Structuring System Architecture in a Flex Web Application on a Budget (w/o Java)

Question

I started a project a while back using the following architecture from Adobe Developer Article talking about Creating marketing platforms in Flex. I did my first set of coding locally forgetting that my server did not handle Tomcat. So I said okay, and cut some corners and then some other limitation came up and I cut some more corners. Eventually for a good week or two, it was trying to get the project working with making the ends meet. Layers started to merge.

In the end I used a

PureMVC (Presentation/Client) -> ZendAMF (Communication) -> MySql (Data) Layout.

It worked but I never felt as though I had some layer just to take care of all the SQL calls to the data.It just felt hacked together

So should I keep the above setup and just start from the presentation layer and move downwards like they said in the article or is there a better layering (based on a hosting plan that does not handle Java) I could accomplish ?

NOTE: I would just ask the adobe guys but they barely reply on their site.

Thanks !

UPDATE: My current hosting plan - http://www.godaddy.com/Hosting/Legacy.aspx?ci=9009#details (Economy)

Answer 1

You jump around a bit; I'm not completely sure what information your after.

There are many different ways to architect an application; I see nothing unusual with the approach you describe.

Many projects use an architecture similar to what you describe. With Flex on the front end (using PureMVC, Cairngorm, or some other Framework); some form of Middleware (I Guess you're using PHP and ZendAMF; but you could also use .NET, Java, ColdFusion or any serer side language) and some data store ( MySQL).

In the middleware (AKA PHP / CF / Java / etc.. ); a lot of folks create a service layer that handles remote communications from front ends , such as, a Flex app. The service layer can often be reused.

Behind the service layer there is often a model of sorts which sometimes includes major business logic.