link

Once you've added the button to your toolbar, you can see any UK post code on a map in only two clicks.

UK Postcode Mapper

This is my first Firefox Extension. It searches the current page you are browsing for any UK Postcode. It then shows you a list of all postcodes on a small popup window. Then you just click on the postcode you would like to see on a map and (by default) a new tab opens with the postcode mapped in Google Maps. You can change the settings to open in a new window and also change the default map provider from Google to MultiMap or StreetMap.
I built this extension to learn how Firefox Extensions work and also to make my life easier as I always seem to be cutting and pasting postcodes into Google Maps to see where places are in London. After installing this you can see any UK postcode on a map in only 2 clicks! (That is saving a copy + open new window + type in maps.google.co.uk + paste + an enter!)

Here you can change the default settings

I'd recommend adding a button to your Toolbar. This can be done by right-clicking on your toolbar and selecting 'Customise...'. Then you can drag and drop the 'Map postcodes' button.

This extension can also be accessed from the Tools menu.

Please leave me any feedback, suggestions or complaints in the comments.

 
<script language="javascript">
function gup(name){
    name = name.replace(/[\[]/,"\\\[").replace(/[\]]/,"\\\]");
    var regexS = "[\\?&]"+name+"=([^&#]*)";
    var regex = new RegExp( regexS );
    var results = regex.exec( window.location.href );
    if( results == null ) {
        return "";
    }  else {
        return results[1];
    }
}
</script>
 

Place this inside your html.
Then if you are using the default HTML publishing you need to set up your SWF to take the variable. In this example I'm looking for a variable called 'transition'

 
<script language="javascript">
	if (AC_FL_RunContent == 0) {
		alert("This page requires AC_RunActiveContent.js.");
	} else {
		AC_FL_RunContent(
			'codebase', 'http://download.macromedia.com...
			'width', '100%',
			'height', '100%',
			'src', 'main',
			'quality', 'high',
			'pluginspage', 'http://www.macromedia.c...
			'align', 'middle',
			'play', 'true',
			'loop', 'true',
			'scale', 'exactfit',
			'wmode', 'window',
			'devicefont', 'false',
			'id', 'main',
			'bgcolor', '#ffffff',
			'name', 'main',
			'menu', 'true',
			'FlashVars', 'transition='+gup("transition"),
			'allowFullScreen', 'true',
			'allowScriptAccess','sameDomain',
			'movie', 'main',
			'salign', ''
			); //end AC code
	}
</script>
 
...
<param name="scale" value="exactfit" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" />
<param name="FlashVars" value="transition="+gup("transition") />
<embed src="main.swf" quality="high" scale="exactfit" ... />
...
 

The important lines are:

'FlashVars', 'transition='+gup("transition"),
and
param name="FlashVars" value="transition="+gup("transition")

Here we are calling the javascript function to return the value that matches 'transition'. Then this gets passed to the SWF.

Inside the flash this can be accessed with:

 
var sTrans:String = String(stage.loaderInfo.parameters.transition)
 

Then you can get variables from the URL string:

http://www.sitedaniel.com/index.html?transition=myvalue

function gup(name){
    name = name.replace(/[\[]/,"\\\[").replace(/[\]]/,"\\\]");
    var regexS = "[\\?&]"+name+"=([^&#]*)";
    var regex = new RegExp( regexS );
    var results = regex.exec( window.location.href );
    if( results == null ) return "";
    else return results[1];
}

And then when you create your SWF object, pass in the value name you are looking for (in this case 'page')

var so = new SWFObject("loader.swf?page="+gup('page'), ...

if (ExternalInterface.available) {
	ExternalInterface.call("window.open",
				"popup.html",
				"win",
				"height=300,
				width=400,
				toolbar=no,
				scrollbars=yes");
} else {
	getURL('popup.html', '_blank');
}

However it isn't that hard to just use getURL and call a javascript function set in the html page:

//javascript
	function openPopup() {
		winWidth = 450;
		winHeight = 680;
		screenWidth = screen.availWidth;
		screenHeight = screen.availHeight;
		if (screenWidth < winWidth) {
			winWidth = screenWidth;
		}
		if (screenHeight < winHeight) {
			winHeight = screenHeight;
		}
		winTop = (screenHeight - winHeight) / 2;
		winLeft = (screenWidth - winWidth) / 2;
		window.open(\'page.html\',\'Title\',\'width=450,
				height=680,scrollbars=no,
				status=no,resizeable=yes\'+ \',
				left=\' + winLeft + \',
				top=\' + winTop);
		//window.focus();
	}

So far this works in all browsers.

encodeURIComponent(...)

This is a good one to remember