Published on September 9, 2005

Written by: Vin [email:vin@nostamprequired.com] | nostamprequired.com
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Requirements: Flash MX + PHP

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Written by: Vin [email:vin@nostamprequired.com] | nostamprequired.com
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Requirements: Flash MX + PHP This tutorial makes use of the PHPObject code which can be found at: http://ghostwire.com/resources/phpobject/

Please download the PHPObject and try out the sample to better understand what's going on here.
This is just a basic tutorial on how to display data in a mySQL database in flash quickly and easily. You can develop this code further to create dynamic Flash movies that feed off a mySQL database. In this example I'm using an eCard project I'm working on. The code will connect to my database to get the card information (the to, from, and message) and display this data in the flash movie. Also note that you should have dynamic text fields named as each of the variables your want to display in your flash movie

The Flash Code:

[as]#include "PHPObject.as"

tmp = new PHPObject();
tmp.setDefaultGatewayKey("secret"); // CHANGE THIS TO
//WHATEVER SECRET KEY YOU SET IN Gateway.php
tmp.setDefaultGatewayUrl("http://www.yourdomain.com/pathto/Gateway.php"); // CHANGE THIS
//TO WHERE YOU PLACE Gateway.php
delete tmp;

myFoo = new PHPObject("cards"); // declare a new object and link it to a remote PHP class

// set up responder
myFoo.getcard_onResult = function(result) {

        id.text = result[0];
        sid.text = result[1];
        s_name.text = result[2];
        s_email.text = result[3];
        r_name.text = result[4];
        r_email.text = result[5];
        message.text = result[6];
        card.text = result[7];
        uniqueid.text = result[8];
        beenread.text = result[9];
}

// invoke method
myFoo.getcard("rJ7WP605");
[/as]

So what we're doing is setting up the Gateway to the PHP file first. Then we set up the code in Flash to get the array PHP will return to us and to put each part of the array into seperate input text boxes on in the flash movie. The invoke method starts the process. It calls the php file "cards.php" as specified in the PHPObject function. Now we have to write the PHP to get the database info and return it to flash.

The PHP Code (cards.php):

[as]<?

class cards {
        function getcard($getcard) {

                $db_name = "yourdbname";
                $connection = @mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password") or die("Cound not connect to database");
                mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die("Count not select database");
                $query = "SELECT * FROM ecards WHERE sid LIKE '$getcard'";
                $q_result = mysql_query($query);
                return mysql_fetch_row($q_result);

        }
}

?>
[/as]

This is just some basic PHP code to connect to a mySQL database and return the results. The getcard() function requires a parameter in this example. This parameter tells mySQL which record it wants to pull. In this case it's the id of the card. Once the SQL query has been run, we just send the row as an array and let flash parse it. You can manipulate the data however you want in the PHP, then just have Flash display it.