Using Flash on a web site

[Antoine Mortreuil]

Hello

I have never used Flash... If I use Flash on my site, how do I test to
see if a user has a Flash plug-in? If he does not have one, what do I do?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Antoine

[Brandon Bradley]

If you are utilizing Flash MX 2004 you can set up flash detection in the
html tab of the publish settings. That can also autogenerate the
alternate file to display if the user doesn't have flash that will tell
them where they can download it from Macromedia.

--
Brandon Bradley
Macromedia Certified Instructor
[url]http://www.attconline.org/[/url]

[Antoine Mortreuil]

Brandon Bradley wrote:

> If you are utilizing Flash MX 2004 you can set up flash detection in the
> html tab of the publish settings. That can also autogenerate the
> alternate file to display if the user doesn't have flash that will tell
> them where they can download it from Macromedia.
>

Thank you very much for your reply. I downloaded the trial of flash on
sunday and I am trying it out.

Where can I find the html tab of the publish settings? Is it when you
generate a flash item?

Thank you

Antoine

[Brandon Bradley]

File -> Publish Settings

You must have html selected for one of the file types to publish.
--
Brandon Bradley
Macromedia Certified Instructor
[url]http://www.attconline.org/[/url]

[timberfish]

On 2005-03-21 19:39:38 -0800, Antoine Mortreuil <u8637@yahoo.com> said:

> Hello
>
> I have never used Flash... If I use Flash on my site, how do I test to
> see if a user has a Flash plug-in? If he does not have one, what do I
> do?
>
> Any help will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Antoine

If you have never used Flash then you're jumping pretty deep into the
subject. Flash detection is done using Javascript/VBScript and doesn't
really rely on Flash itself. You can search Google for Flash Detection
and find a thousand articles on the subject including some of the
scripts in their entirety.

I'd suggest starting with a basic Flash book to get you started
otherwise detection will be futile anyhow. Try Flash MX 2004 for
Dummies or Flash MX 2004 Bible to start.
--
The Grass Apple - { [url]www.grassapple.com[/url] } news?

[Brandon Bradley]

timberfish wrote:

> Flash detection is done using Javascript/VBScript and doesn't
> really rely on Flash itself.

Typically yes, although the Flash version detection done via the publish
settings in Flash does relly on flash and a http redirect. No javasript
or vb script is used at all.

If you are loo0king for a tutorial on how to the flash detection
yourself, Phillip Kerman's "Actionscripting for Flash MX" has a pretty
good section on it.

--
Brandon Bradley
Macromedia Certified Instructor
[url]http://www.attconline.org/[/url]

[Antoine Mortreuil]

Brandon Bradley wrote:

> timberfish wrote:
>

>> Flash detection is done using Javascript/VBScript and doesn't really
>> rely on Flash itself.

>
>
> Typically yes, although the Flash version detection done via the publish
> settings in Flash does relly on flash and a http redirect. No javasript
> or vb script is used at all.
>
> If you are loo0king for a tutorial on how to the flash detection
> yourself, Phillip Kerman's "Actionscripting for Flash MX" has a pretty
> good section on it.
>

Thank you very much to all for your help.

Have a great day

Antoine

[timberfish]

On 2005-03-22 09:59:53 -0800, Brandon Bradley <brandonbradley@cox.net> said:

>
> Typically yes, although the Flash version detection done via the
> publish settings in Flash does relly on flash and a http redirect. No
> javasript or vb script is used at all.
>
> If you are loo0king for a tutorial on how to the flash detection
> yourself, Phillip Kerman's "Actionscripting for Flash MX" has a pretty
> good section on it.

No, the only thing that template does is detects what Flash version the
user has. If the user doesn't have Flash at all then they are left at
the mercy of how the browser notifies the user of the missing plug-in
needed.

That method does not detect the existence of the plug-in, only the
version of the plug-in IF the user has Flash. To properly detect the
existence of the plug-in you cannot use Flash itself since no AS will
run at all if the user is without the plug-in in the first place.

Hence the Javascript/VBScript detection method which can both detect
version and existence without ever launching a Flash swf.

For the most reliable one out there go here:
[url]http://www.moock.org/webdesign/flash/detection/moockfpi/[/url]

It has never not worked for me and offers a clean and controllable user
experience that you can customize.
--
The Grass Apple - { [url]www.grassapple.com[/url] } news?

[Brandon Bradley]

timberfish wrote:

> No, the only thing that template does is detects what Flash version the
> user has. If the user doesn't have Flash at all then they are left at
> the mercy of how the browser notifies the user of the missing plug-in
> needed.

This is not an entirely accurate portrayal of what happens. It is true
that the flash piece created just detects the version and redirects the
user to one of two pages depending if they have the right version.
However if the user doesn't have flash the flash piece does nothing and
the user does not get redirected. After 3 seconds of not getting
redirected the http refresh tag will automaticly send the user to the
page for if they do not have the plugin. Which is a valid assumption
since the flash piece coupld not execute.

I have used the javascript method as well (I avoid the vb script method
since it only works on IE) but that is more complicated than I wanted to
point a beginner to. It is fairly reliable, except that it relies on the
user having javascript enabled. There are also issues with IE not
populating the plugin object. They of course can be gotten around, but
again that complicates things beyond what I would want to throw at a
beginner.

In my experience the built in Flash detection is one of the more
reliable methods, and is easily implemented even by a beginner. The only
way to make it more reliable is to combine it with the javascript
method, which of course further complicates it for the sake of
redundancy. The combined method is actually covered int the
"Actionscripting for Flash MX" book I mentioned earlier. That would of
course be prefferable since it will catch more users, but can certainly
be worked up to afterwards as well.

--
Brandon Bradley
Macromedia Certified Instructor
[url]http://www.attconline.org/[/url]

[timberfish]

On 2005-03-22 13:25:26 -0800, Brandon Bradley <brandonbradley@cox.net> said:

>
> I have used the javascript method as well (I avoid the vb script method
> since it only works on IE) but that is more complicated than I wanted
> to point a beginner to. It is fairly reliable, except that it relies on
> the user having javascript enabled.

There's nothing complicated for a beginner to take Moock's instructions
and pre-built pages and put them into place and practice. Also,
Javascript is heavily used and relied upon and there is not a high
incident of users who go out of their way to disable it. But if they
do, the script accounts for that too by notifying the user that they do
not have Javascript enabled and then you can place a link for either
your site page or Flash install page or both to choose from.

> There are also issues with IE not populating the plugin object. They of
> course can be gotten around, but again that complicates things beyond
> what I would want to throw at a beginner.

You're thinking of IE 4 - this has not been an issue. I've used and
tested this method on hundreds of machines in hundreds of scenarios
when I used to work QA and never seen it fail. It's very reliable and
easy to use since Moock explains every bit of it and wrote the code for
you.

>
> In my experience the built in Flash detection is one of the more
> reliable methods, and is easily implemented even by a beginner.

It's reliable for detecting version, but for detecting the plug-in
itself I think it's a bad solution. The user is left on an empty
screen for 3 seconds with browser notifications and then
meta-refreshed. It could be cleaner and more user friendly.

> The only way to make it more reliable is to combine it with the
> javascript method, which of course further complicates it for the sake
> of redundancy. The combined method is actually covered int the
> "Actionscripting for Flash MX" book I mentioned earlier. That would of
> course be prefferable since it will catch more users, but can certainly
> be worked up to afterwards as well.

--
The Grass Apple - { [url]www.grassapple.com[/url] } news?