This article takes you through the process of using Adobe Flash or Adobe Flex to build a site with Drupal, an extremely popular open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP. Along the way you'll get a better understanding of the benefits of this technique, also known as "Druplash" or "Druplex."

I designed this article so that you can stop reading at any time and start using Drupal with Flash. However, the further you read, the more advanced the topics and the more full-featured the setup.

Requirements

In order to make the most of this article, you need the following software (either Adobe Flash or Adobe Flex Builder, not both) and sample files:

Flash CS4 Professional

• Try
• Buy

Flex Builder 3

• Try
• Buy

Drupal 5 or 6

• Download

Sample files:

• drupal_flash.zip (ZIP, 54K)

Prerequisite knowledge

This article assumes that you have a working knowledge of ActionScript 3, and that you know how to use FTP for sending files to a web server. You may want to start by reading Chris Charlton's article, Building a Drupal site in 10 steps, which provides more in-depth information about installing and setting up Drupal in general. It would also be beneficial to look at the SWFAddress site because I discuss using SWFAddress toward the end of the article.

Why Drupal?

Many successful sites created with Adobe Flash use XML files, or no external files at all, for their content. Here's my list of reasons why you may want to consider combining the Flash platform with Drupal:

• CMS driven: A content management system gives you a place to create and manage content that is accessible by one or more people, and often removes the need for technical expertise when dealing with adding or editing content.
• No PHP or SQL required: As a Flash developer, you can take advantage of all the features of Drupal without writing a single line of PHP or SQL code.
• (X)HTML alternative: Think of displaying your content in XHTML as a low-tech backup for devices that don't yet have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, or a sufficient screen size and CPU to handle some content designed for a richer experience.
• Blogs: Because blogging and RSS are built into Drupal, you can easily syndicate content or use this functionality for regularly updated content such as an image gallery.
• User management: Not only can you register users on your site, but you can fully customize user roles with regards to creating or editing content.
• Modules: You can use the wealth of available modules to extend Drupal's functionality.
• Localization: You can localize your content with Drupal, providing not just translations but also different content for different markets.

Steps to using Drupal

The process of using Adobe Flash with Drupal is pretty simple; in fact there are really only four steps to follow:

1. Install Drupal 5 or 6.
2. Install and enable additional modules for Drupal.
3. Create a SWF file using the Drupal Flash library to communicate with your Drupal CMS.
4. Upload the SWF file to your site and run it in situ. (You can, of course, test your site locally without uploading the file.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

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