Load AS2 SWF Into AS3 SWF and pass vars in URL

Question

I've got an AS3 SWF that I'm going to be loading other SWFs into. These child SWFs all take a single parameter on the URL. I can't seem to get it working when loading an AS2 child, and it needs to be able to handle both.

so I have

var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();

request.url = "http://domain/as2.swf?param=foo";
loader.load(request);
// etc on to the eventListeners, addChild, etc

When the as2 SWF gets loaded, it can't see the parameter I've passed to it. It's looking for _root.param. Am I doing this wrong or am I attempting the impossible?

EDIT: I should add that I can load a SWF with those URL params from an AS2 loader and it works just fine.

Answer 1

You are doing it wrong.

"http://domain/as2.swf?param=foo"

Is a request for the file named as2.swf, on the server named domain. Any ?param=foo parameters that are part of that http request are lost when the request is complete. If the server needed to do something according to these variables, it would, but you are asking a .swf file to detect these variables, that's just silly.

Put a variable in your Global object (Global namespace) for the flash player, then when the as2 .swf is loaded into that flash player it will have access to the variable you set in your Global object.

I am not proficient in as2, but in as3, the Global object can be accessed with the this keyword, at the package level (probly is the same for as2, just dont worry about setting it at a package level).

Answer 2

It's not trivial to communicate between AS2 and AS3 since they run in different virtual machines. Check this http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2007/07/swfbridge_easie.html for some hints.

Edit: If you cannot change the loaded as2 content your only options is creating a 'wrapper' as2 loader that uses the linked example above to communicate with the as3 and interfaces with the loaded as2 content using _root.varname This is not pretty but it might just work.

Answer 3

When you're loading a SWF, shouldn't you use the Loader class instead of the URLLoader?

I don't think the SWF actually runs at all when loaded with the URLLoader class.

Answer 4

It might be worth trying to assign the variables dynamically after the SWF has loaded but before you add it to the stage. Ie.

loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, movieLoaded);

function movieLoadedHandler(event : Event) : void
{
    var loaderInfo : LoaderInfo = event.target as LoaderInfo;
    var clip : DisplayObject = loaderInfo.content;

    for each(var prop in varsToTransfer)
    {
        clip[prop] = varsToTransfer[prop];
    }

    // add to parent
}

Let me know how that goes.

Answer 5

AS3 -> AS3

Movie 1(www.domain1.com): Load the external movie when click a "buy" button...

buy.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,function(){                   
    var ldr:Loader = new Loader();
    var url:String = "http://www.domain2.com/movie.swf?a=b&c=d";
    var urlReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest(url);
    ldr.load(urlReq);
    addChild(ldr);
    });

Movie 2(http://www.domain2.com/movie.swf):

var mc:MovieClip = this as MovieClip;
var ldi:LoaderInfo = mc.loaderInfo;
var lobj:Object = ldi.parameters as Object;

for (var l in lobj) {
    dumper.htmlText += l+" => "+lobj[l]+"<br />";
}

"dumper" is the name of the Dynamic Textbox field located in Movie2. The output should look like:

a => b
c => d

Answer 6

@nerdabilly.. what is the your approach in solving this problem. I am in a similar situation. What do you mean by an AS2 wrapper?