PHP not working?

During spring, there was a major change in php's way to handle variables received from flash or html forms. This change was made to address some security concerns
Before that time, variables from the form where simply available as php variables. The new php versions (4.1 or later) usually require you to pick up the vars from the form.
Now, there are many scripts around that have not been adapted to the new servers. On the other side, there are also quite a few hosting companies still running php versions from two years ago.
If your scripts fail to receive variables from your movies, please check
a) what is the php version on the server: simply upload a file phpinfo.php with that one line
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
in it and open it in the browser. The output will reveal the php version. If the version is 4.1 or later OR if the register_globals is off (somewhere down the page), then check
b) is the script suitable for new servers. If it was last modified before spring, probably not :)
Otherwise check whether at least one of $HTTP_GET_VARS, $HTTP_POST_VARS,
$_GET, $_POST or $_REQUEST occurs anywhere in your script. If not, your script has to be fixed.
Note: if you are testing on your own server, you can change the register_globals just to get the script working. This is not recommended: since it is a security thing, your hosting company will set it differently so your script fails if you upload to the web.

Musicman

Actually if you isert the following:

foreach($HTTP_GET_VARS as $name => $value) { $$name = $value;}
foreach($HTTP_POST_VARS as $name => $value) { $$name = $value;}
foreach($HTTP_COOKIE_VARS as $name => $value) { $$name = $value;}

Your variables will all be imported into your PHP script from Flash.

Hi,

the change was made for, let's say, security reasons. It ensures that only vars get into your scripts that you expect, and not vars that anyone adds to the http request for malicious reasons.
Those script of yours just gets the unsafe state back.
May I suggest something like that instead:

Code:

---

$postvars = array("abc", "def", "ghi");
foreach ($postvars as $var)
 if(isset($_POST[$var]))
  $$var = $_POST[$var];

---

Musicman

Thanks for starting this thread. I am new to php and I was screwing around for hours trying to figure out why my variables were not working.

So all I would have to do is substitute your "abc", "def", "ghi", etc. for my variables that are coming from flash and the rest of the code will allow them to be useable in my php script?

$_REQUEST['myvar'] works for my variables yet $_POST['myvar'] does not. I assume I can substitute $_POST['myvar'] for $_REQUEST['myvar']?

Why does $_REQUEST work for me and $_POST not?

Hi,

you are probably passing vars with the GET method (or tacking them onto the url)

Musicman

Is there a place I can see the result of <?php phpinfo(); ?>

Great info musicman

It helped me a lot with my work and I wish I has read it earlyer this day before I post my question :))

Keep up the great work.


Stratos

Quote:

---

The new php versions (4.1 or later) usually require you to pick up the vars from the form.

---

May i have an simple example how am i going to do so? My script work with php 4.0.5. How do i get about in going to edit my script for it to work with newer php?

Some sample of my currently script:

Code:

---

$query = "INSERT INTO $tablename (date, firstName) VALUES (now(), '$jFirstName2')";

---

In this case, the jFirstName2 in Flash is being send to php as $jFirstName2. But now it seem not be the case, what else sld i do to solve this issue?

Thanks
chup

The most easy way will be if the server-administrater change
"register_globals" to "on" in the php.ini file,
followed by a restart of the webserver.
Then nothing has to be changed.
However the server may become easier vulnerable in future bugs.

What happen if i have totally no control over the server?

ask the one who does, tell him your problem, and that the cure is easy.

No, i mean, if i dunwanna do anything to the server, is the any other solution i can work with? Like what is the new "correct" way to make this work?

i don't know if i kept track of this conversation, but here is some help.. (Someone mentioned the fact that they needed help knowing how to correct their code...)

Code:

---

$_GET['name'];  //this would get a variable called "name" that was in the query string (address bar) or from a method="get"
  // for example  user_setup.php?name=rob      "rob" would be returned..

$_POST['name'];  //this would get a variable called "name" that was posted from a form with  method="post" in the <form> tag.

---

Hope this helps a bit...

(the code above has no Flash functions.. only php, so i don't know if it helps at all :P)

Hello, I've tried pasting in this code:

$postvars = array("abc", "def", "ghi");
foreach ($postvars as $var)
if(isset($_POST[$var]))
$$var = $_POST[$var];

...into my formmail script, replacing "abc", "def", "ghi" with "recipient", "subject", "content"

Unfortunately this does'nt seem to have worked. Have I implemented it right? I just put it into the scriptunder the header. The script still works for the html forms on my site, but not for the flash.

The script I'm using is the one available from http://www.dtheatre.com/scripts/

Any help would be much appreciated. I know nothing about php by the way.

Hi,

if it works with html but not with flash, maybe your movie is not really sending...
Could you post url to the movie?

Musicman

ok, I've put up a test version so you can see the response I'm getting:

http://www.planetkoala.com/atest5.html

It looks like it's calling the script but I've got some kind of security issue?

Here's the script working in html:
http://www.planetkoala.com/community.htm

Cheers

Hi,

your movie is not sending any data back to the server, but only requesting the php ... at least if you use FP6. It works fine with FP5, however.

According to info I got from Macromedia when I reorted a similar problem, your movie should work if you use an absolute url rather than a relative one.
The change was made sometime around 6.0.59 or 6.0.60, for no obvious reason. From the point of view of a normal user, I would consider it an outright bug: there is nothing in the documentation about it; it prevents reusing the same movie on similar systems; it breaks compatibility with existing movies created with older flash versions :(

Musicman

Ah yeah crap bug. thankyou very much anyway, you're a lifesaver!
:)

gah, I spoke too soon there, I've tried the full http:// address and just prefixing it with a "/" neither of these work
(www.planetkoala.com/atest6.html and www.planetkoala.com/atest7.html respectively).
any other ideas?

Hi,

#6 works for me on both fp5 and fp6, #7 again only works on fp5

Musicman

thanks for the help but I'm going to have to leave the flash form off the site as I can't get any response other than 'unauthorised domain'.
Shame that.

I thought this was an easy thing to do, when you have the right software...
In flash you create a form, naming all entree textboxes you want to send (assign 'var' values to them => 'sendto', 'subject', 'message' )
When this is finished, create a button to send and to clear the form.
I don't think I have to explain how to do this.

Code for the Send button :

Code:

---

getURL("www.domain.com/sendmail.php", "_blank", "POST");

---

Note : the sendmail.php file has to be on the same server as the flashmovie that contains the mailform. It won't work otherwise!

code for sendmail.php :

PHP Code:

---

$sendto = $_POST["sendto"];
$subject = $_POST["subject"];
$message = $_POST["message"];
$send = mail( $sendto, $subject, $message)
if($send)
{echo "Your mail has been send succesfully";} 


---

hope this helps a bit...

Hi all,

I'm having trouble understanding/implementing the use of vars in flash/php. I'm sucesfully loading dynamic text and jpegs from mysql using php. However, there's one piece that I can't figure out...any help is appreciated.

What I want to do is pass a var to a page that contains my movie, such as www.site.com/index.php?id=4 - No prob so far.:)

Then, I need my movie to pick up that var and pass it on to the script I'm using to load text from the db. Currently, my dyn text is coming from something like www.site.com/script.php - That script is looking for a var, but can't find it because flash hasn't sent it.

I thought at first that it would pick up the variable sent in the URL, but it doesn't, because the URL I'm using to my script doesn't contain the var. How do I do this? How can I get that var (id=4) into the php script that loads my text?

Here's the big pic if you want it. User comes to site, and uses an hmtl form to enter a code. That code ($id) is passed to the page that has the movie in it...and what I want it to do is serve up the text from the db record associated with the id used in the form. I'm missing something somewhere, and losing the var.

Thanks for any help you can give...hope this makes sense:o

Hi,

since the var is known before the flash is even loaded, you can use the
<embed src="movie.swf?ID=3" ....>
or
<embed src="movie.swf" flashvars="ID=3" ...>
method. The latter requires something like FP 6.0.50 ... so you should change that part in your html embedding

Musicman

Musicman -

I'm not sure if I understand your comments...the var isn't really known, because it comes from a form...the "id" could be anything that the user inputs. Am I missing your point?

Would the code actually look like:
<embed src="movie.swf?ID=$id" ....>

Also - in my movie, what does the url to my script need to look like for my dyn content? If I just have: www.site.com/script.php - a var won't really be passed on to that script, will it? (even if the var is in the URL where the movie is embedded)

Would the URL in my actionscript need to be something like:
www.site.com/script.php?id=$id (I tried that, but it didn't work). I'm soooo confused.:o

Hi,

if I understood you right, you have some page that allows you to select an ID, and then loads a different page.
This page shows a flash movie. So at the time the page is loaded, the ID is known (in contrast to situations where a form in one frame of a frameset changes content of another frame)
You would need an echo or print in your php, either
<?
echo "<embed src=\"movie.swf?ID=$id\" ...>";
?>
or
<embed src="movie.swf?ID=<? echo $id; ?>" ....>

In the movie, all you need to do is use the var

Musicman

Hi,

Thanks for your help...I'm doing a poor job explaining, so let me try again.

HTML input form allows users to input a userid code.
That form takes user to this link:
http://www.url.net/vision_sites/temp...serid=pfleming

(Where userid equals whatever their input was)

On that page is a movie that loads dynamic text. The URL being used in the actionscript to get that text currently looks like this:
http://www.url.net/vision_sites/content1_1.php

BUT - I need it to look something like this:

http://www.url.net/vision_sites/cont....php?userid=pf

(where the 'pf' is automatically inserted based upon the variable used on the index.php page above).

The script (content1_1.php) that gets text from db is looking for the variable $userid, so the first example returns nothing, because no var [$userid] is actually passed to it. If I 'hard code' the second example into my movie, I get the results I want. But, of course, I don't want to hard code it, because it is dependant upon user's input.

So, how do I get my actionscript to pick up the variable [$userid] from index.php (above) and pass that on to my script at: content1_1.php? I thought something like this would work:

http://www.url.net/vision_sites/content1_1.php?userid=$userid - but it doesn't

The script in my php looks like this, if it matters:

<?

(snip)

// formulate and execute query
$query = "SELECT content1_1 FROM content1 WHERE userid='$userid'";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Error in query: " .
mysql_error());

// get row
$row = mysql_fetch_object($result);

// print output as form-encoded data
echo ($row->content1_1);

(snip)

?>


Clear as mud?? Thanks for your help

Hi,

it is two steps
- put the userid part into your index.php (both embed src=... and param name=movie parts). This will make a userid variable available to actionscript.
Now the actionscript can call the content.php with the added variable.
loadVariables('content.php?userid='+escape(userid) , ....)

Musicman

Hi,

Well, I've embedded the movies as suggested, and I've modified the actionscript like this:

loadVariablesNum("http://www.url.net/vision_sites/content1_1.php?userid="+escape(userid), 0, "GET");

The php script referenced above looks like this:
<?
// Conects db to flash for dynamic content
// open connection to database
include("settings.inc.php");
$connection = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password) or die
("Unable to connect!");
mysql_select_db("$database") or die ("Unable to select database!");

// formulate and execute query
$query = "SELECT content1_1 FROM content1 WHERE userid='$userid'";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Error in query: " .
mysql_error());

// get row
$row = mysql_fetch_object($result);

// print output as form-encoded data
echo "content1_1=" . urlencode($row->content1_1);

// close connection
mysql_close($connection);
?>

But - still nothing....
The PHP code above works, and outputs this:

content1_1=this+is+a+userid+test

Which is what I want....it just won't show up in my movie...

Your help is much appreciated....what is going wrong????

Hi,

as far as I can see the loadvariables call happens inside a movieclip. You should use
loadVariablesNum('content1_1.php?userid=' + _root.userid, 0)
to get the correct variable. Also, there is no need to specify GET at that point; this just means that all vars in the current timeline are sent to the server (at the moment this is some <p align...></p> stuff from an empty html textfield)

Musicman

I'm having problems passing variables from Flash to PHP from a flash movie that has to be displayed within a frame. The variables pass correctly when the movie is in a regular html page with no frames, but they don't get to the php page when the flash is within a frame. I've checked our server config and we have PHP 4.3.2. The problem seems to be specific to PHP because I'm able to send the variables to perl cgis.

Any idea what is going on here?

Here's the actionscript to pass the variables:
on (release) {
myData=new LoadVars();
myData.Variable1="Flash";
myData.Variable2="is";
myData.Variable3="driving";
myData.Variable4="me";
myData.Variable5="crazy!";

myData.send('ApplicationRatings.php','_blank', 'POST');
_root.gotoAndPlay(2);
}

Here's the PHP I'm using to get the variables:

if (empty($_POST)){
print("there aren't any post variables");
print("<P>");
}
print ("What is POST going on here:".$_POST["Answer1Text"]."<br/>");
while (list ($key, $value) = each ($HTTP_POST_VARS) ) {
print "key=".$key.":".$value."<br/>";
}

Thanks
-Kim

Hi,

can you post a link to your page?

Musicman

having trouble with a larger project, but when experimenting, even this simple example won't work..

Here is my AS:
------------------------------
var myvars = new LoadVars();

myvars.name = "steve";
myvars.dogs = "kilby and cayenne";
myvars.number = 2;

getURL("http://fakester.50free.net/test/savevars.php?"+myvars.toString());

stop();

------------------this works fine, but:

myvars.send("http://fakester.50free.net/test/savevars.php",GET);

------------------doesnt work.

php script:

<?

$name = $_GET['name'];
$dogs = $_GET['dogs'];
$number = $_GET['number'];

$fp = fopen("newfile.file", "a") or die("Couldn't create new file");

$numbytes = fwrite($fp,"added this text to the file".$name.$dogs.$number);

fclose($fp);

echo("$numbytes written to text file");
?>

Hi,

the AS manual puts the GET into position three of the params, after url and a target frame

Musicman

Hey ppl please help me with my php,

goto the below thread!

Its really annoying me! PLease help


http://www.flashkit.com/board/showth...hreadid=507336

Blue Dragon

yea, i noticed this when i setup my new IIS 6.0 Local Server.

Great info in this thread! However, it's not helping my situation:

I just changed hosts, found my PHP mail forms no longer worked, came here and saw this thread. My new server is running PHP 4.3.3, so I assumed that was the problem. The weird thing is, register_globals is turned "on" on my server, and my scripts still won't receive my variables from Flash. I've tried several of the suggestions here, and it still doesn't work. The script sends me an email like it's supposed to, and prints a "success" message back to the Flash movie, but the email doesn't contain my variables!
I just tried using the script via an html form, and it does work, so it's just from Flash. I'm using the absolute URL too, but that doesn't seem to help.

Being a total PHP n00b, I'm a little stumped :(

Anyone have any ideas?

Follow-up: I realized that everything works fine in IE; I had been trying it in Opera. Weird. Now to figure that one out...

HI People have gravitated here because i too am on php 4.2.3 and the register_globals is indeed off and I dont have that 'H$$P'-whatever code on my script and as many of you have suffered I can see, I too am not getting any variables from my flash to the php and thus to my Database. I am presuming this means I wont be able to fish anything out of the Database via the php file using flash either.

The flash just dont wanna talk to my php file!!!
My php file works great without it!! so......

Now i am a simple person.
All I want is one method to get the vars out of flash and be seen by the php and visa-versa-vista-vusta etcc..

I am using flash 5 so be kind.

hope that someone can explain to me how I can get my vars to be picked up by the php file.

thanks
Shaf

Quote:

---

Originally posted by shafak cangil
HI People have gravitated here because i too am on php 4.2.3 and the register_globals is indeed off and I dont have that 'H$$P'-whatever code on my script and as many of you have suffered I can see, I too am not getting any variables from my flash to the php and thus to my Database. I am presuming this means I wont be able to fish anything out of the Database via the php file using flash either.

The flash just dont wanna talk to my php file!!!
My php file works great without it!! so......

Now i am a simple person.
All I want is one method to get the vars out of flash and be seen by the php and visa-versa-vista-vusta etcc..

I am using flash 5 so be kind.

hope that someone can explain to me how I can get my vars to be picked up by the php file.

thanks
Shaf

---

do

getURL("www.mydomain.com/phppage.php?id=var1&id2=var2&blah=var3");

the string has to be constructed first, but that is the basic idea.

Then from php you can do HTTP_GET_VARS[var1] or whatever/