flash data integration: I know how to pass vars from php to flash and from flash to a "new" php page
but here is my question.

I have a php page (page1.php) with some HTML and a php variable called
$number. page1.php also has an embedded test.swf movie. While working with the
test.swf movie, I want to send data back to the $number var on the page1.php
without reloading the page1.php because then it would reload the test.swf movie.

I have been able to use javascript to change background colors on page1.php
from within the test.swf movie but cannot figure out how to set a php variable
from within the test.swf movie.

Is this possible?

That's what I ended up doing.
I wrote the var to a db from page1.php using a separate php page and then
changed the data in the db from flash using the same separate php page.
Doing this made the same var or data available to both page1.php and test.swf
without changing state.
Just wanted to know if there were another way without using a db or xml file.

It sounds like you are trying to do too much in that one page. Why not make a
separate PHP page that gets data from the db? That way you can just ping that
PHP page from Flash when you need data. That way the Flash screen won't change
state on you.