Post by Phil / September 11th, 2009

Flash frontend for Indexhibit CMS

Hi there.
After working with different content management systems over the last few years – like Typo3, Joomla and even some custom made ones – I came across a very neat one called Indexhibit. It’s not like you can compare Typo3 to Indexhibit – except maybe that they both are called CMS – but many projects we did in the past required only a small kind of management system. And that is exactly what Indexhibit has to offer. It’s an easy-to-use CMS with the most common features: create categories, add projects to category, edit headline/copy, upload images, etc.

apdev indexhibit

So in the end I looked at the underlying database-structure of Indexhibit and decided to write a small PHP-script to access the data via Flash Remoting, allowing me to build a flash frontend “on top” of the normal HTML website. It wasn’t any rocket science but as I couldn’t find anything via Google I decided to give it a go … and of course share it with you :)

Here’s the link to the example page I put together just for showing you how one could take the data Indexhibit offers and create a totally different page from the corresponding HTML one.

Using SWFObject and SWFAddress I also implemented deeplinks for all projects on the flashpage.

Deeplink example for “Project Internet 03″:
http://apdevblog.com/indexhibit/#/websites/internet-03/

Another bonus using SWFAddress is that the visitor can navigate the page using the browser’s own back/forward buttons.

Having both a HTML and a flash page is great because you can offer content for all users browsing the web (pc/mac with or without flashplugin, iPhone (no flash), …). And because Indexhibit is very good when it comes to Search engine optimization (SEO) your content will be found by Google & co. Normal flashpages’ content cannot be crawled by bots – so again this is a great plus.

The example even degrades gracefully – when you open the flashpage (or any of its deeplinks) and you don’t have the flashplayer installed, you get forwarded to the corresponding HTML page. If you open http://apdevblog.com/indexhibit/#/websites/internet-03/ (flash) without any flashplayer installed you are automatically led to http://apdevblog.com/indexhibit/ndxz/websites/internet-03/ (html).

‘Nuff said for now. I still have to clean up the code – so no sources right now. But I’ll definitely post them during the next days/week.

*** edit ***
you can find the sources here: http://apdevblog.com/sources-for-flash-frontend-for-indexhibit-cms/

or view all blog posts concerning our flash/indexhibit frontend:
http://apdevblog.com/tag/indexhibit/

Cheers.

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14 Comments

  1. Pelle Klit ChristensenSeptember 11th, 2009 / 21:53 / #510

    That looks like the right kind of cms for me. Drupal and others are usually overkill for my flash website projects, but this seems more like the right size. I’ll be looking forward to read the refactored code :)

  2. Alex KiriakoSeptember 11th, 2009 / 23:29 / #512

    This looks great! Looking forward to the source code.

  3. VaskaSeptember 28th, 2009 / 06:10 / #618

    Cheers guys! ;)

  4. PhilSeptember 28th, 2009 / 08:51 / #620

    @vaska
    thanks for mentioning us on your news :)
    you twittered something about testing the new version – would be glad to help and test and adapt the flash-thing to the new indexhibit version …

    phil

  5. WillSeptember 28th, 2009 / 17:24 / #631

    Hi – is there a faq for installing a configuration of this source code? I am not sure how to start with the indexhibit distribution or database and test this out in development. Would sure appreciate some pointers. thanks
    Will

  6. PhilSeptember 28th, 2009 / 20:58 / #633

    @will
    i’ll make sth up over the nex days … stay tuned

  7. WilliamOctober 6th, 2009 / 10:27 / #723

    @Phil thx ! I’m tuned in ;-) Love to learn more about this!

  8. jordiDecember 17th, 2009 / 12:38 / #871

    I LOVE YOU!!!

  9. Karey HelmsJanuary 2nd, 2010 / 04:27 / #907

    WOW. Just discovered this and can’t wait to give it a try in upcoming projects. THANK YOU!

  10. SidJanuary 2nd, 2010 / 05:27 / #908

    Fantastic work! Well done. I’d also be interested in learning how to apply this to an Indexhibit site. Thanks for sharing.

  11. PhilJanuary 2nd, 2010 / 10:59 / #911

    hi sid.
    there are some more posts about this on our blog – this one will supply you with all the links you need to get this up and running:
    http://apdevblog.com/super-simple-flash-example-of-the-indexhibit-frontend/

    especially the small installation guide:
    http://apdevblog.com/installation-guide-for-flash-indexhibit-frontend/

    cheers
    phil

  12. JamalJanuary 5th, 2010 / 11:46 / #922

    LOOKS GREAT.

    But is there a tutorial for learning by doing but flash guys like me?

    stay cool but don´t freeze :D

    Jamal

  13. RD GranadosJanuary 13th, 2010 / 05:57 / #957

    Great stuff man! Love to get it working on my site, keep me posted!

  14. tillluxJanuary 24th, 2010 / 21:43 / #981

    AMAZING OUTSTANDING CHEERS!
    a dream come true, you have made a wonderful cms top of the class!
    thank you a thousand times…

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