Cairngorm is a framework for rich Internet application (RIA) development. More specifically, Cairngorm is a package of Actionscript 3.0 classes that help implement a number of proven design patterns to create a generic starting point for your Flex application architecture. By adapting a number of proven J2EE solutions for the RIA world, Cairngorm helps you deal with the complexity of managing state and encapsulating your business logic into reusable components while taking into account the asynchronous nature of service requests within a Flex application.

By focusing on the Cairngorm workflow, this article is intended to illustrate the "how" of Cairngorm as opposed to focusing heavily on the "why." Building an application with Cairngorm tends to follow a repetitive sequence of steps that, once they are clear, make Flex development a fairly simple and organized process. The intent of this article is to walk you through these steps.

This is a reprint with permission of an article that was originally published in the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update Volume 2 Issue 3 in October 2007 (click here to subscribe). If you would like to download the source you can find it here. I have another Cairngorm sample appliction which you can get via Subversion at http://code.google.com/p/remotesynthesis/ where you will also find the same example built with the Mate Framework. If you are interested in the Mate Framework, you can find my article on that topic in Flex Authority Volume 1 Issue 1, which you can subscribe to here.

Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation at cf.Objective(). I know Cairngorm can be a tough sell, especially following Laura's Mate presentation, Max's Flex without a framework presentation and all the talk about Chris Scott's Swiz. Nonetheless, Cairngorm is still the dominant framework in Flex and well worth knowing, even if it's just to know what you don't like about it.

Anyway, I am attaching the presentation in PDF format. You can also download the example application via Subversion on my Google code site.

Download the attachment.

As I have done for previous conferences, I am sharing my session schedule for this year's cf.Objective() conference which is coming up quickly - May 1-4 (conference schedule PDF attached). Yes, I am attending my own session and you should too! ;) I am very excited about this year's conference, not just because I am presenting but because I have enjoyed this conference both prior years and this year looks to be better.

For example, you will notice that there are more speakers and more sessions than even last year. I am particularly happy to see the RIA track, of which I am a part, because I think it is obvious at this point that RIA's in Flex/AIR and Ajax are going to play such a key role in almost any ColdFusion developer's future. Kudos to Sean Corfield who has led the speaker and session selection.

Any readers of mine who are attending, please feel free to come say hello. Also, if you are interested in Flex and Cairngorm, attend my session on Cairngorm for ColdFusion Developers. I hope to do a good job of distilling Cairngorm into a simple process. However, more importantly, my presentation has a Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century theme. How do I relate Duck Dodgers and Cairngorm? You'll have to attend to find out!

Download the attachment.

I have read in various places that the Cairngorm framework for Flex isn't really designed for working with AIR. Therefore, I approached a recent project with some hesitation since that is exactly what I intended to use. First of all, not only are we standardized on Cairngorm where I work, but I, personally, appreciate the way it helps me organize and structure my application. Now that I am finished with the proof-of-concept application, I can say that, while it is a small application, I didn't really run into any major issues using Cairngorm with AIR. I did have to make one minor adjustment, however, which I will discuss along with my experience.

Update: This article has been posted to my site at http://www.remotesynthesis.com/post.cfm/cairngorm-crystallized

I recently published an article in the most recent, Flex-focused Fusion Authority Quarterly Update (Volume 2 Issue 2) titled "Cairngorm Crystallized: Examining the Cairngorm Microarchitecture from a Workflow Perspective" along with my coworker and friend, Michael Corbridge. I found that other Cairngorm tutorials often got overly focused on the why rather than the how. Personally, I have found that the why only becomes clear with the doing. Therefore, the focus of this article is on covering how to use Cairngorm to develop your project rather than on explaining the patterns it implements. Hopefully, this will be useful for anyone interested in beginning with the framework. If you have read the article, feel free to post any comments or questions here.