //put the controls in scope to avoid calling _root  var model = model;    responseHandler.onResult = function( results: Object ):Void {   //when results are back, populate the cfselect    model.labelField = "model_description";   model.dataProvider = results; }     responseHandler.onStatus  = function( stat: Object ):Void {   //if there is any error, show an alert    alert(stat.description);  }   //get service myService = connection.getService("flashRemotingResponder", responseHandler );  //make call myService.getModels(brand.selectedItem.brand_code);</cfsavecontent><cfform format="flash" name="myform" onload="#getBrands#" width="500" height="400">  <cfformgroup type="panel" label="Example of flash remoting and dynamically populating cfselect">    <cfselect name="brand" id="brand" query="brandQry" display="brand_name"     value="brand_code" onchange="#getModel#" label="What is the brand name"></cfselect>     <cfselect name="model" id="model" query="modelQry" display="model_description"      value="model_number" label="What Model Number"></cfselect>  </cfformgroup></cfform>

You can download the source at: http://www.andyjarrett.co.uk/flash_remoting_populate_select.zip