passing variables between flex and php

Question

i am new to flex development my question is How do i pass variables between flex 3 and a mysql database using php? i was told the best way is to AMFPHP but that seems like an over kill or may be not am not sure.. any ideas?

Answer 1

There's a few choices open to you. Essentially, it boils down to how you'd like to deal with the data on the PHP side of the fence.

The two I'd spend time investigating would be simple XML (my first preference) and AMFPHP.

XML: Flex can work very easily with XML data, even mapping it automatically to/from ActionScript objects (generically, or with something like the xobj project on GoogleCode, to typed instances). Similarly, there's plenty of support available for working with XML in PHP code.

AMFPHP: AMFPHP gives you way to pass typed ActionScript objects over the wire to your PHP code. There's tooling included in the AMFPHP project that makes working with MySQL on the PHP side easy too.

Answer 2

I'd use json over xml since json will transfer less bytes and php's json_encode($object) is quick and easy.

I'd use json over amfphp because json is general purpose. For example, I can create a web service for flex or javascript by returning json.

You might have a look at this article for comparison between json, amfphp, and xml. Also, here is a nice tutorial on flex, php, and json.

Answer 3

AMFPHP is not really being actively developed. The best alternative right now is to use Zend_Amf http://wadearnold.com/blog/?page_id=155, which is supported by both Zend and Adobe.

Don't be scared by the need for Zend Framework components. The framework is modular, and you can use your own custom php classes for accessing data without having to incur the Zend Framework learning curve.

The great thing about using AMF is that since it is a binary data transfer, it's very fast.

Also, working with XML or even JSON, is an annoying extra step if you just want your flex app to get results data an api call. If, for some reason, you need to also handle outputting data to xml or json, that can easily be added to your app by extending or creating new controllers/services that translate the data from arrays and objects to xml or json

Answer 4

If you are doing a simple query, I would pass your data as plain POST data. You can do this using HTTPService component in Flex. On the PHP side I would respond with an XML string and set the HTTPService resultFormat to "e4x" (Ecmascript for XML), for an easy object-like manipulation of the result data.

Here is the livedocs reference for HTTPService: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=data_access_2.html

For more complicated queries/operations, there is also the option of using the Flex RemoteObject with AMF as the data protocol. On the PHP side you can then use the zend framework AMF component to communicate.

Here is the livedocs reference for RemoteObject: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=data_access_4.html

And the download page for Zend AMF: http://framework.zend.com/download/amf