Professional PHP4 Multimedia Programming is an extremely handy book to have on your bookshelf, even if (and possibly especially if) you don't design and implement multimedia applications with PHP all the time. Within hours of getting the book, I realized that I could use PHP as a commandline scripting language to solve several problems. I've used it as a reference several times since, even though I do NOT consider myself a PHP Multimedia Applications developer.

The book is organized nicely. As a "Professional" book, it assumes a decent understanding of PHP. This assumption saves you lots of time and unnecessary hand holding. There is a brief PHP refresher chapter for those who aren't quite as familiar with PHP as necessary, but after that refresher chapter, you're expected to understand things. You bought this book (or will, anyway) because you already know how to program in PHP but are not familiar with the various multimedia extensions.

The next several chapters each dedicate themselves to a specific extension concept: Ming, Ming with ActionScript, GD, ImageMagick, PDFLib, and FDF.

Each chapter gives an overview of the library, it's uses and limitations, and gives lots of example source code giving examples of all the functions in an extension and how they are used together.

The next few chapters are full-fledged application case studies. Though you may not agree with the authors' coding styles, these case studies walk you through (from start to finish) several different applications to show you how the libraries can be used within the scope of a larger PHP application, not just example toy scripts.

Following the case studies are several appendices. Each appendix is a language reference for a multimedia extension. Most of the information in the appendices is found online in the PHP manual, and I, for one, find it more convenient to look it up there, but having it in the book is a nice bonus.

Another wonderful addition is a full-color screenshots gallery index, which shows you what various scripts from within the chapters should look like when run. This is great for two reasons: 1) You can "check your work" as you write the applications and sample code in the book, and 2) You can see the results of functions in the book while reading it away from the computer.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about writing even just ONE application in PHP that will manipulate any supported multimedia (Shockwave, images, PDF/FDF, etc.) The time you save by having this book as a companion will more than pay for the cost of the book.

Unlike most open souce projects, PHP has been blessed with many good books. Professional PHP4 is another fine book aimed for the serious PHP developer venturing to add multimedia.

There is a short refresher on PHP followed by PHP Multimedia installation. Then it gets into the nitty-gritty stuff of making it work.

I found the case studies towards the end of the book particularly helpful in mapping out a solution action plan.

Please let me know if you find this review helpful. Thanks.

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.

This book is a great tutorial/reference for programming with PHP's multimedia libraries. It covers topics such as GD(image manipulation) ming (dynamic flash generation) and pdflib(dynamic PDF generation).

The book was written very well and I only noticed one small type error. There is lots of information and a function reference in the appendix.

I bought this book a fortnight back and i have
amazingly learned more than i expected.The 4 case
studies in the book are amazing - I esp enjoyed working
on the coffee shop finder app and got everything working
in a zap.I recommend this book to the developer
fraternity that wants to realise the true power
behind PHPs extension libraries (multimedia).
And oh! yeah this is my first WROX read that had
color pages in it:)