Simple MySQL to Flex

1. Setup your MySQL Database.
2. Copy the PHP code below & adjust connection & query information .
3. Open the PHP file in a browser to check XML is displaying correctly (View Source).
4. Copy Flex code below & adjust URLs to point to the PHP script.
5. Adjust the column name in the datagrid to match a column name in the XML.
6. Run the Flex application.

All variables that need to be changed for your setup have been bolded.  Just add columns as necessary.

PHP CODE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<?php
//SQL Connection Info - update with your database, username & password
$connection = mysql_connect('localhost', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password') or die ('cannot reach database');
$db = mysql_select_db("YourDatabaseName") or die ("this is not a valid database");

//Change this query as you wish for single or multiple records
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM yourTableName");

//Get the number of rows
$num_row = mysql_num_rows($result);

//Start the output of XML
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>';
echo "<data>";
echo '<num>' .$num_row. '</num>';
if (!$result) {
   die('Query failed: ' . mysql_error());
}   
/* get column metadata - column name -------------------------------------------------*/
        $i = 0;
        while ($i < mysql_num_fields($result)) {
              $meta = mysql_fetch_field($result, $i);
            $ColumnNames[] = $meta->name;                      //place col name into array
            $i++;
        }
$specialchar = array("&",">","<");                                         //special characters
$specialcharReplace = array("&amp;","&gt;","&lt;");            //replacement
/* query & convert table data and column names to xml ---------------------------*/

$w = 0;   
while ($line = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   echo "<row>";
    foreach ($line as $col_value){
        echo '<'.$ColumnNames[$w].'>';
        $col_value_strip = str_replace($specialchar, $specialcharReplace, $col_value);       
        echo $col_value_strip;
        echo '</'.$ColumnNames[$w].'>';
        if($w == ($i - 1)) { $w = 0; }
        else { $w++; }
       }
    echo "</row>";
}
if($num_row  == "1"){
    echo '<row></row>';
}
echo "</data>";
mysql_free_result($result);
?>

FLEX CODE----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    initialize="doSend()"
    layout="absolute">
<mx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
        import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
       
        [Bindable]
        private var datalist:ArrayCollection;
       
        private function resultHandler(event:ResultEvent):void{               
                datalist = event.result.data.row;
                rowcount = event.result.data.numrows;
                if(rowcount == '1'){
                        datalist.removeItemAt(1);
                }
         }
        public function doSend():void {
            xmlFromDatabase.url = "http://localhost/xml.php";
            xmlFromDatabase.send();
        }
    ]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:HTTPService url="http://localhost/xml.php"
    id="xmlFromDatabase"
    showBusyCursor="true"
    result="resultHandler(event)"
    method="POST" />
    <mx:DataGrid x="10" y="10" dataProvider="{datalist}" id="dg">
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Col1" dataField="Column1Name"/>
        </mx:columns>
    </mx:DataGrid>
</mx:Application>