The Flash URL Extension Still Works

redpandagames · August 21, 2012 at 6:08 PM

A lot of people have been having trouble with outgoing links, but I've been able to get them to work on Kongregate and Newgrounds with the Flash URL extension and no Flash Haxx. You don't need any work arounds.

Examples:

At Newgrounds: Please login to see this link.
At Kongregate: Please login to see this link.

Some tips for the best results:

1) Make sure that you have the object in each frame that you have links (I wasted a bunch of time because I had a shortcut instead of the actual object. Argghhh!)
2) Use "Mouse Pointer Over Object" or "Mouse Pointer Within a zone" to set the URL.
3) Use "User Left Clicks Within a zone" or "User left clicks on an object" to "Add Event Listener". (opens the link)
4) Use "Mouse Pointer Within a Zone" to remove Listener. You could also negate this. Triple check to make sure that the bounding box really is where you think. The display for it is kind of buggy.

If you get stuck, just PM me and I will look at your file. It really is very easy. Not sure why people are having so many problems...

By the way, it works really well with Advanced Mochiads. Not sure about regular Mochi stuff...

Pineapple · August 22, 2012 at 12:58 AM

I'm going to try using it the way you specified, maybe that'll make a difference.

The problems I've been getting is that my sponsor is telling me that the links stop working on reload or force the link open when you click somewhere else.

redpandagames · August 22, 2012 at 3:26 PM

Quote from Pineapple

I'm going to try using it the way you specified, maybe that'll make a difference.
The problems I've been getting is that my sponsor is telling me that the links stop working on reload or force the link open when you click somewhere else.

If they load when you click somewhere else, then you need to "remove the listener" when the mouse enters a non clickable URL location.

I'm not sure how they are reloading the application, but a reload shouldn't affect anything. You could try removing the listener when the user clicks on reload.

SoftWarewolf · August 26, 2012 at 1:11 AM

i hate flash url.. it actually crashes my mmf and i couldn't get it work properly.. perhaps an example .mfa would be in order? it should be really complex as well, like 2 different links: one zone and one active, and on the active the url changes depending on the active direction or alterable value. Also after the link-click change to another frame, because i am having a backup system where it just shows the url in an edit-box so chinese link-blocked players can copy-paste manually.

Phi · August 27, 2012 at 4:30 AM

If you're having difficulties with object shortcuts, you can go into the MMF2 options and make it warn you when it creates shortcuts instead of the real deals.

redpandagames · August 27, 2012 at 6:53 AM

Quote from SoftWarewolf

i hate flash url.. it actually crashes my mmf and i couldn't get it work properly.. perhaps an example .mfa would be in order? it should be really complex as well, like 2 different links: one zone and one active, and on the active the url changes depending on the active direction or alterable value. Also after the link-click change to another frame, because i am having a backup system where it just shows the url in an edit-box so chinese link-blocked players can copy-paste manually.

I've never used the edit box before... Will people actually copy the text and paste it in their browser?

I could try and come up with some example, but I would have to play around with that thing first.

Pineapple · September 20, 2012 at 2:05 AM

Well, I re-did my conditions the way you had suggested, but it didn't make any difference.

Basically, my sponsor is telling me that it works fine when run locally, but when he embeds it in html, problems occur. I think the issue might be caused in part by having flash url in the preloader.

redpandagames · September 20, 2012 at 3:08 PM

Quote from Pineapple

Well, I re-did my conditions the way you had suggested, but it didn't make any difference.
Basically, my sponsor is telling me that it works fine when run locally, but when he embeds it in html, problems occur. I think the issue might be caused in part by having flash url in the preloader.

I should say that even if you follow my instructions, there will always be some sites with extremely aggressive blocking technology that will stop you. If you send me the file and the html page that the sponsor is trying to use, I can take a look and see what the problem is, if it is how the events were implemented. I should also say that I didn't make the extension, and I'm not an expert on it.

What if he just has ad blocking software on his computer or something?

Also, if he has numerous flash objects embedded on the same page, "Yes!" You could easily have problems. Flash objects don't play nicely together on webpages and sometimes require workarounds.

The extension cannot be considered a panacea to URL linking because there will always be someone out there with better ad blocking tech. The sponsor has to realize that you cannot guarantee 100% visitation from clicking the in-game links.

However, it is strange that they aren't working at all. Again, I would be happy to look at it.

Pineapple · September 23, 2012 at 4:50 PM

Update: My sponsor, and apparently many other websites don't allow script access. Their flash embed code has allow script access=never. This seems to break flash url.

redpandagames · September 25, 2012 at 4:23 PM

Quote from Pineapple

Update: My sponsor, and apparently many other websites don't allow script access. Their flash embed code has allow script access=never. This seems to break flash url.

Yeah, I thought that might have something to do with it, which is why I wanted to see the html page. Well, I'm not sure what else we could do... Anybody have any ideas? I'd hate to see you lose your sponsorship over something like this.

Pineapple · October 6, 2012 at 12:41 AM

While doing some more work to try and get this to function, I found the source of the bug my sponsor was having: links always opening, that is. It appears that having the "Flash preloader" extension in the same frame as Flash url was causing problems and forcing links to open whenever you clicked on other frames.

redpandagames · October 6, 2012 at 8:29 AM

Quote from Pineapple

While doing some more work to try and get this to function, I found the source of the bug my sponsor was having: links always opening, that is. It appears that having the "Flash preloader" extension in the same frame as Flash url was causing problems and forcing links to open whenever you clicked on other frames.

I'm glad that you got it figured out. Sometimes multiple flash extensions in one frame cause weird problems for me too.

mbuddha · November 28, 2012 at 7:36 PM

Where is the Flash URL Extension? I downloaded all the extension packs on the clickteam site. The only thing I have is a Flash Player object. When I put that into a frame, I can create a condition that opens a URL. It works in the browser but I'm not sure if that will work on NewGrounds.

Edit: finally found it here Please login to see this link.

I didn't have it already in my build.

pzazz · December 10, 2012 at 10:03 AM

Hello,
I'm having exactly the same problem as Pineapple- Links are working on some sites but not others. It's a real problem as it essentially renders the swf exporter for professional work useless. I'm not using 'flash preloader' extension as Pineapple mentioned. I don't have any answers either, perhaps we should bring it to clickteam's attention and see if there is any way around. It's quite a stress as I'm relying on this for a living. If anyone has a way to get the links to work on the web reliably, please let me know, it would be a life saver.

redpandagames · December 13, 2012 at 3:17 PM

I use it on newgrounds all of the time and it works. I have noticed lately that my links seem to be loading the clickteam website randomly. Has anyone else noticed that? I'm not sure if it's a weird issue with my bitly links or not.

redpandagames · December 13, 2012 at 3:18 PM

If you want to send my your file, I can take a look at it and see what the problem is. There will always be some websites with super powerful blocking technologies, so there's no way to make it work 100% of the time.

Matriax · December 31, 2012 at 9:23 AM

Post here to say the extension works perfectly , but Why not run inside MMF2D?

BTW, and after about 3 days with MMF2D all the actions are very easy to use and i'm confused why for open a simple link you need to do all this things.

Yes, i'm a newbie but, Not will be possible something similar like: Create condition -> Button Clicked -> Open Url , then a dialog box appears to set the url to be opened and other to 0=_Blank,etc... Now you need to create 3 conditions, set the button zone,etc... . I know that if this is the best option to open urls with flash is because no exists other way to do this but i not understand why.

RickyRombo · January 5, 2013 at 8:53 AM

Quote from Matriax

BTW, and after about 3 days with MMF2D all the actions are very easy to use and i'm confused why for open a simple link you need to do all this things.
Yes, i'm a newbie but, Not will be possible something similar like: Create condition -> Button Clicked -> Open Url , then a dialog box appears to set the url to be opened and other to 0=_Blank,etc... Now you need to create 3 conditions, set the button zone,etc... . I know that if this is the best option to open urls with flash is because no exists other way to do this but i not understand why.

The reason behind it is due to the Flash platform's handling of events. As a novice AS3 developer, I've learned that in AS3 you have to set "Event Listeners" - something that MMF2 doesn't have to do for its C++ versions. As such, it would be tedious and fruitless to try and rework MMF2 to integrate such event listeners more intuitively and fluently. It is a bit of a pain. From a extension developer standpoint, however, it's the best way to do it.

Matriax · January 5, 2013 at 9:04 AM

Quote from RickyRombo

The reason behind it is due to the Flash platform's handling of events. As a novice AS3 developer, I've learned that in AS3 you have to set "Event Listeners" - something that MMF2 doesn't have to do for its C++ versions. As such, it would be tedious and fruitless to try and rework MMF2 to integrate such event listeners more intuitively and fluently. It is a bit of a pain. From a extension developer standpoint, however, it's the best way to do it.

For the Pong game finally i used the Flash object, and with one condition you can choose the url and works perfectly .

RickyRombo · January 5, 2013 at 11:53 PM

Great!

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