Actionscript Cookbook

Chapter 18. Sending and Loading Variables

Introduction

There are many reasons why you may want to send and load values from and to your Flash movies. Here is a brief list of some of the possibilities:

• Send form values to a server-side script to store in a database

• Send values from an email form to a server-side script to send the email

• Load values from a text file (appropriate when the values are subject to change, such as for the current weather or for a links page)

• Load values from a server-side script where the values are drawn from a database, such as categories in an e-commerce application

• Send values to a server-side script for processing, and return a value to the Flash movie, such as for a login process

When you are loading variables into Flash, it is important that you correctly format the values to load. Flash can interpret data in URL-encoded format. URL-encoded variables follow these rules:

• Each variable name is associated with a value using an equals sign, without spaces on either side of the equals sign.

• Values loaded into Flash movies are always treated as strings; therefore, you should not enclose any values in quotes, as you would within ActionScript. A proper example of this is artist=Picasso.

• When there is more than one name/value pair, each pair is separated by an ampersand. For example, artist=Picasso&type=painting.

• Spaces within the values should be replaced by plus signs, not %20, as in: title=The+Old+Guitarist. (Spaces and %20 may also work, but stick with plus signs ...