Flash MX Database - Read & Write to a text file in Flash

Exploring loadVars.sendAndLoad, write to a text file and get the data back into flash

by Deamothul hello people lets take a look at loadVars.sendAndLoad and what we could do with it today.

We are going to send data from an input textfield in flash to a php script with sendAndLoad. The php script will place that data in a textfile. The data is also immediately sent back to flash so that we can output it there. Also some error checks will be outputted to flash to show us the status of writing to the file. You can press as often as you want on the submit file and what's in the input text box will be send to the text file. I havent put in any checks if the textfield maybe is emty or something so you could get empty rows in the textfile. This file is just to show all of you interested how you could use sendAndLoad to send and retieve data. So its just to play around with and i hope you will learn something from it.

Flash Database Pre setup:

Step 1: Setting up the php part

[PHP open TAGS HERE]
//phps opening tags are  "<" + "?" 

//these are the variables that will 
//hold data sent from flash via  input textbox
//data is sent by  sending part of  loadVars object
//inputData is a variable we will set in flash, 
// its a variable attached 
//to the loadVars object and will be send to  php 
$receivedFromFlashData = $_POST['inputData'];
//this is to make our textfile readable and writable 
//place it in a variable so we can refer back to it easily.
// ( @  symbol is to hold back certain error messages)
$myTextFileHandler = @fopen("myTextFile.txt","r+");
// With @file we will turn our textfile 
// into an array so we can know how 
// many entries there are in the file.

$txtfileArray = @file("myTextFile.txt");

//here we check if we could open the file 
// if everything is ok , go on.

if($myTextFileHandler){
//a print to help us 
// so this will not be send to flash.
print("txtFile is opened\n");
//loop through the text file array 
//remember -> @file("membersDatabase.txt");
//use $count variable in the string we send to text file,
// it attaches a number to the string for us 
//to show how may times we inserted something into textfile.

foreach($txtfileArray as $count => $member);
//We go to the last byte of the file, 
// because we want to insert data at  end of the file

$gotoLastByteOfTxTFile
= @fseek($myTextFileHandler,0,SEEK_END);
//Increase count by one 
//because an array starts counting at 0.

$count = $count + 1;
// make a variable writeInTxtFile with command @fwrite.
//It will write a string  into the text file 
//defined in myTextFileHandler, 
//notice the \n makes it start on a new line each time .

$writeInTxtFile = @fwrite($myTextFileHandler,
"\nreceived from flash $count=$receivedFromFlashData");
 
//Was writing into the txtfile  a success , 
// if true print a variable to flash to be handled
// in the response loadVars Object.

if($writeInTxtFile){
	
// make a variable to hold the message  in flash 
// if writing to the textfile was a succes.

$writeStatus = "writing to textfile was a succes";

//printed to flash and this  data is actually attached to 
// the loadvars object we defined in flash.
// can acces like  a variable in a movieclip or object.
//can set this variable to be show in a textbox like this:
// mytextbox.text =	myReveivingLoadvars.writeStatus
// this piece of code must be triggered in the 
// myReveivingLoadvars.onLoad part

print("&writeStatus=$writeStatus");

//if writing was a failure we print that to flash

}else{
$writeStatus = "writing to textfile was a big failure";
print("&writeStatus=$writeStatus");
};
//here we close the stream to the textfile

@fclose($myTextFileHandler);
 // If opening the text file was a failure in 
 //the first place we print this to the php output.
// You can also send error messages like this to flash, 
// just change the print command to something like:

//print("&failMsg = $youErrorMsg"); 
//and call the failMsg variable in your flash
//  file in the receiving onLoad part of 
//the loadVars object e.g. like 
// myTextBox.text = myReceiveLV.failMsg. 
}else{
print("opening txtfile has failed\n");
};

//this is printed to flash and received by the reveiver
// part of our loadVars object. 
// This piece of data will be show in a textbox
// in flash immediately after a you press submit.
// so you sumbit your inputted text in flash , 
//its ran through this little 
// engine like php script and you immediately receive
// an answer back.
print("&receivedData=$receivedFromFlashData");
[PHP closingTAGS HERE]//"?" + ">"

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Step 2: Setting up the flash file

Step 3: Setting up the actionscript part

- Make a new layer in your fla and name it code place this code on the timeline.
//First we write a function to... well the name says it all.
function submitDataToTextfile() {
//this is our sending loadVars object, it sends the data to the php file so that it can be processed.
submittedData = new LoadVars();

//here we make a variable "inputData" and as value we set it to the value of the inputData textfield.
submittedData.inputData = inputData.text;

//this is our response loadVars object, it is responsible for receiving data from the php script immediately
//when submit is pressed it will receive its data
response = new LoadVars();

// this is an important part to understand, we execute the function "doThisOnResponse" in the response.onLoad.
// so when the onLoad is triggered this function runs and the data is handled by flash how you set it up.
response.onLoad = doThisOnResponse;

//finally sendAndLoad to the php script, we need to post the data to our php script.
//IMPORTANT , make sure you set the right path to the php file or else it wont work
submittedData.sendAndLoad("http://localhost/exercise/careTaker.php", response, "post");
};

//this is the function that runs on response, this function makes sure everything is placed in the right places.
function doThisOnResponse(result) {
//if the result is true, so if everything went ok and the data has been received, do this:
if(result){
// place the value from "response.receivedData" into our textbox "responsetxtb"
//notice how you just call a variable that was atatched to our response loadVars object.
responsetxtb.text = response.receivedData;

// we also made a status check in the php file, this is where the value from that variable comes in and
// will be placed in the "statustxtb" textbox.
statustxtb.text = response.writeStatus;
}else { //else there went something wrong.
trace("everything went wrong...aaghhh..damn this");
};
};

// if we press submit submitDataToTextfile() function is executed an the engine is started.
submit.onRelease = function() {
submitDataToTextfile();
};