Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
FlashVars is that once the user comes to the site, then that URL is
going to stay as it was when they got there. That may be perfectly
fine, but if you want the URL to update as they work their way
through the site, you
'
llneedtowriteupsomecodetohandleit.
'
However, if you
re thinking about doing that, you may want to
reconsider because someone else has already taken care of it
for you.
Another option for deep linking is SWFAddress by Asual.
SWFAddress works with SWFObject and not only does it provide
you with deep linking in your Flash and Flex sites, but also enables
use of the Back, Forward, and Refresh buttons in your browser. It
does this by utilizing the ExternalInterface functionality introduced
inFlashPlayer8and,atthetimeofthiswriting,supportsthe
followingbrowsers:MozillaFirefox 1+, Camino 1+, Internet
Explorer 6+, Safari 1.3+, Opera 9.5+, and Chrome 1+. To download
SWFAddress and read much more information about it, visit http://
www.asual.com/swfaddress/.
While we
re talking about deep linking, I should also go
ahead and mention the BrowserManager in Flex. Along with
the URLUtil class, the BrowserManager class enables you to
access the URL and more specifically, the portions (or
'
“
frag-
ments
) of the URL that are found after the pound sign. The
pound sign works just like the question mark in a URL in that it
marks the beginning of a query string or set of parameters.
In order for this deep linking to work, your HTML wrapper needs
a few extra files that Flash Builder should include for you.
Those files are history.css, history.js, and historyFrame.html. To
enable deep linking in your Flash Builder project, you need to
make sure that the
”
”
option is selected in the Flex Compiler section of your project
properties (Fig. 9.8).
“
Enable integration with browser navigation
Collecting User Data
Microsites are a prime location to collect information about your
users. They are also a great place to give those users an opportu-
nity to sign up for information about your client. Maybe your
client has a monthly newsletter that they offer from their main
site, but they want potential customers to have access to it from
the microsite as well. Or maybe your client wants to know
whether users have been to their physical storefronts and how
they would rate their experience. In any case, you
ll be collecting
information from the users, and the forms you build will be
determined by the end goal of what that information is going to
be used for.
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