Looking Ahead

Now that you understand why developers might want to connect Flash applications to a server, the next step is to understand how it is done. Toward that understanding, we have organized the subsequent chapters as follows :

• Chapter 11, "Reading Data Files," examines various aspects of reading data in from files. This could involve using name value pairs of data from text files; it also explores the use of local shared objects.

• Chapter 12, "XML and Flash," examines reading data in from XML, which can include static XML files, dynamically generated XML files, and dynamic XML sockets.

• Chapter 13, "Web Services," explores a new feature of Flash MX Professional 2004 ”the ability to consume Web Services within Flash.

• Chapter 14, "Using Client-Side Data Integration," explores the DataSet, DataBinding, and Flash Remoting features within Flash MX Professional 2004, explaining how they can be used for easing the process of building data-driven applications.

• Chapter 15, "Flash Communication Server MX Applications," examines the Flash Communications Server, which allows for true bidirectional communications with a server.