Foundation PHP 5 for Flash [Paperback]

The dot.com bubble is long gone from the general public's perception, but one thing is for certain - experienced Flash web designers are one of the most overworked set of people at the moment. Since the last two quarters of 2004, my Flash design consulting work has gone through the roof (and this all the more noticeable because 2003 was *very* quiet for Flash web design).

From talking to other web designers, it is apparent that their phones are also red hot at the moment (summer 2005).

There is a problem though. These new clients don't just want a clever user interface, or some multimedia content. They invariably want Flash to be the front end of a web application. In such projects, Flash is the cool and friendly front end of a server driven system rather than a standalone web interface

Theres a lot of demand out there for flash developers that know about XML, PHP and mySQL, because these are the three technologies most commonly used. Knowing these technologies *and* Flash is also a sure way to double your customer base (and usually also increase your hourly rate...).

The good news is that unlike all competing proprietary systems, XML, PHP and mySQL are all free. They are open source systems.

All you have to do is get them installed on your computer, set up a local and web host, and you have everything you need to start developing or learning.

Um... that's the first of three problems though...

PHP and mySQL are created for the open source community, and that means they don't come in a nice box with a hologram, read-me and an installer that only needs to know which directory you want to install to.

You also need something like Apache installed and running, and theres one or two other apps that make life easier (such as phpMyAdmin). Many designers have been put off by this... you need to install several pieces of software in exactly the right order, and all of them have to work *at the same time* for you to get anywhere.

The first problem solved by this book is that it assumes only knowledge of Flash and basic web design skills, so it leads you by the hand in getting a fully integrated dev system installed and running. I can't tell you how useful this is - open source software is free, but the downside is that it assumes that you know what you are doing!

The second problem is that there's just so much information to take in. Previously, I went out and got several books on PHP, SQL and Apache (plus a few other technologies that I later found were not even needed or were rarely used options), and just didn't know where to start on getting it all up and running with Flash. It took me a good few months to get anywhere. What was missing for me was a book that took Flash as the starting point rather than expect me to figure out where Flash fits in with all these confusing new technologies.

This book goes through the required technologies with a Flash-facing sensibility - `you know Flash already, so I'll start from there and introduce you slowly to the other stuff'. There's only one other book that tackles this route efficiently - and its (a) out of print and (b) sells for extortionate amounts in the second hand market - so foundation PHP5 for flash is currently your best bet in extending Flash skills to server applications.

Finally, there is the problem of knowing what the technology can and cannot do, and how it tends to be set up in practical terms. Even if you know about the link between Flash >> PHP >> back end database, its not clear how the common building blocks (communications, security, etc) are built.

What is really needed is a practical, example based set of tutorials that take you through common problems, rather than the exhaustive reference docs that open source tends to come with. If you look on the web today, theres lots of Flash tutorials on components and ActionScript, but nothing on the important subject of integrating Flash to back end technologies (or it there is, its pretty fragmented). This book is very long, and most of that length is taken up with examples, so it gives you just what you need - practical experience - and lots of it. Even better, the book also provides you with a common library of scripts that (amongst other things) iron out all the really big gotchas and version dependent problems, so you can just get on and design.

So, to conclude...

1. If you are a Flash designer, you need to know back end technologies because that is what the market is currently asking for. You need this book because its contents are fast becoming a necessary skill for the industry you are in.

2. Rather than a single technology, web applications rely on several technologies and applications. Simply getting a development system up and working before you can actually start learning is itself a daunting task. This book tells you exactly what you need and don't need. It is especially good because it concentrates only on the most commonly used (and therefore commercially important) technologies: Apache and PHP/SQL

3. For Flash developers wanting to get into web applications, there is the difficulty in finding *any* material that faces the issue from a Flash centric position that is suitable for designers as opposed to open source gurus. This book takes a Flash centric and totally practical route (as opposed to the more usual theory/reference route that many other books take - something that doesn't often work for designers).

Essential reading.

Disclaimer - I was reviewer on this book. However, it must be said that I *requested* to be reviewer on this book because I strongly believe that it is one of the most important new Flash books to come out in a long time.

Sham Bhangal

Unlike many overpriced computer tutorial books, this book delivers on it's promises.

Yes this book shows you how to put your Flash front-end on a PHP/mySQL, database-driven backend in a simple and direct fashion, but more importantly it clarifies lots of the details that are left out in many online and book-based tutorials.

This book took me out of the hazy fog of uncertainty regarding the integration between Flash and PHP and right into the realm of coding my own PHP back-ends. Powers takes a unique and interesting approach by delineating the similarities between Flash's own scripting language, Actionscript, and PHP. PHP and Actionscript, it turns out, are very similar in syntax and have many common functions. This allows anyone with some knowledge of Actionscript to immediately get a grip on PHP.

MySQL is similarly illuminated in this book. Powers, in his section titled "The four essential SQL commands", does in four pages what other books take chapters to do: he outlines just the mySQL you need to get the job done in a direct and clear manner. This part of the book alone is worth the cost of the whole volume.

The tutorials and code samples in this book are all useful and, again unlike other computer code books, require no visits to an errata page to figure out how to make them work--they all work as shown. And don't be fooled by the title--this book works just fine for PHP 4, the predominant version deployed by web hosting companies today.

"Foundation PHP 5 for Flash" by David Powers is a great book, as I've come to expect from both David Powers and his publisher, Friends of ED.

The word "Foundation" in the title may lead you to think this is a beginner's book; it decidedly is not. As stated on the back cover, the book is aimed at the "reasonably experienced Flash user who has mastered the basics." I'd even say that it takes a mastery of more than just the basics to get the most out of this book. Without a very good knowledge of ActionScript, much of the material would be difficult to follow.

That being said, this book is not about ActionScript. It's not even really about Flash. It's a book about PHP -- and a very, very good book about PHP at that. It's also a book about MySQL. Prior to the most advanced chapters, the tie-in with Flash (and ActionScript) is said in one word: LoadVars. Once you get past that, you can pretty much forget about ActionScript for much of the book and focus on learning PHP and MySQL. Although the book does show by example how to get variables between your Flash user and LoadVars in ActionScript, you really do need to be comfortable with the ins and outs of Flash in general and ActionScript in particular in order to make full use of those examples, and this is not the book for learning that part of it. In the more advanced chapters, more ActionScript comes into play, and it can get confusing if you're not already comfortable with it. (I'd liken diving into this book without knowing ActionScript or PHP to learning to speak Spanish and Italian at the same time: at some point, you're going to say "dónde" when you mean to say "dove.")

What this book does cover extremely well is everything that happens on the back end, outside of Flash. The chapters that introduce PHP do much more than just introduce it: they are an excellent tutorial in the language that would even be a great resource for people who just want to learn PHP without having anything to do with Flash. Concepts are explained clearly and completely, and the examples are extremely useful and illustrative. The same can be said for the MySQL chapters: You really do learn MySQL, and not just by breezing through one or two superficial examples as in most PHP books.

The nuts-and-bolts chapters are particularly brilliant. David Powers's walk-throughs on installing Apache, PHP and MySQL are legendary. You simply couldn't ask for a better guide! The appendices -- including 20 whole pages on various things that might go wrong and what to do about it -- are indispensable.

My only criticism is of the often convoluted examples. The author's style is to build up the examples iteratively, retracing and revising the code, step by step, over many pages as you learn new techniques. He will often walk you through the "obvious-but-wrong" way of doing something, then make changes little by little, introducing new concepts along the way. While this is perhaps a good way of learning, it sometimes feels like you're reaching over your head with your right hand to scratch your left ear.

As usual, the Friends of ED name on the cover means you're buying quality. Everything from the paper to the layout to the typography is top-of-the-line. While black-and-white printing usually doesn't work well for Flash books, it's perfectly fine for this book (remember, I told you that this isn't really a book about Flash). The author is very active in the Friends of ED readers' forum, so you can be certain that any questions you have about the examples (or about pretty much anything else for that matter) will be answered by the author himself in great detail if you address them on the forum.

So if you know ActionScript and want to learn how to put a database behind it, or if you're a skilled PHP programmer looking for another way to apply your knowledge, or even if you have no real interest in Flash but want to gain a deep understanding of PHP/MySQL, this is a great book for you. Be prepared to spend lots of time with it -- it's nearly 700 pages and it has zero fluff -- but it is time very well spent indeed.

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