Topic: Connect to Access Database with Flash MX

is this possible at all? I have an access database with some products on my PC. I want to make a flash interface to show the products from the database, without having to install anything (eventually it will be a standalone pc)

Just wondering if there is some way to do this... thanks.

How would you, uh, "access" your access database if it were a "normal" html page? What would be i the middle? PHP? If so Flash could just as easily use PHP to do the data exchange. I don't know anything about access, so maybe I'm missing the boat here.

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It is going on a CD, so i cant use php or serverside scripting to handle this, so yes you are missing the boat i think. I am wondering if flash can talk directly to the database like visual basic etc, or if there must be a layer in between.

I think i have seen it done using asp, and i beleive u can open asp files on any windows operating system without having to installing anything special (like u need apache etc for php)

This question comes up quite often.

Flash isn't geared towards CD-ROM development! As with any form of technology, you need to select the right tool for the job.

ASP needs a special kind of processor to process the pages. There's no way you can guarantee the computer you run it on will have this (even if it's windows) unless you can install a web server on the CD-ROM. Actually, that is possible as apache friends make an AMP (Apache + MySQL + PHP) package that requires no install, and can run from a batch command, but that's defiantly overkill.

I think your best bet will be to use some kind of native data format like XML. I'm sure someone has written a X-Query library for Flash, with AS 2.0 being so similar to Java, It wouldn't take long to port one over in any event.

On the other hand, you could save yourself a lot of hassles and use Macromedia Director, which *is* geared towards CD-ROM development. You can embed Flash content in Director and there are several xtras (kind of like plug-ins for director, but these get packaged with the executable movie you export, which is what makes Director so good for CD-ROMS) that provide database functionality. Either by hooking into an existing DMBS or using an internal structure to store, manage and query the data.

Personally, I'd opt to go for the Director path. Especially if this is something you'll be doing quite often, the cost of the program with the easy and speed of development will save you in the long run. If it's a one-off job, you'll save more by producing all of the data and material in-house and subcontracting to a development company who can put togther the Director CD-ROM for you. Either way you'll probably be saving a lot of time and or money compared to developing the CD-ROM using Flash alone.

If it's a small (under 100 CDs) job and the database isn't "critical", then you could simply put the database online and stipulate that a net connection is required to view certain parts of the work. This may seem pointless as they could just view the website, but most people have access to the net nowadays yet if you give them a CD they'll be much more likely to look at it then say a business card with a URL.

On the other hand, if this is just for 1 PC, you could simply install a web server on that PC and use it in combination with a server side language (the server will be running on the PC) be is ASP or PHP to access the database. But your second post sounded more like you were making a CD-ROM for distribution to your clients or your client?s clients...

How big is the database? Since it appears it's not going to be dynamic (not serving up to the minute data from the internet, and evidently not updating info since it's on a CD) maybe a flat file form would suffice in which case xml might be sufficient. If it's in xml form on the CD, Flash could certainly parse that with minimal difficulty or speed penalty.

True, but the main benefit of databases is their ability to query the data. Using a data set with a site that dynamically generates 10+ different views of the same kind of data is going to be time consuming to convert to an XML based data store. Searching also becomes a bit troublesome unless you're really comfy with recursive algorithms.

Yet if it's small enough, then this would be an option. Most database management systems have the ability to export their table data as XML. So the only real effort would be in constructing the flash side of things.

(Edited by Cameron on 08-30-2004 07:44)

Well the database will be quite substantial, a few thousand products and all of their pictures.

As far as structure goes, there are 3 main categories which have 2 or 3 levels of sub categories within that. So i think its probably a little to big for flat file. Ideally also i will include an update option which can download an updated database every so often (obviously it would need to be installed on a hd for this).

I took a look at director last week, i really dont like the layout of it etc, but thats just because im used to flash now. Will take a bit of getting used to.

So director can connect directly to an Access database then? Is it like an odbc connection or something.

Another option i guess is to code a VB front end, which can connect directly to access. But its more difficult to make it look good like flash/director. Mind you there is a way to link flash into vb..

Not too sure on what to do.

Read through this macromedia tech note on hooking Director up to a database:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/director/ts/documents/db_in_director.htm

Skimming through it, the ADOxtra sounds like you're best bet if you want to take the director path.

Although I should warn you, scripting to flash Actionscript objects using lingo can be quite tricky to get a handle on. As for the director interface, it kicks 10 colours of shit out of flash when it's being used to do a lot of programming intensive stuff. UI design in director can be a pain, but director's strength comes from it's blindingly fast bitmap performance (compared to flash at least) and the simple component like nature is much easier and infinitely quicker to work with than flash is. Director MX 2004 also supports using Javascript like syntax, but this syntax doesn't lend itself well to the director environment. It's also only JS 1, so there's no OO inheritance (for that you'll want to use lingo), and cross communication between lingo scripts and js scripts is a ripe pain to be sure.

http://www.xtramania.com/Products/ADOxtra/

Although, you still haven't mentioned if this is for a standalone PC or CD-ROM distribution. If it's for a standalone PC, just run a local web server on that machine (PWS, IIS or Apache) and use PHP/ASP to hook into MS Access.

I've no clue about anything VB related, so I can't offer an options or suggestions there.

Hi thanks for that, ahh it is for CD-Rom distribution, i forgot to mention. Wether it has to be installed from the cd or not hasnt been decided but obviously it would be best if it could run straight off the cd.


I know what u mean with director, im just used to flash so the little differences seemed annoying at first - its just a matter of me getting a hang of it. So is flash more like a cut down version of director? You can do everything in director that flash can do, but not everything in flash that director can do?

I read a bit more and i guess director isnt really vector based (but you could always import flash movies i guess).

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H][RO said:

is this possible at all? I have an access database with some products on my PC. I want to make a flash interface to show the products from the database, without having to install anything (eventually it will be a standalone pc)Just wondering if there is some way to do this... thanks.

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