Description:
An intriguing part of the Flash scripting language is the XML object, and Flash XML StudioLab shows how to use it to build powerful dynamic Web applications. To enjoy this book you need to know Flash, but the XML aspect is explained from scratch. In fact, the first four chapters offer a general introduction to XML, which is useful or irritating depending on how well you know the subject already. Chapter 5 gets into the real story, introducing ActionScript's XML object. The following chapter gives an example, using XML to manage a set of tarot cards. The same example is continued in the subsequent chapters, showing how to search and examine the XML data, and how to upload and download XML content. Next comes an event-handling example. The scene changes for a look at a Flash chat client using XML along with Perl on the server, and then comes a chapter on integrating an online database using PHP, MySQL, Flash, and XML. The final chapter shows how to draw on XML news feeds in Flash. Two appendices offer a general look at advanced XML, including DTDs, Schemas, and XSL, and a short Perl primer to help with Web server programming. A book on Flash and XML is a great idea, and this title will undoubtedly get you started and inspire some creative thinking. It is spoiled by an uneven style and the space given to general XML background that can easily be found elsewhere. Even so, it's a good read for Flash developers who want to use dynamic XML content in their Web designs. --Tim Anderson, Amazon.co.uk
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