Can Javascript call PHP functions?

I am beginning to wonder...

Here's the thing, I want to get some info from a MySQL database into Flash, and if I do it straight via PHP, I am going to get these really long query strings, that just might be a bit unreliable, for example if they have any ampersands in them where they shouldn't be.

But Javascript outputs arrays and objects, and these are so much tidier. If I can get the PHP to send the info to Flash as Javascript, that will be much cooler.

'include' won't work, because the output needs to depend on the parameters that Flash sends it, 'include' would simply output something as the html file is loading or whatever, and would then remain that way forever.

'Notion commotion' on Dev Shed had a solution that I can't quite get to do what I want, but here is where I am so far:

function gQ() {

var script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = 'getQus.php?val=What';
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
return vall;

}

and in the getQus.php file:

header("Cache-Control:no-cache");
header('Content-Type:text/javascript');
$val=$_GET['val'].' the...';
echo "vall = '$val';";


The Flash file makes an External Interface call (when a button is pressed) to the Javascript function, and puts the returned value into a text box.

What actually happens is that I have to press the button twice to get anything back.

Why, why?