Tutorials

Tutorial 5 - Javascript Interfacing

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

2. Select the object that you want to control with the blue cursor.

3. If it is not already grouped as a MovieClip, right click on the shape and choose Group as MovieClip from the menu.

4. Click on the Frame tab on the right hand side. This gives you all the information about the selected object on this frame.

5. Enter a reference for this object in the reference box and click Apply. (This is different from the actual name of the object since you might have two of the same object on your frame but you can give each one a separate reference.) If you don't see this box download the latest edition of Express Animator from the main page. (Click on the alternative link.)

6. When you have embedded your Flash object in your HTML webpage give the object tag the ID "myflash" for example. The following is some javascript code which can control the objects you referenced. This either goes in your script tags in your HTML page or in a separate .js file.

// Get a reference to your Flash SWF animation.
// This is different for different browsers so use the following:
var flash;
if(window.myflash)   flash = window.document["myflash"];
if(document.myflash) flash = document.myflash;

//----------------------Setup some global variables---------------//

var _x=0, _y=1, _xscale=2, _yscale=3, _currentframe=4, _totalframes=5;
var _alpha=6, _visible=7, _width=8, _height=9, _rotation=10;
var _target=11, _framesloaded=12, _name=13, _droptargert=14, _url=15;   
var _quality=19, _xmouse=20, _ymouse=21;


// Wait until this window loads before doing anything

window.onload = function()
{

  //----------------------Set Object Values-----------------------//

  // Set the position of the object to (50,200):
  flash.SetVariable("myobject._x",50);
  flash.SetVariable("myobject._y",200);

  // Set the rotation of the object to 45 degrees:
  flash.SetVariable("myobject._rotation",45);

  // Set the opacity value of the object to 50%:
  flash.SetVariable("myobject._alpha",50);

  // Set string in text box
  flash.SetVariable("mytextbox","Hello there!");


  //--------------------Get Object Values-------------------------//

  // Get the position of the object:
  var x = flash.TGetPropertyAsNumber("myobject",_x);
  var y = flash.TGetPropertyAsNumber("myobject",_y);

  // You get the general idea.
}

2. Right click on it and choose Group as Button

3. Now go to the Actions menu and click on Button Events... On Press..

4. In the actions window go to the Actions menu and choose GetURL( hyperlink )

5. In the hyperlink box, type in

6. This tells it that when you click on the button it must execute the function called myfunction.

7. Close the action window and export your animation as a SWF.

8. Once your have embedded the SWF in your webpage you can now write your javascript function in your HTML page. For example:

function myfunction()
{
    alert("You have pressed a button in the SWF!");
}

Notes

Glossary of useful Javascript SWF functions