For the web framework we’re using Seagull which offers excellent integration with Flash through the AMF PHP request handling and easy integration with Ajax and Graphviz. For the Ajax interactions we use jquery exclusively, for Graphviz a heavily extended version of the PEAR lib of the same name. Working with the dot language has been interesting and a good opportunity to experiment with the subtleties of a genealogy graph.

In terms of GUI interaction the app mimics desktop conventions with “true” MVC behaviour, ie you update the data model by adding a person to the tree, and multiple views of your data update simultaneously, in the main and left panels. This was achieved by using a javascript front controller which listens for events in the DOM and from the Flash movie and fires the appropriate observers, communicating with the data access layer via Ajax requests.

For the tree building functionality in Flash we’re using ActionScipt 2 and make extensive use of Pixlib, which is designed to support event handling, logging, data preloading, managing sound and video, making transitions, data holders and data structures, patterns implementations, etc.

On the data storage side MySQL5 was chosen for its speed and decent implementation of stored procedures, views and functions.