How do I add a global variable to my app?

Question

Hi all,
I am building a flex app which displays data in different tabs from a mysql database and I wan't to add a sign in process to make sure only registered users of the mysql db can see the data.
To achieve this I built a sign in component which accepts a username, password and the name of the database to connect to. My flex app then uses a php script to verify that the user can connect to the database using the details entered. If not, the sign in component displays an error message, but if sign in details are verified then the user can see the data from the database.
How can I store the details in the flex app for that users session so that when the user queries the db for data, flex uses the details entered during the sign in process to connect to the mysql db and submit the query?
I thought about storing the details as an array in a global variable and then accessing that global variable from anywhere in my app but I don't know if that is the correct/secure way to do what I want, nor do I know how to do it. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
xander

Answer 1

quick, dirty example, could be improved on but it'll get you rolling;
After user login has succeeded, send off another HTTP service eg;
========
<mx:Script>
         <![CDATA[
            public var whateverUserNameWasEntered:String;
             public var whateverUserPasswordEntered:String;
     public function onLoginSuccess():void
          whateverUserNameWasEntered:String = loginbox.text;
          whateverUserPasswordEntered:String = passwordbox.text;
          storeSessionStuff.send();
     ]]>
    </mx:Script>
<mx:HTTPService id="storeSessionStuff" showBusyCursor="true" method="POST"  url="http://localhost/store.php" useProxy="false">
        <mx:request xmlns="">   
          <username>
               {whateverUserNameWasEntered}
          </username>
          <password>
               {whateverUserPasswordEntered}
          </password>       
        </mx:request>
    </mx:HTTPService>          
========
direct it to the php file.....
<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['username'] = $_POST['username'];
$_SESSION['password']   = $_POST['password'];
?>
Then, whenever you want to get the information out of the Session, send off another HTTP Service...;
<mx:HTTPService id="getSessionStuff" result="storeData(event)" showBusyCursor="true" method="POST"  url="http://localhost/get.php" useProxy="false"/>
to the php file....
<?php
session_start();
print "<details><username>".$_SESSION['username']."</username><password>".$_SESSION['password'] ."</password></details>";
?>
which, you need a result function for:
<mx:Script>
         <![CDATA[
          private function storeData(evt:ResultEvent):void
                var username:String;
                var password: String;
               username = evt.result.details.username;    
               password = evt.result.details.password;         
      ]]>
</mx:Script>
ta daa
(if thats what you meant)