class DotNetUtils {  

var _trackingPageName:String;

public function set TrackingPageName(a:String):Void {

          _trackingPageName = a ? a : String;   }

   public function get TrackingPageName():String {

          return _trackingPageName;   }

   /* CONSTRUCTOR */

   function DotNetUtils() { }

/* Tracks A Generic Action by appending values to the query string */

public function TrackActivity(object, activity):Void {
   var destinationUrl = _trackingPageName+"?obj="+object+"&act="+activity;

   loadVariables(destinationUrl, _root);

   }     

}

Lets go through each piece of this class to understand what it does.

var _trackingPageName:String;

This is the declaration of a private variable.  This variable is for the whole class instance.  It stores the path to the  physical page we are going to send the loadVariables command to.

public function set TrackingPageName(a:String):Void {

          _trackingPageName = a ? a : String;

   }

   public function get TrackingPageName():String {

          return _trackingPageName;

   }

These functions are simply the getter and setter methods for the private variable _trackingPageName, which we created on the first line.  In C# these would simply be : get{ return this.value; } and set { this = value; }. but in Actionscript 2.0 they are unfortunately a bit more complicated to implement. 

/* CONSTRUCTOR */

   function DotNetUtils() { }

The constructor is there so you can instantiate a class.  You could pass all the variables through this if you modified it.

/* Tracks A Generic Action */

   public function TrackActivity(object, activity):Void {

var destinationUrl = _trackingPageName+"?obj="+object+"&act="+activity;

          loadVariables(destinationUrl, _root);

   }     

The function "TrackActivity" is really the only thing in the whole class that does anything.  It’s a function that takes two parameters:  object and activity.  The object parameter is used to define what you are tracking.  I would use this as the name of my Button or Movie Clip that I am tracking.  The activity parameter would be the action I would be tracking on this object.  This could be a click or a rollover event.

Now we are going to create a new flash movie with one button on it that; when clicked will send values through our class to the server so we can save them in a database.  Start by creating a new Flash Movie.  Name it "TrackerTest.fla" and save it in the same directory as your Project and Actionscript file and add it to the project.

1. Create a button and place it directly on the stage so its on the main timeline in Frame 1 on Layer 1.  Name the instance in the properties window "MyButton".
2. Click on the buttons instance and press F9 to open the Actionscript Panel.
3. Once the Actionscript panel is opened paste the following code into it: 
 

import DotNetUtils;

//Button Click Event for the Click Me Button

MyButton.onPress = function() {

       //instantiate your DotNetUtils Class

       var util = new DotNetUtils();

       //tell the object what Page on your site is handling the tracking

       util.TrackingPageName = "FlashTrack.aspx";

       //issue the track activity

       util.TrackActivity("MyButton", "Click");

};

So lets look at this line by line to understand what is happening.

import DotNetUtils;

This is the ever important import statement that you must use when referencing an external class (.as) file.  Its equivalent to C#'s using statement.  It allows you to import namespaces and classes from other files or assemblies.

MyButton.onPress = function() {

       //instantiate your DotNetUtils Class

       var util = new DotNetUtils();

       //tell the object what Page on your site is handling the tracking

       util.TrackingPageName = "FlashTrack.aspx";

       //issue the track activity

       util.TrackActivity("MyButton", "Click");

};

This  above function is the event handler for the buttons onPress event.

var util = new DotNetUtils();

This creates an instance of our DotNetUtils class named "util".  Class instantiation is a fundamental practice in OOP programming.

util.TrackingPageName = "FlashTrack.aspx";

Here we supply the DotNetUtils class its only parameter.  The Tracking Page Name, this tells the class what page to send the LoadVariables command too.

util.TrackActivity("MyButton", "Click");

This calls the only method of our class, TrackActivity.  We pass it two parameters.

1. The Object: "MyButton" (this is the instance name - makes it easy to report on)
2. The Activity: "Click" (this is the event that happened when the tracking command was issued)

So, that’s it for the flash part.  Once we issue that TrackActivity command the class takes over, it builds the query string from our supplied parameters and sends it off to our pre-determined tracking page.  From there ASP.NET puts it into a database.

Please note, I have included the entire VS 2005 project with this tutorial in the supplied attachment.   

In order to get your values to your database your going to need a server side language to talk to the db.  So we need to create a VS 2005 project that will be our asp.net web site.  Since this tutorial is more about interoperability between ASP.NET and Actionscript 2.0 im not going to go into great detail here, but I will provide a quick overview of what is needed.

1. Create a web app that will house your flash movie.
2. Create a page Separate from your flash movie display page, call it "FlashTrack.aspx"
3. In the Code-behind file create the following private method:

/// <summary>

/// Logs the Activity to a Sql Database

/// </summary>

/// <param name="obj">The object being tracked</param>

/// <param name="act">The action to track</param>

private void TrackActivity(string obj, string act){

using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["TrackerDB"].ConnectionString))

{

//create a command element and the parametrs needed

SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO ActivityLog (Object, Activity, HitTime) VALUES (@Object, @Activity, @HitTime);", conn);

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Object", obj);

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Activity", act);

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@HitTime", System.DateTime.Now);

try

   {

                 conn.Open();

                 cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

                 conn.Close();

          }

          //if there is an error you can handle it here.

          catch (Exception ex)

          {

                 throw (ex);

          }       

}

}

//make sure something was sent

   if (Request.QueryString != null)

   {

        string myObj = "";

        string myAction = "";

        if (Request.QueryString["obj"] != null)

        {

             myObj = Request.QueryString["obj"].ToString();

        }

        if (Request.QueryString["act"] != null)

        {

            myAction = Request.QueryString["act"].ToString();

        }

        //Call to SQL Database

        TrackActivity(myObj, myAction);

       }

Basically what this does is the following:

1. Check the querystring to make sure there are variables in it
2. Puts the object and action into strings
3. Sends the strings to a method designed to connect to an SQL Server Database and insert into a table named "ActivityLog" the following 3 parameters:
1. Object
2. Activity
3. HitTime

That’s it really. Now all you have to do is put your flash movie on a page in your website, and add a page like our "FlashTrack.aspx" page to your site and you can be tracking all kinds of user behavioural data from your flash movies right into your SQL Server Databases.  Currently I use this type of tracking to track the following kinds of activities:

• User Session starts (when a user first enters our site)
• Clicks on products to "learn more" or "buy now"
• Roll-overs we may have on movies that provide more product information
• Log-in or Log-outs
• Feedback clicks, or certain milestones you may have in your site.

You can even use this to send "silent" events to your site.  Because it uses LoadVariables it doesn't do anything to inform the user.  So you can be playing a video or commercial, or even song, and if it is in a flash format you could have actionscript events fire on certain key frames to log how long a person has been watching or listening to something in particular.

I have included the VS 2005 Project, the Flash Project, Flash file and Actionscript class file in the download.  I have also included scripts that will create the necessary SQL Server tables.  Once you have a utility class like this and learned the in's and out's of operating back and forth from flash you can create different pages to track different types of activities or send / receive data to and from flash.

Note about security:  Please note that since this is user behavioural collection you will need a terms and conditions page on your site somewhere and its always a good idea to include a privacy policy.   Also note that you will need to keep the asp.net and flash movie in the same site or else you will get Cross Site Security Violations.