Loading Variables from Perl and JS - For real Flash experts!!!

Hi,

I have two question about the same:

1. Is there a way to Load Variables from a Perl script - that will send variable values back like in PHP and VB

2. Is there a way to Load Variables from a Javascript file - that will send variable values back...


Thank you in advance...

The only way I know of is to append a URL encode string to the source attribute of the OBJECT/EMBED tags on the page that will display the movie.

...src=movie.swf?variable=value&variable=value...

You can use server side Perl or JavaScript in an Active Server Page to attach the string before the movie is delivered to the client.

I am doing something similar with a slider I created in Flash. The user slides in a value and on the mouse release event I do a Load Variables to an ASP page that plugs those values into a COM object I wrote. Then when the user submits the form on that page where they used the slider, it runs some server side code that pulls the values out of the COM object and puts them into a string that I append to the source attribute of the OBJECT/EMBED tag of the swf. That way when the page goes away and comes back, the slider is back to the position where they left it because I loaded that info into the movie....

Does this help?

I was speaking about just loading variables from a ,js or .pl - non asp.

I know asp, but perl too, so i just wanted to ask...

Hi !

I think that the easiest way is calling
get url javascript:functionname()
and using JS SetVariable inside that function :)

Does that require LiveConnect? Or: Does it work on IE 4.5 on the Mac? (Wait, nothing works on IE 4.5 on the Mac :)

I know the JS reguler way. But what I want to know is if there is a way to load varaible from a .js file.

Aperently, there isn't...
I'll just stick to the regular way..

Thanks anyway everyone!

Hiya MasterShin,

I myself had the same problem when I was writing a flash-to-email CGI and wanted to return information to the calling Flash movie.

It turns out that it was a simple case of printing the variable list from the CGI script as they would appear in a text file. This way, once the script had done what it needed to, it could return a list of variables to the movie, which would then be loaded! The only other thing that needed doing was to output the content type for the server to know how to deal with the data.

I did it like this (code fragment only):

Code:

---

print "Content-type: text/plain\n\n";
print "&result=okay";

---

I then used the LoadVariables ActionScript command from the Flash movie and voila. It worked!

Maybe you could do the same thing in JavaScript with the document.write('&result=okay');???.

Hope this helps!

NETbreed
[Edited by NETbreed on 08-28-2000 at 12:23 PM]

NETbrees your a guniess(can't spell)!!!!

That's so great!!! Printing from Perl to Flash!!!

Thanks!!!

Could you be more specific as to how you loaded the variables after the script had processed? What was the url or expression you used to load the processed variables from your example?

Thanks

Actually you can do a load movie command (w/ send variables) and point to a script (asp, perl, etc) This load movie action will BOTH post any variables from the movie to the script AND recieve any variables you have written out to the page in the script.

Sample ASP code:

...
variable1 = Request.Form("variable1")
variable2 = Request.Form("variable2")
variable1 = variable1 + 10
variable2 = variable2 + 10
Response.Write "variable1=" & variable1 & "&" & "variable2=" & varaible2
...

If variable1 was 1 and variable2 was 2, then they will now be 11 and 12 in the Flash movie; all in one action! If the script takes along time to process, you can create a loop in Flash that examines the contents of a variable and does not move on until it changes.

One thing to note is when you provide the url in the load movie action be sure to append a random number to the end to avoid caching:

"http://www.myserver.com/loadvariables.asp" & random(100) & random(100)

Hiya foley!

Technically, I didn't load the variables AFTER the script was processed. All I did was to call the script directly from within flash using the LoadVariables command. Then, in the script, I just used print commands to output variable names/values to flash. Basically, as far as Flash was concerned, it was loading the variables from a text file because the CGI script is processed by the server and only printed output is shown to the movie.

If you need your Perl script to process variables from your Flash movie then select to send the variables by either POST or GET depending on your CGI script.

I hope this helps. i would post the script/movie for all to see but I've just had my system go belly up without any backups. I can write it again for you but I'm in the middle fo a web design job so it'll be a while.

NETbreed

Thanks NetBreed,

But I already found a way to print variables from Perl to Flash:

print "&variable=$message";

I tried that, and it worked...

This is an extremely valuable thread. Thanks guys.

MasterShin,

So in your above example ---couls one use a text field with a property of variable to display the value or does it need to be concoctenated with a set variable command?

Thanks,

Foley

I think, when you wrote

PRINT $your_variable

in Perl, the PERL script will return the value of $your_variable to the user's browser. You just have to tell the swf to always load variables from the PERL script. If you provide a text field with the variable name set to your_variable, then you can display the result of the PERL processing. If you don't, then you can still process the variable in your action script within flash, with commands like

Set variable "your_variable" = your_variable + 1

CMIIW

Quote:

---

Originally posted by foley
MasterShin,

So in your above example ---couls one use a text field with a property of variable to display the value or does it need to be concoctenated with a set variable command?

Thanks,

Foley

---

Foley, I realise this was posted to MasterShin but I'm here so I'll answer it. Yes, you could use a text field with the name of a returned variable to display it. Basically, as soon as the CGI script has printed the variables your Flash movie is free to use them just like any other variable set from within Flash.

I hope this helps!

NETbreed

P.S. Has anyone been to my website and used the feedback form? I only say this because I have a few feedback emails today with just test entered everywhere. I'm not too bothered about it, it's just if it's not any of you poeple then I want to know how someone found my site. It's not even listed with the search engines yet!!!

That's right. When you load variables in Flash, it looks to see if it has any varibles of the same name on _level0. If it does, it populates them with values from the script. If no matching variable names are found, it creates those variables on level0. Flash never destroys variables......

After working with perl a bit it seems as though you can assign a variable name to one of the print functions as per MasterShin's example:

print "&variablename=$var1\n";

with other lines following in the script

print "Some text-$var2\n";
print "Some more text -$var3\n";

Now to show the results in flash as:

var1
var2
var3

just point load variables to the perl script and use a text box with a property of variablename and display ALL the print commands in the script. No need for multiple variables if you are returning data in this format.

I'm still working with processing and returning scripts with load variables using post instead of using geturl. If anyone has done this successfully I would appreciate any comments or notes.

Thanks,

foley

You have been most helpful. I have done this with some success at this point and am trying to process scripts and send variables at the same time now using load variables. All comments on this subject are greatly appreciated and I will update my own progress and notes along the way as well.

Thanks again,

foley

Here's a little offer for any users out there who are setting up Flash forms on Interland's servers. The "SendMail" script that comes with all their LINUX and Windows server configs works great with a simple Flash form using a "loadmovie/loadvariables" action, but only if you modify the the ASP or Perl script. Fortunately, a buddy of mine (who is the best programmer in the world) wrote the necessarry Perl modifications and I then translated it to ASP. SO, if anyone needs a copy of the script, e-mail me at "[email protected]". Also, check out my site in progress....www.brettbrewer.com.

If there's enough interest, I may just post the source on my site along with the flash movie. It's got built-in error detection and the script is set up to return the variables from PERL or ASP into the Flash movie into a clip called "variables".

I have modified about 12 of my perl scripts now and they all return to flash flawlessly using the aforementioned methods. In some instances the script returns about 5 different variables and Flash displays all of them via multiple textfields. Before reading this thread i was having perl write to text files then loading the variables from the file. Thanks again to NetBreed and MasterShin for this much more efficient method.

Hi again foley!

I wonder. I'm thinking of setting up a website to help others having problems with integrating CGI and Flash. What scripts do you have and, if any, which would you be willing to submit to a public archive?

If there's enough interest in this topic then I'll move this project off of the back burner and get the ball rolling. I see it as being less of a competitor to FLashKit and more of an extension! Let me know what you think!

NETbreed

NetBreed,

I am willing to give away Perl & Flash scripts to the public for learining use - only.

I know Perl, and Flash... So I can be a good help.
If you want someting, just ask...

Thanx MasterShin!

The more I think about this idea the better it seems. If it does go ahead I will certainly need some help - I've got a degree and an ever expanding web design business to keep running.

Maybe some of the moderators can give their opinion on the idea and, if I'm really lucky, set up a poll on the news page to gauge average user response!

NETbreed

The PERL method of print "$varname=$varvalue" works great in Flash and is the way to go.

This is also possible in ASP with Response.Write. Just a change in syntax.

As for JavaScript, you cannot load variables from it, unless, you call a function that instead of "returning" a string &varname=value it will instead use FlashMovieName.SetVariable(). The thing is that this method would have to be called individually for each variable instead of joining it into a string.

NetBreed,

Good idea. I would be willing to share/post specific techniques and/or scripts. It would be nice to have a specific forum for this. Without this thread I would be using an inferior method.

foley

Hi foley!

Thanx for the support. As I told MasterShin, if this thing does go ahead I will need help. We'll just have to see how things pan out!

NETbreed

I tried installing the FlashDB PERL script but I cant for anytning get the Flash movie to read from the .pl file. I access it fine inputting the url into IE as in http://www.myserver.com/cgi-bin/Flas...l?filename=bec
and it returns counter=3&state=done which is right...but when I connect with Load Variables with the same url..flash doesnt read it...

Any ideas?

Hiya!

In the LoadMovie ActionScript code on the button (or whatever), try changing the Location from Level to Target and leave it blank. It worked for me!

Hope this helps!

NETbreed

This is proof of loading variables from cgi:
http://www.unicycle.to/testdir/flashlog.cgi

And this is loading variables from a javascript into flash:
http://www.unicycle.to/testdir/flashclock.html

I did not put preloaders on ite yet, but the same clock tells me I sit for too many hours behind the keyboard, and it's time to wake up, while I still need to go to bed.

Later

unicycle

Unicycle,

like your graphical clock, however it doesn't update every second.

try adapting my script to suit your movie, it will fire the time into the movie every second so you have a realtime working clock.

(if you want to!)

you'll need to replace the 'YOURMOVIE' with whatever you have in <OBJECT ID='YOURMOVIE'....> and <EMBED NAME='YOURMOVIE'...>

Dan.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE='JavaScript'>
<!-- shields up!
/* written by: Daniel Humphrey
* http://www.technomedia.co.uk
*/

function findObj(n, d) { //v3.0
var p,i,x; if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length) {
d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);}
if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n];
for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document); return x;
}

function controlFlash(objStr,x,cmdName,frameNum) { //v3.0
var obj=MM_findObj(objStr);
if (obj) eval('obj.'+cmdName+'('+((cmdName=='GotoFrame')?fr ameNum:'')+')');
}


var timerID = null;
var timerRunning = false;

function stopclock (){
if(timerRunning)
clearTimeout(timerID);
timerRunning = false;
}

function showtime () {
var now = new Date();
var hours = now.getHours();
var minutes = now.getMinutes();
var seconds = now.getSeconds()
var timeValue = "" + ((hours >12) ? hours -12 :hours)
if (timeValue == "0") timeValue = 12;
timeValue += ((minutes < 10) ? ":0" : ":") + minutes
timeValue += ((seconds < 10) ? ":0" : ":") + seconds
timeValue += (hours >= 12) ? " P.M." : " A.M."

var obj = findObj('YOURMOVIE');

obj.SetVariable("clock", timeValue);
timerID = setTimeout("showtime()",1000);
timerRunning = true;
}
function startclock() {
stopclock();
showtime();
}
// down shields! -->
</SCRIPT>

<BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF" Onload="startclock();controlFlash('YOURMOVIE','',' Play')">

Thanks again Dan!

I found a script which was basicly the same somewhere on this site,
But I can not find it back.
So I put the .zip on http://www.unicycle.to/download/clock.html

But in your script you can control the movie with java?
Thats cool! (..and opens lots of possibilitys) I did not knew that was possible. I've don my grapical clock with form-validation.

Leo.

Hi unicycle,

glad I could help !

Dan.

After a long while I use this method again:

Code:

---

function MM_findObj(n, d) {
  var p,i,x;  if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length) {
    d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);}
  if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n];
  for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document); return x;
  }
function koekkoek() {
  var t=new Date();
// ---------------------------- 1 way  MSIE eat it:
// window.document.unicycle.TGotoFrame("_level2/airport/clock/groot", t.getMinutes());
// window.document.unicycle.TGotoFrame("_level2/airport/clock/klein", t.getHours());

// ---------------------------- another way MSIE eat it to:
// eval('window.document.unicycle.TGotoFrame("_level2/airport/clock/groot", t.getMinutes())');

// ---------------------------- till now this looks the best to me
  var obj=MM_findObj("unicycle");
  if (obj) eval('obj.TGotoFrame("_level2/airport/clock/groot", t.getMinutes())');
  }

---

but how would I force netscape & mozilla to do it???

Hi,

I have got this one which works on Mozilla and seems to work on IE as well:
window.document.MOVIENAME.SetVariable('var1', value);
window.document.MOVIENAME.SetVariable('vr2', value);
window.document.MOVIENAME.TPlay('/CLIPNAME')

Musicman

So okay, I tried some other function
window.document.unicycle.SetVariable("_level2/airport/clock/klein:test", "help..!");

have a look at it at http://www1.unicycle.net/mozilla_test.php,
1st with explorer then mozilla... it still just doesn't work!
(click on the movie, press <s>, then <enter> to skip intro).
Can it be Mozilla can't reach into multiple swf's?