Looks up a class that previously had an alias registered through a call to the registerClassAlias() method.

This method does not interact with the flash.utils.getDefinitionByName() method.

Parameters

Related API Elements

Opens or replaces a window in the application that contains the Flash Player container (usually a browser). In Adobe AIR, the function opens a URL in the default application for handling the URI scheme. For example, the default system web browser opens for the http: and https: URI schemes.

Important Security Note

Developers often pass URL values to the navigateToURL() function that were obtained from external sources such as FlashVars. Attackers may try to manipulate these external sources to perform attacks such as cross-site scripting. In AIR, attackers could attempt to open other applications. Therefore, developers should validate all URLs before passing them to this function.

Good data validation for URLs can mean different things depending on the usage of the URL within the overall application. The most common data validation techniques include validating that the URL is of the appropriate scheme. For instance, unintentionally allowing javascript: URLs may result in cross-site scripting. Validating that the URL is a within your domain can ensure that the SWF file can't be used as an open-redirector by people who conduct phishing attacks. For additional security, you may also choose to validate the path of the URL and to validate that the URL conforms to the RFC guidelines

For example, the following code shows a simple example of performing data validation by denying any URL that does not begin with http:// or https:// and validating that the URL is within your domain name. This example may not be appropriate for all web applications and you should consider whether additional checks against the URL are necessary.

     // AS3 Regular expression pattern match for URLs that start with http:// and https:// plus your domain name.
     function checkProtocol (flashVarURL:String):Boolean {
        // Get the domain name for the SWF if it is not known at compile time.
        // If the domain is known at compile time, then the following two lines can be replaced with a hard coded string.
        var my_lc:LocalConnection = new LocalConnection();
        var domainName:String = my_lc.domain;
        // Build the RegEx to test the URL.
        // This RegEx assumes that there is at least one "/" after the
        // domain. http://www.mysite.com will not match.
        var pattern:RegExp = new RegExp("^http[s]?\:\\/\\/([^\\/]+)\\/");
        var result:Object = pattern.exec(flashVarURL);
        if (result == null || result[1] != domainName || flashVarURL.length >= 4096) {
          return (false);
        }
        return (true);
     }  
     
      

For local content running in a browser, calls to the navigateToURL() method that specify a "javascript:" pseudo-protocol (via a URLRequest object passed as the first parameter) are only permitted if the SWF file and the containing web page (if there is one) are in the local-trusted security sandbox. Some browsers do not support using the javascript protocol with the navigateToURL() method. Instead, consider using the call() method of the ExternalInterface API to invoke JavaScript methods within the enclosing HTML page.

In Flash Player, and in non-application sandboxes in Adobe AIR, you cannot connect to commonly reserved ports. For a complete list of blocked ports, see "Restricting Networking APIs" in the ActionScript 3.0 Developer's Guide.

In Flash Player 10 and later running in a browser, using this method programmatically to open a pop-up window may not be successful. Various browsers (and browser configurations) may block pop-up windows at any time; it is not possible to guarantee any pop-up window will appear. However, for the best chance of success, use this method to open a pop-up window only in code that executes as a direct result of a user action (for example, in an event handler for a mouse click or key-press event.)

In Flash Player 10 and later, if you use a multipart Content-Type (for example "multipart/form-data") that contains an upload (indicated by a "filename" parameter in a "content-disposition" header within the POST body), the POST operation is subject to the security rules applied to uploads:

• The POST operation must be performed in response to a user-initiated action, such as a mouse click or key press.
• If the POST operation is cross-domain (the POST target is not on the same server as the SWF file that is sending the POST request), the target server must provide a URL policy file that permits cross-domain access.

Also, for any multipart Content-Type, the syntax must be valid (according to the RFC2046 standards). If the syntax appears to be invalid, the POST operation is subject to the security rules applied to uploads.

In AIR 3 and later, any URI scheme can be used in the URL to be launched. If a suitable application is registered with the operating system to handle the URI scheme, then that application is launched. Only AIR content running in the application security sandbox can use arbitrary URI schemes. Content running in other sandboxes can only navigate to file:, mailto:, http: and https: URLs.

       //Invoke the VIP Access Application.
       navigateToURL(new URLRequest("vipaccess://com.verisign.mvip.main?action=securitycode"));
     
       //Invoke the Connect Pro Application.
       navigateToURL(new URLRequest("connectpro://"));
     
      

Parameters

More examples

Related API Elements

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.net.navigateToURL;
    import flash.net.URLRequest;
    import flash.net.URLVariables;

    public class NavigateToURLExample extends Sprite {

        public function NavigateToURLExample() {
            var url:String = "http://www.adobe.com";
            var variables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
            variables.exampleSessionId = new Date().getTime();
            variables.exampleUserLabel = "Your Name";
            var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest(url);
            request.data = variables;
            try {            
                navigateToURL(request);
            }
            catch (e:Error) {
                // handle error here
            }
        }
    }
}

// Requires
// - Button symbol on Stage (or a display object, such as a MovieClip) with instance name "buttonSymbol"
//
buttonSymbol.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, buttonSymbol_click);
 
function buttonSymbol_click(evt:MouseEvent):void {
    var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://www.adobe.com/");
    navigateToURL(req, "_blank");
}

Preserves the class (type) of an object when the object is encoded in Action Message Format (AMF). When you encode an object into AMF, this function saves the alias for its class, so that you can recover the class when decoding the object. If the encoding context did not register an alias for an object's class, the object is encoded as an anonymous object. Similarly, if the decoding context does not have the same alias registered, an anonymous object is created for the decoded data.

LocalConnection, ByteArray, SharedObject, NetConnection and NetStream are all examples of classes that encode objects in AMF.

The encoding and decoding contexts do not need to use the same class for an alias; they can intentionally change classes, provided that the destination class contains all of the members that the source class serializes.

Parameters

Related API Elements

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.net.registerClassAlias;
    import flash.utils.ByteArray;

    public class RegisterClassAliasExample extends Sprite {
        public function RegisterClassAliasExample() {
            registerClassAlias("com.example.eg", ExampleClass);
            var eg1:ExampleClass = new ExampleClass();
            var ba:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
            ba.writeObject(eg1);
            ba.position = 0;
            var eg2:* = ba.readObject();
            trace(eg2 is ExampleClass); // true
        }
    }
}

class ExampleClass {}

Sends a URL request to a server, but ignores any response.

To examine the server response, use the URLLoader.load() method instead.

You cannot connect to commonly reserved ports. For a complete list of blocked ports, see "Restricting Networking APIs" in the ActionScript 3.0 Developer's Guide.

You can prevent a SWF file from using this method by setting the allowNetworking parameter of the the object and embed tags in the HTML page that contains the SWF content.

In Flash Player 10 and later, if you use a multipart Content-Type (for example "multipart/form-data") that contains an upload (indicated by a "filename" parameter in a "content-disposition" header within the POST body), the POST operation is subject to the security rules applied to uploads:

• The POST operation must be performed in response to a user-initiated action, such as a mouse click or key press.
• If the POST operation is cross-domain (the POST target is not on the same server as the SWF file that is sending the POST request), the target server must provide a URL policy file that permits cross-domain access.

Also, for any multipart Content-Type, the syntax must be valid (according to the RFC2046 standards). If the syntax appears to be invalid, the POST operation is subject to the security rules applied to uploads.

For more information related to security, see the Flash Player Developer Center Topic: Security.

Parameters

 package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.net.URLRequest;
    import flash.net.URLVariables;
    import flash.net.sendToURL;

    public class SendToURLExample extends Sprite {

        public function SendToURLExample() {
            var url:String = "http://www.yourDomain.com/application.jsp";
            var variables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
            variables.sessionId = new Date().getTime();
            variables.userLabel = "Your Name";

            var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest(url);
            request.data = variables;
            trace("sendToURL: " + request.url + "?" + request.data);
            try {
                sendToURL(request);
            }
            catch (e:Error) {
                // handle error here
            }
        }
    }
}