Travis Tidwell presents at DrupalconDC 2009

1. Flash with Drupal
DrupalCon 2009 – Washington DC
Travis Tidwell
travist@tmtdigital.com
TMT Digital

2. Agenda
• Why Flash and Drupal?
• How Flash and Drupal Communicate
• Web Services in Drupal
• Asynchronous Programming
• Building a real Flash application for Drupal

3. Why Flash with Drupal?

4. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like …

5. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife

6. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.

7. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get.

8. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)

9. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)
• Drupal is like …

10. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)
• Drupal is like … me!

11. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)
• Drupal is like … me!
– It’s nerdy.

12. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)
• Drupal is like … me!
– It’s nerdy.
– Complicated

13. Why Flash with Drupal?
• Flash is like … my wife
– It’s pretty.
– What you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG)
• Drupal is like … me!
– It’s nerdy.
– Complicated
– but totally awesome!

14. Combine Beauty with Power and you
get…

15. Combine Beauty with Power and you
get…

16. Combine Beauty with Power and you
get…

17. How Flash and Drupal communicate

18. How Flash and Drupal communicate
• Remote Function Calls (RPC)
– Uses XML to call a remote function
– AMF ( ActionScript Message Format )

19. How Flash and Drupal communicate
• Remote Function Calls (RPC)
– Uses XML to call a remote function
– AMF ( ActionScript Message Format )

20. How Flash and Drupal communicate
• Remote Function Calls (RPC)
– Uses XML to call a remote function
– AMF ( ActionScript Message Format )
<function>getHello</function>

21. How Flash and Drupal communicate
• Remote Function Calls (RPC)
– Uses XML to call a remote function
– AMF ( ActionScript Message Format )
<function>getHello</function>
“Hello World!”

22. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…

23. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…
• Services Module

24. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…
• Services Module
• AMFPHP Module

25. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…
• Services Module
• AMFPHP Module
• AMFPHP ( http://www.amfphp.org )

26. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…

27. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…
• Services module comes with “external” API’s
so that Flash can get Drupal data.

28. How Drupal handles Flash RPC…
• Services module comes with “external” API’s
so that Flash can get Drupal data.
– node.get
– node.save
– views.get
– etc…

29. Connecting to Drupal
• Flash must first establish a connection with
Drupal.
• Drupal manages the Flash connection using
Session ID’s

30. Session Handling

31. Session Handling
• Flash calls “system.connect”

32. Session Handling
• Flash calls “system.connect”
• Drupal returns a valid Session ID to Flash

33. Session Handling
• Flash calls “system.connect”
• Drupal returns a valid Session ID to Flash
• Flash stores the session ID, then uses it for all
other calls to Drupal.

34. On the Flash Side…

35. On the Flash Side…
• Uses NetConnection to connect to flash

36. On the Flash Side…
• Uses NetConnection to connect to flash
• Create responder to handle callbacks

37. On the Flash Side…
• Uses NetConnection to connect to flash
• Create responder to handle callbacks
• Make the Service Call

38. Drupals response is handled using
callback functions

39. Asynchronous Programming

40. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along

41. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along

42. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along
Register for event

43. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along
Register for event
Make the call…

44. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along
Register for event
Make the call…
Twiddle your thumbs…

45. Asynchronous Programming
• Flash triggers actions based on events ( Event
Driven )
• Events move the system along
Register for event
Make the call…
Twiddle your thumbs…
An event! Let’s
do something!

46. Let’s build something!

47. Let’s build something!
Meet my wife…

48. Let’s build something!
Meet my wife…

49. Let’s build something!
Meet my wife… She is Flash…

50. Let’s build something!
Meet me…

51. Let’s build something!
Meet me…

52. Let’s build something!
Meet me… I am Drupal…

53. Demo Time!

54. For more information…
• “Flash with Drupal” Book
– Author: Travis Tidwell (me)
– Packt Publishing
– Due July this year
• Topics covered
• Build a Flash recipe viewer
• Build a media player using Nodes and Views
• Build a Flash Five Star voter
• A bunch of other good stuff…

55. Questions?