Populate Combo Box + AS3 + PHP + MySQL

[worked]

Hey there-  I successfully learned to save and load data from flash/PHP/MySQL with the tuts on this site, thanks!  So, now I am wondering how I would populate a combo box with data found in the DB?  Any help is appreciated.  Thanks!

[Jorge Solis]

First question to spot the problem: you know how to populate the combo trough AS with static data?

Jorge

[worked]

Yes.  Here's an example:

ActionScript 3:

Code:

import fl.controls.ComboBox;
import fl.data.DataProvider;

var questions:Array = new Array(
{label:"Your pets name?", data:"five.swf"},
{label:"Your High Schools name?", data:"four.gif"},
{label:"Your shoe size?", data:"three.gif"},
{label:"Your SAT score?", data:"two.gif"},
{label:"Your Mothers name?", data:"one.gif"}
);

userQuestion.dropdownWidth = 210;
userQuestion.prompt = "Pick Your question";
userQuestion.dataProvider = new DataProvider(questions);

[Ronald Wernecke]

great:

comboBox.dataProvider=questions;

and youre done

[Jorge Solis]

You just need to build the dataProvider with loaded data, i.e following onLoad handler from tutorial

function onDataLoad(evt:Event){
        var questions:Array = new Array()
        for(var i:uint=0; i<evt.target.data.cant; i++){
           questions.push({label:evt.target.data["question"+i], data:evt.target.data["movie"+i]})
        }
        userQuestion.dataProvider = new DataProvider(questions);
    }

This assumes a PHP output like this:

question0=What ....&movie0=some.swf&question1=Where...&movie1=other.swf& ......... &movie10=Which ...&movie10=last.swf&cant=10

Jorge

[worked]

Excellent!  Thanks again! 

Also, what if I needed the combo box label to link to a url or a another frame in my movie?

Here's the code that worked for me, incase someone comes across this post:

AS3:

Code:

import fl.controls.ComboBox;
import fl.data.DataProvider;

var myData:URLRequest = new URLRequest("questions.php");
myData.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;

var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
loader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, questionOnLoad);
loader.load(myData);

function questionOnLoad(evt:Event) {
var questions:Array = new Array();
for (var i:uint=0; i<evt.target.data.cant; i++) {
questions.push({label:evt.target.data["question"+i], data:evt.target.data["image"+i]});
}
questions.dataProvider = new DataProvider(questions);
questions.dropdownWidth = 210;
questions.prompt = "Pick Your Question";
}

stop();

PHP:

Code:

<?php
$connect = mysql_connect("server", "username", "password");
$db = "your database name";
$table = "your table name";
mysql_select_db("$db", $connect);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT Questions, Images FROM $table");
$cant = 0;
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
echo "question$cant=$row[Questions]&image$cant=$row[Images]&";
$cant++;
}
echo "cant=$cant";
?>

[worked]

So i learned to link to a url via a dynamic combo box via navigateToURL(); method.  Question.  What if I wanted to link to a frame or another .swf file?  Thanks for any help!

working url links:

Code:

import fl.controls.ComboBox;
import fl.data.DataProvider;

var myData2:URLRequest = new URLRequest("comboBox.php");
myData2.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;

var loader2:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
loader2.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
loader2.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, boardReviewsOnLoad);
loader2.load(myData2);

function boardReviewsOnLoad(evt:Event) {
var boards:Array = new Array();
for (var i:uint=0; i<evt.target.data.cant; i++) {
boards.push({label:evt.target.data["title"+i], data:evt.target.data["comments"+i]});
}
boardBox.dataProvider = new DataProvider(boards);
boardBox.dropdownWidth = 210;
boardBox.prompt = "Pick Your Board";
boardBox.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, changeHandler);
}

function changeHandler(event:Event):void {
       var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
       request.url = ComboBox(event.target).selectedItem.data;
       navigateToURL(request);
       boardBox.selectedIndex = -1;
}

[Ronald Wernecke]

How about loadMovie()?

[Jorge Solis]

If you check navigateToUrl Help entry, you will see that it has a second argument that is the target, put there the name of your frame. Also if the loaded content isn't inside your domain, will fails due to security restriction (needs a crossdomain), check always inside your browser

Jorge

[worked]

Thanks for responding Jorge.   I added another frame to my movie and gave it a frame name of 'datagrid' and updated the MySQL URL row to equal the flash movie I'm currently in. Unfortunately adding the frame name to the second argument does not work... for example:

Code:

function changeHandler(event:Event):void {
       var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
       request.url = ComboBox(event.target).selectedItem.data;
       navigateToURL(request, 'datagrid');
       boardBox.selectedIndex = -1;

Any other suggestions on how I would get the combo box to advance me to another frame in my movie?  Thanks!

[Jorge Solis]

navigateToUrl is to open an external link, so frame in this context means an HTML frame. If you want to go to a flash frame with a label, use

gotoAndStop("somelabel")

where somelabel is the frame label

Jorge

[worked]

Hey Jorge-  So I have a simple MySQL db with a row that looks like so:
{label:"Something", data:"datagrid"}

When the combo box is populated with the label "Something" and a CHANGE event is applied to it (so it takes me to frame "datagrid" when selected).  How would I alter the CHANGE event from a navigateToURL(); to a gotoAndStop(); for this to work?

Code:

function changeHandler(event:Event):void {
       var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
       request.url = ComboBox(event.target).selectedItem.data;
       navigateToURL(request);
       boardBox.selectedIndex = -1;

[Jorge Solis]

Instead of

navigateToURL(request);

use

gotoAndStop(request)

That's it

Jorge

[worked]

Awesome, thanks!

[JKofSpades]

 

Hey Guys,

I KEEP getting the Error #1069: Property cant not found on String and there is no default value.

When I try to implement the code.

PLEASE any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks