September 24th 2002 | David Vogeleer

Flash XML Studio Lab

XML has become the standard for storing all types of data and is one of the most recognizable languages on the Internet. Flash is the ultimate design tool for visualizations on the web. These two technologies combined are the perfect match for separating data from presentation in a dynamic format.

Publisher: Friends of Ed
ISBN: 1-903450-39-X
Pages: 491
Authors: Ian Tindale, Paul Macdonals, James Rowley
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When I first got this book a few months ago, I was pretty excited to learn about XML, since it has become such a buzz word for every developer. And from the first chapter to the end of the book, I was not disappointed.

The first four chapters cover what XML is, where it came from and the basics of the structure and use. These first few chapters are very informative in the history of XML (Extensible Markup Language) and how it is supposed to be structured. They also explain why XML is more of a format than a language.

It goes through countless examples of well-structured XML and when to use attributes as apposed to nodes. It is constantly building on a tarot card example through each chapter making even more complex, but easy to follow step by step.

Then, in chapter 5, we are introduced to Flash in context with XML going through the basics of how Flash and XML work together. Moving on to chapter 6 pushes farther into Flash talking about interfacing ActionScript with XML and then using the XML object and its accompanying methods to work with XML inside of Flash. These chapters is where I really began to enjoy what XML and Flash could do, it was easy to see how XML could be produced to be the data source for multiple mediums, and how Flash was the perfect one for it.

Chapter 8 introduces us to SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and talks about how to download and upload XML files. This chapter digs deeper with the tarot card project where we create the cards themselves in Flash and we get build the first working application.

Chapters 9,10 explore the XML object deeper still building on the tarot card application and discussing event handlers of the XML object in Flash and introduce us to the XML Socket object.

Chapter 11 takes the XML socket a step further building a chat interface done in Flash interfaced with an XML server. And chapter 12 finishes the main chapters discussing server side scripting, and integration with databases using XML. However, it does go on to discuss other languages such as PERL and CGI.

This book was highly informative and very well written. The base knowledge of XML combined with detailed descriptions, explanations and examples of using it with Flash makes this book a must have for any serious Flash developer wanting to take their skills a step further, or even an XML developer wanting to use XML in another application.

The book did have its drawbacks, although the tarot card example was a great example, it became kind of boring to keep simply improving on it, instead of trying another application. Also, because the books focus was the integration of Flash with XML, it did not cover every single aspect of XML. I recommend a second book covering just XML to pick up some of the minor details left out about XML in this book.

XML is definitely going to stick around on the web and other applications, so as a developer or even a designer it's an invaluable skill to have.

All in all, a great book to have on the shelf.