High-score list using PHP - Page 4

Adding Flash

So, now we'll bring this functionality into Flash. We're going to build a simple Flash application which adds a name and score to the list and displays the whole list on screen.

1. First, create a blank movie.
2. Insert ten variable text boxes in a column with the variable named NAME0 to NAME9 and ten more next to each corresponding text box named SCORE0 to SCORE9. It should look like this:
   
   The text boxes on the left are the NAME text boxes and the ones on the right are the SCORE text boxes.

3. Select all the text boxes and convert them to a movieClip by pressing F8. Call the new movieClip scoretable. Set the instance of the movieClip to scoretable as well.
4. Within the scoretable movieClip fix up the graphics as you see fit, to make the score table more presentable. I've made mine look like this:
   
5. To submit a new name and score to the high score list and then update the table on screen, use the following actionscript

_root.scoretable.filename = "scores/demo.sco"; 
_root.scoretable.scoresize = 10; 
_root.scoretable.action = "INSERT"; 
_root.scoretable.viewtype = "FLASH"; 
_root.scoretable.winname = name; 
_root.scoretable.winscore = score; 
_root.scoretable.loadVariables("http://www.myscore.com/scores.php", "GET");

This code can be placed anywhere in your game, because it accesses scoretable via the _root path. What we're doing is adding name and score to the file scores/demo.sco. Also, because we've specified viewtype to be FLASH, then a string of variables (including our recent addition) will be returned to Flash, and sent to the scoretable movieClip. Since our movieClip is filled with text box variables that have names which match the incoming score data, the on-screen score table will automatically be updated with the newly received scores.

Let's say that the player "Glen" has just died, with a score of 29220. We can present them with a game over screen that asks them for their name. The _root variable score contains the score, and their name is placed in the _root variable name. We present them with an "OK" button, that has the following code attached to it:

on (release)
{
   _root.scoretable.filename = "scores/demo.sco"; 
   _root.scoretable.scoresize = 10; 
   _root.scoretable.action = "INSERT"; 
   _root.scoretable.viewtype = "FLASH"; 
   _root.scoretable.winname = _root.name; 
   _root.scoretable.winscore = _root.score; 
   _root.scoretable.loadVariables("http://www.myscore.com/scores.php", "GET");
}

Now, as long as our _root.scoretable._visible is true (the scoretable is visible, and on screen), then we'll see the new scores!

As more people play the game, the list will fill up, and the best will be at the top. If you wanted to display the score table without adding new names to the list (at the beginning of the game, for example, at the starting screen), you would simply set _root.scoretable.action to "VIEW" instead of "INSERT". Remember, if you ever send through a "CLEAR" action, then the table will be reset to names of "none" and scores of 0.

That's it. The rest is up to you - you have to build the games around this.