Flash Pano's - does flash ask to update itself ?

Specific Q&A about the new Flash export
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360Texas
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On this page.. scroll down to "Texas Native Forest Boardwalk" they placed 8 of our Flash panoramas.

When a person using Flash Version 7 tries to see them.. they get a white screen - no panorama. Does flash script try to update the Flash plugin to version 8 or 9 automatically ??

Rodrigo had version 7 and he tried looking at them.. and he was not prompted to update to 8 or 9.

In the .js I thought that this string prompted to update.

'codebase="codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/sh ... on=8,0,0,0"');

Need to try to get people with Version 7 to update some how.

http://www.fwbg.com/gardens.htm
Dave
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andrew222
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Found this on the Macromedia Flash newsgroup. I'm looking into ths 'Detect Flash' thing and see if that works.

Well... here's the deal. The ONLY reason that ever worked before is
because ActiveX has a built in 'upgrade' mechanism. If IE for Windows
sees an OBJECT tag where the codebase is a higher number than the
current Flash Player then it knows that it has to update itself. But
that only works in IE for windows (and should still work for Flash
Player 8..)

But that's not really Flash Player Detection. That's just a happy accident.


The most basic way you can do this is to choose 'Detect Flash' in the
HTML tab of publish settings and let Flash generate that code for you.
That's not a perfect solution but it works -most- of the time.
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360Texas
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Thank you... apparantly we need to look deeper into this topic to learn really how to make Flash update itself.

Appreciate your reply. Thank you Sir
Dave
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andrew222
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It's a pleasure.

This link has kep't me busy for the last 2 hours

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/artic ... ction.html

It's the Flash Player Detection and will probably sort you out.

My problem seems to be more to do with a script error. My laptop has IE7 and Flash 9 and won't show the panoramas on my site yet my desktop has IE6 and Flash 9 and will show them. Something hit the fan after I stupidly upgraded to IE 7 :evil:

Andrew
widdi
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This can be done and I have the script.

look at http://www.fwgedney.co.uk -- it detects the flash player.

I`ll find it on my other comp and post it here
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360Texas
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Hi Widdi,
Your main page opens up normally. I noticed no double click requirements on this page

Looking at your source code... you are calling for the Flash viewer but not displaying any flash content [no .swf file specified]. Your mouse over click "Enter Here" is a clickable image map essentially covering the entire graphic.
----
After clicking Enter Here
Your next page is called Flash.htm I noticed no double click requirements on this page.

First line in the <body> is a a classid call to go get Flash version 6_0_29_0
No flash object code to display a .swf

Next line in the <body is another classid call to go get the same flash version only this time you have an object specified called new.swf

I wonder if this is the way to manage the coding to remove the 'double click requirement with out the use of the .js file

This still does not fully test the Flash automatic UPdating. I am still using IE 6 with Flash version 9. All the computers in our office are now at 9. Guess I need to find a machine with 7 on it to test.
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MLaBoyteaux
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Part of the problem is if you look at the source code, the Flash object is specifying it needs Flash version 6.0.29.

With the Flash panos, they must have at least version 8 player.

You're correct, the way they've embeded the object will automatically try to update IE and Netscape, but only if they havea player version previous to 6.

They really should be using the javascript player detector which also writes the object into the page to overcome the IE "Click to activate" issue.
andrew222
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Hi Dave,

It's your lucky day :)

You can download the standalone version of Flash 7 ( flashplayerupdater.exe ) at the link below. (save it to yor PC)

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash ... dater.html



Then go here and get the Flash unistaller to get rid of any versions you have installed on all your browsers.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgeb ... d=tn_14157



Use the flashplayerupdater.exe you downloaded first and get Version 7 on your clean PC and then head over to

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/

to make sure it's installed properly.



Keep one browser at Version 7 and update the others

I now have IE 7 using Flash 7 for testing and Netscape and Firefox using Flash 9


:wink:
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360Texas
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I did download those files. Now changing 1 machine back to 7

I appreciate your help.. Thank you
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360Texas
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By the way. We now have a new Notebook computer. Yes it has Flash 7 installed. I looked at our Flash panoramas... and I got a page with a table.. embedded was the Flash panorama.. WHITE SCREEN.

No it did not prompt me to update to Flash 8 automatically.

Comments ??
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MLaBoyteaux
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What's the URL for the page?
andrew222
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It's all down to that Flash Detection package from the Adobe website.

I zipped the detection files here if you want them.

http://www.virtualkingston.ca/flash_detection.zip

Unzip them and then upload the assets folder and the AC_OETags.js to your root directory.

Open the index.html in Dreamweaver or what ever and get the parts of code you need (below)

You put the code below into the head section of your own webpage


<script src="http://www.yourwebsite.com/AC_OETags.js" language="javascript"></script>
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Globals
// Major version of Flash required
var requiredMajorVersion = 8;
// Minor version of Flash required
var requiredMinorVersion = 0;
// Minor version of Flash required
var requiredRevision = 0;
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// -->
</script>




and then the code below goes where you want the flash movie to appear. Change the class 'WarningTextSmall' to your own and also the var alternateContent part to what ever you want. Change the "width", "250","height", "250", if you replace the original movie.swf with your own


<!-- FLASH OBJECT -->
</p>
<div class="WarningTextSmall">
<div align="center">
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
// Version check based upon the values entered above in "Globals"
var hasReqestedVersion = DetectFlashVer(requiredMajorVersion, requiredMinorVersion, requiredRevision);

// Check to see if the version meets the requirements for playback
if (hasReqestedVersion) {
// if we've detected an acceptable version
// embed the Flash Content SWF when all tests are passed
AC_FL_RunContent(
"src", "../assets/movie",
"play", "true",
"width", "250",
"height", "250",
"align", "middle",
"id", "example",
"quality", "high",
"bgcolor", "#FFFFFF",
"name", "example",
"allowScriptAccess","sameDomain",
"type", "application/x-shockwave-flash",
'codebase', 'http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/fl ... wflash.cab',
"pluginspage", "http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
);
} else { // flash is too old or we can't detect the plugin
var alternateContent = 'We detected an old version of the Flash plugin on your computer. <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflash/" target="_blank" > Please click here</a> to get an update to version 8. Its free, takes less than 15 seconds and will also enhance your viewing of other websites in the future. ';
document.write(alternateContent); // insert non-flash content
}
// -->
</script>
</div>
<!-- END FLASH OBJECT -->



It works very well. People that already have Flash 8 upwards only see the swf in ../assets/movie (you can change this movie.swf to your own) but those that have flash 7 and below get the small amount of text asking them to upgrade.

Sorry to make matters worse but when the user does upgrade to Flash 8 or 9, they have to close the browser completely and then reopen it. Refresh or reload the page isn't good enough. The problem for me is that the user may have arrived at my site from a url link in Google etc and after the restart I may as well kiss goodbye to them. Checked the Adobe site and the restart seems to be the only option :(

Andrew
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Nice one Andrew! :D

Regards, Smooth 8)
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360Texas
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It is curious that using our new notebook with Flash 7 while looking at our web pages requireing Flash 9 it does provide a full dimensioned white box.. if you 'right mouse click It shows a link to "About MM Flash Player 7" When you click it takes you to the 'About' and tells you that you have 7.0.xx.x version installed. There is nothing that tells you to download to 9.0.28,0 update [that I have been able to figure out yet]

I would have thought that I should go direct to 9.0.28.0 directly for updated download automatically.

However, you can go to http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download ... kwaveFlash

Somehow this does not seem automatic if Flash version 6 or 7is already loaded on the visitors machine.

and download the current version of Flash.
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andrew222
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I checked out what you mentioned with Flash 7 installed. The page you end up at if you do the right click thing has the following

The table below contains the latest Flash Player version information. Adobe recommends that all Flash Player users upgrade to the most recent version of the player through the Player Download Center to take advantage of security updates.

I must admit, it could do with just a big box saying what version you have installed and then the option to upgrade right underneath it. The page is really just an immediate face full of too much information for a basic internet user :shock:
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