Connecting with External Sources > Sending and loading variables to and from a remote source > Using HTTP to connect to server-side scripts |  |

Using HTTP to connect to server-side scripts

The `loadVariables`, `loadVariablesNum`, `getURL`, `loadMovie`, and `loadMovieNum` actions all communicate with server-side scripts using the HTTP protocol. These actions send all the variables from the Timeline to which the action is attached. When used as methods of the MovieClip object, `loadVariables`, `getURL`, and `loadMovie` send all the variables of the specified movie clip; each action (or method) handles its response as follows:

| `getURL` returns any information to a browser window, not to the Flash Player.
| `loadVariables` loads variables into a specified Timeline or level in the Flash Player.
| `loadMovie` loads a movie into a specified level or movie clip in the Flash Player.

When you use the `loadVariables`, `getURL`, or `loadMovie` actions, you can specify several parameters:

| `URL` is the file in which the remote variables reside.
| `Location` is the level or target in the movie that receives the variables. (The `getURL` action does not take this parameter.)
| For more information about levels and targets, see About multiple Timelines.
| `Variables` sets the HTTP method, either `GET` or `POST`, by which the variables will be sent. When omitted, the Player defaults to `GET`, but no variables are sent.

For example, if you wanted to track the high scores for a game, you could store the scores on a server and use a `loadVariables` action to load them into the movie each time someone played the game. The action might look like this:

    loadVariables("http://www.mySite.com/scripts/high_score.php", _root.scoreClip, GET);

This loads variables from the PHP script called `high_score.php` into the movie clip instance `scoreClip` using the `GET` HTTP method.

Any variables loaded with the `loadVariables` action must be in the standard MIME format application/x-www-urlformencoded (a standard format used by CGI scripts). The file you specify in the URL parameter of the `loadVariables` action must write out the variable and value pairs in this format so that Flash can read them. This file can specify any number of variables; variable and value pairs must be separated with an ampersand (`&`), and words within a value must be separated with a plus (`+`). For example, this phrase defines several variables:

    highScore1=54000&playerName1=rockin+good&highScore2=53455&playerName2=bonehelmet&highScore3=42885&playerName3=soda+pop

For more information on `loadVariables`, `getURL`, `loadMovie`, and the LoadVars object, see their entries in the online ActionScript Dictionary in the Help menu.