activating flash outside of flash

[bunglebrown]

wondering if there is anyway to activate a flash animation with a regular image (outside of flash) so that when you press on the image the animation will begin?

[Nathan H]

well, you might be able to use javascript to force the flash to play, but i have never attempted such a thing.

[bunglebrown]

yes - it must be possible.

Any other takers willing to resolve this one?

[Nathan H]

another alternative, is to have a script re-write a div. for example have the first frame as an image, then onclick change to the flash object

[bunglebrown]

sorry - how would I go about doing all that?

That sounds like it could be the one!

[port5900]

Yes it can be done. Here is a link to a tutorial.
http://www.permadi.com/tutorial/flashjscommand/

[bunglebrown]

port5900 that was an extremely useful link - thanks so much!!

Only one thing really I want to jump to different frames within the flash animation, i.e. certain buttons trigger the animation from various places. Any further insights??

[Nathan H]

Well, you *could* do one of two things as far as i can think of

1) split the animation up into seperate files, and get them to load eachother

2) in the flash animation, get it to read a text file at regular intervals (say every second) then use JS or some other method (maybe php) to change this text file. You could use the text file as an interface between js and flash

[bunglebrown]

thanks

to jump to certain frames I used this:

 
function Jumptoframe50()
{
 var flashMovie=getFlashMovieObject("moviename");
 var currentFrame=flashMovie.TGetProperty("/", 1);
 var Frame50=parseInt(currentFrame);
 if (Frame50>=0)
  Frame2=50;
 flashMovie.GotoFrame(Frame50);
 flashMovie.Play();
}