On PHPMaster.com there's a new tutorial from Shameer C showing you how to use Dompdf to convert HTML to PDFs. The handy library makes it (relatively) simple to automatically generate the documents without the need to know the internal PDF file structure.

PDF is a standard format originally created by Adobe for representing text and images in a fixed-layout document. It’s not uncommon for a web application to support downloading data, such as invoices or reports, in PDF format, so in this article we’ll go through how we can easily generate PDF documents using PHP.

He starts off with the installation (via Composer) and the creation of a simple "Hello World" document, showing how to "stream" it into a PDF file. He also includes some more advanced usage - loading an external HTML, drawing lines, changing fonts, adding page numbers and additional text to the page.

The Zend Developer Zone has pointed out a new webinar brought to you by Adobe (with Zend's own Kevin Schroeder) about building mobile applications by combining the Zend Framework and the Adobe AIR technology for devices.

Using Zend Framework 1.11 on the server and Adobe AIR for devices on the client, web developers will soon be able to deploy mobile applications across a wide range of smartphone and tablet devices.

The webinar will show off the features of the Zend Framework particularly handy for mobile developers and how the Zend_Amf component can be used to hook it into the AIR frontend to create multi-platform applications. If you'd like to check it out, it's free but you'll need to register. It's happening on January 26th from 9am-10am Pacific time (US).

On the Zend Developer Zone there's a post looking at uploading files in a Adobe Flex-based application that uses a slightly different than usual approach to uploading files through Zend_Amf.

Zend AMF is a PHP implementation of the AMF (Action Message Format) binary protocol within the Zend Framework. I had to implement a system to upload files that were a little different than what is typically used in Flash, so I built upon Zend AMF for my needs. Researching a little on the net, I found a solution that was simpler than I expected. Based on an article, I only had to make a few adjustments.

He shows a (brief) version of his setup - a gateway to be used as the endpoint for Flex to connect to, the VO properties and the class to handle the upload. On the Flex side, he includes the code to create the view and pass the upload off to the waiting PHP backend. If you want to see the full code, you can grab it here.

On the RIA Zone today Ryan Stweart has posted a new tutorial about using Flex and PHP to chart out some data pulled from a backend database with just a hint of animation on load.

Creating charts and data visualization is one of the areas where Adobe Flash shines. The combination of a very powerful drawing API that makes it easy to generate artwork and the interactivity means that Flash is ideally suited for integrating data visualizations. It used to be that you'd have to be very familiar with Flash and scripting to work with charting. [...] You use a combination of XML-markup and scripting to create [Flex] applications. Further, you can use CSS syntax to customize the look and feel of the charts. Flex makes it straightforward to add interactive charts to web applications.

The tutorial walks you through the creation of the Flex project (you'll need Flash Builder 4 to follow along), creating and pulling in the data from a PHP-based service call, binding the data to the chart object and a few tips on how to modify the HTML output to use teh Flex/Ajax bridge. Animating the resulting chart is as simple as adding two new tags to the Flex definition.

In a new article to the PHP Zone (part of the DZone.com site) today Mihai Corlan has written up an introduction to the architecture of the interactions that happen between PHP and Flex applications.

When I did my first web project using Flex, boy oh boy, it was quite a switch! The clean separation between the client and the server, (the business logic on the client side in addition to business logic on the server side), client-side technology that is compiled instead of interpreted, two languages on the client, all these required a different mind-set from traditional web development. [...] I want to share with you some of the things that are specific to Flex in relation to PHP. And I want to show you how common tasks for building HTML/PHP applications are done with Flex and PHP.

He talks about the SOA architecture model that the Flex/PHP interaction follows (connecting to services) and illustrates a basic Flex client to PHP server request/response pattern for a simple application. He even includes a sample illustration of an AIR application's interaction with a backend PHP server.

On SoftDevTube.com they've posted a new tutorial screencast talking about how you can write Flex and PHP inside Flash Builder and Zend Studio.

This video explains how to write Flex and PHP code using Flash Builder 4 and Zend Studio 7.1. It also illustrates how remoting enables your application to consume PHP services.

The video's about ten minutes long and comes from Adobe TV. There's no way to download the sample application they create, but they walk you through all of the steps you'll need, right down to getting PHP integrated into Flash Builder.

As is mentioned on the Zend Developer Zone, the Adobe Developer Week will be starting up on Monday, May 10th and will offer free sessions for developers interested in learning about Adobe products.

During Developer Week, learn about the Adobe Flash Platform, including Adobe Flex, Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Player, and how it integrates with Adobe Creative Suite 5 technologies. This weeklong event features free, live webinars presented by Adobe technology experts. See live demos and have your questions answered by the experts during interactive Q&A sessions.

You can find out more information about the sessions offered and how to register for them on this page of the Adobe website.

On the Zend Developer Zone there's a new post talking about a webinar Zend is hosting showing you how they created a "software flight recorder" with the combination of Adobe Flex and PHP.

Tasked with building a software flight recorder for Zend Server 5.0 (the new release of its popular PHP web application server), Zend chose Adobe Flex. Join this webinar by Adobe and Zend to learn what made The PHP Company opt for Flex, see a live demo, and hear lessons learned from one PHP/Flex development project. You’ll find out how Flex and PHP can be used together to enhance your application.

You can catch it at one of two times (or both if you really want to, I suppose) - February 3rd at 6am PST or February 4th at 9am PST.

They're free to attend, so stop by and see what the Zend Server software has to offer that could save you and your developers a lot of time and hassle in the future.

If you've ever been frustrated by trying to track down browser bugs (especially on platforms you may not have access to) Brian Teeman has a tip on a site you can use to make your life a little bit easier.

With every web browser on the planet rendering differently it's a constant battle ensuring that your beautifully and painstakingly designed web site looks just as gorgeous on all browsers. Personally I build a site entirely using Firefox and only at the end of the build process do I look at it in other browsers, curse and swear and then start to fix issues.

One of the next best things to having local installations is the Adobe BrowserLab (registration required). It allows you to view the pages of a given site in either two browsers side-by-side or "onion skinned" overlaying each other to see the exact differences. The tool does not, however, allow you to interact with the sites, so it's best used for display-only problems.

As the Zend Developer Zone points out Mihai Corlan of Adobe has written up a lengthy tutorial about Flex, specifically targeted towards PHP developers.

I want to share with you some of the things that are specific to Flex in relation to PHP. At the same time I want to introduce Flex by comparing it with PHP whenever this comparison makes sense. Thus this article is for: PHP developers that want to learn more about Flex and Action Script 3 than a simple definition can provide [or] developers that have already made their first attempt at coding a Flex application and want a broader, deeper understanding.

The tutorial starts from the basics for those not acquainted - what is flex, why you should care about it - and moves quickly through MXML, Actionscript3 and examples with each. He includes an example showing a simple user authentication script and how to interface that with a PHP backend.