Create PDF on server side by passing layer from flex client

Question

I want to pass the user selected layers from client

1. User can select and change the order of layers as populated from different map services hosted on my arcgis server
2. User can set the transparency for each layer

I want to create the web services for that I found some examples but i due to some reasons I don't want to use SOE

Answer 1

I recently did this with an asynch GP service for a WPF xbap client app, but the same approach should work with flex too, assuming flex has something equivalent to Json.NET.

The GP service took a single string as an argument, a serialized data transfer object (DTO). I found it easier to change the DTO fields as requirements evolved instead of adding args to the gp service. The DTO was a complex object that included basically a description of how the layout should look with map element that contained a collection of layers, text elements, legends etc. Layout description templates were presented to the a user from a different REST WCF (non Esri) web service. The GP service would create an mxd from the DTO save it on the server, then export it to a pdf (as well as a low res jpg preview). Saving the mxd made it easier to troubleshoot issues.

There was a slow memory leak somewhere in the pdf exporter that I fixed by simply setting the gp service to be non-pooled. I set the messages to report progress back to the client. I think that would be a lot more complicated with an SOE. I did also use an SOE, though, for culling the legend (removing symbols that do not fall within current extent).