LocalConnection passing by value or reference?

Question

When using LocalConnection that have two SWFs talking back and forth to each other. Are objects passed by value or reference?

Answer 1

First of all communication between swf has to be pass by value (The actual parameter is fully evaluated and the resulting value is copied into a location being used to hold the formal parameter's value ) and not reference. Pass by reference will violate the sandbox in which each swf resides. ( since localconnection could be used between multiple swf files).

Anyways I am interested to know why do you ask? Are you checking if you need defensive copying. (that is why I decided to dig in this information myself.)

Answer 2

The data passed through a LocalConnection object is serialized to a file by the sender and then the receiver deserializes it, meaning it builds a new object.

The serialization protocol used is AMF, I think (if you map your class using registerClassAlias your objects will be received with the same type you passed; if you don't, you'll Object objects).

So, in the receiving swf you'll get a fresh copy of your object. Also, keep in mind that if you do map your classes, you must have a parameterless constructor or a constructor that only takes optional parameters; otherwise, your objects will throw an Error when the receiving party deserializes them.