Hello,
I have been able to give the user the ability to upload an image file to our server using the FileReference class and related URLRequest class, and a PHP scipt on the server. I have also been able to display the uploaded image by using an <mx:images source="http://host/path" .../>, where host/path is the place it was uploaded to. Next, I was able to use matrix transforms to give the user the ability to rotate the displayed image. While I might add other forms of image manipulation in the future, rotation is essential, because people hold their cameras in any of a variety of orientations.
What I have not been able to do is to upload the image after the user has rotated it. One writer suggested using ImageSnapshot, and that class does appear to have upload capability, but a far as I can tell it is for taking snapshots of display images. For an uploaded photo using this class would lose a lot of resolution.
To summarize: FileReference has the ability to upload a file from the user's file space to the server, but does not allow the developer to grab a copy and resave a modification of the file. Then ImageSnapshot has the ability to upload images to the server as long as they are snapshots taken off the screen. A solution that required Air would also work for me, because I could limit that functionality to those who were using the Air version of our application, but as far as I have been able to tell the File class in Air are intended for read and write to the user's local file system, not the server.
I am certainly hope the answer to this question is not that my requirement is a security violation.
Sincerely yours
Gary Griswold
P.S. The application is an RIA for orphan sponsorship to be made available to churches with close ties to orphanages.