Beta 3 Multi-res tour not working in Firefox Mac

Q&A about the latest versions
Post Reply
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

I've uploaded a multi-res P2VR 3b two-pano test tour to my web server.

http://www.judyarndt.ca/tests/jasper_la ... multi.html

Only the low-res images embedded in the first .swf file are displaying in Firefox on two different Macs here. The external tiles and linked .swf are being ignored.

In Safari, the tour is displaying properly. Both browsers are using Adobe Flash Player 10.

The tour displays properly in Firefox when the files are on my local machine.

I don't know where to troubleshoot. Is this a Flash security setting in Firefox, my site hosting company, my web provider or security on my machine? I'm concerned because I would want other Firefox Mac users to be able to view multi-res tours without problems.

I'd like to know if Windows users are able to view the tour properly in their browsers. It shouldn't be blurry in large windows, and you should be able to see the alternate pano by clicking on the thumbnail link.

Judy

Mac Pro Quad Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS 10.6.4
Firefox 3.6.10
Safari 5.0
smooth
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:30 pm

On Windows PC.

All works fine with Internet Explorer, Opera, but fails with Firefox and Safari.
Something is odd with "your" server settings, because I can access the .swf files directly from the directory
I can view directory contents at http://www.judyarndt.ca/tests/jasper_lake_tour/ and if I click on jasper_lake_high_multi_out.swf
I can view the .swf file OK.

With Firefox I get to see the first panorama, but click to see the second fails to load and I remain with the first.
With Safari I see nothing but a white page. Though a right click reveals the Flash menu.

But if I paste the full URL in the browser I get redirected.
I would hazard a guess and say you have set some server .HTACCESS code that is effecting this.

http://www.judyarndt.ca/tests/jasper_la ... ti_out.swf redirects me to your home page http://www.judyarndt.ca/

Best guess = .HTACCESS problem.

Regards, Smooth 8)
Image
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

smooth wrote:Best guess = .HTACCESS problem.
Smooth, thank you very much for taking time to test this.

An issue with the .htaccess file was a very good guess on your part.

In my site's Hotlink Protection, I have added 'swf' to the list of file formats that are protected from hot-linking by other domains. When I remove the SWF format from the list, then the tour displays correctly.

I've uploaded a single-resolution, two-pano version of the tour. (3.8 Mb initial download)

http://www.judyarndt.ca/tests/jasper_la ... e_res.html

With SWF blocked from hotlinking, Firefox will not load the second pano in the tour, but Safari will.

Single-swf, single-resolution panos load correctly.
A single-swf, multi-resolution pano will display only the embedded low-res image.

I don't understand why my host’s Apache server is preventing some browsers access to the needed files. Are some browsers calling for SWF files in such as way that my server thinks the calls are being made from an external domain?

Although in P2VR I have a domain lock set to judyarndt.ca, I still thought it prudent to use Hotlink Protection as a second layer of security. What do other users do to prevent hotlinking of their tours?

I’ll leave the SWF format blocked from hotlinking for a while to allow anyone who’s interested to test this issue.

Judy
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

I output the same pano tour from P2VR version 2.3.4, uploaded to my server. I'm having the same problem in Firefox, that the tour does not find the alternate pano file.

This seems to eliminate the possibility that a new issue in beta 3 is the cause.

If anyone has successfully used .htaccess on an Apache server to prevent hotlinking to SWF pano tours or multi-res panos, I'd like to know how you made it work.

Judy
smooth
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:30 pm

Judy,

How are you linking the tours?
jasper_lake_high_single_res_out.swf
or absolute
http://www.judyarndt.ca/tests//jasper_l ... es_out.swf

Looking at that BAD // in your url I guess you have places an "/" in front of your jasper_lake_high_single_res_out.swf making it read /jasper_lake_high_single_res_out.swf

Whatever the case you it should be cleaned up and correct linking put in place.

Regards, Smooth 8)
Image
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

smooth wrote: Looking at that BAD // in your url I guess you have places an "/" in front of your jasper_lake_high_single_res_out.swf making it read /jasper_lake_high_single_res_out.swf
Hi Smooth, thanks for the help.

The extra forward slashes you're seeing are puzzling, because I'm not seeing them here.

In the P2VR tour, I've been linking to only the flash filename and keeping all related files for a single tour in a same folder.

I've finally found the C-Panel setting that allows my tours to display properly.

In C-Panel>Hotlink Protection, I can leave JPEG and SWF in the list of 'block direct access' file formats, but I must check the box for 'Allow direct requests (ie. entering the url to an image in your browser)'.

I have it set this way now, and the tour is displaying properly for me in Firefox.

Judy
smooth
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:30 pm

Judy-A wrote:The extra forward slashes you're seeing are puzzling, because I'm not seeing them here.
Judy,

The extra forward slash is in the URL I posted in a previous post above. Clicking it takes you to the panorama.
This happened if I went to your directory and clicked on the .swf file/s, I simple copied and pasted it here on the forum directly from the URL address bar.

Anyway, whatever the case I'm glad you found the fix.

Regards, Smooth 8)
Image
User avatar
vilmer
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:58 am
Location: Argentina

Another thing to consider: http://www.judyarndt.ca/ is a different domain than http://judyarndt.ca/ So if your looking at your tour at http://www.judyarndt.ca/... and the path to the swf's is http://judyarndt.ca/... your hotlink protection might kick in.
smooth
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:30 pm

Yes, as Vilmer points out you should add both to your approved list as well as checking the "Allow direct requests" check box.
c-panel_hotlink.jpg
c-panel_hotlink.jpg (58.7 KiB) Viewed 6338 times
Also notice the "MAC" specific browser note at the bottom for "Allow direct requests".

Regards, Smooth 8)
Image
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

vilmer wrote:Another thing to consider: http://www.judyarndt.ca/ is a different domain than http://judyarndt.ca/ So if your looking at your tour at http://www.judyarndt.ca/... and the path to the swf's is http://judyarndt.ca/... your hotlink protection might kick in.
Hi Vilmer,

Yes I've already encountered and dealt with that problem. My older panos have the http://www.judyarndt.ca in the domain lock. Family members complained they couldn't view my panos, for the very reason you state. I've since put a redirect in my .htaccess file. I now use only judyarndt.ca in the domain lock field.

Pano 2VR documentation still shows the domain name using the http://www.domain_name.com format. Karyn, if you see this post, please be aware that the format you show in your tutorial causes problems for your users.

http://gardengnomesoftware.com/wiki/Pan ... t_Settings

-------quote---------
Locks
Enable domain lock: Enable this option when you wish to secure your panorama only to the specified domains.
Domain: Enter the domain to which the pano can only belong. Separate multiple domains with a comma: http://www.gg-sw.com, http://www.nytimes.com. Message: Insert a message that appears if the pano is displayed in a domain other than what is listed in Domain.
----------------

Judy
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

smooth wrote:Yes, as Vilmer points out you should add both to your approved list as well as checking the "Allow direct requests" check box.
Smooth,

I agree that both formats need to be there, but in my experience, having the format http://yourwebsite.com in the URLs to allow access will not override the domain lock in P2VR if the format there is http://www.yourwebsite.com.

Judy
smooth
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:30 pm

No Judy, you are right.

But the point Vilmer and I are making is solely to do with your server hot linking not the Pano2VR security/domain lock feature.
I can see why you thought this, as I initially did when reading Vilmer reply for the first time. But I came to realise that it is only the server configuration being considered.

Regards, Smooth 8)
Image
Judy-A
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:26 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Contact:

It doesn't help our communication about formatting URLs, that this forum's' software is adding http:// to every URL we write in our posts!

I don't want to take this thread too far off-topic, so I'll post my domain lock complaint in a new thread.

Judy
Post Reply