Preface
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What this book covers
Chapter 1 sets the stage for the reader to learn how Flash and Drupal can combine to
create a dynamic, content-rich experience for our users. We will learn how to embed
Flash applications within Drupal, as well as learn about some important modules
that make it easier to work with Flash in Drupal.
Chapter 2 builds a "Hello World" application. We will say hello to the world in Flash
using Drupal-driven content. However, unlike any other "Hello World" tutorial,
we will learn the important concepts of asynchronous programming and how that
relates to working with Drupal content in Flash.
Chapter 3 covers how to add custom content to our Flash applications using the
popular Content Construction Kit (CCK). We will illustrate this concept by building
a hypothetical Recipe Flash application designed for a Drupal cooking web site.
Chapter 4 shows us how to use Drupal managed images to give our application a
little visual are as a visually stunning Flash application would not be complete
without the integration of images. We will build on from the previous chapter by
adding an image to our Recipe Flash application.
Chapter 5 explores how to use Drupal to manage a list of audio nodes and also builds
a Flash application to play that music. When it comes to multimedia, Flash is the
portal of choice for playing audio on a web sites.
Chapter 6 expands our custom media player to not only play music, but also show
Flash videos managed from our Drupal web site, which is built onto the concept
from the previous chapter. In addition, we will learn some important concepts of
object-oriented practices while we reuse common components to build a media
player for Drupal.
Chapter 7 explains the basics of how to take an existing Flash application and break
apart the components for remote communication. We achieve this by rst abstracting
out separate functionalities into two separate components, and then laying the
foundation for a communication gateway between the two different components.
This is an essential rst step to create a robust and easily maintained system, where
Flash applications can be separated on a Drupal web site, thus implementing a
hybrid Flash integration approach.
Chapter 8 creates the necessary components required to implement the hybrid
approach. This chapter focuses on creating the bridge between two different Flash
applications. Once we create this bridge, we will have the ability to control our
media from a remote Flash application. In other words, we will be building a remote
control for our media player that can be placed anywhere on the page, separate from
the media player.
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Richard Ostheimer on 15th June 2009
2205 hilda ave., , missoula, , 59801