Professional PHP4 Multimedia Programming is a unique book in the midst of all other PHP books. No other book aims to cover the topics that this one does. If you are a PHP developer looking to expand you knowledge and integrate the multimedia capabilities of PHP into your applications, then this is the book for you.

The goal of this book is to introduce the concepts and techniques needed to produce dynamic multimedia content. The extensions covered are Ming, GD, ImageMagick, PDF, and FDF. Each technology is thoroughly explained from installation through example use. A case study is then given to go into further detail on the use of each extension.

I especially enjoyed the fact that they provided installation instructions for these extensions. One of the biggest hurdles people have with using Ming, GD, and the others is the installation process. Once someone gets past that stage they can at least experiment with how the extension works. It can be very frustrating when you can't even get something installed. Hopefully this book will help ease some of that frustration.

The case studies used by the authors are superb. These are real would applications that people want to create every day! They include a headline grabber with Ming, a mobile web coffee shop finder with GD, an image gallery using ImageMagick, and a PDF template system. Each one of these case studies is designed to get you thinking. Sure, they you the code needed for the application, but they also show you how the design process works and detail possible enhancements.

The one thing I found lacking in this text was some type of common problems section. Invariably, people are going to have difficulties when it comes to installation or use of these extensions. A simple google search will show the abundance of problems related to these technologies. A small chapter, or a section in each chapter, detailing some of the most common problems encountered, with their fixes, would have been great.

Overall, this book is great. If you are looking to develop multimedia applications in PHP, it is a must have.

Professional PHP4 Multimedia Programming covers a broad range of information relating to some of the most popular PHP4 extension libraries, specifically the ones that can be used to create, modify or deliver multimedia content - Ming, Ming with ActionScript, GD, PDFLib, and FDF.

The book is split into three parts - the extensions, the case studies, and the function reference - that way developers looking for descriptions without large amounts of code can read the beginning, those looking to just read case studies have a definite place to start, and those who want to stick it by their side for reference, know exactly where to go.

The target audience for this book generally falls into three categories. Firstly, this book would provide a rare source of information for intermediate to expert PHP developers who are looking to extend their knowledge further and want detailed information about every aspect of the library. Secondly, PHP developers who are happy with their current knowledge, but want immediate knowledge of a specific extension library and its use in the real world can use this book as the first port of call for that information. Lastly, we also believe that the book will be of interest to those researching the capabilities of PHP when weighing up server side languages for a potential project.

• Installation of the PHP extension libraries covered in the book
• A PHP refresher with coverage of object-oriented PHP concepts
• Adding dynamicity to movies with Ming
• Adding interactivity to movies with Ming and ActionScript
• Manipulating images with GD
• Creating images with Imagemagick
• Creating PDFs with PDFLib
• Sending data to and from PDF forms using FDF
• Creating a Headline Grabber using Ming with Actionscript
• Creating a Coffee Shop Finder that automatically generates images optimized for PDA and WAP sites using GD functions and the HAWHAW PHP class
• Designing a fully functional Image Gallery using the ImageMagick class library
• Creating a general purpose PDF Template System using PDFLib

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