How can one use existing tools to facilitate the process of changing data on the server using the DataGrid?

Question

It is very simple to retrieve data from a database and display it inside a DataGrid. However, what are the current practices to push the changes in the DataGrid back to the database? One can achieve this by inserting a lot of meta information, however, it is very tedious and not reusable.

Answer 1

There are libraries for persisting data across tiers, but as you say it isn't a simple task. LiveCycle DS ships with this capability when used in conjunction with Hibernate on the server. GraniteDS and Tide can perform a similar function, but for the most part you are left rolling your own. If you are using one of the many MVC frameworks available (I use PureMVC) it isn't difficult to create this type of functionality. Kind of tedious, but not difficult.

Answer 2

Which server side technology would you be using? You need to use HttpServer, WebService or RemoteObject's in Flex to push data to this server side app and that would then update the database.

Unless of course we're talking about a Flex/AIR Desktop App where connecting to databases directly is possible.

Answer 3

You can use RemoteObject, if you have a Java class on the server side that takes care of database connection and provides method to update database. Just Create an ArrayCollection object from modified datagrid and pass it while doing a method call.

Answer 4

I think making changes to the database is the easiest part of this whole thing. The hardest part is making the DataGrid know exactly from which database table each cell comes from. If you're the one writing the query, then you can probably return a lot of meta-data, such as the private key and table name for each cell.