Flash/Javascript access of USER Variables

Question

Hi all,
I've searched online many many times and have made many attempts in Flash and in Captivate 4, but to no avail, and I'm wracking my brain over it. By now I've almost given up on Captivate, since what has wasted so much time could have been done in a day or so using Flash to make the entire thing. I would like to avoid that though, since this is a University project, not a personal project.
I need to access USER created variables, both in Flash animations AND in Javascript (i.e. in the execute Javascript field under multiple actions). They need to be accessed this way since there's no default way to multiply variables or append strings of text to variables (things which as an experienced AS2 user I know should be very simple to do). Also, I want to be able to copy the contents of one (user) variable to another (system) variable later on (for LMS).
So say I have a user defined Captivate variable called 'userPath', and on a certain slide I want to multiply it by 5 in Flash or in Javascript (just an example).
How could I access it from Flash with AS2? (I've tried _root.userPath, _root.movie.userPath, no luck).
How could I access it from the Javascript? (I am comfortable with programming, but don't really use Javascript, so I may be having a problem with the notation).
Any help would be greatly appreciated, since I need to get this work done soon. Many thanks.

Answer 1

Lboro SB,
How familliar are you with AS3?  I would recommend altering the CaptivateMaintimeline.as file typically located at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 4\ActionScript 3.0.  You can write your custom functions in AS3 to do your multiplication or whatever and it will use this file to compile your Cp4 project.  Just make sure you're publishing your Cp4 project in AS3 in the project properties.  You could also add your function to the list of ExternalInterface.addCallback(... so that your function could be accessible from JavaScript.  Here's my custom function I've put in the CaptivateMaintimeline.as file:
/JBL: For External Interface setting any type of value
        public function jim_cpSetValue(variable:String, val):void
        //myTrace("cpSetValue variable1 " + variable + " ; val  " + val);
        var arr:Array = variable.split(".");
        var ref = this;
        for(var i=0; i < arr.length -1; i++)
            ref = ref[arr[i]];
        ref[ arr[arr.length -1] ] = val; // This works fine for numbers, booleans and strings
// JBL: adding callback to set variables in cp via JavaScript
ExternalInterface.addCallback("jim_cpSetValue", jim_cpSetValue);
If you want to do this in JavaScript, you need to get a reference to the Captivate main movie.  I do it like so:
    // Set objCaptivate in IE
    CaptivateObj = document.Captivate;
Then you can call your custom function
    //JBL:  Custom Function to set Captivate Vars via Javascript
    function setCaptivateVariable(myVariable, myValue)
        CaptivateObj.jim_cpSetValue(myVariable, myValue);
    //JBL:  Shortcut function for Getting values from Captivate SWF
    function getCaptivateUserVariable(n)
        return CaptivateObj.cpGetValue(n);
I also HIGHLY recommend a lightweight .js file by Philip Hutchison that can do much more located here.
Good Luck,
Jim Leichliter