Specifications

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Chapter 18: Using the Flex Module for
Apache and IIS
Topics
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
Getting started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Configuring the web-tier compiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .345
Customizing the template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .348
Debugging with the web-tier compiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .350
Introduction
The Adobe® Flex® module for Apache and IIS compiler provides web-tier compilation of MXML files on Apache
and IIS web servers. This lets you rapidly compile, test, and deploy an application: Instead of compiling your
MXML file into a SWF file and then deploying it and its wrapper files on a web server, you can just refresh the
MXML file in your browser.
You do not need a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) server to use the web-tier compiler. The Flex module for
Apache and IIS works with just the web server and a Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
This document refers to the Flex module for Apache and IIS as the web-tier compiler or the compiler module.
For web tier compilation, you can also use the Adobe Flex compiler module for J2EE application servers. The Flex
compiler module for J2EE application servers is a ZIP file that you can deploy to most J2EE application servers
that support servlets. The Flex compiler module for J2EE application servers also provides a JSP tag library that
lets you write Flex applications in JSPs. It is available as a download on the Adobe web site.
How the web-tier compiler works
This process contains the following steps:
1 The client requests a file with an *.mxml file extension.
2 The web server forwards the request to the compiler module.
3 The compiler module compiles the MXML file into a SWF file. The compiler module uses incremental compi-
lation, so most compilations after the first one take less time to complete.