SharedObjects not working

Question

I am trying to create a cookie using sharedObjects. It is
basic. I want to test wether a user has been to a particular web
page before. If they have, I want to redirect them to another page.
If not, continue to load the current page.
Sounds simple... But my code is not working and I am going to
pull my hair out!
I created a small flash swf file that I am including on a
html page. The flash file simply checks the sharedObject on the
users machine to see if the file exists. (in theory)
Can you see what I am missing to make this work?
This is what I have...
The first script that executes is this:
stored_user_rest = local_data.data.user_rest; //reads the
file to see if they visited before
if (stored_user_rest != "1") { // I set the
local_data.data.user_rest file to "1" later on to indicate they
have been here before
getURL("
http://www.discoversml.com/previous.html");
//this is the url I want to redirect to. If the answer is false
then it should continue on and go to the next scene where the
script lives below:
Then in a new scene same flash file I put:
local_data = SharedObject.getLocal("user_data"); //write the
file for the first time
local_data.data.user_rest = "1"; //set user_rest = 1 to
indicate they have visited now
local_data.flush ();
stop;
So, in theory, when they return to this page, which is
restaurant.html, the flash swf plays and executes the scripts and
hopefully will find that they have been there before and redirect
to previous.html.
Help!!

Answer 1

in your first line of script local_data is undefined. you
should be using sharedobject getLocal() method to define it.
and use the attach code option to display code.