I haven't really looked into this, but have you considered generating the reports as PDFs and then using Flash Paper to view them in Flex? There are a lot of good resources out there for generating PDFs, it's a very simple doc format. The part I'm not sure about it FlashPaper with Flex. Also what if the email was just a link to the report in the FlexApp?
Paul --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, "tyriker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks for the responses guys. > > To further clarify the situation: The running of the reports all > happens server-side with PHP scripts. The result is an XML file > consisting of the data to display to the user. The method in which the > data is displayed to the user is via a Flex app (it basically reads > the XML and displays a table or chart). > > When a user is actively viewing a report, the Flex app calls the PHP > scripts on the server and receives XML back, and draws the table/chart > for the user. From there, they can email the report out, and the Flex > app takes a 'snapshot/JPEG' of the table/chart and sends it back to > the server where a PHP script creates an HTML email with the JPEG > embedded in it. So in short, the Flex app only creates the > "user-friendly display" for the report. The rest is handled on the server. > > Our problem comes when an automated report is wanted (like a nightly > emailed report). CRON will fire off the PHP scripts to run the report > and generate the XML result. But then we have no way to turn the XML > into the "user-friendly display" that is generated in Flex. > > My thought was, if we could run the Flex app or execute the > ActionScript without needing a browser/Flash player, then it could be > added to the CRON job that automates and emails the report. > > But what Paul said is what we've been afraid of: > > "In any case you will probably need a browser to run the process > because I don't think there are any interpreters that can run without > the Flash Player and the Flash Player will at the very least need to > be running on a windowed system, ie X windows, Windows or Mac OSX, it > cannot run on a headless system." > > We won't have X-Windows installed, and we don't want CRON to fire up a > browser just to get some JPEGs. > > Another 'idea' was to email the swf file with the XML data, and have > the user launch the swf and load the XML in to "see" the report. But > that seemed 'clunky.' And a last resort was to have a PHP script that > converts the XML data into readable HTML. But then web-based reports > (in Flex) and the emailed reports (in HTML) will look differently. > > Are there any other/better options that can be thought of? Ideally, > executing ActionScript server side (to create JPEGs) would be great, > but we haven't found this possible yet. >
