Integrating Flash forms with standard Web form handlers

Can I build a form in Macromedia Flash and post submissions back to a standard Web server form handler?

Can I build a form in Macromedia Flash and post submissions back to a standard Web server form-handler?

Yes, the Flash Professional version can post form submissions to a plain old Web server, as well as to a Cold Fusion or ASP server.

To create a form, choose the Flash Form Application item in the Create New menu item when you launch Flash. Expand the Components pane in the Flash workbench. Build your form layout using the UI Components in the Components pane by dragging and dropping selected elements onto the stage.

After laying out the components, use the Properties Inspector (in the Window menu) to set your form element parameters, such as label text and field names. Component properties and behaviors can be customized using Action Script as needed.

The Flash forms tutorial on the Macromedia Web site has examples for behaviors, such as clearing all the form fields at the click of a Reset button.

After configuring all the user interface data-entry components, you need to provide an Action Script for gathering the data, submitting the form and displaying the appropriate response, based on the server reply to the form submission. The Action Script language in Flash is an ECMAScript-based language similar to JavaScript. Examples are provided in the tutorial.

After working through the tutorial, you should be able to build forms directly into Flash presentations that can post data back to the Web server technology that you already use.