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Flash XML StudioLab
 
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Flash XML StudioLab (Paperback)

by Ian Tindale (Author), Paul McDonald (Author), James Rowley (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 500 pages
  • Publisher: friends of ED Ltd (1 Sep 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 190345039X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1903450390
  • Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 18.8 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 602,474 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 onto the real story, introducing ActionScript's XML object. The next 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 spoilt 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

Synopsis
Dynamic Flash design requires XML. Without good knowledge of this essential language the designer cannot fully exploit the interactive capabilities of the dynamic web. XML has the ability to integrate a Flash web-site with data-bases and is crucial in e-commerce. This book is the foundation for mixing motion graphics with business functionality. Tutorials use examples that place the technology firmly within the context of web and multimedia Flash design, covering how to use XML with Flash interfaces and introducing scalable vector graphics and writing schemas. Assuming no prior knowledge of XML, this book will provide the reader with a more sophisticated understanding of the web context of such Flash compatible tools as Dreamweaver Ultradev.

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Flash XML StudioLab
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great in-depth look at Flash and XML being used together, 30 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This book belongs to StudioLab series and as such does not represent the Foundation level books in subject difficulty, being more difficult than this. However as this title is without an equivalent elsewhere it represents a credible and worthwhile book about Flash and XML used together. Just be aware that it gets quite in-depth quite quickly. It covers the basics of XML in the first couple of chapters and then gets into a full-on XML application. This example is based upon Tarot cards, not because of or in spite of any mystical reasons but more because their structural layout exemplifies very well what can be achieved with XML and Flash.
Flash XML StudioLab does not offer a full XML introduction as it excludes DTD (Document Type Descriptions) and Schemas in the main body of the book. However these subjects are comprehensively documented in one of the two appendices; the other covers using PERL.
There are various ways to connect Flash and XML with databases and this book looks one of the least expensive routes to doing this, using mySQL.
I have found this book to be very useful as you are rarely left reading a passage only to realize that it made no sense. If you do, the chances are it has been presented that way to get exactly that reaction and you are then walked through a description to allow you to fully understand the subject in question. I particularly found the description of parsers enlightening in this respect.
If you want to get your hands dirty with code you will not be disappointed. All of the code required for the book is available for download from the publishers website and minutely observed throughout the book. This is backed up with Forums on the website where you can get any help you need. The book authors themselves can help you there.
To summarise, Flash and XML has been relatively uncharted waters, until now. This book, although a little pricey for actual number of pages, represents a way of getting to actually learn the subject properly. You won't be left with just a bunch of completed tutorials and a limited skill set. The authors are always trying to make you think about what you are achieving and how you could use this elsewhere.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars OK but too long and overpriced, 7 Nov 2003
By Graham Phillips (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I learned a fair amount from this book. However, the priniples of using XML in Flash are fairly simple and don't require nearly 500 pages to explain. It's all terribly wordy and chatty - fine if you've got plenty of time, irritating if you want to get on with things. I got the impression that the publishers had instructed the authors "it's got to weight at least 1.5kg". Hence all the anecdotes, appedices on Perl and other irrelevancies.

The credits page lists five proof readers, three editors and nine reviewers. Perhaps one of this team might have learned how to punctuate the word "its". Call me a boring old git, but I find this kind of error irritating, especially on the 50th occurrence. But to be fair there are not many factual errors, and no serious ones that I could find.

Another slight irritation is the cynicism hich passes for humour. British readers will find it mildly annoying; American readers may be baffled.

At nearly £40 this book is grossly overpriced. It's printed in black and white on economy paper. £20 is the most you should pay.

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