Flash message box

[DMJHenry]

Doable in Flash?

Here is the scenerio. Have an introductory video (in Flash exe) of a park that plays on a large display. Client wants to add a message box that displays (cycles through) up to 15 park messages, such as 'Aspen trail closed for maintenance' or 'Bridge campground loop closed'. So my question is two-fold. Is it possible to create a Flash interface that the client can type/edit (as needed) 15 different messages (seperate Flash exe than the video display). Then, have those messages show up in an announcement text box in the Flash video exe.

Here is an image of the video player interface with message box in lower right corner. Both Flash programs (video player and interface to add messages) are on the same PC.

Any help appreciated...

[kglad]

yes, you can use a text or xml file for the client to edit that flash will load and display.

you would use the urlloader class to load the text or xml file and you would use the flash string or xml methods/properties to parse the loaded file, resp.

[DMJHenry]

Can a flash interface be created that would generate the xml file? Also, how would you approach displaying each message in the xml file for say 15 sec. and then display the next message? It would have to keep looping through the messages...

[kglad]

yes, you can write/create an xml file using the filereference class or, if you're creating an air app, the file class.

use a timer to loop through your messages,

//after assigning your messages to an array (eg, messgeA)

var index:int=0;

var t:Timer=new Timer(15000,0);

t.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER,f);

t.start();

f();

function f(e:TimerEvent):void{

//assign text

tf.text=messageA[index];

index=(index+1)%messageA.length;

}

[DMJHenry]

kglad, thanks for your replies. What I need is an experienced programmer to do this but I do not have anyone imediately available and I am on a short time table. If you know someone immediately available-let me know.

I am not versed in actionscript enough to create a user interface to create the following xml (sample) with filereference:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<messages>

          <message>

                    <text>Aspen campground closed</text>

                    <text>Boulder trail bridge is washed out - trail closed</text>

                    <text>Campfire talk tonight at 6:00</text>

          </message>

</messages>

Are there any tutorials on this?

Also on scripting the urlloader to parse the data and loop through the messages with a timer.

Help appreciated very much.

[kglad]

send me an email via http://www.kglad.com > contact