Dynamic Content?

You can do this with Flash and text files and it is not a complicated task. It will also run locally on your PC since that it within one "security zone" in Flash. The security problem is an issue if you run a Flash file locally and try to access online content or vice versa.

A simple example of how to do this is as follows:

1. Create an AS2 Flash file

2. Insert a Dynamic Text box by using the text tool.

3. Give your dynamic text box an instance name (in this example myText_txt)

4. Press F9 to open up the actions panel

5. Copy / paste the following code:

this.stop();
myData = new LoadVars();
myData.onLoad = function() {
myText_txt.html=true;
myText_txt.htmlText = this.myVariable;
};
myData.load("text1.txt"); 

6. Create a textfile in Notepad (always use UTF-8 encoding) and name it "text1.txt".

7. In the texfile write myVariable=Your message that you want to show up in Flash / Captivate

8. Save and publish your Flash file

9. Import the Flash file into your Captivate slide.

10. Publish your Captivate project.

11. Manually copy the text1.txt file to the directory you published to.

12. Enjoy!

Flash source file, Captivate file etc. attached as a zip package here in this post.

EDIT:  Hmm..where did the upload file thingy in the forum go? Anyways the zip file can be downloaded here: www.cpguru.com//demonstrations/cpFlashText.zip

Now this is an extremely simple example but it could be expanded upon to included formatting the txt in HTML format (e.g. bold, italic, font size etc.) or it could be turned into a widget that would load a new line of your text file on each slide. This does require alot more coding though, but it would be possible.

Hope this helps.

/Michael

Visit my Captivate blog with tips & tricks, tutorials and Widgets.

Message was edited by: www.cpguru.com