AMF Moodle
What is AMFPHP?
AMFPHP is a widely used open source remoting server that allows Flash and Flex client-side applications to call PHP methods directly, as if they were native Flash/Flex ActionScript methods. It is fast and lightweight and presents a very efficient method of communicating with PHP and databases. AMFPHP preserves the following data types between ActionScript and PHP:
- int
- Number
- String
- Array
- mysql_result/Recordset
Note: Please add to this list if you have successfully tested data types using AMFPHP 1.9.beta+ and ActionScript 3.0.
AMFPHP automatically converts data types between ActionScript and PHP to their native equivalents. For example, it can convert a PHP array into and ActionScript array or a PHP resource, such as a mysql_result into an Actionscript Recordset.
What is AMF Moodle?
AMF Moodle is a new project (9th October 2008) which aims to integrate Flash and Flex with Moodle's API. The aim is to build a library of services that Flash and Flex developers can use to create secure client-side applications that can interact with Moodle. The first step will be to create a Moodle module that facilitates deploying custom made, generic Flash and Flex e-learning interactions and recording user interaction results in the Moodle gradebook.
The project's participants at the moment are: Matt Bury, Jamie Pratt and Marcus Potter. You can find the project home page at code.google.com.
Installing AMFPHP in Moodle
- Download the latest version of AMFPHP, currently version 1.9.beta (SourceForge repository).
- Unzip the file and find the directory amfphp.
- Upload the amfphp directory to http://***MOODLEROOT***/lib/
- That's it!
Please note: AMFPHP requires PHP 5 to run. Many servers run both PHP 4 and 5, but have them set to run PHP 4 by default. If you experience problems, you may have to change the default PHP version in the http://***MOODLEROOT***/lib/amfphp/ directory with an .htaccess file. The following is an example only. Please check that it is correct for your server configuration. If you have a hosted server, they'll probably have an example in their help files. For example:
- Find the AMFPHP .htaccess file at http://***MOODLEROOT***/lib/amfphp/.htaccess
- Open it with a text editor. You'll see:
<nav>#If you're working with a server which doesn't seem to display errors and you don't
- have access to httpd.conf and you have a good reason to develop remotely instead of
- locally, you may have luck with uploading this configuration file to the server
php_flag display_errors on php_flag display_startup_errors on php_value error_reporting 2047</nav>
- Add another line of code to change the default PHP version setting for the amfphp directory:
<nav>#If you're working with a server which doesn't seem to display errors and you don't
- have access to httpd.conf and you have a good reason to develop remotely instead of
- locally, you may have luck with uploading this configuration file to the server
php_flag display_errors on php_flag display_startup_errors on php_value error_reporting 2047
SetEnv DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION 5</nav>
