For eg. the following services are readily provided (as plugins):-

ColdFusion, PHP, WebService, HTTP, LCDS, BlazeDS

What if we need to connect to some other server technology, for e.g. Python, Ruby, Perl etc ?

How do we create services for some other server technology using the DCD workflow and author flex applications for it ? 

Luckily DCD provides “extensiblity mechanism”, using which users can write their own plugin for a particular server technology.

This developed plugin can then be used with the Flash Builder to connect to that server, create services and use DCD workflow to develop Flex applications!

Now, DCDEx supports three “server types” :-

HTTPService, WebService and RemoteObject

Which means if your server-side application is accessible over HTTP, you can connect to a Flex application by using HTTPService. Likewise for other server types.

Extension Points details

There will be some extension points which can be used by plug-in authors to provide their own service implementation as mentioned below:-

1. Extension point details:

• Services Wizard,
• Service Introspection (invoked in wizard / services explorer using refresh option),
• Viewing Service File (As part of the Package Explorer, for example a CF developer can now see the CFC file that he/she has imported/created in the services folder)
• Service Properties

Extension Point: serviceImplementation

Location: com.adobe.flexbuilder.DCDService

Extension Point Elements: 

• serviceWizard: attribute name: class, a Java Class, should implement IServiceWizard
• serviceIntrospector: attribute name: class, a Java Class, should implement  IServiceIntrospector
• serviceProperties: attribute name: class, a Java Class, should implement IServiceProperties

2. Extension point details: Right-Click Context Menu

Extension Point: designViewContextMenu

Location: com.adobe.flexbuilder.mxml.editor.design

Extension Point Elements: configuration

• class: Required, Java Type, must Implement com.adobe.flexbuilder.mxml.editor.design.extensions.IComponentConfiguration
  The component on which right click happened will be set as the component Instance and run() method will be called.
• fullyQualifiedComponentName: Required, String Type
  The fully qualified class name of the component on which this context menu item needs to be added. For example, mx.controls.DataGrid
• displayString: Required, String Type
  The string which will be displayed in the context menu item.

3. Extension point details: UI Authoring

Extension Point: componentConfigurator

Location: com.adobe.flexbuilder.dcrad

Extension Point Elements: configuration

• class: Required, Java Type, must implement Implements com.adobe.flexbuilder.dcrad.extensions.IComponentDataConfiguration
  The component on which Service/Operation is dragged-dropped will be set as the component Instance and run() method will be called.
• fullyQualifiedComponentName: Required, String Type
  The fully qualified class name of the component on which to associate with this configurator. For example, mx.controls.DataGrid