flash data integration: Please help!
I'm working on a school website and have a 'Stop Press' panel on the home page
which is used for breaking news e.g. School Closed Due to Snow....
The home.htm file contains a flash insert to do the animation which in-turn is
supplied with the news announcements from an XML file. The administrator
updates the news in the XML and then uploads to the site.

Now the problem...
Whereas all htm files uploaded to the web server usually take effect
immediately, the XML doesn't. Users of the web site report all sorts of delays
in seeing the new information. I can see from my FTP program (Dreamweaver)
that the xml is PUT onto the site but it has an erratic delay (sometimes
hours!) in getting into the Flash program?

Strange - How can my Browser (IE7) affect the web server file?
I find that if I open the XML file on the web server (by writing it's address
directly into the browser address bar), I see the OLD version of the XML.
However, if I then click my browser REFRESH button, the XML file on the server
updates and is then available to the flash program on the home page and all is
well (at least in my browser)??

Yours, confused Dave
:confused;

Hi

I think you have a problem with browser-cacheing, its a real problem with flash - check this out

http://www.quip.net/blog/2006/flash/be-in-charge-cacheing

Feldkircher ,

Thanks again for the link to the answer. A great Blog site!

For information:
The problem is with browsers not refreshing external files when you think they
should be.

I overcame the problem by changing the code in my swf

FROM:
xml.load("stoppress.xml");

TO:
xml.load("stoppress.xml?ver=" + Math.floor(Math.random() * 999));

This forces the browser to reload the XML file every time it comes across the
instruction, even if the XML hasn't been updated.
This is acttually inside a loop so it means that it's like a real-time update.

Check out david stiller's blog site for instructions on how to force the htm
file to reload.

regards
Dave