Page 3 - Flash as a database frontend

ok. i like the sound of the loadvars - reminds me of a recordset

i have this in frame1:

MyData = new LoadVars();
MyData.Load("viewleadf.txt");
curagt = MyData.CurrentAgentNumber;
trace(MyData.CurrentAgentNumber);
trace(curagt)

Both traces come out undefined. Also, now that im using loadvars, my variable isnt showing up in my textbox.

I know that once i sort this out and get it working, i'm probably going to laugh at my current stupidity, but right now...

I just bought the book you were talking about. Seems heavily geared towards PHP and MySQL., but should still be usefull.

oops - missed the on load bit

you're forgetting to put the onLoad event handler, which is the "listener" that will wait until the data is loaded and then execute a function.


also notice i put a "this" in the trace because "this" will refer to the MyData object inside that function...

Ok! I got the pulldown working.

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!!!!

Now that i'm using the LoadVars(), how do i fill the variable field in my text box. I used to just use the name of the variable in my record source, but that doesnt work any more. I tried entering _level0.CurrentAgentNumber and also MyData.CurrentAgentNumber. All to no sucess.

Do i now have to populate my text boxes with code?

without knowing the paths and everyhing, it would probably be easist to set the text of those text boxes in your onLoad function.

you can either set the variable or the .text value of your text field, depending on whether or not you gave it an instance name or just a variable name. As long as your get yoru path right it should work.

cheers,

bret

k.. on my load (frame 1) i now have this:

MyData = new LoadVars();
MyData.Load("viewleadf.asp");
MyData.onload = function() {
// Populate Variable for Pulldown boxes
curagt = MyData.CurrentAgentNumber;
// Populate text fields
strTEXTBOX.text=MyData.CurrentAgentNumber;
};


This populates the text box on the screen. On my post button i have this:

on (release, keyPress "<Enter>") {
agentnumPD = _root.cbox1.getvalue();
txtmsgmelon = strTEXTBOX.valueOf();
getURL("flashagenttest.asp", "", "GET");
}

Before i started using the loadvar() I defined the value of the text box by simply entering the variable into the text box parameter 'variable' Now that im setting the value for this in load, its populatng the box, but not sending the value...

Can i do loadvars and the old method at the same time? will that mess it up?

after i thought about it, i decided that using two methods at the same time was daft.

i messed with it and now i can put the variable in the text box as i did before, but i am still having trouble picking it up using the valueof setting. its actually giving the the name of the control in place of the value.

Any ideas?

when you are retrieving the value of a text box, you don't need valuof, that's just a retriever for boolean values. Just use the instance name.text and it will return the textual value of that text box.

cheers,

bret

Doh! Yup. I think that macromedia have made this language especially to confuse VB users!!!

Ok. My test form is complete. One last question, then i'll stop bothering you :-^

Whats the best (easiest) way to put a "loading data - please wait" animation on there to give the users something to look at while the data is loading?!

the simplest way to do it is to just have your results display a "loading..." in the text box... but this only works if you are loading text into a text box In your LoadVars function, you can set the callback to go to the screen that has your display info, and display a "loading" frame when they view the page or try to refresh the info. Does that make sense?

have your first frame of your movie "Loading". in the onLoad even handler function, tell the movie to gotoAndStop your content display page.

in your getURL function, there's no way, since you only get the URL and aren't returning the data back into flash.

make sense?

bret

Can i use action script to hide a layer? I was maybe thinking of having a layer with the please wait message on it and then once the data is loaded, hide it

well not a layer, but you can put your loading thing in a movieclip, and use actionscript to hide that movieclip. (placing it on the top most layer).

instancename._visible = false; //0 or 1, false or true

ok. I made a cute little please wait box, with a spinning circle and the words 'please wait'. I saved it as a SWF - I want to be able to reuse it. When i import it into my movie, the text doesnt show up. Any ideas what i did wrong?

here's a sample of my code:
MyData = new LoadVars();
MyData.Load("viewleadf.asp");
MyData.onload = function() {
// Populate Variable for Pulldown boxes
curagt = MyData.CurrentAgentNumber;
// Populate text fields
newagtnumber = MyData.CurrentAgentNumber;
setProperty(pleasewait1, _visible, false);
};

When i run this, everything becomes invisible, form and all!!!

i tried not using the setproperty function like in your example, but nothing happened.

I decided to use a progressbar for my loader. It works great on my local test machine (running Microsoft Personal Web Server), and it works on our website, until you hit refresh - then it doesnt repopulate.

Is there some special code i have to add to my movie to refresh the data when it closed and reopens?