G-L > loadVariables

 

loadVariables

loadvariables

Availability

Flash Player 4.

Usage

loadVariables ("url" ,level/"target" [, variables])

Parameters

url An absolute or relative URL where the variables are located. If you access the movie using a Web browser, the host for the URL must be in the same subdomain as the movie itself.

level The level parameter is available with the loadVariables action only when the Actions panel is in normal mode; to specify level in expert mode, you must use the loadVariablesNum action. An integer specifying the level in the Flash Player to receive the variables. If you select this parameter when the Actions panel is in normal mode, Macromedia Flash MX automatically changes the loadVariables action to the loadVariablesNum action in the Actions panel Script pane.

target The target path to a movie clip that receives the loaded variables. You must specify either a target movie clip or a level (level) in the Flash Player; you can't specify both.

variables An optional parameter specifying an HTTP method for sending variables. The parameter must be the string GET or POST. If there are no variables to be sent, omit this parameter. The GET method appends the variables to the end of the URL and is used for small numbers of variables. The POST method sends the variables in a separate HTTP header and is used for long strings of variables.

Returns

Nothing.

Description

Action; reads data from an external file, such as a text file or text generated by a CGI script, Active Server Pages (ASP), or PHP, or Perl script, and sets the values for variables in a Flash Player level or a target movie clip. This action can also be used to update variables in the active movie with new values.

The text at the specified URL must be in the standard MIME format application/x-www-form-urlencoded (a standard format used by CGI scripts). The movie and the variables to be loaded must reside at the same subdomain. Any number of variables can be specified. For example, the phrase below defines several variables:

company=Macromedia&address=600+Townsend&city=San+Francisco&zip=94103

The first movie to open in an instance of the Flash Player loads into the bottom level (identified in code as _level0). When you use the loadMovie or loadMovieNum action to load subsequent movies into the Flash Player, you must assign a level number in the Flash Player or a target movie clip into which each movie will load. When you use the loadVariables action, you must specify either a Flash Player level or a movie clip target into which the variables will load.

When you use the loadVariables action with the Actions panel in normal mode, you can specify either a level in the Flash Player or a target movie clip, into which the movie will load. If a movie is loaded into a target movie clip, you can use the target path of that movie clip to target the loaded movie. If you specify a level, the action changes to loadVariablesNum in the Script pane in the Actions panel.

When you use the loadVariables action with the Actions panel in expert mode, you can specify the target parameter, but you cannot specify the level parameter. You must use the loadVariablesNum action to specify a level in expert mode.

Example

This example loads information from a text file into text fields into the varTarget movie clip on the main Timeline. The variable names of the text fields must match the variable names in the data.txt file.

on(release) {
	loadVariables("data.txt", "_root.varTarget");
}

See also

loadVariablesNum, loadMovie, loadMovieNum, getURL, MovieClip.loadMovie, MovieClip.loadVariables