Talking between a MYSQL Database and FLASH with XML and PHP

programming flash
1

I am a US Marine and I am trying to help my shop out by building a program that would allow me to maintain records of gear so we do not have to count millions of pieces of gear everyday. So i built a database:

DB: USMC
Tables:
AlphaRoster
GearList
Locations
IMRCard
GeneralIssue

AlphaRoster: list of personele their ID, DOB, PLT …

GearList: List of Gear identified by a 13 digit number, additionally each piece of gear has a group code an alphanumeric code.

Locations: an Alpha Numeric value to where we placed the gear, some gear has more then one location, therefore i added a Boolean value to designate if it will be an issue location or a storage location

IMRCard: will hold a string of all the gear one individual will have issued to them.

GeneralIssue: this is a table that will store the issuing list.

Where I am at and problems i’m having:

I have the list of gear formed into an xml document from a php file

example below:

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<gearlist>
	<gear> 
		<TAM>A00001</TAM> 
		<NSN>4940014580475</NSN> 
		<Nomenclature>TOOL AND EQUIPMENT  </Nomenclature> 
		<UI>EA </UI> 
		<OnHand>26</OnHand> 
		<Allowance>26</Allowance> 
		<Price>1421.90</Price> 
		<TAMDescription></TAMDescription> 
	</gear> 
	<gear> 
		<TAM>A00001</TAM> 
		<NSN>5180012441290</NSN> 
		<Nomenclature>TOOL KIT,ELECTRONIC </Nomenclature> 
		<UI>EA </UI> 
		<OnHand>0</OnHand> 
		<Allowance>39</Allowance> 
		<Price>650.00</Price> 
		<TAMDescription></TAMDescription> 
	</gear> 
	<gear> 
		<TAM>A00002</TAM> 
		<NSN>4940015540475</NSN> 
		<Nomenclature>TOOL AND EQUIPMENT  </Nomenclature> 
		<UI>EA </UI> 
		<OnHand>26</OnHand> 
		<Allowance>26</Allowance> 
		<Price>1421.90</Price> 
		<TAMDescription></TAMDescription> 
	</gear> 
	<gear> 
		<TAM>A00003</TAM> 
		<NSN>2518945841290</NSN> 
		<Nomenclature>TOOL KIT,ELECTRONIC </Nomenclature> 
		<UI>EA </UI> 
		<OnHand>0</OnHand> 
		<Allowance>39</Allowance> 
		<Price>650.00</Price> 
		<TAMDescription></TAMDescription> 
	</gear>

I wanted to create an “issue” page where the marine can have a page in front of him that has a list of gear organized by the TAM lets make believe its 4 pieces of gear.

I wanted the issue page to have drop down menus each with a different TAM(group #) so drop down one will have all the TAM A00001 NSNS in there
Drop dwon menu two will have all the A00002 NSNS listed there
etc…

I cant find a SIMPLE way to associate a drop down menu with flash and xml… am i better off not using flash??? I have looked throught google and this website and by now all i see is numbers and letters and i have a huge headache lol.