edit .swf files?

[mcintyremedia]

Hello. Had a question and hopefully someone has a solution.

I am creating a presentation for 10 salesmen. What I need it to do is to have a couple areas throughout the presentation that is customizable for the salesmen.They are not cpu savy, so it would need to be as easy as possible.

So there would be one area (dynamic text box) that they can edit to customize the (for example) the customer name and the name of the person the salesmen is trying to sell to. Having them edit a text file and/or compiling a .swf is out of the question.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

[samac1068]

Hard to believe they can't edit a text file. If they can write an email, they can edit the file, but nonetheless. The first thing that comes to mind is maybe a two movies. The first movie would be where you would allow the saleman to enter the custom information. The client name, the location, what have you. Of course doing this method would require the saleman to enter the information each and everytime the movie is executed. Since Flash can't access file system (well it can, but that is another story) then the customized information will not be saved. (Really would be easier to just update a small XML file) When the saleman click a continue or submit button, the info is stored in a variable and the next movie is called.

This movie retrieves the info and populates it in the necessary textfields.

Of course, with all of these smart Flash users out there, there may be many many other options for you. This is just mine.

[mcintyremedia]

Hard to believe they can't edit a text file. If they can write an email, they can edit the file, but nonetheless. The first thing that comes to mind is maybe a two movies. The first movie would be where you would allow the saleman to enter the custom information. The client name, the location, what have you. Of course doing this method would require the saleman to enter the information each and everytime the movie is executed. Since Flash can't access file system (well it can, but that is another story) then the customized information will not be saved. (Really would be easier to just update a small XML file) When the saleman click a continue or submit button, the info is stored in a variable and the next movie is called.

This movie retrieves the info and populates it in the necessary textfields.

Of course, with all of these smart Flash users out there, there may be many many other options for you. This is just mine.

Yea I know they edit the text file, but uploading it via FTP or something would be the issue.

I am not sure what you are saying. What form would the salesmen fill out? Again what would be the process of taking the information from that form and populating the dynamic text fields in the .swf?

Any help would be great. Thanks

[samac1068]

For example, frame 1 would have textfields for the salemen to complete. There would be a submit or continue button and when clicked, the information from those textfields would be stored in a global variable. The timeline would advance to the next frame, and the material the salemen would like to demo would appear already populated with the information from the previous textfields.

You would have to create the form while creating the presentation. This completely relies on your development of the presentation.

[mcintyremedia]

For example, frame 1 would have textfields for the salemen to complete. There would be a submit or continue button and when clicked, the information from those textfields would be stored in a global variable. The timeline would advance to the next frame, and the material the salemen would like to demo would appear already populated with the information from the previous textfields.

You would have to create the form while creating the presentation. This completely relies on your development of the presentation.

Great that clears some stuff up. The issue I have with the salesmen filling out the info is that they might be trying to demo this one .swf to say 5 potential clients at the same time. Would they have to copy and paste that one flash file for each time they demo? Would it automatically create an additional .swf file each time they filled one out, or would they have to do one at a time?

Plus, there are 10 salesmen that would be using this .swf file. So I would probably have to create a folder for each salesmen on a server so each one could use the same .swf to fill out.

Thank you again you have been a great help.

[samac1068]

Again, it would much easier on you if the salemen could assist with client designation, but enough complaining. If they are standing in front of 5 clients at one time, demoing a single file, then it would be better to place a generic name or remove it all together because (unless you place all 5 names in the text area) the single SWF file would NOT retain any information, regardless of how many copies you provide to the salemen. <<<<The SWF will not retain any information>>>> You only need one SWF file, the salemen would place a copy on their machine to use. If they access from a network, then again you can place a single version on the network. You don't need one for each because they need to fill it out when they execute it.

[mcintyremedia]

Again, it would much easier on you if the salemen could assist with client designation, but enough complaining. If they are standing in front of 5 clients at one time, demoing a single file, then it would be better to place a generic name or remove it all together because (unless you place all 5 names in the text area) the single SWF file would NOT retain any information, regardless of how many copies you provide to the salemen. <<<<The SWF will not retain any information>>>> You only need one SWF file, the salemen would place a copy on their machine to use. If they access from a network, then again you can place a single version on the network. You don't need one for each because they need to fill it out when they execute it.

Thanks. What would happen though is they would not be demoing the .swf to 5 people at once, but would send out say 5 links to the client and they would have to view their one personalized .swf file. Does it still work the same way?

Thanks again, you don't know how much this has helped.

[samac1068]

No, because the first frame would require the saleman to enter the client information. The only method I can think of that would work for that scenario may be using FlashVars. It is something that is incorporated into the HTML page calling the SWF file. You can set the necessary variables and the SWF file would import and apply the information. Either that or a text file, but in either case, you would have to set it up since they cannot get to the server directly.

[mcintyremedia]

No, because the first frame would require the saleman to enter the client information. The only method I can think of that would work for that scenario may be using FlashVars. It is something that is incorporated into the HTML page calling the SWF file. You can set the necessary variables and the SWF file would import and apply the information. Either that or a text file, but in either case, you would have to set it up since they cannot get to the server directly.

After they fill out the HTML page and it passes on the FlashVars, would it create a different file each time they do that? It there a way to set it that each time it process the customizations it would name the file different each time? Or is this real time, where they fill out the info and it will only personalize the info one time to one .swf file? Thanks

[samac1068]

It won't rename the file. The Flashvar is just a set of variables passed to the SWF at runtime. You can use different HTML files (naming them differently) but a single SWF file. It would almost be like customizing the SWF.