Question

I have a java socket server that sends an Animal object to the Flash client when it connects.
The object is sent like this:

Amf3Output amf3Output = new Amf3Output(SerializationContext.getSerializationContext());
amf3Output.setOutputStream(userSocket.getOutputStream());
amf3Output.writeObject(animal);

And the code on flash side is:

var object:Object = socket.readObject();
trace(object);
trace(object as Animal);

However when the second trace gives me a null

I have checked that java sends out 31 bytes and Flash receives 31 bytes.

I think it might be that my Java and AS3 classes don’t match some AMF requirement.

Java class:

package main;

public class Animal {

   public String name;
   public int age;
}

AS3 class:

package  
{

    [Bindable]
    [RemoteClass(alias="main.Animal")]
    public class Animal 
    {
        public var name:String;
        public var age:int;

    }

}

Answer 1

I’m not familiar with Java and the AMF serializers/deserializers available for it, but sending typed objects over sockets is indeed supported in flash, and works properly if you send the right data. Below is an example of a socket server in ruby communicating with a Flash application. I’m using RocketAMF to send an AMF3 object over the socket to a client after it connects.

SocketTest.as:

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.net.registerClassAlias;
    import org.rackAMF.*;
    import flash.net.Socket;
    import flash.events.*;

    public class SocketTest extends Sprite {
        private var socket:Socket;

        public function SocketTest() {
            registerClassAlias('Animal', Animal);

            socket = new Socket();
            socket.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.SOCKET_DATA, onResponse);
            socket.connect("localhost", 8081);
        }

        private function onResponse(e:ProgressEvent):void {
            var animal:Animal = socket.readObject() as Animal;
            trace(Object(animal).constructor); // [trace] [class Animal]
            trace(animal.name); // [trace] Zebra
            trace(animal.age); // [trace] 5
        }
    }
}

class Animal {
    public var name:String;
    public var age:int;
}

socket_server.rb:

require 'rubygems'
require 'socket'
require 'rocketamf'

class Animal
  attr_accessor :name, :age
end

# Map "Animal" in ruby to "Animal" in flash
RocketAMF::ClassMapper.define do |m|
  m.map :as => 'Animal', :ruby => 'Animal'
end

server = TCPServer.open(8081)
loop {
  client = server.accept

  animal = Animal.new
  animal.name = "Zebra"
  animal.age = 5
  client.write RocketAMF.serialize(animal, 3)

  client.close
}