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Using the external API

The ActionScript 3.0 external API ( flash.external.ExternalInterface) enables straightforward communication between ActionScript and the container application within which Adobe Flash Player is running. Use the ExternalInterface API to create interaction between a SWF document and JavaScript in an HTML page.

You can use the external API to interact with a container application, pass data between ActionScript and JavaScript in an HTML page.

Some common external API tasks are:

  • Getting information about the container application

  • Using ActionScript to call code in a web page displayed in a browser or an AIR desktop application

  • Calling ActionScript code from a web page

  • Creating a proxy to simplify calling ActionScript code from a web page

Note: This discussion of the external interface only covers communication between ActionScript in a SWF file and the container application that includes a reference to the Flash Player or instance in which the SWF file is loaded. Any other use of Flash Player within an application is outside the scope of this documentation. Flash Player is designed to be used as a browser plug-in or as a projector (standalone application). Other usage scenarios may have limited support.

Using the external API in AIR​

Since an AIR application does not have an external container, this external interface does not generally apply—nor is it generally needed. When your AIR application loads a SWF file directly, the application code can communicate directly with the ActionScript code in the SWF (subject to security sandbox restrictions).

However, when your AIR application loads a SWF file using an HTML page in an HTMLLoader object (or an HTML component in Flex), the HTMLLoader object serves as the external container. Thus, you can use the external interface to communicate between the ActionScript code in the loaded SWF and the JavaScript code in the HTML page loaded in the HTMLLoader.