Absolute path to filesystem in XML

Hi all,

I think I know the answer to this one already, but am looking for any workaround or solution (php??)

I have a AS3 .swf that will be hosted on a client machine running from a web server and viewed in a browser.

It loads a list of images, etc from xml and then displays them. Fine.
The problem is, the client wants to be able to put absolute file/network paths in the xml
eg: file://filepath or \Server\path\etc…

I suspect this cannot be done with flash alone, has anyone got any suggestions how it can be done any other way?

Thanks,

Dan