Spawning External Browser Windows (Pop-ups)

Written by: Jesse Stratford

Difficulty Level: Beginner
Requirements: Flash 4 or higher
Topics Covered: How to launch a customized browser window via Flash.
Assumed Knowledge: Basic HTML and basic Flash usage.

There is no source for this tutorial.

Most sites which use Flash nowadays involve popup windows of some form. A popup window is a browser shell or window which opens on demand. The joys of spawning popups using JavaScript rather than just opening a new browser window mainly revolve around the fact that we can set various properties, such as the window height and width. This tutorial covers how to make popup windows and launch them from a Flash file embedded in a html document, it does not cover popups for stand-alone flash files, like Macromedia Projector executables.

This is really very basic. You can get the whole thing working in only 2 steps:

1. Insert the base Javascript code into your HTML code between the HEAD tags (<head> Script goes here </head>). Copy and paste the script below:

<script language="JavaScript">

<!--

function spawnWindow(URL,Name,features) {

        window.open(URL,Name,features);

}

//-->

</script>

2. Enter your details into the Generator (left) and then add them to your flash button in the following form:

on (release) {

        getURL ("javascript:spawnWindow...");

}

Where the '...' is the rest of the code you generate.

That's it! You're done! Just make sure your HTML page doesn't get overwritten each time you publish your Flash movie because you will lose the base code and your code will do nothing!

Jesse Stratford is the Co-Master of ActionScript.org and a freelance Flash developer and teacher. He is based in Australia and enjoys all things Flash.

NB: If you have comments or feedback please feel free to email me, but please do not email me Flash questions; the forums are provided for that purpose and you will get a faster answer by posting you question there.

If you have found this tutorial helpful, I hope that you will take 30 seconds to visit The Hunger Site where, with just one click you can make a free donation of food to a starving person in a third-world country. We do not benefit financially from this action; it is purely an act of charity.

This tutorial is protected by International Intellectual Property Rights laws and may not be reproduced or redistributed in full or part, without the prior written consent of the author. Unauthorized reproduction of this tutorial or its contents may result in prosecution. I've worked hard on this tutorial, please don't steal it.


Enter your email address: Subscribe Unsubscribe	© 2000-2007 actionscript.org! All Rights Reserved. Read our Privacy Statement and Terms of Use... Our dedicated server is hosted and managed by WebScorpion Webhosting.

Spread The Word / Bookmark this content