Hi,
This is what I'm using currently that works:
<embed src="http://www.xyz.com/player/embed/" width="270" height="223" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
FlashVars="CONFIG_URL=http://www.xyz.com/player/embed/configuration.jhtml%3fid%3D26237" base="." />

So nowhere is there actually a path to the flash file itself, but it's passing some parameters via FlashVars like so.

I tried:
var so = new SWFObject("http://www.xyz.com/player/embed", "this_is_the_id", "270", "233", "9", "");
so.addVariable("CONFIG_URL", "<%= flash_url2 %>"); //flash_url2=http://www.xyz.com/player/embed/configuration.jhtml%3fid%3D" + id
(or)
so.addParam("FlashVars","CONFIG_URL=http://www.wyz.../etc");

Didn't work..

If I put http://www.xyz.com/player/embed directly into brower, it redirects to http://www.xyz.com/global/apps/fbml/xyzi/flash_browser_fp8.swf

So I put that in, but still doesn't work.

Is this because the I don't have a static path to the .swf file and it's being generated somehow via this jhtml page?

Anyone recognize this issue? Thanks

so.addVariable("CONFIG_URL", "<%= flash_url2 %>"); is the proper way to do it. If you view the rendered source of the page, or do a js alert of the var value, is it giving you back the location you are expecting?

There is no so.addParam("FlashVars"," type functionality in swfObject 1.x, so don't try to pursue that direction.

In terms of your swf location, as long as http://www.xyz.com/player/embed is redirecting to an actual .swf file, then it should be all good. I have used dynamic server locations for swf before without issue.

Post a page up and I can see what the page is actually doing.

Cheers,
Aran

Ok.

So the below works for me (which is the exact equivalent as your embed code except I don;t know what version or color you want):

<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("http://www.mtvu.com/player/embed/", "mtvu", "270", "223", "8", "#336699");
so.addVariable("CONFIG_URL", "http://www.mtvu.com/player/embed/configuration.jhtml%3fid%3D1573117%26vid%3D185452");
so.addVariable("allowFullScreen", "true");
so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");
so.addParam("AllowScriptAccess", "never");
so.addParam("base", ".");
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>


You can see it working here:
http://www.misterhee.com/tests/mtvu.html

Does this answer all of your questions, or are you still confused about how to pass variables?

with your id=123 example, if that whole string redirects to an actual FLV / swf, then you can just pass in the whole string like the CONFIG_URL value. You could make a js wrapper function which just changed the id based on a param if that was useful to you. Like:

function changeVid (id)
{
var so = new SWFObject("http://www.mtvu.com/player/embed/", "mtvu", "270", "223", "8", "#336699");
so.addVariable("CONFIG_URL", "http://www.mtvu.com/player/embed/configuration.jhtml?id=" + id);
so.addVariable("allowFullScreen", "true");
so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");
so.addParam("AllowScriptAccess", "never");
so.addParam("base", ".");
so.write("flashcontent");
}

// notice I am constructing the CONFIG_URL with the combo of a static string and a js var. You could statically or dynamically construct the string as you liked (the ?id=... is just an illustration)

This js var might be a ASP var instead like you had in your first post in which case you could do :

so.addVariable("CONFIG_URL", <%= flash_url2 %>);

- I think you might need to remove the quotes from the ASP var from your first post to get it to work properly

Aran

you can put the JS in the head if you like, but it has to be processed AFTER the page elements are rendered, which means a window.onload event. if you keep the JS in the body of the document, it can only be invoked after the target element has been written.

for instance:

JS stored in body of document (WON'T WORK... "flashcontent" div doesn't exist yet)

<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("myswf.swf", "exmaple", "550", "400", "8", "#FFFFFF");
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>

<div id="flashcontent"></div>


JS stored in body of document (WORKS)

<div id="flashcontent"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("myswf.swf", "exmaple", "550", "400", "8", "#FFFFFF");
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>


JS stored in head of document (WON'T WORK... "flashcontent" div doesn't exist yet)

<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("myswf.swf", "exmaple", "550", "400", "8", "#FFFFFF");
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="flashcontent"></div>
</body>


JS stored in head of document (WORKS)

<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function (){
var so = new SWFObject("myswf.swf", "exmaple", "550", "400", "8", "#FFFFFF");
so.write("flashcontent");
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="flashcontent"></div>
</body>


- philip

Aran just out of curiosity are you a designer?

@mtrak - Am I a designer?

I am much more of a flash developer than a designer.

There are many people better than me at making things look pretty (although I do design work on private client work). I'm more down with the actionscript side of things, as I have been working full-time with flash for almost 10 years (wow - now I'm kinda sounding old huh?)

I work full-time as System Architect / solutions manager for a software company based in Australia.