Our XML-based quiz document is really going places. We explained it and then loaded it into Flash in the first two installments, so logically it's time to make some sense of it using Flash's superheroic XML parsing abilities. I really can't stress enough how much better XML parsing is under ActionScript 3, because if things hadn't changed, there certainly would have been a nice padded cell waiting for me at Bellevue right about now. So join me as I share the joy of reading XML in Flash with you, the most loyal reader.

One might naturally assume that a series of articles about building a Flash quiz engine may actually impart some knowledge about, oh, say, Flash. With that in mind, in this installment we're going to rectify the absence of any Flash in part one by firing up Flash and writing some ActionScript 3, with the exciting goal of loading the XML document we produced last time. Without further ado, let's dive right in.

In the first installment of a multi-part series, we’re going to begin the process of creating an XML-based quiz engine using ActionScript 3 in Adobe Flash CS4. We’ll start slowly today by figuring out what features we want to include and how those features will translate to the structure of the XML template we’ll eventually use to populate the Flash playback engine. So, to kick things off, let’s ask the obvious question: what do we want this thing to do?

Regardless of what you may specifically think of the CS3 iteration of the venerable Dreamweaver visual Web editor, even the most hardened skeptics would probably be forced to (grudgingly) agree that the integration of Adobe's Spry framework for Ajax into Dreamweaver CS3 is, to put it very technically, pretty freaking cool.