User Guide

Using the Flash local connection object 195
The callback handler could look like the following:
on dirOnStatusHandler (me, aInfoObject)
if (aInfoObject[#level] = "error") then
member("chat input").text = "Error sending last message."
end if
end
Using the Flash local connection object
Flash includes an object type called local connection. The Flash local connection object can be
very useful for allowing separate movies on the same computer to connect to and communicate
with each other. Because the local connection object is a Flash object supported in Director, it can
allow communication between separate Flash content, Director movies, or combinations of the
two. You can use the messaging capability of the local connection object for simple tasks such as
exchanging sprite property data, or for more complex ones such as exchanging chat messages
when used in conjunction with the Flash Communication Server. For more information, see
“Using Flash Communication Server MX 2004” on page 198.
To use the local connection object, you can either create a global local connection object or
associate the object with a Flash sprite in the Score. Once you have created the object, you can
control it entirely through script. The following are examples of a script that is attached to a Flash
sprite in channel 1 of the Score. The script contains a
beginSprite handler and other handlers
that manage the local connection object.
Initialize properties
The first thing to do is declare some properties that you will use throughout the local connection
script to store references to the local connection object and 2 connections, one outgoing and
one incoming.
• The property pCon_name stores the name of an outgoing connection
• The property pOtherCon_name stores the name of an incoming connection
• The property pLocalCon stores a reference to the local connection object
The beginning of the script might look like this, including the start of the
beginSprite handler:
property pCon_name
property pOtherCon_name
property pLocalCon
on beginSprite (me)
pCon_name = "userA"
pOtherCon_name = "userB"
Creating the local connection object
The next step is to create a new local connection object. Once the object is created, you can use
the
setCallback() method to set up handlers to respond to the events that the local connection
object generates. You can then also use the methods of the local connection object to connect to
other movies and send messages.
• To create the new local connection object, use the newObject() method:
pLocalConn = sprite(1).newObject("LocalConnection")
This script assigns the property pLocalConn to be a reference to the newly created object.