Dynamic Click Tracking Without clickTag

Question

I've got an unusual circumstance where I'm not loading my
flash file from within a webpage. Normally I use getURL() with
clickTag to set my destination URL and tracking URL in the html,
but in this case I am setting all of my variables using
SetVariable() to support Player 7.
My question is: how can I set a button to open a destination
URL and call the tracking URL dynamically using SetVariable()?
The current logic looks like this:
1. flash file loads
2. Using the watch() method, the flash file populates as
variables are passed in using SetVariable()
I've figured out how to do simple things like change the
text, but I'm not sure how to set a button URL and a tracking URL
for when that button is clicked.
Ideas? Thank you!

Answer 1

noynek,
> in this case I am setting all of my variables using
SetVariable()
> to support Player 7.
The only reason for using SetVariables(), which is a
JavaScript function
specific to Flash, is in cases where you want to update a
variable *after*
the SWF has already loaded (such as, for example, to change
it from a
default value at some later time). If the variable only needs
to be set
once, when the SWF is requested by the HTML, then FlashVars
or a query
string on the SWF's file name itself is all you need.
> My question is: how can I set a button to open a
destination URL
> and call the tracking URL dynamically using
SetVariable()?
There are quite a few ways to define variables in a SWF
(variables are
nothing more than special containers to hold data). In a
keyframe of any
timeline, for example, you can do something like this:
var destination:Sring = "
http://www.domain.com/";
Of course, that "bakes" the variable into the SWF itself. It
is set and
may be referenced by that SWF. If you want to set such a
variable from
*outside* the SWF, such as from the HTML document, then it
can be attached
as a querty string to the name of the SWF file itself ...
<param name="movie"
value="myMovie.swf?destination=http://www.domain.com/"
/>
... or passed in via a FlashVars attribute ...
<param name="FlashVars"
value="destination=http://www.domain.com/" />
... or, as you've indicated, with the SetVariable() function
// JavaScript
swfFileReferenct.SetVariable("destination", "
http://www.domain.com/");
In any of the above cases, a variable named destination
(just an
arbitrary, descriptive name) is created in the main timeline
(assuming the
first example, with "var", was typed in a keyframe of the
main timeline).
At any point in the SWF, the variable destination can be
referenced, and its
value will be (in this case)
http://www.domain.com/, unless
it is changed to
something else later.
> The current logic looks like this:
> 1. flash file loads
Does this mean it is requested by the HTML document, or
you're using a
main SWF file to load another SWF file?
> 2. Using the watch() method, the flash file populates as
> variables are passed in using SetVariable()
I'm curious why you're using Object.watch(). Not saying
you're
necessarily wrong to do so, but maybe it would help to show
your code?
> I've figured out how to do simple things like change the
text,
> but I'm not sure how to set a button URL and a tracking
URL
> for when that button is clicked.
Your button would presumably call getURL() (or maybe a
LoadVars
instance?) in response to a mouse click. The first parameter
of getURL() is
a URL, which would be the name of whatever variable contains
the value you
want to reach.
David Stiller
Co-author, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers
http://tinyurl.com/2k29mj
"Luck is the residue of good design."