Flash 8 Cookbook

13.17. Submitting Form Data to the Server

Problem

You want to submit the form data to a server-side script for further processing.

Solution

Use the FormController component. Alternatively, you may write ActionScript code to retrieve the form data and submit it to the server using an ActionScript LoadVars object.

Discussion

Working with forms in Flash has been simplified by many of the components that Macromedia includes in the product. However, it is still a fairly ActionScript-inten-sive process to retrieve the form data and submit it to a script on the server.

Although the required ActionScript is not particularly difficult, it can appear somewhat daunting to those who are new to writing code. And many may prefer a simplified alternative even if they are comfortable writing ActionScript code. Thus the FormController component exists, a custom component that you’ll find in the Flash 8 Cookbook components (downloadable from http://www.rightactionscript/fcb).

The FormController component works in the following manner: you create your form using the form controls discussed in the earlier recipes in this chapter, making sure to give each an instance name. Then create an instance of the form controller and, using the graphical user interface, provide the component instance with information about the elements of the form you want it to control. Additionally, you can assign a URL to which the information should be submitted and a button component instance that will be the submit button. The ...