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

by 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)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Dynamic content is one of the big futures of Flash. Flash will become the web-standard way of giving users compelling sound-and-vision experiences when they visit data-rich e-commerce, entertainment, and information sites. The book concentrates on the Window's OS, although other server options are covered.

Dynamic content frees web designers from the constraints of static pages, and Flash dynamic content adds life and visual excitement to the dynamic interface. The combination of Flash and dynamic content is the web equivalent of the shift from black and white silent movies to full-color talkies.

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].

Product Details

• Paperback: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press (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.com Sales Rank: #1,653,028 in Books (See Bestsellers 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

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.

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

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!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strengths in Design? This is the book for you, May 8, 2001

By	RP (Cardiff, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I am a graphic/web designer by design. Programming of any type is a struggle for me. Just as I started getting Flash 4 ActionScripting down pat they went and changed the syntax on me. Ive been through the whole collection of "Friends Of Ed" books yet none have been as clear and easy to understand as Dynamic Content Studio. This book covers all the important topics in a way that makes it easy for the logically challenged, such as myself, to understand. The examples are, for the most part, simple but offer a lot in the way of showing you what can be done and how to do it.

I have been using ASP to create dynamic Flash content for about a year now, and have struggled the whole way. This book makes everything a little clearer and offers you logical solutions for common procedures to help streamline your code, making life a little easier.

Great book, I highly recommend it!