clickTAG How-To

This document describes how to make a Flash ad click through to a URL defined in an HTML file. By defining the click-through in the HTML file, the site that is hosting the flash swf can change tracking information or the click-through target of the ad quickly, without requiring edits to the Flash creative. This document assumes that the reader already knows how to make the Flash creative open a web page when clicked.

The getURL ActionScript in the Flash creative should look like this:

getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");

clickTAG is a Flash variable containing the click-through destination URL. The value of clickTAG is passed to the Flash creative from the HTML as a query string (view source of this page for an example.)

The sample ad below uses the clickTAG system. It clicks through to http://www.google.com as defined in this HTML file. If you wish to experiment, open this HTML file in a text editor and replace the two instances of http://www.google.com with whatever target URL you wish.

Things To Watch Out For

  • clickTAG should not have quotes around it in the ActionScript. getURL("clickTAG", "_blank"); is wrong.
  • clickTAG does not need to be defined or assigned a value in the Flash creative. The Flash player plug-in takes care of that.
  • Use exact capitalization. "clickTAG", not "CLICKTAG" or "ClickTag".
  • clickTAG is a _root variable. Therefore, if a button is inside a movie symbol, use _root.clickTAG instead of just clickTAG.