How Merapi Works

Merapi is a framework that bridges an AIR application with a Java application, both running on the desktop. This communication is accomplished through a class that exists in Java and ActionScript called merapi.Bridge.

The simplest way to interact from AIR to Java is by sending and receiving messages though the bridge.

Sending a message from ActionScript:

var message : Message = new Message();

message.data = "Hello from Merapi Flex.";

message.type = "Reply";

Bridge.instance.sendMessage( message );

Sending a message from Java:

Bridge bridge = Bridge.getInstance();

Message message = new Message();

message.setData("Hello from Merapi Java.");

bridge.sendMessage(message);

Receiving a message in Java:

Bridge.getInstance().registerMessageHandler("Reply", messageHandlerInstance );

public void handleMessage( IMessage message )

{

System.out.println( message.getData() );

}

More advanced features are available in the framework for creating proxy objects in ActionScript or Java that automatically cause a mirrored instantiations and invocations on the corresponding side of the bridge. This functionality is essentially an abstraction of the basic messaging framework described above.