File: flashPash.readme.txt

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|              flashPash readme              |
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|              version 1.0 *RC1*             |
|                                            |
|  last updated 2003-07-07 by si*sshnug.com  |
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- flashPash is free open source software.  Please read the license details
  in flashPash.license.txt.  If you don't have this file, you can read it
  here: http://flashpash.sshnug.com/about.php?menu=license

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|                 What is it?                |
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- flashPash is a database access tool designed to allow applications to easily retrieve 
  and update information across the internet.  There are over a dozen databases supported.
  Motivation to build it came from the Firefly components built by Cybersage, and a lack of
  cash and desire to use flash Remoting.  In a nutshell, by keeping a small amount of data
  in the flash client application, flashPash is able to automatically generate SQL queries
  on the server, and send the results of those queries back to the client. 

- flashPash has 2 Flash MX client components and a PHP class run on the server.
- XML is used for data exchange between client and server.
- You can also operate flashPash in PHP by itself.   Check the demo's.

- Please send any bug reports, ideas or changes back to si*sshnug.com.  If you think flashPash
  is a useful tool and you profit from it, please consider saying thanks by giving a small gift
  to it's creator.  Wish list is available from http://www.amazon.com/o/registry/1UTJLQWH0TDT2

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|        What do you need to run it?         |
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- A web server.  Apache 2 (or 1.3) highly recommended   [www.apache.org]
- PHP version 4.2 or higher running on above web server    [www.php.net]
- ADOdb 2.4 or higher database abstraction class [php.weblogs.com/adodb]
- PEAR::XML_Tree class, should be included in PHP 4.3.1+ [ pear.php.net]

* ADOdb and XML_Tree are included in the flashPash installation.

- flashPash client-side components require Flash MX [www.macromedia.com]
- "flashPash using Firefly" requires Macromedia Firefly Components
- "flashPash using Recordset" needs Macromedia Flash Remoting Components

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|               Where is it at?              |
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- Current version: 1.0 *RC1*

- Changelog: read flashPash.changelog.txt.
  Latest: http://flashpash.sshnug.com/documentation.php?menu=changelog

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|              Thanks & Respect              |
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- Kudos to the sublime programmers behind the software flashPash uses.
  Respect due!

- My wonderful, talented, and patient girlfriend Kat, da' gorgeous grüva! :Þ

- Kent at Pure Vanilla for his generous support of this open source project.

- Thanks to Dan Humphrey at TechoMedia for sharing his code and ideas.
  Although flashPash has been completely redeveloped (a few times:), 
  it was originally branched from the fDataSet component Dan wrote.

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|              How do you use it?            |
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- For detailed code examples, see the PHP scripts and Flash actionscript demos.

  Note: These demos assume your web server, database, PHP and Flash are all up
  and running, that's your job, not mine :)

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|          Known problems and issues         |
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- You must have the ADOdb library installed and in your PHP path.
  The same goes for XML_Tree.  flashPash will assume you have pathed the
  PHP.INI include_path property to the root of your includes directory.
  flashPash comes with both ADOdb and XML_Tree, and the flashPash
  installation executable (flashPash.exe) will install these for you.

- If you expect CDATA (character data) to be stored in the database,
  you must use XML elements (nodes) instead of attributes to record field 
  values.  Character data includes carriage returns and line feeds.

- Unlike doSaveUpdates, doUpdate can not (yet) automatically perform updates
  to key fields.  You can manually add an old key value by using setKey.
  Check the setKey documentation for further information.

- Since flashPash RC1 was released, the Firefly demo includes a lookup field
  built into the grid.   There was a bug in Firefly beta 3 which makes this
  field invisible after the dataset was closed and reopened.  This bug was
  fixed when Cybersage sold Firefly to Macromedia, but without recreating
  the entire with new Firefly components, it will remain.

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|  Wishlist (highest priorities at the top)  |
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- Optimise flashPash.role.xml.  Parent nodes shouldn't need to be duplicated
  when child nodes have specific attributes set.  Will slow things down (as
  you have to search right down the XML path) so needs to be very efficient.

- For FP_ADODB_COUNTER field types, flashPash should (re)use the ADOdb model
  for obtaining the next key value.  It should also return the key value(s)
  generated on the server back to the client, via the XML result for an insert.

- Add getNextPage(#) and getPreviousPage(#) methods to FlashPashComponentClass?
  Needs to save current values, set recordLimit/limitFrom, call doSelect, restore?
  # is the page size (use recordLimit if # undefined).
  Probably need to add private variable to track current limitFrom, or override
  public property?   Paging is pretty easy in flashPash already, so i'm not sure
  if this is worth the extra overhead and work...

- Option to log error messages to a file (or database?).

- Add setValue( table, field, value, oldValue? ) method to FlashPashServerClass?

- Sockets! PHP and flash MX XML objects support sockets, so it would be great
  to build them into this class.  The majority of code should remain unchanged,
  but we would need additional properties (so a boolean switch + tcp/ip port
  number at the very least) Note: Sockets if they happen will (probably) only
  occur after version 1 is released and is proven stable.   Some work has begun
  on this already...using patServer as the framework.

- For Firefly component, would be nice to remove the need for hardcoding of
  dataPacket/row in connector.  Will wait and see what happens with Firefly.

- When setting meta-data to Firefly dataset, flashPash should be smarter about
  field properties and would be good to bind more nicely to any linked views
  or controls.

- When working with Firefly components, we might want option to automatically
  purge updates in resolver if a public method call was successfull.
  ie. flashPash doDelete was called, but Firefly resolver thinks it still
  needs to happen.  It should only purge if operation successful.

- To follow OOP methodology more closely, flashPash events should be defined
  using (a generic?) getEvent/setEvent function instead of directly referencing
  them.  Public properties has get/set methods since the RC1 release.
  If going generic is desirable, there would only have to be one additional
  parameter: getEvent( eventName ) and setEvent( eventName, methodName )
  
  Also now that flashPash Firefly and Recordset components have get/set for
  public properties, the FlashPashServerClass should as well.

- Add support for FULL, NATURAL and CROSS joins?

- ponder: SOAP-enabled flashPash?

- ponder: Incorporate amfdata.php class and NetConnection?