Building an XML Flash Application with PHP and MySQL Pt.I Support

In this two part series, Gareth is going to show us how to build a Flash application to display information stored in a MySQL database. Building on the XML tutorials he's recently published, this application will use PHP and XML to transfer the data from database to front-end.

The scenario is that our client has a Pet Store containing exotic animals and wants an application to display the animals available for sale, along with a quick description of them. This week we'll be looking firstly at the back-end of the application – that is the database, then we'll move onto the processing logic - the PHP pages and the form of the XML data we're transferring around.

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Gareth Downes-Powell

Gareth Downes-PowellGareth has a range of skills, covering many computer and internet related subjects. He is proficient in many different languages including ASP and PHP, and is responsible for the setup and maintenance of both Windows and Linux servers on a daily basis.


In his daily web development work he uses the complete range of Macromedia software, including Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, Fireworks MX and Director to build a number of websites and applications. Gareth has a close relationship with Macromedia, and as a member of Team Macromedia Dreamweaver, he has worked closely in the development of Dreamweaver, and was a beta tester for Dreamweaver MX.


On a daily basis he provides support for users in the Macromedia forums, answering questions and providing help on a range of different web related subjects. He has also written a number of free and commercial extensions for Dreamweaver MX, to further extend its capabilities using its native JavaScript API’s or C++.


As a web host, Gareth has worked with a range of different servers and operating systems, with the Linux OS as his personal favourite. Most of his development work is done using a combination of Linux, Apache and MySQL and he has written extensively about setting up this type of system, and also running Apache and MySQL under Windows.

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