Funny. We do both! So weird... I'm especially proud of one piece of code...
Flash obtains a category list onload and displays it as a menu. Clicking on a menu item calls a tango file and requests any sub categories for that item. (It passes the category name as a parameter to tango). The cooler part is that, if tango doesn't find subcategories, it gets a full playlist instead. Think Music files (though that isn't what I use it for).. Clicking "Jazz" might return a list of artists... if no such artist submenu exists... It sends back all Jazz songs instead. Flash checks to see if allVarsLoaded is true... if so, it checks to see if subCategories is null, if so, it calls a function to deal with a playlist instead... if there are subcategories... it deals with those... Fun stuff! Pete -----Original Message----- From: Jason Pamental [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:52 AM To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk Subject: Re: Flash integration (was Re: Witango-Talk: Before the conferen ce dinner...) Pete, Right on! sounds pretty cool. One thing we found that really helped (and we do the same OEloadvariables� bit as well) was to always append a known name/value pair like OEdataloaded=yes� to the end of any set of strings we were passing in from witango. That way we could do a loop that sat and waited until an if statement like OEif OEdataloaded� = yes� then move on... The OnEvent data handler was acting very inconsistently, so this was a good way to get around that. Another interesting thing is that you can use loadVariables to actually POST data back to witango... That way it can be totally bi-directional without ever having to reload the flash object or page you�re on. Cheers, Jason (and thanks for the tip on the XML � once we�re spending more time with MX (just loaded it yesterday) we�ll let you know if it goes any faster...) On 4/26/02 8:18 AM, "Brandano, Peter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jason, > > Great news... I just switched to strings as well! :) I can't tell you how > happy I am that I found this group. It is so helpful to be able to share > ideas. I'll tell you, my Tango/Flash integration has really come a long way > thus far. Here are some of the important things I've found for those who care. > > My first attempt at the integration worked well, but was a little unorthodox. > I used an lesser known method of the flash player object: the setVariable() > method. After instantiating the flash object and playing my movie I called a > number of set Variables similar to this (animation was the ID of my Flash > player object): > > window.document.animation.SetVariable("flashVariableNameHere","value to pass, > can also be JavaScript var"); // Bad way to do this. > > Within the first frame of the flash movie I declared flash variable > flashVariableNameHere. Voila, as soon as the setVariable function was called, > my data (which tango drew from a SQL database) was in my flash movie. I > planned to use FSCommands to do information exchange in the other direction. > MAJOR problem: From what I have read, setVariable(), and FScommand() are not > supported in Opera for embedded Linux (the second of our two platforms, I am > developing for an internet appliance). Netscape 6 apparently lacks support as > well, due to the fact that they dropped liveConnect. > > SOLUTION: go with the more common approach. Changing my approach REALLY paid > off. Previously, I had to reload my page to get new data into Flash. Now by > using loadVariables() within Flash, I am able to get data from TAFs behind the > scenes, in real time. I now call loadVariables("dataLoader.taf", _root); > whenever I need new data. Works fantastic. I chose to use URLencoded strings > as you did. From what I hear, Flash 5's XML parser was written in > ActionScript, and is very slow. Performance is critical for our application, > so I went with strings. My output pages in my TAFs are simply strings of URL > encoded variables. I won't even get into the exciting new possibilities that > Flash MX brings to the table. I hope that I will get some time to put together > some demos that other people can view. Does anyone have any examples of what > they've done with Tango/Flash? > > Pete > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jason Pamental [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 10:23 PM > To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk > Subject: Flash integration (was Re: Witango-Talk: Before the conference > dinner...) > > > Pete, > > I�d be happy to talk to you; my contact info is at the bottom. I�m hoping to > put together a little suite of test apps (Scott put us all to shame with > everything he put together!) to show how it works, but haven't had a chance > yet. > > There are two ways to get the data in and out; via XML or with strings of > name/value pairs of variables. We've used the latter and it's pretty > straightforward but not as fast as we'd like. (only a concern if youre > adding lots of data) - we want to try the xml method and see if it's > speedier. I suspect it may be... > > Thanks also to lee for his kind words - we were really flattered with the > response we received. > > Jason > > On 4/24/02 10:40 PM, "Lee Sobo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I don't have any specifics on what he's doing, but it is very cool. Perhaps >> you can convince Sophie or Phil to provide you contact information. >> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: Brandano, Peter <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk >>> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 6:46 AM >>> Subject: RE: Witango-Talk: Before the conference dinner... >>> >>> Thanks Lee, >>> >>> I am interested in the Tango/Flash demo you saw. I am currently working on a >>> large project that will use Tango for database interaction and Flash as a >>> front end. I have hit some interesting roadblocks along the way (most have >>> more to do with Flash than Tango, and all problems were associated with our >>> platform Opera for embedded Linux YUCK!). I have already changed my design >>> 4 >>> times. I wonder if Jason (?) has any info on pitfalls he may have come >>> across >>> in his development. >>> >>> Pete >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: Lee Sobo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 6:12 PM >>>> To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk >>>> Subject: Re: Witango-Talk: Before the conference dinner... >>>> >>>> Gauthier: >>>> >>>> I can't speak for eveyone in the conference, but I'll speak for myself. The >>>> presenters showed some incredible creativity and brilliance. Scott >>>> Cadillac's demo on using XML and Jason on intgegrating Flash were >>>> unbelievable. Also, one gentleman showed an implementation for the >>>> government of Ireland and another for the city of Seoul, South Korea. >>>> >>>> Witango seems to be in very capable hands and there appears to be quite a >>>> future for us. An early demo was just shown of being able to compile Tango >>>> into Java. They are working on the same for .net. The main new features of >>>> Witango seem to be the preemptive multi threading and a new tag called >>>> @email. I'm sure there is more, but that is what stood out for me. There >>>> seem to be quite a few innovations in the editor with customizable snippets >>>> and a totally new view allowing us to see the inside of our actions without >>>> having to open them all the time. >>>> >>>> I would say you can go develop and sell in peace. >>>> >>>> Long live Tango.... or I better say Witango or pay a fine. >>>> >>>> Lee Sobo >>>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>>> From: [Gauthier] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>> To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk >>>>> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 2:21 PM >>>>> Subject: Witango-Talk: Before the conference dinner... >>>>> >>>>> Hi, >>>>> >>>>> Please let us know what are the main new features of the new version of >>>>> Witango! >>>>> >>>>> And does the Case studies and speakers interventions were great: >>>>> Does Witango is compliant with with Large Scale Government Applications ? >>>>> Does Witango works well for Intranet Applications with XML ? >>>>> Does strenght strategic alliance are good for buisiness ? >>>>> Does the Case study materials are available ? >>>>> Does the witango powerfull open a wide range of possibilities ? >>>>> Does the future of Witango v6 is ambitious ? >>>>> >>>>> Thanks alot for some feedback ;) >>>>> >>>>> Gauthier >>>>> >>>>> PS: Does the dinner will be fine ? >>>>> > > > -- > ____________________________________________________________________ > > Jason Pamental, President [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Bathysphere Digital Media Services, Inc. http://bathyspheredms.com > ____________________________________________________________________ > > Tel: 401.490.6830 Fax: 401.490.6831 > ________________________________________ > > ________________________________________________________________________ > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body > -- ____________________________________________________________________ Jason Pamental, President [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bathysphere Digital Media Services, Inc. http://bathyspheredms.com ____________________________________________________________________ Tel: 401.490.6830 Fax: 401.490.6831 ________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body
