Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio (with CD ROM) [Paperback]

Philippe Archontakis (Author), David Beard (Author), Eng Wei Chua (Author), Jorge Diogo (Author), Paul Doyle (Author), Brandon Ellis (Author), Justin Everett-Church (Author), Branden Hall (Author), Dan Humphrey (Author), Randy Kato (Author), Nik Khilnani (Author), Patricia Lee (Author), Steve Leone (Author), Bryan Mahoney (Author), Andrew Montalenti (Author), Phil Piper (Author), Carlos Ponce (Author), Roger Prideaux (Author), Nicolas S. Roy (Author), Shawn Ryder (Author), Steve Webster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Designer to Designer | Publication Date: May 2001

Flash movies—the ones that play and then, well...stop—are all well and good. They are great as platforms for cartoonists and motion type artists to showcase their stuff. But it's the non-interactive and uninterruptable aspect of these Flash events that has led to some serious underestimations of the power of Flash. All you need to do to begin creating the cutting-edge Flash web-sites of the future is learn how to get the most out of ActionScripting, how to hook up your Flash movie with client/server coding and begin working with a back-end database.

And it really is that easy! Suddenly, the world of true Flash functionality is at your fingertips.

Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio is written by a collective of Flash 5 experts who will show you everything you need to know to upgrade your Flash 5 knowledge to Flash 5 expertise. Assuming a basic knowledge of Flash, the book gives you a thorough grounding in ActionScripting techniques, teaches you the basics of a myriad of scripting languages and their Flash interaction capabilities, discusses and implements client-side/server-side interaction, explains the middleware that can make your life considerably easier (Ultradev, Generator, Swift Generator, ASP Turbine), and demonstrates database interaction and usability (Access, SQL, and MYSQL).

To conclude this admittedly tough but not prohibitive learning curve, the book walks you through a selection of fairly generic real world case studies, using Flash with middleware and database connectivity, demonstrating how these elements come together to give you truly dynamic, interactive Flash sites. This book is about visual richness and utility. This Web business is getting beautiful, and Flash is getting useful.

What you’ll learn

Who this book is for

Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio addresses the growing market of web artists under pressure to learn the finer points of interactive design with Flash 5. This book demonstrates the best tools for integrating dynamic content using a Flash front-end. Readers will see how to link Flash movies, via a middleware bridge, through to a back-end datastores (images and/or text).

This book assumes that the reader already knows the fundamentals of creating Flash movies, but doesn't assume any programming knowledge at all. The book covers ActionScripting, (of course!), ASP, PHP, JSP, Perl, CGI, Cold Fusion, Macromedia Generator, ASP Turbine, Swift Generator, and Macromedia Ultradev.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Flash Studio series assumes that you already know the basics of Flash. Studio books take you upward from there, all the way to the high plateau of technical excellence and specialization. Along the way, a collective of Flash experts will guide and advise you.

This book assumes that the reader already knows the fundamentals of creating Flash movies, and that they are familiar with the basic relationships between web servers and web clients (browsers). It does not assume any programming knowledge.

This book will outline the importance of dynamic content in the future development of Flash, and demonstrate the best tools for integrating dynamic content using Flash as a front-end. Readers will see how to link Flash movies, via a middleware bridge, through to a back-end datastore (eg of images and text).

Dynamic content generation tools covered will include Flash Action Scripting, Macromedia Generator, Flash Turbine, Swift Generator, and ASP.

By the end of the book, the reader will have a solid understanding of the potentialities and benefits of using dynamic content with Flash, and will be able to choose the best ways of implementing dynamic content solutions in their designs.

In response to disappointment from some Mac-users, Friends of ED would like to stress that this book is strongly orientated around the Windows platform. We hope this book offers a comprehensive and advanced guide to injecting dynamic content into your Flash website. If you have any queries or suggestions please email [e-mail].

About the Author

Darin Beard has been working with Web-based technology for almost a decade. As both a graphic designer and software developer, Darin has a unique perspective on the process of creating Web-based applications. He has experience in technology and software ranging from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to ASP, ASP.NET, HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and VBScript to Macromedia Flash to Microsoft SQL Server. His range of experience is extremely beneficial when working with Flash because he can approach a Flash project from both the graphical (design) and technical (code) perspectives. Clients Darin has worked with include Hillwood, American Medical Response, Canon, American Airlines Center, Fellowship Church, RightNow.org, RenderAid.com, BlueFishTV, and others. Darin currently lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife of 12 years and his three children. He can be reached at [e-mail].

A bio is not available for this author.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1000 pages
• Publisher: friendsofED (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903450063
• ISBN-13: 978-1903450062
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,552,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inconsistent ActionScript plagues series, June 13, 2001

By 

Fia Svensson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio (with CD ROM) (Paperback)

While the idea behind the Friends of Ed series is admirable and useful - that is, to cover the broad and expansive areas of Flash development that are not so well documented elsewhere - the books so far have been spoiled by the inconsistent quality of their ActionScript.

Too often, I get the feeling that authors that have been invited to contribute have simply re-worked a pre-existing project - and this all too often includes (the usual) hacks and workarounds which all of us use when faced with deadlines. Bits and pieces of Flash4 ActionScript creep in every now and again - and occassionally the authors seem to be entirely unaware of new methods introduced in Flash5 that make their workarounds obsolete (the onClipEvent for loaded data is one example - see Chapt 9 of this book to learn how to do it the *old* way).

Furthermore, the tutorials often lack focus - as though the editors can't decide where to pitch the level of instruction: so that some hard-core ActionScript is often mixed-in with superfluous detail about how to build the interface for the tutorial example.

Anyway, my advice if you really want to *learn* ActionScript for yourself - and also avoid the mistakes, hacks and workarounds that plague the Friends of Ed books - put Phillip Kerman's excellent "ActionScripting in Flash" together with Colin Moock's "ActionScript: The Definitive Guide" on your desk - you'll never look back.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars General guide to Dynamic Flash Sites, June 21, 2001

By 

Mr. S. Essex (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio (with CD ROM) (Paperback)

Content Studio would be a good book if it went into more depth on the topics detailed inside. Dynamic Studio tries to do too much. You will find that the book will give you a general understanding of a topic but this will then need to be followed up with some more detailed research (which to me defeats the purpose of buying the book in the first place!).

I have also noticed that all the 'Friends of Ed' publications are rather repetitive of each other. If you buy the whole set of books you will see recurring examples, explanations and ideas frequently, especially in regards to the Action Scripting Topics. Again, as detailed in my review on 'Foundation Actionscripting' by Sham Bhangal in the same series, I would suspect they are selling more on appearance rather than content.

Do not even attempt to buy Dynamic Studio if you think it will help you design a fully functional dynamic Flash site. All the book will do will introduce technologies that you could use to build such a site and give brief examples on their use.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the other books...buy THIS!, May 14, 2001

By 

L Joyce Croker (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash 5 Dynamic Content Studio (with CD ROM) (Paperback)

Since I teach Flash, I buy most of the Flash how-to books the minute they're published.

Of all the current batch of books covering ActionScript, this is the one I'd recommend to anyone wanting to delve into the more advanced aspects of programming. The examples contain not only step by step descriptions, but clear explanations of the WHY of the process.

Well worth the money!