Help: Sending HTTPService request using POST to a php script

Question

Hello all,
I need help in learning the proper method of communicating to php scripts from flex 3. I am very new to flex 3, php and web development. Thanks!
What I am trying to do is as follows:
1. User drags and drops a few items in a list control
2. user clicks a button to send these keywords to server php script
3. server will form a query based on the words sent and retrieve records and send them back
Here is what I have done so far:
1. When I send a request to server without any parameters, I amable to receive the request and query the database and send results in xml format
current issues I am facing:
1. I am gathering the list of entries in list control as follows:
<*** this function is callled when user decides to send request to server ***>private function startsearch():void {
   var i:int;
   var myAC:ArrayCollection = ArrayCollection(SelCtypes_id.dataProvider);
   var nct:XML = new XML("<contenttypes></contenttypes>");
   // add contenttype child now
   for (i = 0; i<myAC.length; i++) {
    nct.appendChild(XML(<contenttype>{myAC[i].toString()}</contenttype>));
   var params:Object = new Object();
   params.contenttypes = nct.toXMLString();
   getsearchresults.send(params);
<*** my http service entry****>
  <mx:HTTPService id="getsearchresults"
   method="post"
  url="http://localhost/search_xml.php"
  result="handlesearchresultsXml(event)"
  contentType="application/xml" />
This is what I see in flex debugger just when the request is sent out:
-> just before gersearchresults.send(params) call:
params.contenttypes = "<contenttypes>
  <contenttype>AVI</contenttype>
  <contenttype>SWF</contenttype>
</contenttypes>"
<*** within the HTTPrequest send function, I see th following in debugger ***>
message.contentType="application/xml"
message.body = paramsToSend shows "<contenttypes>&lt;contenttypes&gt;
&lt;contenttype&gt;AVI&lt;/contenttype&gt;
&lt;contenttype&gt;SWF&lt;/contenttype&gt;
&lt;/contenttypes&gt;</contenttypes>"
This looks like my XML object is again formatted by an out <contenttypes> tag and the string is converted to be HTML safe (i.e. &lt, &gt notation).
It looks like I am not doing something right with my params formation to XML and HTTPservice is reformatting it to be some form of XML (I do not know XML well either :-)
My questions:
1. What am I doing wrong?
2. If there is a good example where I can send multiple parameters from flex client to php server and get data back where the request parameters will beof the form...
<query>
<type1>
     <type1val>value1</type1val>
     <type1val>value2</type1val>
</type1>
<type2>
     <type2val>value3</type2val>
     <type2val>value4</type2val>
</type2>
</query>
Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Hi, I'm having a problem with a similiar issue :/
I'm getting the error #1010 (A term is undefined and has no properties):
at flexGraph/httpResultHandlerUserInfo()
at flexGraph/__userInfoXML_result()
etc.
I removed some parts of the code so it's easier to read, if you can help me. I'm trying to populate a datagrid with info from a database, according to the alias I choose in the ComboBox. I get the error when I pick an alias from the ComboBox.
<mx:Script>
     <![CDATA[
     import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
     import mx.rpc.events.FaultEvent;
     import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
     import mx.events.DropdownEvent;
     [Bindable] private var usersInfo:ArrayCollection;
     private function httpResultHandlerUserInfo(event:ResultEvent):void{
          usersInfo = event.result.users.user;
     private function chooseUserCB(event:DropdownEvent):void{
          userInfoXML.send();
]]>
<mx:HTTPService id="userInfoXML" url="http://www.mysecondplace.org/flex/userInfo.php"
result="httpResultHandlerUserInfo(event)"
useProxy="false" method="POST">
<mx:request xmlns=""><alias>{usersAliasCB.selectedItem.alias}</alias></mx:request>
</mx:HTTPService>
<mx:ComboBox id="usersAliasCB"
x="10" y="10"
labelField="alias"
close="chooseUserCB(event)"/>
<mx:DataGrid id="testing"
x="10" y="100"
dataProvider="{usersInfo}"/>
Here's an example from the PHP file:
$query_user = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE alias='.$_POST["alias"].'";
Help me please