Online Image Slideshow Question. File Access Problems.

Question

Hi,

I have a flash .swf file that I embed on my webpage. On my server I have the .swf file and multiple image folders. I would like to load every file in one of those folders into the flash slideshow. How should I go about doing this? I tried used Air but it doesn't work on my system as an application so I doubt it will work online. Eventually I plan on making a menu where you can select different folders to display and since they are of different sizes, a foreach loop would be optimal. Keeping a txt file with the number of images is also possible if theres a way to read that in, but I would prefer the more dynamic approach. I am working towards using php for the website if that helps find a solution.

Thanks, -Mike

Also my slideshow works great online currently but i have to hardcode in the number of files.

Answer 1

I would suggest to have a PHP script on your server that takes care of parsing those folders, and return the list of files to Flash (with a valid public URL).

Basically at your application startup, you would call the PHP script to retrieve the full list of file (XML is a good format to be returned, or AMF if you have a lot of folders/files). After all you have to do is manipulate that data to load whatever folder/files the user is willing to see.

Just for your information, Flash doesn't have access to the Filesystem, so it's impossible to parse folders directly from Flash. (However It is possible with an Air Application)