I am trying to create a browser game using actionscript/flash. Currently, I'm trying to understand how I would go about creating a back-end which interfaced with my MySQL database.

As far as I understand, If I create a php file on a webserver called test.php and then navigate to a webpage hosted on the server eg. www.example.com/test, the php script will run and display the result in my browser.

This would use http. Is this how communication between client and server usually works in a flash game? for example, if the game needed to query the db. Would actionscript have to essentially invoke the url of the php script that would execute the query? it could then parse the data and use it.

If this is the case, then is JSON considered a good way to transfer data over http?