Open Doc From Flash Button

Say you are using Flash to create an interface for a CD. Other than using the getURL, how can you use a button to open e.g., a word document. Using the getURL action, causes problems if the user is using e.g., compuserv, or many other dial-up, proprietary web browsers.

How can I set this up so that when the user clicks a button in a CD interface, a particular Word document on the same CD opens in Word?

Great appreaciation and respect

:mrpimp: tnbanjoman (Jeff)

You need to download two files to make this work; invoke.exe, and Proxy.exe.

Then you need to make a couple of folders and some bat files and burn them all to the CD. Get the files first, then post again and I'll explain how they work.

I am having the same problem. Now that I have downloaded invoke and proxy what do I do? Thanks so so much for your help.

Go here and download this zip file. If you have more than one drive, put everything in the root of that drive letter. If all you have is C:/ drive, then make two new folders in the root of C:/ for testing. this only works for testing if the main movie exe and the two folders are in the root of the drive, otherwise you must burn it all to a CD to test. I don't know about you, but I got enough coasters around now.

So in C:/ drive, or another drive partition, make two folders. Name them fscommand and test, lowercase names. From that zip file, Put all these example pdf files in the test folder. Put the openapplication.exe, the fla and the swf into the root of the drive, right in C:/ dive, not inside another folder.

The exe and bat files named after the 4 pdf files all go in the fscommand folder.

This should now work for you by double clicking the openapplication.exe file and clicking the buttons, one at a time. Give them some time. It takes a few seconds for the pdf to load.

You only need one invoke.exe copy in the fscommand folder. Unchanged, use it as is. You can't edit it anyway.

Also in the fscommand folder are the exe files named after the matching pdf files in the test folder. What these are are the proxy.exe file renamed to match the pdf file names, exactly. [Never name files of any kind in anything but lowercase and never use a space.] You need one copy of proxy for each pdf file your opening, so in this case, 4 of them, and they all go in the fscommand folder. Also in fscommand, you see 4 matching bat files. To edit them to see how they are made, right click one and click on Edit. All it is is one line of code. To make a new bat file, simply use Windows Notepad, add the code, then Save As, name it and force a dot bat for a file extension name.

That's about it. simple heh? :)

Wow. Thanks so much. You are a guru...I'm just a beginner. I also have a simple question. How do I open a scene in a NEW WINDOW? Thanks so much for your hlep. You are the best... :)

Since a scene is part of one file, I don't see how you could open it in a new window. You could build that scene in a new fla, alone, then launch the swf in a popup or a new window.

Oh okay. Wow you are the smartest flash person I know. I just took the basic flash class in school and I am trying to do new things with the program. Do you mind if I email you if I have further questions? I wish I could help you out in a way since you have helped me so much....but I'm sure you know everything there is to know about flash. Thanks again.
Christina

I've been using this thread to open another exe file from a cd. It works but there is still the annoying Warning message (The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software) of Windows that pops up when trying to open an exe file.
Is there anything I can do to NOT have this "click Run" message?
Thanks!!

Put the exe you want to open in the fscommand folder. You don't even need anything else;

on (release) {
fscommand("exec", "movie1.exe");
}

This is a very helpful tutorial btw

... please see the attached screen-capture. My proxy exe and my AppleScript are both named to match the parameter in the ActionScript fscommands, and all exe/script files are saved within a folder called "fscommand" ... still doesn't work.

Perhaps I need to burn the CD differently ... currently, I'm just using the default MacOSX way of burning my test "coasters" ...

Thanks,

Ted

Hi,

I know it's quite an old post, but it's relevant for a project I'm working on..

Is this method still valid or is there a simpler way to load pdfs from a projector nowadays?

Cheers!

I started using this awhile ago, and it does everything pretty easily. Check it out.

http://www.dummysoftware.com/cdstart.html

Thanks, that looks like an interesting product.

But for this particular project I need Flash because there's an interface with video.
So I guess I am to use the proxy and invoke spell :) ?

Hi Geezer,

I'm trying your method out but I think the website that hosted the openapp.zip file is down, so I can't download it and try to figure it out.

Thanks for your help. In the meantime I'm deciphering the process ;0

Wow, after a couple of hours reading 3 or 4 posts on this fantastic forum, I have finally got it to work!
This post from Northcode explained to me how to do the bat file to trigger the pdf launch. http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=603593

I am wondering about the applescript bit though. Geezer, can I just copy the code you wrote here http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...97&postcount=9 and modify the PDF name? But what do we save the file to? Da we need it compiled?

Thanks!

Oh and regarding Flash Projectors and CD Burning on mac and PCs this article is definitely worth checking out to learn how to produce a hybrid CD-ROM:

http://usuarios.lycos.es/didinomade/...BurningFAQ.htm

Here's the problem with with the Mac script. You can't write it on a PC, you can't even open it on a PC or it will corrupt. I had someone else with a Mac do it. If the download site is down, do a Google for CD StartDummy and try some other download sites. What the program does is sort of embed the movie in a html page and plays all that from the CD. It doesn't matter whats in the flashmovie, it will play even if it's video.

Hi Geezer,

I did find the software, it's your own example files that I didn't (the openapp.zip files).

Regarding StartDummy, it looks interesting indeed, but isn't it limiting your design opportunities to basically creating an html file with a basic interface and having it autorun?
Or do you have a smarter way of using it?

Check out the link I posted for hybrid pc/mac CD-Roms it works well we're now using that at work.

It's been awhile since I used it, but basically, you fill out some boxes with the files to use and Dummy makes everything else, including whatever it takes to open the other files. Also, it's not like a html page on the screen, with a bowser and all, it's more like fullscreen. It's been to long for me to remember the details though. :)