Server-Side Flash: Scripts, Databases and Dynamic Development

Book Description

Server-Side Flash: Scripts, Databases, and Dynamic Development fills an important gap in the Flash book market. With the emergence of e-commerce, no Web site is complete without a back end because the back end is the virtual sales connection. Likewise, complex games are dependent on access to huge sets of data that can be sent in small packages, but getting them in and out of Flash requires knowing how the data can be generated in Flash, how it can be sent out to the servers and how it gets information back from the servers and integrates it into the ongoing game.

While every book on Flash recognizes this new capacity to some extent, none of them have really showed developers how to get the data into and out of Flash and use it effectively. Server-Side Flash gives developers the tools to fully utilize Flash's capacity to communicate with the server side of the Web. PHP/MySQL have over half a million users, ASP has at least as many, and just about every professional Web page now contains at least some JavaScript. Find out how Flash communicates with these other languages and servers with coverage of the use of Macromedia's powerful database Flash product, Generator, and put its use in context with other Flash database techniques and applications.

Customer Reviews:

Note: Book is about Flash 5, not FlashMX or Flash Remoting.......2003-01-30

This isn't a criticism of the book, but pay attention that it's from 2001 and covers Flash 5, NOT the latest Flash MX and its available Flash Remoting technology which offers far easier server-side integration.

Still, the info in the book still has value today to those who have not yet bought Flash MX. Indeed, even if you have Flash Mx, if your server is Perl, PHP, CF5, etc, then the approaches here will work since the new Flash Remoting only works on CFMX, ASP.NET, and select J2EE platforms.

Then again, MX users who do get the book should check out the newer LoadVars object as an alternative to the older but still supported LoadVariables. The approach to processing XML is also vastly improved in MX.

Of course, the book can't be faulted for having come out prior to MX. It's just that since the title doesn't say Flash 5, if you buy the book thinking it's about the latest and greatest ways of doing Flash/server integration, you'd likely be disappointed. Just offering this as a caution.

At Last , a book even a designer can understand........2002-11-23

As a graphics person, I've tried for months to understand scripting and databases with no success, I was just about to throw in the towel and literally go back to the drawing board when I found this book. The authors make these subjects easy to understand and the tutorials are excellent for bridging the graphic person's need to see the concepts in action. I've never written a review before, but this book has finally made me understand and given me the tools to move forward.

A sparse overview.......2002-05-27

When I buy a book, I want a little depth. This book is a decent summary of the Flash backend, but it's nothing you can't readily find on the web. I HIGHLY recommend a more specific approach--e.g Foundation PHP for Flash by Webster .

A complete and easy steps book.......2002-05-16

This book is awesome; it explains how to use Flash integration with the most common used server-side programming languages (PHP, ASP and Perl)...

All separated by parts, and it explains some of the functions and methods of the programming languages, just for letting the reader who doesn't deal with certain server-side languages more confortable to understand it.

Really good book, it solved all my problems with database and server integration with Flash.

Absolutely Brilliant!.......2002-04-19

A massive treasure trove of information that has just saved me countless hours of messing around with Flash. I've read through the first 5 chapters and went through the included examples and that alone has been enough to make me feel comfortable selling backend integration to my clients now, and being able to deliver a Flash site that does more than just look and sound good. There's no ColdFusion here but at five grand for Cold Fusion Sevrver, I'll take the PHP/SQL,ASP,and Perl solutions detailed in this book any day of the week over a book trying to sell me on CF.

I've got Flash MX too and the data transfer and handling model is still the same - you've got to know how Flash, the server, and the browser all integrate in the process, and this book puts all that knowledge well in hand. Thank you Sanders and Winstaley.

Book Description

Road Kill on the Three-Chord Highway is a new collection of Colin Escott's wonderful biographies of the legends of rock, rockabilly, and country. Escott is world-renowned for telling the stories not only of the major stars but the Tex Nobodies that populate the back alleys of American music. For every struggling singer or songwriter who breaks through, there are hundreds more who labor in the shadows, victims of bad luck, bad timing, or themselves.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing.......2004-04-23

This is an incredible book. I first ran into it when my college art instructor brought it for me to look at. He obtained a copy while on vacation, visiting Hugo home. I was awestruk then and now. Now a few years later, I was visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and saw a Hugo, one that is actually in the book.

It jogged my memory of this incredible book. I jumped online, and amazingly found a copy here on Amazon. I can't wait to get it. And for an amazing price.

This book is fonaminale in its explaination of Hugo, his art, and his techneques. A ture treasure for anyone interested. Exceptional work from someone who is known for is writing, not drawings.

Wonderful book on a neglected aspect of Hugo........1998-11-11

After viewing Hugo's art displayed at his home, I was surprised at the lack of material I could find to read about it. This book has been a great find for me, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Hugo or the history of modern Western art.

Average customer rating:

Best book of Hand Shadows
The Art of Hand Shodows

The Art of Hand Shadows
Albert Almoznino
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486418766

Book Description

Clear explanations and over 70 illustrations demonstrate how to position your hands to make lifelike shadows of a lumbering dinosaur, a pair of playful monkeys, an eagle taking flight, a cat scratching itself, a howling wolf, a neighing horse, a dog that eats a rabbit, and many other figures.

Customer Reviews:

Best book of Hand Shadows.......2007-09-25

I bought several books on this subject. This one blows the others away. You will not need another book on this subject. The Lincoln and Nixon head figures are amazing. The author knows his stuff.

The Art of Hand Shodows.......2007-03-09

A great book. It should come with a little flashlight, just for fun. I had a lot of of fun with this one. My six year old thought it was a really fun activity...and she still plays with shadows...even weeks later. A great buy for all the fun the kids will have:)

Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History (DIAgram (Detroit Institute of Arts))

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Up To Date Puppetry

Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History (DIAgram (Detroit Institute of Arts))
John Bell
Manufacturer: Detroit Institute of Arts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0895581566

Book Description

An illustrated history of the fascinating development of the art of puppetry.

Customer Reviews:

Up To Date Puppetry.......2003-01-27

When I got this book I thought; may be is just another book full of pictures. On the contrary the book starts on with a brief puppetry history and then gives an overview of the different types of puppetry. It gives an in depth summary of the puppet theatre since the 1960's and the overhaul that Jim Henson gave to the art of puppetry. It talks about puppetry as a new art an avant-garde entertaiment that has been around for centuries. A great book with a brilliant compilation of ideas and photographs.

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This author built London's famous Lions in Trafalgar Square

Hand Shadows and More Hand Shadows
Henry Bursill
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486295133

Book Description

Delightful activity book for older children (and adults, too) shows how to create 34 fascinating shadows on a wall simply by positioning hands and fingers. Learn how to make a bird take flight, a duck quack, Toby the dog wag his tail, a rabbit munch his meal, and more.

Customer Reviews:

This author built London's famous Lions in Trafalgar Square.......1999-01-26

Henry Burcill, the author of Hand Shadows, was my great-great-grandfather. He was a sculptor by trade and his statues stand in London to this day. The most famous of these are the four great lions in Trafalgar Square, which he created with Sir Edwin Landseer. Written in an era when people lived by candle-light and gas lamp - hand shadowing was a popular entertainment. Henry Burcill's Hand Shadow books are treasures from a bygone age. I hope they never go out of print.

Average customer rating:

Art of Hand Shadows

Manufacturer: Stravon Educational Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0873960262

Hidden Beneath the Shadows : Fighting for the Twenty-First Century

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Fundamentally Guiding
Plain Truth
Good Read

Hidden Beneath the Shadows : Fighting for the Twenty-First Century
Fred Villari
Manufacturer: Sumerel Enterprises
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0966350200

Customer Reviews:

Fundamentally Guiding.......2006-09-04

For what the book was written for, I give it five stars, but lower it to four because of bad editing (lots of typos) and graphic design (not the best fonts, layouts, and photography choices).

I think this book is intended for any persons interested in martial arts, but has absolutely no experience or any idea where to begin. Grandmaster Fred Villari has all the right ideas and I admire him for his humility and courage to write such an elementary, but valuable book. He's a voice of reason when it comes to deciding how pure or modern of an art to go with: "Because the fighting systems date back to antiquity, many people get stuck in the old system. They become dogmatic, inflexible. Certainly, we should revere and respect the old ways, but we must also be practical and flexible so we can adapt our fighting techniques to the real situations of today."

This book only dabbles in all the areas of martial arts that attracts students to different disciplines. I suggest if you're looking for more direction in specific areas that you search elsewhere. The best place to start is to talk to your sensei/sifu about your different thirsts and he/she may have some ideas where you could further explore. Books are wonderful aids in these challenges of the mind and body, but no written work can replace the physical presence of a teacher.

Plain Truth.......2001-01-14

Master Villari has a way of making the incredible, credible. His simple, real-world analysis of the martial arts and what it takes to practice and apply what you're learning is refreshing. This book is a comprehensive overview and attitude adjuster. A must read for student and Master alike.

Good Read.......2000-10-24

A good mix of wisdom and tactics. Explains training techniques, fighting moves and the mental aspects of martial arts. A good read for anyone wanting to expande thier mental knowledge

Modern Hand Shadows: Describing the Real Art of Shadowgraphy

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Modern Hand Shadows: Describing the Real Art of Shadowgraphy
Max Holden
Manufacturer: Max Holden
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KGIL8W

Hand shadows: The complete art of shadowgraphy

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Hand shadows: The complete art of shadowgraphy
Louis Nikola
Manufacturer: Pearson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000890EX6

Handbook of light and shade: With especial reference to model drawing (One shilling hand-books on art)

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Handbook of light and shade: With especial reference to model drawing (One shilling hand-books on art)
Mary P Merrifield
Manufacturer: G. Rowney & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00089GS3Q

Customer Reviews:

The Man With All The Toys.......2007-04-03

There was little in life William Paley wanted and didn't get, with the notable exception of a laudatory and readable biography. Sally Bedell Smith performed half that service with "In All His Glory," published the same year Paley died (1990); you will be hard-pressed to find as juicy a book on a hundred more engaging personalities.

Paley built a radio-television empire with CBS, "the Tiffany Network" known for its much-touted commitment to quality broadcasting. While acquiring markets and talents was Paley's contribution to CBS's glory, it was secondary by Bedell Smith's reckoning to his more material passions for lucre, women, and fame. He got most of what he wanted, but as we watch him on his deathbed, it's hard not to feel a Calvinistic twinge of regret for his limited vision.

"Bill Paley wanted every last minute from life," Bedell Smith writes.

It's about the most positive thing she has to say about Paley, who otherwise doesn't come off either as visionary or a leader. He failed to see the promise of innovations like television, color television, and the long-playing record, and had to be coaxed to letting his subordinates take up these and other ideas for building his empire. Then when they achieved success, Paley swooped in and took credit. "The convenient amnesia of the powerful," Bedell Smith calls it.

Where Paley excelled was in the art of interpersonal relations, which contributed to some major deals for CBS and very few lonely evenings for Paley himself, even if his wives couldn't say the same.

Bedell Smith writes an engaging story about Paley's years at CBS, but it is in recounting his social life where the book excels. Paley was born Jewish, and spent the rest of his life trying to pretend otherwise. Even as other Jews formed their own high-level Manhattan social circle, "Our Crowd, " Paley preferred to court the Mayflower set, a fast-dying clique of Long Island dinosaurs who imagined themselves better than the rest of mankind for the money they inherited.

One British noblewoman who ran with this set described Paley as "100 percent Jew but looking more like good news from Tartary," nicely encapsulating the jaded, facile, anti-Semitic waters Paley willingly navigated.

Readers looking for more of a history of CBS may be vaguely disappointed. Paley was seen as an "absentee landlord" by network insiders, leaning on Frank Stanton and other executives to run the shop while he globetrotted. Bedell Smith leaves the trail of the network for many long chapters at a stretch, to focus on Paley's marriages and affairs.

The problem with this shows with her loving depiction of wife number two, Babe Cushing, a glamorous clotheshorse. Bedell Smith describes Babe's look and surroundings in overrich detail, at one point itemizing the contents of her closets for half a page. Bedell Smith obviously treasures Babe more than Paley himself ever did, an imbalance that threatens to lose the reader from time to time.

But Babe is an interesting mirror to view Paley from, an empire builder in her own right who left nothing in the way of a legacy but gaudy baubles and mixed memories about what it all meant. As she lay dying of cancer, an unnamed intimate tells Bedell Smith: "She had not a glimmer of having a soul." It's a comment with more than religious meaning.

For Paley, too, the world was all there was, and immortality something only worth having if he was around to enjoy it. He built an empire, only to hang on too long and preside over its crumbling, even facilitate it when his hand-picked successor failed to show him the proper deference. Ephemerality is the nature of mass media, and in that way at least, Paley proved its perfect embodiment.

Inaccurate .......2006-09-24

This book is not only unremittingly malicious in tone,
but well known as being inaccurate, sloppily put together,
and a book whose author clearly had an agenda in depicting
Paley as some kind of monster of evil. A bad book that
leaves you feeling bad.

Thorough Inspection of a Fascinating Man.......2003-08-17

Author Sally Bedell Smith does her typically excellent job with IN ALL HIS GLORY, her biography of William Paley. Smith is known for her scholarship and her research, and it shows in this book.

Like many self-made successful people, Paley led an interesting life. Smith chronicles his original involvement with the nascent television industry as his interest grew into the empire he built surrounding CBS.

This is an important book for anyone interested in the development of that industry. As well, it is a fascinating peek into Paley's life. Here was a man who moved from the ghetto life of a child of 19th century European immigrants to becoming one of America's power elite. Once he was rich, he lived his life accordingly.

His journey makes for fascinating reading.

Upclose Look at Media Giant.......2003-07-27

This book has been out for as long as it has, and no reviews? It's been about five or six years since I've read it, but this volume is a must-read for anyone considering a career in broadcasting, or if you're interested in the building of a corporate empire.
The book takes us from Paley's somewhat well-to-do background and takes us, in all his glory, (which the book's author uses sarcastically), from cigar maker to the head of one of the most powerful corporations in American history, what used to be CBS, Inc.
The book doesn't necessarily portray Paley as a sympathetic character, but more of a small man who made it big. There's a heavy emphasis on the warts of the man, which may be somewhat understandable, since prior to this book's release, he was always presented as a man to be totally revered. But here he's portrayed as someone who likes to take credit for other's doings, as someone who plays petty head games with people such as Frank Stanton, and uses his on-air talent (Ed Murrow, for one) while it's convenient, and then when they're of no use to him anymore, casts them aside.
Despite the type of man Paley is presented as, this book is a very good chronicle of his career, which means it also is one of the definitive books on the creation of CBS. No matter what his personal flaws were, this is a man who did the impossible by challenging NBC to create the even more successful CBS radio network and then dominated television for roughly 20 years. The building of that empire with the "talent raids" of Amos 'n' Andy, Jack Benny, and others is vital reading for anyone who is in the broadcasting industry. What's even more essential, however, is watching the ideas and motivations that took the Columbia Broadcasting System to CBS, Inc, and how it lost focus as it became a corporate behemoth.
Paley's death came several years before Westinghouse, and then Viacom, would acquire CBS, and having read this book, you can only imagine what he would have thought about how that played out.
One final note, while the book is lengthy, it's a breeze-through read. Once you get started, you won't put it down.

IN ALL HIS GLORY. THE LIFE OF WILLIAM S. PALEY. THE LEGENDARY TYCOON AND HIS BRILLIANT CIRCLE

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IN ALL HIS GLORY. THE LIFE OF WILLIAM S. PALEY. THE LEGENDARY TYCOON AND HIS BRILLIANT CIRCLE
Sally Bedell Smith
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster New York c1990
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MTCEL2

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