Sheridan Interactive Multimedia - Communication in Flash AS3 Help Send and Receive from PHP MySQL Database

AS3 Code in Flash 9, SQL and PHP Code

package communication2{

import flash.display.MovieClip;
	import flash.events.*;
	import flash.text.TextField;
	import flash.net.navigateToURL;
	import fl.data.DataProvider;

// classes for server script connection
	import flash.net.URLVariables;
	import flash.net.URLRequest;
	import flash.net.URLRequestMethod;
	import flash.net.URLLoader;
	import flash.net.URLLoaderDataFormat;
	import flash.events.IOErrorEvent;

public class Communication2 extends MovieClip {

private var myRequest:URLRequest;
		private var myVars:URLVariables;
		private var myLoader:URLLoader;

// to keep things a little simpler, there is only traced error messages
		// you may want to show the errors to the users...

// This code uses URLVariables for connection with a server
		// in particular we connect through VARIABLES to PHP and MySQL as a database
		// you can use the code to connect to TEXT and BINARY data too

public function Communication2() {

// set up the objects to send and receive data

myVars = new URLVariables();// this holds variables to send (as dynamic properties)
			myRequest = new URLRequest();// this prepares the request for the loader
			myRequest.url='http://www.yourserver.com/communication2.php';
			myRequest.method=URLRequestMethod.POST;
			myRequest.data=myVars;

myLoader = new URLLoader();// this is the loader that will send and receive
			myLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;// could also be be TEXT or BINARY
			myLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, showGrid);
			myLoader.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR, showError);

// get the initial data from PHP which gets the data from a database
			getData();

// event on button to send submissions to the database
			mySubmit.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, submitData);

}
		function submitData(e:MouseEvent) {

if (firstName.text == "" || lastName.text == "" || fear.text == "") {
				navigateToURL(new URLRequest("javascript:alert('Please enter all fields');"), "_self");
			} else {
				getData(firstName.text, lastName.text, fear.text);
				firstName.text = lastName.text = fear.text = "";
			}
		}
		function getData(myFirstName:String="", myLastName:String="", myFear:String="") {
			myVars.firstName = myFirstName;
			myVars.lastName = myLastName;
			myVars.fear = myFear;
			myLoader.load(myRequest);// this sends the variables and loads new data from php
		}
		private function showGrid(e:Event) {
			// the data comes into the e.target.data property
			// if the data is of the format URLLoaderDataFormat.TEXT then just use the data
			// if the data is VARIABLES then convert the data into variable form like so:
			var newVars:URLVariables = new URLVariables(e.target.data);

trace(newVars.simpleVariable);

if (newVars.error == 0) {

var myDataProvider:Array = [];
				for (var i:uint=1; i<=newVars.total; i++) {
					myDataProvider.push({firstName:newVars["firstName"+i], lastName:newVars["lastName"+i], fear:newVars["fear"+i]});
				}
				myGrid.columns = ["firstName", "lastName", "fear"];
				myGrid.dataProvider = new DataProvider(myDataProvider);
				myGrid.getColumnAt(0).headerText = "First Name";
				myGrid.getColumnAt(0).width = 100;
				myGrid.getColumnAt(1).headerText = "Last Name";
				myGrid.getColumnAt(1).width = 100;
				myGrid.getColumnAt(2).headerText = "Greatest Fear";

} else {
				trace("There was an error in PHP");
			}
		}
		private function showError(e:IOErrorEvent) {
			trace("There was an error!");
		}
	}
}

#
# MySQL Table structure for table `fears`
# put this in the SQL box to quickly create the table
#
CREATE TABLE fears (
  id int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  firstName text NOT NULL,
  lastName text NOT NULL,
  fear text NOT NULL,
  date date NOT NULL default '0000-00-00',
  PRIMARY KEY  (id)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

<?php

$firstName = isset($_POST['firstName']) ? $_POST['firstName'] : "";
	$lastName = isset($_POST['lastName']) ? $_POST['lastName'] : "";
	$fear = isset($_POST['fear']) ? $_POST['fear'] : "";

$date = date("Y-m-d");
	$error = 0;

// PRE-MAKE DATABASE
        // go to phpmyadmin
        // in a database called "database" - or whatever...
        // login and make a table called "fears" with 5 fields
        // id - make it an INT and autoincrementing and the key
        // firstName - make TEXT
        // lastName - make TEXT
        // fear - make TEXT
        // date - male Date

// OPEN DATABASE
	// use your username and password
	$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password");
	mysql_select_db("database",$db);

if ($firstName != "") {

// INPUT TO MYSQL
		// create SQL query to insert any names and fears into the "fears" table
		$query = "INSERT INTO fears (id, firstName, lastName, fear, date) VALUES ('', '$firstName', '$lastName', '$fear', '$date')";
		// use PHP function to execute query.  We use this function every time we
		// want to access the database - for instance to add, delete or change something
		$result = mysql_query($query,$db);
		if (!$result) {
			$error = "Sorry could not record fear";
		}
		
	}
	
	// SERVER SCRIPT OUTPUT TO FLASH
	// if we do not have to go to a database we can just send a variable to flash like so
	echo "simpleVariable=simple value";

// OUTPUT TO FLASH
	// this is how we handle sending variables back to Flash
	// note that all name=value pairs are separated by &
	$query = "SELECT * FROM fears";
	$result = mysql_query($query,$db);
	$total = mysql_num_rows($result);
	$output = "";
	if ($result) {
		$i=0;
		while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
			$i++;
			$output .= "&firstName".$i."=".urlencode($myrow['firstName']).
					   "&lastName".$i."=".urlencode($myrow['lastName']).
					   "&fear".$i."=".urlencode($myrow['fear']);
		}
	} else {
		$error = "Sorry could not access fears";
	}

// send the data to Flash using the URL encoded format
	echo "&total=".urlencode($total)."&error=".urlencode($error).$output;

Here is the ZIP file. This file shows how Flash connects to PHP and MySQL. This includes:

communication2.fla - Flash file with input and DataGrid
communication2.as - the AS class
communication2.php - the PHP server script to access MySQL
communication2.txt - the SQL code to make a table in MyQL
communication2.html - the HTML page to show the Flash swf

We also recommend using the Falcon data class to make all this easier!

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