Advice on linking to data from Flex Viewer to SQL Server?

[MelissaJohnson]

I know using just Flex there is no way to link to SQL Server but I was hoping to get some dialog going from the experts out there on the best and easiest way to do this.
I have my Flex Viewer 2.1 and want to pass my parcel ID to SQL Server to return additional records. 

Questions (Opinions):
Which is the easiest to learn for beginners?
Which method returns data fastest and taxes the server the least?

I am looking to take a class to learn how to do this (I wish ESRI had a class that explained connecting databases when building web mapping apps).  I am not sure which service type I should use.   In Flex you can use Blaze, Cold Fusion, HTTP, LCDS, PHP, Web Service or XML to connect to data services.  Maybe there are others out there as well.

If anyone has experience with any of these good or bad some advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Melissa

[MelissaJohnson]

One of the options under Connect to Data/Service is Connect to Cold Fusion.

[EmilyLaMunyon]

Thanks Melissa!

I have been successful connecting to a CF webservice in Flash. Maybe this is not possible, but I was wondering if I could connect/use a coldfusion webservice in the Flex Viewer 2.1 without Flash.

Emily

[MelissaJohnson]

Maybe someone else can answer your question.  I am really new to Flex.  I just knew that Cold Fusion was one of the options.

[RobertScheitlin__GISP]

Emily,

   There is no widget or anything built into FlexViewer 2.1 to allow connecting to a CF Web Service. Connecting to a CF Web service is definitely very custom and have to be coded by a developer that know what the web service is providing and what to do with it once it has it.

[LizDaRos]

I've gone through a few tutorials of setting up a webservice and returning my sql data as xml and parsing into a flex application... and got it to work.
Now I'd like to show the data in my Sample Flex Viewer using the webservice. I've tried adding a few lines to my searchwidget to display the data but I'm not having much luck. Can anyone give me some help? Or is this NOT the way I should be doing this... should I be trying to �??Pass Search Parameters via URL in Sample Viewer�?�?
Ultimately I'd like to either search for a streetlight and get the sql data or possibly click on the streetlight and have this info appear.
Any help will greatly be appreciated.

[NasifAlshaier]

Melissa,

About a year ago, we got a "Web handler/service" from ESRI called "GeoRSSSite" that we used to access data from a SQL table (Fire Truck locations updated every minute).

We were able to alter their code to connect to our data.  It was a bit of trial and error (as we had no clue what we were doing either), but we got it to work.  We really just edited the files directly in a text editor vs having to use VStudio.

I have used it over an over for various things - some for creating the XML to generate auto-complete lists. 

Maybe you can ask someone at ESRI if that is still available and if there are instructions???

Robert is the expert at this, but I can tell you that we got it to work without being an expert by any means. 😄

Carmen

Hi Carmen..

can you share the Web handler/service" from ESRI called "GeoRSSSite"?

Thanks
Nasif

[MeghanMcGaffin]

Melissa,

About a year ago, we got a "Web handler/service" from ESRI called "GeoRSSSite" that we used to access data from a SQL table (Fire Truck locations updated every minute).

We were able to alter their code to connect to our data.  It was a bit of trial and error (as we had no clue what we were doing either), but we got it to work.  We really just edited the files directly in a text editor vs having to use VStudio.

I have used it over an over for various things - some for creating the XML to generate auto-complete lists. 

Maybe you can ask someone at ESRI if that is still available and if there are instructions???

Robert is the expert at this, but I can tell you that we got it to work without being an expert by any means. 😄

Carmen

I am definitely interested in learning more about how you did this.

[grahamcooke]

Here is a link to  a thread tha might help where I was trying to ascertain how to get the results back from a .net webservice.
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/23798-calling-webservices-from-action-script-order-of-events?p=7812...

Hope this helps.

[MichaelVolz]

Carmen:

Can you provide the sample and details of the sample that you received from ESRI on the GeoRSSSite?

[CarmenDurham]

Sorry - I have just stumbled on these requests.  I don't think I received an email notification.  Attached is a .zip file of the contents of the "GeoRSSSite" that we received from Jonathan Fisk when he was with ESRI-Charlotte.  Also, there is a document that we made with notes on what had to be done.  The notes are far from complete but maybe will get you started.  It has been so long that I couldn't provide any more details - I just remember floundering around until it worked.

Let me know how it goes.

Carmen