Several features in Macromedia Flash can be used to set up a password checking system. Using editable text fields, variables, and the conditional If statement, a mechanism can be created to compare a password to a predefined string. The result is evaluated and actions based on whether or not a user has entered the correct password can be executed.

The procedure outlined in this TechNote does not provide a high level of security. Client-side password verification is subject to hacking and sabotage, and cannot be truly secure. It is still possible for someone to intercept a password or break through your scheme, and Flash movies are no exception to this. For truly secure password verification use server-side authentication.

1	Open a new movie.
2	Navigate to Windows > Component and drag a TextField component from the Component window found in Flash UI components Set 5.
3	In the Property inspector name the instance of the TextField component myText.
4	Select the Parameters tab in the Property inspector. For Type choose Input. Select True for Password and False for Multiline parameters. Leave other parameters as default values.

1	Drag a Push Button component from the UI components Set 2 and type a name for Label and Click handler. For this example, Submit is used for Click Handler.
2	Create a new layer named Actions. This is where all your actions should reside in your movie. Select the first frame of the Actions layer, open the Actions panels in Normal mode.
3	Double-click the Stop action found under the Movie Control folder inside the Actions folder. This will prevent the movie to from playing automatically when published or exported.
4	Under the Actions, choose Function inside the User-Defined Functions folder. Type Submit in the Name text field.
5	Double-click the If action found in the Conditions/Loops folder (Actions > Conditions/Loops > If).
6	In the Conditions field, enter myText.text == "secret". This compares the value of password, which the user has entered in the TextField component, with the string "secret." This string is the correct password, which can be defined by a user.

1	Double-click the Goto action (Actions > Movie Control > Goto). Select the Goto And Stop action. Enter 3 in the Frame text field. This will be the action that is executed if the condition is true and will provide confirmation that the password is correct.
2	Double-click the Else statement (Actions > Conditions/Loops > Else). Assign a Goto action in the following statement. Enter 2 in the Frame input text field. Select the option Go to and Stop. This action will be executed if the password entered by the user is incorrect.
3	Insert a blank keyframe in Frame 2.
4	Create or drag a button from the Library panel to the stage.
5	Select the button and open the Actions panel.
6	Double-click the Goto action. This action will take the user to the first frame of the movie if password entered is incorrect.
7	Insert a blank keyframe in Frame 3.
8	Click the Text tool and make sure that Static text is selected as the text type in the Property inspector. Type a confirmation message that tells the user they have successfully entered the password.