435
USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL
Best practices
See also
“
Optimizing graphics and animation
” on page 437
Tracking advertisements
Several leading advertising networks now support standardized tracking methods in Flash SWF files. The following
guidelines describe the supported tracking methodology:
Create a button or movie clip button
Use standardized dimensions outlined by the IAB. For a list of standardized
dimensions, see the IAB website. For more information on creating a button in Flash, see “
Create a button
” on
page 164.
Add a script to the button
Executes when a user clicks the banner. You might use the
getURL()
function to open a
new browser window. The following code snippets are two examples of ActionScript 2.0 code you might add to Frame
1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function(){
getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");
};
You might add the following code to Frame 1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function() {
if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == "http:") {
getURL(clickTAG);
}
};
The
getURL()
function adds the variable passed in the
object
and
embed
tags, and then sends the browser that is
launched to the specified location. The server hosting the ad can track clicks on the advertisement. For more
information on using the
getURL()
function, see
ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
.
Assign clickTAG code for tracking
Tracks the advertisement and helps the network serving the ad to track where the
ad appears and when it is clicked.
The process is the standard way of creating an advertising campaign for a typical Flash advertisement. If you assign the
getURL()
function to the banner, you can use the following process to add tracking to the banner. The following
example lets you append a variable to a URL string to pass data, which lets you set dynamic variables for each banner,
instead of creating a separate banner for each domain. You can use a single banner for the entire campaign, and any
server that is hosting the ad can track the clicks on the banner.
In the
object
and
embed
tags in your HTML, you would add code similar to the following example (where
www.helpexamples.com is the ad network, and adobe.com is the company with an advertisement):
<EMBED src="your_ad.swf?clickTAG= http://helpexamples.com/tracking?http://www.adobe.com">
Add the following code in your HTML:
<PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="your_ad.swf?clickTAG =http:
//helpexamples.com/tracking?http://www.adobe.com">
For more information on advanced tracking techniques, see the Rich Media Advertising Center at
www.adobe.com/go/rich_media_ads
.
To download the Rich Media Tracking Kit, which includes examples and documentation, see
www.adobe.com/go/richmedia_tracking
.
To learn more about and download the Flash Ad Kit, which helps you deliver integrated and sophisticated
advertisements, see
www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_flash_ad_kit
.
Updated 5 March 2009
