This article lists and describes all of the advanced parameters available when configuring a Share menu.

The most common way to configure the Share menu with these parameters is by using the Distribution service extension for Flash Professional CS4. The Advanced Parameters panel can be found by opening the Share panel (Window > Other Panels > Share), selecting a Share menu component on the Stage, and then navigating to the Optional Config view and selecting the Advanced Parameters tab.

As an alternative to using the Distribution service extension for Flash, you can use the Share menu APIs directly, in which case the following Advanced Parameters would be entered into the configuration object, for example:

conf['defaultContent']= 'POST CONTENT';

Requirements

In order to make the most of this article, you need the following software and files:

Flash CS4 Professional

• Try
• Buy

Distribution service extension for Flash CS4

• Try

Prerequisite knowledge

This article is intended for experienced Flash developers who are interested in learning how to use Flash Professional CS4 to create sharable applications.

Destination-specific content

<destination-name>Content

It is possible to specify different content to post for each social network supported by the Share menu. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <destination-name> (e.g. myspace, facebook, friendster, etc.) followed by Content. For example, myspaceContent makes the content to be used specifically for MySpace.

The content specified by <destination-name>Content overrides the content specified by the defaultContent parameter for the specific network. In other words:

• defaultContent is the content to be used by default for all social networks.
• <destination-name>Content is the content to be used for the specific network.

If the content includes the string $network$, then on automatic posts it will be replaced with the network's name or with the word "unknown" if the code has been copied from a codebox.

The valid destination names for this parameter are as follows:

ameba, bebo, blackplanet, blogger, comment, eons, facebook, freewebs, friendster, hi5, igoogle, livedoor, livejournal, livespaces, migente, multiply, myspace, myyearbook, netvibes, orkut, overblog, pageflakes, piczo, tagged, typepad, vistasidebar, vox, wordpress, xanga, yahoo, yahoowidgets, yandex

Section-specific content

<destination-name><section-name>Content

It is possible to specify different content to post for each section of each social network. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <destination-name> (e.g. myspace, facebook, friendster, etc.) followed by <section-name> (e.g. About, Blog, ProfileLayout, etc.) followed by Content. For example, myspaceProfileLayoutContent specifies that the content should be posted specifically on MySpace to the profile-layout section.

The content specified by <destination-name><section-name>Content overrides the content specified by the defaultContent and by the <destination-name>Content parameters for the specific network and specific section. In other words:

• defaultContent is the content to be used by default for all social networks.
• <destination-name>Content is the content to be used by default for the specific social network for all sections.
• <destination-name><section-name>Content is the content to be used for the specific social network and specific section.

If the content includes the string $network$, then on automatic posts it will be replaced with the network's name or with the word "unknown" if the code has been copied from a codebox.

The valid destination and section names for this parameter are as follows:

• Ameba: amebaBlogSidebar, amebaProfile
• BlackPlanet: blackplanetPersonalMessage, blackplanetBlog
• Freewebs: freewebsBlog, freewebsHome
• Friendster: friendsterAbout, friendsterMedia, friendsterMeet
• Hi5: hi5About, hi5FavoriteBooks, hi5FavoriteMovies, hi5FavoriteMusic, hi5FavoriteQuote, hi5FavoriteTVShows, hi5Interests
• Migente: migenteBlog, migente
• MySpace: myspaceAbout, myspaceAllLayouts, myspaceArtist_Bio, myspaceArtist_Influences, myspaceArtist_Members, myspaceArtist_Sounds_Like, myspaceBlog, myspaceBlogLayout, myspaceBooks, myspaceHeroes, myspaceInterests, myspaceMeet, myspaceMovies, myspaceMusic, myspaceProfileLayout, myspacesep, myspaceTelevision
• Piczo: piczoCommentBoard, piczoFavoriteMusic, piczoHomePage, piczoLikesAndDislikes, piczoMyPics, piczoProfilePage
• Tagged: taggedaboutme, taggedmywall

Destination-specific username

<destination-name>Username

It is possible to specify a different username for each social network supported by the Share menu. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <destination-name> (e.g. myspace, facebook, friendster, etc.) followed by Username. For example, myspaceUsername means the username to be used specifically for MySpace.

The name specified by <destination-name>Username overrides the name specified by the defaultUsername parameter for the specific network.

The valid destination names for this parameter are as follows:

bebo, blackplanet, blogger, facebook, freewebs, friendster, hi5, igoogle, livejournal, livespaces, multiply, myspace, myyearbook, netvibes, orkut, pageflakes, piczo, tagged, typepad, vox, wordpress, xanga

Section selection in social networks

<network-name>Sections

It is possible to control the list of sections that are displayed in the section selection drop-down for the specific social network. Only valid section names for the specific social network will be displayed. If the result of this is that only a single section is to be displayed, then it will be used but the drop-down will not be displayed at all.

It is possible to set different sections for each social network supported by the Share menu. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <destination-name> (e.g. myspace, facebook, friendster, etc.) followed by Sections. For example, myspaceSections means a comma-separated list of sections to be displayed in the section selection drop-down specifically for MySpace.

The valid parameter names and values are as follows:

• amebaSections: amebaBlogSidebar, amebaProfile
• blackplanetSections: blackplanetPersonalMessage, blackplanetBlog
• freewebsSections: freewebsBlog, freewebsHome
• friendsterSections: friendsterAbout, friendsterMedia, friendsterMeet
• hi5Sections: hi5About, hi5FavoriteBooks, hi5FavoriteMovies, hi5FavoriteMusic, hi5FavoriteQuote, hi5FavoriteTVShows, hi5Interests
• migenteSections: migenteMessage, migenteBlog
• myspaceSections: myspaceAbout, myspaceAllLayouts, myspaceArtist_Bio, myspaceArtist_Influences, myspaceArtist_Members, myspaceArtist_Sounds_Like, myspaceBlog, myspaceBlogLayout, myspaceBooks, myspaceHeroes, myspaceInterests, myspaceMeet, myspaceMovies, myspaceMusic, myspaceProfileLayout, myspacesep, myspaceTelevision
• piczoSections: piczoCommentBoard, piczoFavoriteMusic, piczoHomePage, piczoLikesAndDislikes, piczoMyPics, piczoProfilePage
• taggedSections: taggedaboutme, taggedmywall

Preview images

<destination-name>PreviewURL

It is possible to set different preview images for each social network that supports previews. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <destination-name> (e.g. facebook, igoogle, etc.) followed by PreviewURL. For example, facebookPreviewURL specifies a preview to be used specifically for Facebook.

The URL specified by <network-name>PreviewURL overrides the URL specified by the defaultPreviewURL parameter for the specific network.

The valid destination site names for this parameter are as follows:

facebook, igoogle

Social bookmarking parameters

<social-bookmarking-site-name>BookmarkURL

It is possible to set a different URL for each social bookmarking site supported by the Distribution service. For this purpose, there are various parameters with the same name format: <social-bookmarking-site-name> followed by BookmarkURL. For example, to set a different URL for Digg, you can use the parameter diggBookmarkURL.

The valid social bookmarking site names are as follows:

ask, backFlip, blinkList, buzzup, currentTV, delicious, digg, diigo, dropJack, facebookShare, fark, faves, friendfeed, googleBookmarks, kaboodle, linkaGoGo, linkedIn, liveBookmarks, mister, mixx, myaol, newsvine, propeller, reddit, segnalo, simpy, slashdot, sphinn, spurl, technorati, twitter, wikio, wong, yahooBookmarks, yahooMyWeb, yardbarker

Other parameters

The other advanced parameters that don't follow any of the patterns listed above are as follows:

• adobeairwidgetContent: This parameter is used for setting a URL that points to an Adobe AIR application when Adobe AIR is set as one of the Desktop widget environments in the Share menu.
• adobeairwidgetPreviewURL: This parameter is used for setting a URL that points to an image file or SWF that is used in the AIR download badge when Adobe AIR is set as one of the Desktop widget environments in the Share menu.
• facebookPreviewURL2: Using this parameter, you may specify a URL of an image that will be used as your application's preview image on the Wall Tab (Profile Box) section of Facebook. The Facebook Wall Tab preview image has a size limit of 184 pixels wide and 208 pixels high. By default, if you do not set this parameter, the Distribution service will resize the default preview image to match the specified size limit. The URL specified by facebookPreviewURL2 overrides the URL specified by the defaultPreviewURL and the <destination-name>PreviewURL parameters specifically for the Facebook Wall Tab section.
• facebookPreviewURL3: Using this parameter, you may specify the URL of an image that will be used as your application's preview image on the Newsfeed section of Facebook. The Facebook Newsfeed preview image has a size limit of 160 pixels wide. By default, if you do not set this parameter, the Distribution service will resize your default preview image to match the specified size limitation. The URL specified by facebookPreviewURL3 overrides the URL specified by the defaultPreviewURL and the <destination-name>PreviewURL parameters specifically for the Facebook Newsfeed section.

Where to go from here

In this tutorial, you learned about the advanced parameters available during the configuration of the Share menu. Now consider trying the other tutorials in this series:

• Using Dreamweaver to share existing Flash applications
• Creating a sharable application using Flash Professional
• Creating a sharable application using Flex Builder 3
• Sharing Flash applications to the desktop
• Using dynamic variables with Flash applications

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