PHP to Flash

Ok, this is a little more of a PHP question than flash question, but hopefully you guys can still help. I have embedded a swf into a page using php. I want to send variables from the php page to the swf, so I have done something like this.

PHP Code:

---

<?
echo '<table width="242" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="center">
    
        <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="242" height="242">
        <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf[B]?oid = <?php $_oid ?>[/B]" >
        <param name=quality value=high >
         <embed src="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf[B]?oid=<?php $_oid ?>[/B]"
          quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="242" height="242"></embed>
        </object>
    
        </td>
          </tr>
        </table>';
?>

---

The bold parts are what I want you to look at. In my swf I am receiving the variable 'oid', but it's value is the string "<?php $_oid ?> instead of the real value of $_oid. Does anyone know how to change it so that it sends me the value of $_oid and not the string of it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheLostGuru

Ok, this is a little more of a PHP question than flash question, but hopefully you guys can still help. I have embedded a swf into a page using php. I want to send variables from the php page to the swf, so I have done something like this.

PHP Code:

---

<?
echo '<table width="242" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="center">
    
        <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="242" height="242">
        <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid =' . $_oid . '" >
        <param name=quality value=high >
         <embed src="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid=' . $_oid . '"
          quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="242" height="242"></embed>
        </object>
    
        </td>
          </tr>
        </table>';
?>

---

The bold parts are what I want you to look at. In my swf I am receiving the variable 'oid', but it's value is the string "<?php $_oid ?> instead of the real value of $_oid. Does anyone know how to change it so that it sends me the value of $_oid and not the string of it?

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You're already using PHP.. just break out of the string.. concatenate the value $_oid and then concatenate the rest of the string you're echoing.

oh right... I'll get rid of the double <php tags. But what does it mean to concatenate?

EDIT - didn't see that you had fixed my code. I'll try it.

Basically, it means join.

In flash, if you were to concatenate(join) two strings.. you'd do something like:

Code:

---

var string1:String = "Hello ";
var string2:String = "World!";

var whole:String = string1 + string2;

trace(whole)      //prints out Hello World!

---

The + is the concatenation operator.

In PHP, the . is the concatenation operator.

It gives you the ability to break out of your string... add on a variable.. and then add on the rest of the string.

I believe in PHP if you're using double quotes, it'll recognize the variable anyways.

So, you could do something like

echo "<input type='text' name='$name' value='$val' />"

as an example.

Ok thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I think that it is working, but I can't test it for certain reasons. I do have another question, related to this, but not specifically. Does HTML have any kind of function or get that allows you to get the seconds or the time or a random number? Because I have to give the link to my php file, but I want to add a random number to the end of the link so that the php file isn't loaded from cache.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheLostGuru

Ok thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I think that it is working, but I can't test it for certain reasons. I do have another question, related to this, but not specifically. Does HTML have any kind of function or get that allows you to get the seconds or the time or a random number? Because I have to give the link to my php file, but I want to add a random number to the end of the link so that the php file isn't loaded from cache.

---

Well, you can use what you were previously trying to do..

<a href="http://www.blahblah.com?<?php //your php function ?>"> </a>

hm... not sure if that will work, because it's in a form... not sure. One more question if you don't mind. There is a special function that I can use, I don't know a lot about it, I just know that it works like so. If I type <(FirstName)> outside of the php tags, <(FirstName)> will be replaced with the name of the user. Is there anyway to store this name in a variable?

It should work.

You could even do something like:

<form action='<?=$PHP_SELF?>' method='post'>

On to your next question, off the top of my head.. I think you'd have to post it to be able to store it.

you could try doing something like

<input style='display:none' name='firstname' value='<(FIRSTNAME)>' />

not sure if that would work with the function.

No, I saw some sample code that worked along the lines of what you have, but I just don't know how to incorporate it. Can you explain more on how to do it? I don't think it ever stored it in a variable, it only posted it in a table. Also, I think I have this right, but just want to be sure. If I want to send more than one variable I should do something like this, correct?

PHP Code:

---

<param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid ='.$_oid.'&vid = '.$_vid.'" > 


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Alright, I think I'm giving too much code without explaining why it works.

<?php

?>

Is one way to enable PHP scripting... When the browser sees this, it renders the code into HTML.

If you want to use HTML in PHP, you can just print or echo out the tags.

Such as:

PHP Code:

---

<?php
    print "<a href='$PHP_SELF'>Same page!</a>";
?>

---

If you want to use PHP in HTML.. well.. you just use the <?php tag.

So, you could do something like:

PHP Code:

---

<a href='<?php print $PHP_SELF; ?>'>Same page!</a>

---

That would get the global variable using PHP to refer to the same page link.

You could do the same thing with any variable. Or this for a shortcut:

PHP Code:

---

<a href='<?=$PHP_SELF;?>'>Same page!</a>

---

If you're having trouble getting variables, you either need to declare them before the header in PHP.. or make sure that you are using POST or GET which will allow the PHP page to access the form variables.

So, I'm a bit fuzzy on what you're trying to do or having problems with.

If anything I've said doesn't make sense, feel free to ask.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheLostGuru

Ok thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I think that it is working, but I can't test it for certain reasons. I do have another question, related to this, but not specifically. Does HTML have any kind of function or get that allows you to get the seconds or the time or a random number? Because I have to give the link to my php file, but I want to add a random number to the end of the link so that the php file isn't loaded from cache.

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To solve your cache problem you could always use headers in PHP to tell the browser not to cache. This example from http://www.php.net/header

PHP Code:

---

<?php  
    header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate"); // HTTP/1.1
    header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT"); // Date in the past  
?>

---

Thanks Mayfield. Along with that is there anyway to make sure that when I embed the swf file, that it is not embedding a cached swf file?

AfternoonDelite - Thanks for explaining. It's still not clicking perfectly, but the epiphony will happen sometime.

What I am trying to do. This <(FirstName)> if put outside of PHP tags will be replaced with the users first name. All I am trying to do is store that first name in a variable that I can send to flash. Also can you look at the above code that I posted and see if I sent two variables to flash correctly?

Hmm. If that's all you're trying to do.. could you try doing

<param name='movie' value='http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?<(FIRSTNAME)>' >

?

And your previous code was wrong. It should work this way:

PHP Code:

---

<param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid =<?php echo $_oid.'&vid = '.$_vid; ?>" >

---

wait... I don't understand, I thought that you said I didn't need the double PHP tags.

I don't know much about how the cache in web browsers work, they might not cache things on a page that is set not to, im not sure.

What AfternoonDelite says above should work though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheLostGuru

wait... I don't understand, I thought that you said I didn't need the double PHP tags.

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You don't if you already have a PHP tag opened.

Your original post is something like

PHP Code:

---

<?php
    ...
    echo '<param ...
    ...
?>

---

In that case, you could break out of the string you're echoing and just concatenate the variable.

But, if you're just using HTML, you have to insert the PHP tags when you want to use PHP.

Hm... I'm not sure if this is different, but this code worked.

PHP Code:

---

<?
 <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid =' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '" >
?>

---

[EDIT] posted same time as you.

Yes, sorry I do have the php tags. Going back to this to the <(FirstName)> question. Your idea was to do something like this:
<param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?<(FirstName)>.
If I did that, from what variable would I access the first name?

I take it you are echoing it, then?

Maybe that's where the confusion lead up.

You can use the PHP tags anywhere in HTML.

And you can echo or print HTML tags in a PHP tag.

EDIT:

In regards to my previous post using <(FIRSTNAME)>

just tag on firstname=<FIRSTNAME)>

should work.

<param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?firstname=<(FIRSTNAME)>" >

Yes, let me post my full code

PHP Code:

---

<?
echo '<table width="242" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="center">
    
        <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="242" height="242">
        <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid =' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '" >
        <param name=quality value=high >
         <embed src="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid=' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '"
          quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="242" height="242"></embed>
        </object>
    
        </td>
          </tr>
        </table>'; 
?>

---

Really in php, you don't need anything to concatenate, if you want to join $string and $string2, you can just have:

Code:

---

$string3=$string$string2

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheLostGuru

Yes, let me post my full code

PHP Code:

---

<?
echo '<table width="242" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="center">
    
        <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="242" height="242">
        <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid =' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '" >
        <param name=quality value=high >
         <embed src="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid=' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '"
          quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="242" height="242"></embed>
        </object>
    
        </td>
          </tr>
        </table>'; 
?>

---

---

What's oid and vid?

Alright, for a second.. l let me pretend that oid is supposed to be the first name and vid is some variable in PHP...

rather than having all that in PHP tags.. try this

PHP Code:

---


<table width="242" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="center">
    
        <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="242" height="242">
        <param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid=<(FIRSTNAME)>&vid=<?php echo $_vid; ?>" >
        <param name=quality value=high >
         <embed src="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?oid=<(FIRSTNAME)>&vid=<?php echo $_vid; ?>"
          quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="242" height="242"></embed>
        </object>
    
        </td>
          </tr>
        </table>

---

Edit: And just so you know, what you posted should work if you need it in PHP tags. And, I'm guessing the FIRSTNAME function could still work if you just leave it in the string. No clue. Would have to test it.

This didn't work. It stopped the flash movie from loading.
<param name="movie" value="http://tlgames.siteburg.com/welcome.swf?fistname=<(FirstName)>&oid =' . $_oid . '&vid=' . $_vid . '" >

[EDIT] I'm not sure if I can use what you posted above. The swf has to be in an PHP file, and cannot use the body tags. It uses div tags. Will the above still work under these conditions?

oid and vid are both unique strings - ownerID and viewerID.
firstname is the first name of the owner.

Does it work without the first name function?

yes, both vid and oid are being sent correctly to the swf.

You might want to learn a little more about the first name function.

Either that, or look into JavaScript which I believe you can use to communicate with the SWF.

Not sure where the first name is even pulled from.