Foundation XML for Flash (Foundation)

XML is a completely platform-agnostic data medium. Flash is able to make use of XML data, which is very useful when creating rich Internet applications. It allows you to populate Flash web interfaces with data from almost any source that supports XML as a data medium, be it databases, raw XML files, or more excitingly, .NET applications, Web Services, and even Microsoft Office applications like Excel and Word! In this book, **Sas Jacobs** first introduces XML itself—what it is, its syntax, its associated technologies (such as CSS and XSLT,) and how to get XML out of your applications in a format Flash can use. Then, she shows how to use the XML object to stream XML data into Flash, and how to use the XMLConnector component and XML Sockets to build advanced Flash/XML applications. Numerous example applications are built throughout the book, including an MP3 player, XML photo gallery, an Excel-driven web catalog, Access and Word-driven content management systems, and an XML-driven chat application. If you work with Flash for anything other than creating animations, sooner or later you are going to run smack into XML. But the fact that you have this book in your hands right now means you already know this. XML has been touted as the great equalizer, allowing seamless data transfer across platforms and programs. According to some, XML was going to save the world. While the world still needs some work, XML has gone a long way to improve communications between all kinds of systems. Recognizing this some years ago, Macromedia put XML support into Flash 5, and with each version, this feature has seen remarkable improvements. If you are doing any kind of Flash application development, or even just building a dynamic website in Flash, you need to know about XML. Why? Because if you are moving data around and you don’t know about XML, I can guarantee that you are wasting a lot of time and energy dealing with that data. Another reason is that, if it hasn’t already happened, someday you’re going to be asked to do a project that uses XML, or apply for a job where they ask you about it.

XML is a completely platform agnostic data medium. Flash is able to make use of XML data, which is very useful when you are creating Rich Internet Applications &emdash; it allows you to populate Flash web interfaces with data from pretty much any source that supports XML as a data medium, be it databases, raw XML files, or more excitingly, .Net applications, web services, and even Microsoft Office applications such as Excel and Word!

In this book, Sas Jacobs first introduces XML itselfwhat it is, its syntax, its associated technologies (such as CSS and XSLT,) and how to get XML out of your applications in a format Flash can use.

Then she shows how to use the XML object to stream XML data into Flash, and how to use the XMLConnector component and XML Sockets to build advanced Flash/XML applications. Numerous example applications are built throughout the book, including an MP3 player, XML photo gallery, an Excel-driven web catalog, Access and Word-driven content management systems, and an XML-driven chat application.

Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Flash and XML....Pages 1-17 Introduction to XML....Pages 19-55 XML Documents....Pages 57-122 Using the XML Class....Pages 125-215 Working with XML in Word 2003....Pages 217-255 Working with XML in Excel 2003....Pages 257-289 Working with XML in Access 2003....Pages 291-323 Using the Data Components with XML....Pages 325-365 Consuming Web Services with Flash....Pages 367-409 Using the XMLSocket Class....Pages 411-425 Which XML Option is Best for Me?....Pages 427-436 Back Matter....Pages 439-456 * Potentially huge market, due to Rich Internet Applications growing in popularity, and Microsoft Office and .NET development being so popular – this books shows how to use XML and Flash to integrate these MS technologies with simple Rich Internet Applications. * There is no other book on the market that covers this topic area. * Book supports next version of Flash, which is also a large market area. Provides information on how Flash works with XML contents, covering such topics as XML documents, data components, Web services, and XMLSocket class.