Need help with this.. SIRKENT!!! HELP!!!

[courtjester]

Ok, this is the thing I am facing. go to www.lordsoflegend.com there you will find a site with a game on it. Me and my buddies have created a site that will do the same thing... only we want to make it More interactive. So far, I have 2 graphic artists, 2 programmers, and 1 financial advisor.. Here's my problem, not a one of them knows anything about Flash, yet... they want me to create a flash game that Lets you attack an enemy based on your stats stored to the server. I can create the flash part of it easily, but what I don't know how to do is to get the flash file to read off a server and limit the number of lives and ammo based off of the variables you have stored in the server... Also, I need to know how I can send the score to the server. A detailed explanation is not needed, I just need to know what I need to learn to accomplish this task. I have a large word file of the game that explains it, but its very confusing unless you understand the game's layout. Thanks for your help, and even if your not Sirkent I would appreciate your reply!!!

[gwx03]

what I don't know how to do is to get the flash file to read off a server and limit the number of lives and ammo based off of the variables you have stored in the server..

I don't understand what you mean here ... maybe you can elaborate? I think I get the rough idea and I'll try to help if I can :wink:

[gwx03]

I do know how to do it * roughly * with PHP though, based on a web tutorial somewhere. There's not much info on these on the net when I last searched a month ago. I can give you the rough idea but I'm a newbie in making php and flash talk. I do know how to load variables and change variables though

[courtjester]

Well... as for changing the variables and stuff I have that all down, I can even use cookies to carry variables over pages, but I want to somehow send the information from the game to the server.

Whats going to happen is you have to buy things in a store. I am going to create the store in flash, but you have only so much money. So I need to load that variable into Flash so you can't go crazy. I know it is possible becuase I have heard about it before. Also, I need to send the information to the server to add the new item and take off the amount of gold your spent.

The next thing I am looking to do with this, is what we call Attacking Turns. Every do often you will earn 1-2 attacking credits. Every weapon requires a different number. Lets say you only have 1 attacking credit. Well.. I want the flash movie to read the server and see that you only have 1 left, so that it won't let you go to the scene that will let you use a weapon that will use more than 1 attack credit. But after you attack, I need it to make you send the information back to the server.

Thats what we are trying to do with it, but are stuck for the moment. Thanks

[Webforumz Staff]

The best way to communicate to/from a server is to have some scripts on your server written in ASP/PHP/JSP/CGI whatever you want!! They can query a database or text file to append, access, store your data.

Flash can make queries just like a webform can. It can use both GET (putting the data after the page name using ?variable=value&variable2=value2 ) and flash can also use the POST method to send the data just like a form does, direct to the server.

Flash can also use sockets, etc, etc to be more secure and technical but let's not go there as it's difficult to get a cheap server-side solution for that!

In flash you can use ACTIONS>Browser/Network>loadVariables in actionscript which gives you:

Code: Select all

loadVariables("page.php", "_root.server_return", "POST");

where:
page.php is the page you are sending the variables to.
_root.server_return is where you want the variables to be sent when you recieve a reply. (the movie clip server_return in the root of the file).
POST is the method you're using.

It's best to put this in its own special movieclip, under a function. This way you can put the variables you want to send into that clip (as you rarely want to send all the variables in your flash movie - as they're not needed and it'll slow sending down) ss it will send ALL the local variables using this.

Hope this points you in the right direction?

[courtjester]

Thanks Sirkent. This really helps out a lot. At least now I have somewhere to start from.

[Webforumz Staff]

Ok, Kulegamr asked me if this would let a PHP programmer know exactly what to do?

Well no. He would be receiving the variables from flash in a way which he could use with no problems!! Any PHP programmer knows you can use

Code: Select all

$HTTP_POST_VARS[variableName];

to get POST values and GET instead of post to get GET values :razz:

But it's how you return variables to flash that's different.

Through the loadVariables method, flash uses its own variable definitions:

&variablename=variablevalue&variablename2=variable value2... etc etc

You can have as many variables with whatever name and as long as they start with & they will be treated as a variable. You can use spaces for your variable values (technically you could pass an entire book's worth of information. Obviously you CAN'T use the "&" character. It has to be converted to it's UNICODE or HTMLcharacter style, which flash can then use a function to interpret (which you can find in the library or ask me about later). But of course if your server is not returning user-defined variables, like messages, then you won't need that...

Please also not:
The advantages of using a movieclip to store your server-returned variables in, is that you can use onClipEvent (data) to make a movieclip automatic perform actions when the data is returned!

onClipEvent (data) {
// do something
}

Otherwise how would you know when the data has loaded? You *can* use a loop to check when a new variable is set, over and over again, but it uses more resources than a simple listener, like above.

Hope that helps too!