-Bryan

Easy to serve different content to different browsers.
I worked on a project recently that made extensive use of the wmode=transparent option. Well when you are using IE or Firefox you can use wmode=transparent with the Flash 6 player, but if you are using Apple’s Safari browser, you need Flash player 7 to see the content properly. So in the embeds on the page, we required Safari users to have the Flash 7 player, and everyone else the Flash 6 player. Without Javascript we would have had to force everyone to upgrade to Flash player 7, something we didn’t want to do, even though the Flash 7 player has a pretty high penetration percentage.

How do I do this (taget specific browsers)? I can’t seem to find the explination. I’d like to use a transparent background on a flash movie while supporting as many browsers as possible.

Thanks.

There was someone who posted the code that is in the autoupdater swf file on the OSFlash mailing list a few months back - as I recall, it creates a giant textfield on the _root and then loads the updater over that.

A code example would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Nathan

Thanks again.

Using express install with the flash object requires making a 2 frame movie, generally you put the content on frame two and a single line of code that tells the movie to stop if express intall is invoked on frame one. My suggestion was this, make a dedicated movie for detection, make a dedicated movie for your content. on frame one of the detection movie you have the stop action required if express install starts, on frame 2 you have a stop action so the movie does not loop and a get url command that sends people to a page with the content flash on it. i.e. getURL(”blah.html”); therfore, the only change you have to make when you do a site, is teh five seconds required to change this url. I assume you could use a naming convention for all your sites so that you nver have to change the url at all though…

Simple. I just did this on a site launched today to test it out for myself. ( http://www.grandcenter.org/firstnight/ )

I would also suggest that you should take the flash object for what it is, a wonderfull DONATION made on someone else’s free time, and a FRAMEWORK not a panacea or something you deserve. You seem to be beratting Geoff’s work a little, and he has no reason but good will to work on this in the first place. If it truly wont work for you, develop your own method.

In that line of thoughr, Geoff, thanks a ton, I use this for all the flash I do now, couldnt be easier…

I am interested in your suggestion, however the information you’ve provided isn’t detailed enough for me to properly grasp the design you have in mind. What other purpose does the swf serve besides redirecting, detection/ express install? Why does it redirect on frame 2, or, what is the purpose of the first frame? What do the embeding markup documents do, and how are they integrated with the current state of the FlashObjects Express Install implementation?

There are many ways to solve the seperation of detection from the content, and so, the motive of my argument is to optimize and decouple FO so that it is automated to handle repetitive, non-business related functionality; which can effectively be accomplished by expanding on Geoffs work. This will not only allow programmers to eliminate redundancy, but it will also streamline the process, allowing users of the tool such as Jason to better understand and implement optimal detection, and, in the process, saving the time of both himself, and Geoff from having to support developers as frequently as he does. The time he spends on support may have been better spent reprogramming the tool in order to eliminate confusion by automating non-business related processes.

I am dedicated to my opinion, and it is due to substantial reasoning. If the express install implementation, player version detection, and swf embedding can be streamlined to eliminate non-business processes, Flash Objects express install feature would be prone to a larger number of developers. The result would be quicker propogation of new Flash player versions, and an overall advancement in internet technology. Furthermore, the resulting pattern can be classified as complementary: Flash developers would compile projects in newer versions sooner then later because of the increase in propogation speed, and the increase in propogation speed would result from developers compiling projects in newer versions sooner then later. Though the latter statement is a consequence of the express installer itself; its potential would be increased from a streamlined express installer implementation, and even more so in conjuction with Flash Object.

Ok I see your .as file my questions (revised) is how do you place the script somewhere in your Flash class path. What does this mean and how do I do it. If you don’t mind responding.

If I get this it will be huge!

Thanks again!

Jason A.

Thanks for you quick response. Thank God there are people out there like yourself who are able to help and support wanna be web programmers like myself.

Anyway, I’m trying to use your suggestions for the express install method you have discussed. In your writing “First, add Express Install support to each of the swf files that may require an upgrade” What is involved with this, I have downloaded the Flash Detiction kit from Macromedia and in it contains the Express Installation folder. In other words how do you have that little .swf file load into your div tag to have the users download the correct version. Am I making sense. The whole flash detection kit in it’s entirety is exhausting to say the least.

Any way you could point me in the right direction? To recap, I just want to have my detection method reflect everything you have written my only issue… i think is to try and impliment the express installation into my FLA or swf files.

Thanks again

Jason a.

If you have a smaller or medium-sized file where your classes can be preloaded comfortably before your swf content, you won’t have a problem. If you do have many classes and need to preload them, then you should consider either using Carlos’ include script method or keep your preloader code (And anything else before the ExpressInstall.init() call) compatible with Flash 6 and do the check after your classes have preloaded but before your movie initializes.