I’m wondering how to go about this. I’m using basic txt files as my text source in my flash movies so that I can have dynamic text. This is great for me, but to my client it not much use because he doesn’t do ftp or any of that “techie stuff”. What I think would be great is some sort of password protected page (html or flash?) where he could go in and edit the txt file right there on the spot without having to deal with ftp. Perhaps setting up some type of form which somehow uploads the txt file with the proper name after it is submitted?
I think this is really a great idea, and would make clients very happy to have the versatility of easily updating their webpages.
To make things even more complex, what about one for an XML photo slideshow!
i think i can help you a bit with the frame work of what you want to do.
You want to have a page that has a reply box much like the one here at kirupa. this box would have a variable name that auto increments (so if the last one was text1 this one would be text2, but it does it by itself) so that its always different. he types what he wants tehn hits submit, a PHP script checks if he has already subbited something to that varialbe, and if he hasnt, updates teh TXT file.
now you have to get down to some coding…i might be able to help a bit with that, but i dont know to much. but thats what you want to have in there…i think.
The entire site is done in exactly the way you just described. Nearly all of the text content on that site is editable by the client via administrative web pages. In this particular application the text files are being written for use by Macromedia Generator, but the concept is the same using Flash MX or any other application that uses dynamic input, be it from a text file or a database.
mdipi has you headed in the right direction. The admin page would load the existing variables from the text file as the initial values in a form. The client could then modify those values as needed then submit the changes which would then be rewritten to the text file.
The admin page will need to be password protected for obvious security reasons.
Wow, so you guys actually do know what I’m getting at To tell you the truth, I’m not much of a hard coder myself…but I have dabbled in simple cgi scripts.
Hey mdipi, if you could help that would be awesome! I could reward you with some custom music if you want I don’t know how deep this project would have to go…Is it major coding? Or is it not so bad?
Please let me know what you think-
Thanks guys!
YESSSSSSS! This is amazing! I got it to work! I can now give my clients a password protected URL to go to and edit the dynamic text on their flash site right in their browser! This is one great feature to help sell your site
Anyways, here’s the link to the cgi script I’m using: http://www.cgiscript.net/cgi-script/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=cgi.db&command=viewone&id=8
To tell you the truth, I’m not much of a hard coder myself…but I have dabbled in simple cgi scripts.
I don’t know how deep this project would have to go…Is it major coding? Or is it not so bad?