Thanks for the responses guys. To further clarify the situation: The running of the reports all happens server-side with PHP scripts. The result is an XML file consisting of the data to display to the user. The method in which the data is displayed to the user is via a Flex app (it basically reads the XML and displays a table or chart).
When a user is actively viewing a report, the Flex app calls the PHP scripts on the server and receives XML back, and draws the table/chart for the user. From there, they can email the report out, and the Flex app takes a 'snapshot/JPEG' of the table/chart and sends it back to the server where a PHP script creates an HTML email with the JPEG embedded in it. So in short, the Flex app only creates the "user-friendly display" for the report. The rest is handled on the server. Our problem comes when an automated report is wanted (like a nightly emailed report). CRON will fire off the PHP scripts to run the report and generate the XML result. But then we have no way to turn the XML into the "user-friendly display" that is generated in Flex. My thought was, if we could run the Flex app or execute the ActionScript without needing a browser/Flash player, then it could be added to the CRON job that automates and emails the report. But what Paul said is what we've been afraid of: "In any case you will probably need a browser to run the process because I don't think there are any interpreters that can run without the Flash Player and the Flash Player will at the very least need to be running on a windowed system, ie X windows, Windows or Mac OSX, it cannot run on a headless system." We won't have X-Windows installed, and we don't want CRON to fire up a browser just to get some JPEGs. Another 'idea' was to email the swf file with the XML data, and have the user launch the swf and load the XML in to "see" the report. But that seemed 'clunky.' And a last resort was to have a PHP script that converts the XML data into readable HTML. But then web-based reports (in Flex) and the emailed reports (in HTML) will look differently. Are there any other/better options that can be thought of? Ideally, executing ActionScript server side (to create JPEGs) would be great, but we haven't found this possible yet.
