[UPHPU] eCommerce - what do you use?

[cole at colejoplin.com]

Quoting Scott Hill <llihttocs at gmail.com>:

> I've read about RIAs using AJAX.  I have also used PHP to implement a web
> service.  Could you enlighten a little more on how your RIA will work with
> PHP as a service?  Is it a web service?  Would you use SOAP or JSON? Sorry
> to pester but I'm curious.

Great questions all. Because AJAX has javascript that is easily  
exposed to the client, it's definitely less secure. Logging in through  
a Flex app is tucked away nicely. The short answer on PHP is to return  
an XML string. If you already have a SOAP or JSON service available,  
just use it. The other choice is to use PHPAMF and exchange the data  
in binary. Here's some docs that give some more details:

http://blogs.adobe.com/mikepotter/2006/02/flex_and_php_us.html
http://blogs.adobe.com/mikepotter/Flex%20and%20PHP%20060201.pdf
http://api.renaun.com/max2007/ra101h_RenaunErickson_excerpt.pdf

And as a nice marketing business case for RIAs, check out:
http://www.inm.com/resource-center/en/white-paper/INM-RIA-Primer.pdf

-- Cole