Disabling Dates in Flash DatePicker Component

So I was working on a project for a client and she needed a calendar for booking appointments. However, she wanted the ability to disable dates to prevent double booking. Since the site was in Flash, I thought I would use the DatePicker component, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to do it dynamically so that she could update it. With the help of nunomira on flashkit.com, I was able to implement it very easily. The site used an access database, so I wrote a quick asp page that outputs the dates in XML and then Flash loads the variables into an array and disables the dates. I thought I would share, in case anyone else can use this. Here is the actionscript. Just load this into the frame and name your datepicker “calendar”:

var dates_xml:XML = new XML();
dates_xml.ignoreWhite = true;
dates_xml.onLoad = function(ok:Boolean):Void
{
    if (ok)
    {
        var temp_xml:Array = this.firstChild.childNodes;
        var n:Number = temp_xml.length;

        var dates:Array = new Array();// local variable now

        for (var i = 0; i < n; i++)
        {
            var year:Number = parseInt(temp_xml[i].attributes.year, 10);
            var month:Number = parseInt(temp_xml[i].attributes.month, 10);
            var day:Number = parseInt(temp_xml[i].attributes.day, 10);

            dates.push(new Date(year, month, day));
        }

        disableDates(dates);// call the function
    }
};
dates_xml.load("dates.xml");

function disableDates(dates:Array)
{
    var datesRanges:Array = new Array();

    var n = dates.length;
    for (var i = 0; i < n; i++)
    {
        var j = i % 2;
        //if it's odd
        if (j == 0)
        {
            datesRanges.push({rangeStart:dates[i], rangeEnd:dates[i + 1]});
        }
    }

    calendar.disabledRanges = datesRanges;
} 

Here is the asp code. Note that the input month names was the actual name, so I converted them into numbers for Flash to read:

<%
   ' -- show.asp --
   ' Generates a list of uploaded files
   
   Response.Buffer = True
   
   ' Connection String
   Dim connStr
      connStr = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source=" & _
         Server.MapPath("dates.mdb")

   ' Recordset Object
   Dim rs
      Set rs = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
      
      ' opening connection
      rs.Open "select * from dates " & _
		"order by [ID] desc", connStr, 3, 4

response.ContentType="text/xml"
response.Write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>")
response.Write("<dates>")
While Not rs.EOF
'Setting up the start year

response.Write("<date year=""" & rs("start_year") & """")
'converting month names to numbers for Flash to read
If rs("start_month") = "Jan" Then 
response.Write(" month=""0""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Feb" Then 
response.Write(" month=""1""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Mar" Then 
response.Write(" month=""2""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Apr" Then 
response.Write(" month=""3""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "May" Then 
response.Write(" month=""4""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Jun" Then 
response.Write(" month=""5""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Jul" Then 
response.Write(" month=""6""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Aug" Then 
response.Write(" month=""7""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Sept" Then 
response.Write(" month=""8""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Oct" Then 
response.Write(" month=""9""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Nov" Then 
response.Write(" month=""10""")

ElseIf rs("start_month") = "Dec" Then 
response.Write(" month=""11""")

End If

response.Write(" day=""" & rs("start_day") & """ />")


'setting up the end year

response.Write("<date year=""" & rs("end_year") & """")
'converting month names to numbers for Flash to read
If rs("end_month") = "Jan" Then 
response.Write(" month=""0""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Feb" Then 
response.Write(" month=""1""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Mar" Then 
response.Write(" month=""2""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Apr" Then 
response.Write(" month=""3""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "May" Then 
response.Write(" month=""4""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Jun" Then 
response.Write(" month=""5""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Jul" Then 
response.Write(" month=""6""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Aug" Then 
response.Write(" month=""7""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Sept" Then 
response.Write(" month=""8""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Oct" Then 
response.Write(" month=""9""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Nov" Then 
response.Write(" month=""10""")

ElseIf rs("end_month") = "Dec" Then 
response.Write(" month=""11""")

End If

response.Write(" day=""" & rs("end_day") & """ />")

         rs.MoveNext
         Wend

      
      rs.Close
      Set rs = Nothing
response.Write("</dates>")
%>


You can also download the fla and a static XML file if you want to see how it's done. Cheers, Hal

Published by

Hal

Aside from being a champion yo-yoer, I am the full-time computer geek at the American Society of Nephrology. I recently completed my MBA from George Washington University which I am hoping will enable me to finally afford my own bad habits. I also do freelance design, specializing in Flash, PHP, and ASP/ASP.NET.

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