Exporting to text file?

[pfzngn]

I know that taking text from an external text file and inserting it into a variable in Flash is easy peasy, like

var externalRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("external.txt");
var externalLoad:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
externalLoad.load(externalRequest);

externalLoad.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, textLoaded);
function textLoaded(event:Event):void {
external_txt.text = event.target.data;
}

but is it possible to do the same thing, but backwards? Like sending the contents of external_txt (my variable in flash) out to external.txt (the external text file)? Or, if it isn't possible in AS, then how else could I go about saving the contents of external_txt?

[Tink]

you would need to use a server side language such as PHP to ope the file and write to it, the same as you had to in AS 2.0.

[TomMalufe]

sure,

URLRequest
data : Object
An object containing data to be transmitted with the URL request.
method : String
Controls whether the HTTP form submission method is a GET or POST operation.

you need some code or script there to handle the GET or POST, but essentially you just say myURLRequest.data = new Object({sendVar:"some string you want to send with the request"})

You know now I've gone to thinking about how to save to a text file on the server. I don't really know the php you would need for that. Unless you were just going to use a database. I'm going to look that up.

[TomMalufe]

This might not work flawlessly. I'm no php expert and I never tested this.

PHP Code:

$filename = "external.txt";

//insert votes to txt file
$insertpost = $_REQUEST['content'];
$fp = fopen($filename,"w"); // "w" means write-only
fputs($fp, $insertpost);
fclose($fp); 


That code should handle a URLRequest.data object with a property of {content:"something"} which could be a string or number basically.

[pfzngn]

function myRequestPostSender():void
{
    var myRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("external.php");
    myRequest.data = "This is the data I want to send";
    myRequest.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
    navigateToURL(myRequest);
}
myRequestPostSender();

All right. I think that little bit of actionscript there should send the data out of flash and i have it pointed at external.php, which is where the php code you wrote for me is sitting. But.. I honestly have no clue about php like at all, so it doesn't surprise me that it isn't working. I think flash is doing its job, at least partly, because a new browser window keeps opening up and asking me what to do with "external.php". All the same, i don't think that's what we want it to do. What should i do to the php code to make this work?

[dr_zeus]

Did you put your PHP file on a server?

[TomMalufe]

well one problem is that you are using navigateToURL(); which is used to link to another webpage, not to run code in another file.
You want to use URLLoader();
if you add the line echo "&status=OK"; to the end of the php file (all php should be within <?php "your code" ?>) then your URLLoader will have a .data property that contains the var status == "OK"; after it successfully runs the php code.
you can go to www.w3schools.com to learn about php if you want to add an if statement that will let you return OK or NOTOK or something like that.

Also, the data you send with the URLRequest.data has to be in the form of properties of an object, like var myDataObject:Object = {firstVar:"Write me to a file", secondVar:"Me Too!"} and the php that is accepting this stuff has to have code like $writeThis = $_REQUEST['firstVar'];
notice that I used the same variable name in both things.

there is no type declaration in php. $myVar could be an array, int, string, pointer to a file, whatever. the dollar ($) sign shows that it is a variable.

[TomMalufe]

Oops...
You don't send variables in just any old object. you have to use
var variables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();

I knew this, but I forgot till I went back to my own project.

[TomMalufe]

so this is a bit of code I'm using right now

var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest("GetFilesXML.php"); //returns the file structure of this site in an xml tree
request.data = new URLVariables("dir=images/photography"); //tells the php where to start the structure from.
var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader(request);

to send more then one value, you need write the string being decoded by the URLVariables object like this "firstVar=Write This Down&secondVar=This too"
the ampersand (&) starts the next variable. Don't use any spaces unless it's part of the string that you are sending.

[pfzngn]

Hm. Ok your php script to save stuff to a text file worked fine when i replaced $insertpost with "Does the PHP work?". And I've got the same variable name in both flash and php, like in your example snippets. $_REQUEST['firstVar'] and myDataObject:Object = {firstVar:"..."} but I'm really lost as to how to use var variables.URLVariables = new URLVariables(); and where to put firstVar so it'll get sent out to the php. I think we're getting close though!