You could use the following syntax for handling mutliple method-calls from a remote script (in this example MyService):

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<mx:RemoteObject id="service" destination="amfphp" source="MyService" makeObjectsBindable="true">
 	<mx:method name="doSomething" result="doSomethingResult(event)" fault="doSomethingFault(event)"/>
 	<mx:method name="doAnotherSomething" result="doAnotherSomethingResult(event)" fault="doAnotherSomethingFault(event)"/>
 </mx:RemoteObject>
 
<mx:Script>
 	<![CDATA[
		private function doSomethingResult(event:ResultEvent):void
		{
			// custom logic
		}
 
		private function doSomethingFault(event:FaultEvent):void
		{
			// custom logic
		}
 
		private function doAnotherSomethingResult(event:ResultEvent):void
		{
			// custom logic
		}
 
		private function doAnotherSomethingFault(event:FaultEvent):void
		{
			// custom logic
		}
 	]]>
</mx:Script>

I dunno about you, but to have to define special tags in MXML for each bloody method in your script is too much effort (and can leave you with some nasty/tricky bugs if you forget to add a new tag after adding a new method in your server-side script!). I used the following mechanism in my post about integrating CodeIgniter, Flex and PHP if i remember correctly… Give me a break… I was too lazy to check (it’s midnight and i’m sleepless).

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<mx:RemoteObject id="service" destination="amfphp" source="MyService" makeObjectsBindable="true"
result="resultHandler(event)" fault="faultHandler(event)"/>
 
<mx:Script>
 	<![CDATA[
		private function resultHandler(event:ResultEvent):void
		{
			var message:RemotingMessage = event.token.message as RemotingMessage;
 
			switch(message.operation)
			{
				case "doSomething":
					// custom logic
					break;
				case "doAnotherSomething":
					// custom logic
					break;
				default:
					trace("Shit... Missed this one... " + message.operation);
					break;
			}
		}
 
		private function faultHandler(event:FaultEvent):void
		{
			var message:RemotingMessage = event.token.message as RemotingMessage;
 
			switch(message.operation)
			{
				case "doSomething":
					// custom logic
					break;
				case "doAnotherSomething":
					// custom logic
					break;
				default:
					trace("Shit... Missed this one... " + message.operation);
					break;
			}
		}
 	]]>
</mx:Script>

Seems much easier, doesn’t it? Essentially all you’re doing is examining the event parameter of the ResultEvent or FaultEvent, finding which method was just called and acting accordingly… This will work with any number of method calls, from any number of different RemoteObjects. You can point them all to the same handlers!

If you guys have any alternative ways of doing this, let me know!

I decided to go and put David’s script into class form (my case of OCD is genuine ) and i added one or two things to it. Basically it allows you to backup one or many tables in a database, include or exclude the data from the backup and i also included Rick Ellis’ (of CodeIgniter fame) Zip class to allow you to zip up the backup and stash it somewhere.

Thanks to David Walsh and Rick Ellis!

Here’s the class: DatabaseDump.php

…and here’s how to use it:

$dump = new DatabaseDump("host", "user", "password", "database", "destination/");
$dump->backup();

Be sure to check out the DatabaseDump.php class for the documentation!

Ahem. Back to the point. So when i started writing Flex apps and using AMFPHP for my remoting, i desperately wanted a nice concise, easy-to-use, well documented library. Enter CodeIgniter by Rick Ellis. Although CI is actually a MVC framework for PHP, i decided i was going to turn it into a library! (and what a ballache that was).

Below is the massive, complex, obfuscated script I wrote to turn it into a library. Notice how the script seems to drip with programming excellence:

<?php
    if (!defined('BASEPATH')) define ("BASEPATH", "../CodeIgniter/system/");
    if (!defined('APPPATH')) define ("APPPATH", "../CodeIgniter/system/application/");
    if (!defined ("EXT")) define ("EXT", ".php");

    require_once (BASEPATH."codeigniter/Base5.php");
    require_once (BASEPATH."libraries/Controller.php");
    require_once (BASEPATH."codeigniter/Common.php");
?>

Crazy huh? Haha. Essentially, all this script does is fuck with some of the framework architecture and allow the package to be required in PHP. See the usage below:

<?php
    require_once("CodeIgniter.php"); // the path to your CodeIgniter.php script as described above

    class AMFPHP_CI_Integration
    {
         function __construct() // PHP constructor
         {
                parent::Controller();  // Extend the functionality of the CI Controller class
         }
    }

?>

And that’s it! Flimsy and hackerish, i know, but hey… It works

Any queries or suggestions are most welcome!