Version: Flash 4+
Date Added: April 13, 1998

Here are some techniques for launching a new window From a flash movie embedded in a web page. As a historical curiosity, I might as well mention that these are the first Flash-related technical notes I ever posted on moock.org.

• popup windows with fs command
  use an fs command action to call a javascript function that launches a window.
  rating: worst. badly buggy in Netscape, and excludes Win3.1 and Mac68K. last updated: december 03, 1998.
• popup windows with a javascript: getURL()
  call a javascript function directly from a getURL() using the "javascript:" protocol.
  rating: good. very stable, doesn't require frames, and supports everything except IE 3.0 (on pc) and IE 4.5 (on mac). this technique works fine with ie5 on mac.
• popups with javascript in a hidden frame
  use a getURL to load a page into a hidden frame, then call the popup function with an javascript ONLOAD handler.
  rating: best if you want the broadest browser support. if you don't care about ie3win or ie4.5mac, use the javascript protocol approach instead.
• popups with the "Target" of a getURL()
  use a getURL() with a target window set to "_blank".
  rating: easiest. but no control over new window attributes.
• launching a fullscreen window
  how open a window from flash or html that takes up the user's whole screen. requires either technique two or three for window launching (above) or javascript utopia's window launcher as a code base. works in 4.0+ browsers only.
• closing a window you've launched
  a short tutorial on closing a spawned browser window without calling javascript directly from flash. shows how to close a window from flash and html.