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Dan Sadowski

Dan Sadowski

www.directordev.com

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Tutorial Example from Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional
  3. Using a Web Service with a SWF Sprite
  4. Accessing Web Services Without a SWF Sprite
Created:
17 May 2005
User Level:
Intermediate
Products:
Director

Using Web Services in Macromedia Director MX 2004

I’ve been reading about web services for years. They have often been discussed in articles in technical journals and referred to on websites. However I haven’t actually had any occasion to make direct use of web services in my own coding. I figured out it was time to dive in and try to use some web services myself. I believe you get a better understanding of a topic like this when you work on code rather than just read about the process. In this article I will describe the steps I went through to access web services in Macromedia Director, working with several examples which are based on SWFs created in Macromedia Flash. I will then access some web services using the Director programming languages.

Web services provide a way to share information. So you want to use web services in Director? This article describes how and provides examples using SWF cast members as well as examples completely scripted in Director. The world of web services is a big one, and the sample code doesn’t cover all the possibilities. But this article will get you started working with them in Director.

There are quite a few Macromedia Developer Center articles about web services, but none of them discuss using web services in Director. You may find the following articles to be helpful in understanding the basics of web services and issues such as proxy servers that won't be covered in this article.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Product

Note: Although not required for the examples, if you wish to modify some of the example Flash files you will need Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004.

Tutorials and sample files:

Note: This ZIP file contains the following sample files:

  • tips.swf
  • postNetText.htm
  • Example With Flash.dir
  • Web Service Test.dir
  • WebService Behavior.dir
  • flash-db example.fla

Prerequisite knowledge:

To get the most out of this article, you should be familiar with the basics of programming in Macromedia Director. Although some Flash examples will be discussed, and several SWF files used in Director, you do not need to have Macromedia Flash to work with the examples.

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About the author

Dan Sadowski has been involved with Macromedia since 1984 when the company was called MacroMind. He works out of his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a software engineer for the Director development team.