Question

I wish to create SWF (Flash) files with PHP but what is the best option for that nowadays? When I use Google I find all kinds of old pages about this subject, but not much is happening in this field lately, it seems….

Ming is no longer part of PHP 5.3, and I can’t figure out how to install it with PECL.
(‘pecl install ming’ doesn’t work… but neither does any pecl package I try, so I guess I do it all wrong…)

On http://pecl.php.net/package/ming it says the package has been superseded. My broken english tells me that means another package is now a better solution? But which package then?

Is anybody actually using PHP to create SWF’s or is this a bad idea anyway?

Answer 1

Depending on what what the final swf should contain there are a few options:

• get libming running with your php installation
• swfmill – if you need fonts or simple images embedded into a swf (xml -> swf)
• mxmlc – official free compiler from Adobe, takes ActionScript3 or Flex Input if you need more complex stuff (as3 / mxml -> swf)
• Haxe – similar approach as mxmlc, uses Haxe instead of ActionScript, very fast (hx -> swf)
• Sam Haxe – similar to swfmill, written in Haxe (xml -> swf)