Next, I created a dynamic XML file using PHP to get the data for use in Flash. The following code is the PHP code for the dynamic XML file:

<?php
header('Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8');
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>';

/*
"TransTime" = Seconds between each image transition
"SlideOrder" = How images are displayed. Can be either "sequential" or "random"
"FadeTime" = velocity of image crossfade. Larger number for faster fades
"Loop" = Set to "yes" or "no" for looping in sequential mode
"Xpos" = X position of all loaded clips set to 0
"Ypos" = Y position of all loaded clips set to 0
*/

echo '<gallery TransTime="4" SlideOrder="random" FadeTime="3" Loop="yes" Xpos="0" Ypos="0">';

require_once( '../../classes/FamilyPhotos.php' );

$mySlideShow = new FamilyPhotos;

$ssquery = "
   SELECT
   SsPic_ID,
   SsPic_Filename,
   SsPic_Desc
   FROM T_SlideshowPics
   ORDER BY SsPic_ID DESC;";
$ssrs = mysqli_query($mySlideShow->mysqli, $ssquery );
while( $ssrow = mysqli_fetch_assoc($ssrs)) {

echo<image path="' . $ssrow["SsPic_Filename"] . '" />';

}

echo '</gallery>';
?>


Next I created a Flash file that loads the XML from the previous PHP file and parses the XML to get the image data. The Flash file then loads the images and adds transition effects to each image with the following Actionscript code:


function parse(success)
 {
  if (success)
  {
   imageArray = new Array();
   var root = this.firstChild;
   _global.numPause = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.TransTime * 1000);
   _global.SlideOrder = this.firstChild.attributes.SlideOrder;
   _global.Loop = this.firstChild.attributes.Loop;
   _global.FadeTime = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.FadeTime);
   _global.Xpos = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.Xpos);
   _global.Ypos = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.Ypos);
   var imageNode = root.lastChild;
   var s = 0;
   while (imageNode.nodeName != null)
   {
    imageData = new Object();
    imageData.path = imageNode.attributes.path;
    imageArray[s] = imageData;
    imageNode = imageNode.previousSibling;
    ++s;
   }
   container_mc._x = _global.Xpos;
   container_mc._y = _global.Ypos;
   imageArray.reverse();
   imageGen(imageArray);
   return;
  }
 }
function swapPlace(clip, num)
{
  eval(clip).swapDepths(eval("container_mc.loader" + num + "_mc"));
}
function loadImages(data, num)
{
  if (i == undefined || i == 2)
  {
    i = 2;
   createLoader(i, data, num);
   i = 1;
   return;
  }
  if (i == 1)
  {
   createLoader(i, data, num);
   i = 2;
  }
}
function createLoader(i, data, num)
{
  thisLoader = eval("container_mc.loader" + i + "_mc");
  thisLoader._alpha = 0;
  thisLoader.loadMovie(data[num].path);
  watcher_mc.onEnterFrame = function ()
  {
   var picLoaded = thisLoader.getBytesLoaded();
   var picBytes = thisLoader.getBytesTotal();
   if (isNaN(picBytes) || picBytes < 4)
   {
    return undefined;
   }
   if (picLoaded / picBytes >= 1)
   {
    swapPlace("container_mc.loader2_mc", 1);
    thisLoader.alpha(_global.FadeTime, 100);
    TransTimeInterval = setInterval(imageGen, _global.numPause, data);
    delete this.onEnterFrame;
   }
  };
}
function imageGen(data)
{
  if (_global.SlideOrder == "random")
  {
   while (randomNum == randomNumLast)
   {
    randomNum = Math.floor(Math.random() * data.length);
   }
   loadImages(data, randomNum);
   randomNumLast = randomNum;
 }
 else
 {
   if (_global.SlideOrder == "sequential")
   {
    if (p == undefined || p == data.length && _global.Loop == "yes")
    {
     p = 0;
    }
    loadImages(data, p);
    ++p;
   }
  }
  clearInterval(TransTimeInterval);
}
var randomNum = 0;
var randomNumLast = 0;
var container_mc = this.createEmptyMovieClip("container", 0);
container_mc.createEmptyMovieClip("loader1_mc", 2);
container_mc.createEmptyMovieClip("loader2_mc", 1);
this.createEmptyMovieClip("watcher_mc", 100);
image_changer_xml = new XML();
image_changer_xml.ignoreWhite = true;
image_changer_xml.onLoad = parse;
image_changer_xml.load("includes/flash/imagechanger/image_changer_addon.php");
stop();

MovieClip.prototype.alpha = function (vel, to)
{
  this.vel = vel;
  this.to = to;
  this.alpha_init = this._alpha;
  this.onEnterFrame = function ()
  {
  updateAfterEvent();
  if (this.to != undefined && this.vel != undefined)
  {
   if (this.to > this.alpha_init)
   {
    if (this._alpha <= 100)
    {
     this._alpha = this._alpha + this.vel;
    }
    else
    {
     this.onEnterFrame = null;
    }
   }
  else
  {
   if (this._alpha > this.to)
   {
    this._alpha = this._alpha - this.vel;
   }
   else
   {
    this.onEnterFrame = null;
   }
  }
  return;
  }
 };
};


The image slideshow looks great! My next post will be about a flash video player I have been working on to play videos on the site as well as search the database for relevant videos…