Flash VS the cookie monster

[ericstott]

I am in the process of making a web site that a person, upon arriving, sees an explaination of the menu, and then jumps to the flash page. Inside the actual site (all flash of course) they can change variables, background, sound, active background, volume, interests, and the list can go on. Does flash have the ability to write cookies to the persons hard drive (and also read them)? So that I can place a check mark box that disables the constant menu opener and they jump right into the type of interface that they chose before.

Thanks in advance.
Eric

[Aquaman]

You need to use Javascript to do this...
Flash plays well with JS though.. check out: www.moock.org/webdesign/flash
and look up info on FScommands

[scottris]

The only problem with the FS Command is that it will not work on any Mac version of Internet Explorer. If you want this site to work with Mac IE, you will have to use a server side CGI script for the cookie management.

<EMBED src="/cgi-bin/ubb/Members/sigs/00000205.swf" quality=high WIDTH=500 HEIGHT=50 TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"> </EMBED>

[ericstott]

So, getting back to my original question. Is there an easy way to create a web page that is customizable that, upon returning, will keep a users preferences and show him/her exactly what they chose last time?

[scottris]

Well... define "easy". It can be done, sure.. but "easy" is a relative term.

You first need a site that is customizable. How exactly you make that depends on what aspects you are going to customize. Something like background color could simply be a matter of placing a large movie clip on the bottom layer, with different colors in each frame. Other types of customization may get a good deal more involved.

You will also need a script to read/write cookies. That is not hard.. IF you are familiar with the language you are using.

[ericstott]

right now I want to be able to save the background, music type, their name, a few other variables and that is it. Nothing extremely hard, the variables could be stored as 1,2,3,4... for backgrounds and then have actionsript do a simple if/then to place the background. Do I need to start using CGI to do that, or can it be done in flash?

[ericstott]

where would I find a server side cgi script that would manage my cookies? I could not find anything in matt script archive, or maybe I was looking in the wrong place