External .txt

programming flash
1

Hey guys.
I saw this tutorial on Flashkit.com and I have a couple of questions:

The tutorial

All I want to do is have an a form where users can input their email address and then the email address will be stored in a .txt file in my directory. My question is at the end the tutorial gives some lines of code that looks like this:

On (Release)
Load Variables (“http://www.server.com/cgi-bin/myform.cgi”, 1, vars=POST)
End On

I have no experience with cgi, so is all I do save a .txt file as .cgi and name it myform, and then place it in my directory. And then I replace server.com with the address of my site?

Thanks guys!
-brad-

2

not quite. Your flash movie is sending its variables to the cgi script. The cgi script is actually going to write to the text file.

3

I don’t have a .cgi file or anything in my directory. So is the file going to automatically make a .txt file and start adding the addresses? Also, is there a way to do this without cgi? Can I just have the variable sent to a .txt file in my directory?

Thanks
-brad-

4

A cgi or php file is needed to communicated between the text and flash file. Strange that the cgi file isn’t included for download on this tutorial.

5

Hmmm…Do you know of another tutorial where I could get the file?

Thanks!
-brad-

6

I’m still looking for a tutorial on how to store vairables in a .txt file. I am just trying to move this post up.

Thanks!
-brad-

7

Hello bcogswell11,

do you have access to PHP on your server? It’s quite easy to write to a file or create a new file using PHP. If you do have access to it, let me know and we can discuss the details.

:slight_smile:
-ptolemy

8

Yes I do have PHP access. Thanks for your help. I have looked all over the internet and I can’t find what I need. All I want is an input box that stores a variable in an outside file. In this case, the variable will be email addresses. This way, I can go to the outside file and just have the long list of addresses that I can move to my E-mail.

Thanks!
-brad-

9

Part 1: Sending vars from Flash to PHP

To do this you need to create a dynamic text box and give it a variable name (not an instance name!). Name it something like e-mail. Now, create some sort of submit button and attach the following code to it (assuming you’re using MX):


on(release) {
  dataContainer = new LoadVars();
  dataContainer.email = email;
  dataContainer.send("http://path/to/host/write.php", "sendWindow", "POST");
}

Part 2: Writing Flash vars to file with PHP

Create a new PHP file named write.php and insert the following code:


<?php
  $file = "path/to/file/to/write/to";
  $handle = fopen($file, "a");
  fwrite($handle, "
$_GET[email]");
  fclose($handle);
?>

*If $_GET isn’t working for you, don’t fret. Use $HTTP_POST_VARS[email] instead.

As you can see, it’s quite a simple process. I had problems when I tried this on my host. They told me fwrite() wasn’t permitted. If this is the same with your host, simply add a shebang line to the path of php on the host and you will probably be able to access fwrite(). I can’t guarantee that it will work but I know it did for me.

Let me know how things turn out.

:slight_smile:

-ptolemy

10

As I am doing this I am trying to understand the process as well. In write.php I am telling Flash to store the variable in the .txt file right?

Other than that I understand the whole thing. My site will be up tomorrow night and I will see if it works and let you know. Thank you for your help!

Thanks!
-brad-

11

Actually Flash has no part in thr writing process. It is simply defining the value of the email address that will be written to a file by the PHP script. Flash just passes that value to the write.php file. If Flash could write to files, there would be no need for PHP in this case.

-ptolemy