Hi all,
I have several problems when pointing one pano to another and put them in the web site, What I care most is hide my location where the swf files are located:
1. If I have two panos: A.swf and B.swf, and I configure the hotspot URL field to link them to each other. That is , fill B.swf in the URL field of A.swf and fill A.swf in the URL field of B.swf. They work correctly when I open them locally. Problem is that, when I put them in my php web site. I put the two files in one folder in the server: wwwroot/panos/office/. When I show the A.swf and click the hotspot, B.swf will not be fetched. because the link link to wwwroot/B.swf while no files there. How does it happen?
2. For the problem above, I can hard write www.abcd.com/panos/office/B.swf in the URL field in A.swf and vice versa for B.swf. But in my point of view, it is strange. Because I can't test if the link works correctly locally unless I upload them to the php web site to click and check. The core problem is that why the link can't find the full relative address(wwwroot/panos/office/B.swf)?
3. If I Use the solution in 2, one main problem is that , the location where my swf files are located is exposed . I can use some skills to protect the pano if no hotspot in the pano, But when the hotsopt is clicked, the url link in A.swf will be sent to the server and the web browsers can easily catch the request and find where the swf files from and download them by some p2p tools. I known it is hard to hide them perfectly but I want to make the address harder to be found, not so easy. So is there any assistance to encrypt the url address in the link?
4. To hide the address of the swf files, I can use one another method: Change the URL in the link to "play.php?name=B" tell play.php to get_file_contents of the B.swf. and then echo them. The problem is that, the B.swf is shown full screen, not in the same place as the first pano. I tried the "iFrame" name for "target" but failed. Because if you configure the iframe and put the flash player/code in the iframe, the "play.php?name=B"request will not be handled at all. So, how can I put the second flash in the same place as the first flash in this method?
Thanks for your attention if you reach here!
Several problems about the url field in hotspot
Hello,Feng wrote:Hi all,
I have several problems when pointing one pano to another and put them in the web site, What I care most is hide my location where the swf files are located:
1. If I have two panos: A.swf and B.swf, and I configure the hotspot URL field to link them to each other. That is , fill B.swf in the URL field of A.swf and fill A.swf in the URL field of B.swf. They work correctly when I open them locally. Problem is that, when I put them in my php web site. I put the two files in one folder in the server: wwwroot/panos/office/. When I show the A.swf and click the hotspot, B.swf will not be fetched. because the link link to wwwroot/B.swf while no files there. How does it happen? ...
try your own first option by putting all the files not in a folder but just on the uppermost level or webspace, not in a folder, and right just where the other php files a.s.o. are.
Maybe this is working (because in my case (CMS) it did).
Good luck.
Regards, Wolff
wolff wrote:Hello,Feng wrote:Hi all,
I have several problems when pointing one pano to another and put them in the web site, What I care most is hide my location where the swf files are located:
1. If I have two panos: A.swf and B.swf, and I configure the hotspot URL field to link them to each other. That is , fill B.swf in the URL field of A.swf and fill A.swf in the URL field of B.swf. They work correctly when I open them locally. Problem is that, when I put them in my php web site. I put the two files in one folder in the server: wwwroot/panos/office/. When I show the A.swf and click the hotspot, B.swf will not be fetched. because the link link to wwwroot/B.swf while no files there. How does it happen? ...
try your own first option by putting all the files not in a folder but just on the uppermost level or webspace, not in a folder, and right just where the other php files a.s.o. are.
Maybe this is working (because in my case (CMS) it did).
Good luck.
Regards, Wolff
Thanks Wolff
In that case, I have to put all my pano files in the root and can't classify them by the folder, what is more, I want to hide their location from the users.
I would really love to see a solution to this problem.
I will hard wire the $hu for every VR if I have to. I don't care that much for hiding the VRs. They have my signature, watermarking, etc.
Having all the VRs in a tour in the root folder of your webspace is really silly.
I thought they have to be in the same folder with the "master" VR and that should solve the problem.
Is there another way to do all this ? I have a tour done in a park that has 16 VRs that link to each other through hotspots. One Vr links to maximum 4 other VRs at the same time. So, you see, it is quite a bit of trouble to go to each one of the VRs and update the URL in the Hot Spot Editor to point to some other location. I wish I could do it in the skin somehow or have some map editor for such operation. There are about 50 URL fields that I have to change if I need to change if somebody comes with some new opinion about where the files should be placed or how they need to be addressed.
Is there a way we HAVE to do it ? This hotspot link and navigation thing is a blur to me. All the files should be in a folder, and I later find out they out that they should be in the root folder, because it's better that way ! What is this ? Poetry ? It's either one way or the other ! Which way is it ?
What is the target thing ? Pan tilt FOV ?
I am stuck ! I can't make any progress with my VRs. Argh !!! I
Thanks !
Bo3D
I will hard wire the $hu for every VR if I have to. I don't care that much for hiding the VRs. They have my signature, watermarking, etc.
Having all the VRs in a tour in the root folder of your webspace is really silly.
I thought they have to be in the same folder with the "master" VR and that should solve the problem.
Is there another way to do all this ? I have a tour done in a park that has 16 VRs that link to each other through hotspots. One Vr links to maximum 4 other VRs at the same time. So, you see, it is quite a bit of trouble to go to each one of the VRs and update the URL in the Hot Spot Editor to point to some other location. I wish I could do it in the skin somehow or have some map editor for such operation. There are about 50 URL fields that I have to change if I need to change if somebody comes with some new opinion about where the files should be placed or how they need to be addressed.
Is there a way we HAVE to do it ? This hotspot link and navigation thing is a blur to me. All the files should be in a folder, and I later find out they out that they should be in the root folder, because it's better that way ! What is this ? Poetry ? It's either one way or the other ! Which way is it ?
What is the target thing ? Pan tilt FOV ?
I am stuck ! I can't make any progress with my VRs. Argh !!! I
Thanks !
Bo3D
-
Hopki
- Gnome
- Posts: 13017
- Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:16 pm
- Location: Layer de la Haye, Essex UK
- Contact:
Hi
In the Hotspot Editor, Area or Point, if you enter a Url, http:// etc, the Target, _blank will open the Url in a new window, or _self will open the Url in the same window replacing your panorama.
If you put a SWF in the Url field, the Target becomes Pan/Tilt/Field of View (FoV).
THis will allow you to point the tour, dictating which view you open the panorama up with.
The same for the Skin Editor,
If you are using Go To Url action the Target can be either _blank or _self with the same result as above.
If you use a Open Next Panorama Action, Pan/Tilt/FoV will also do the same as above.
Please see: http://gardengnomesoftware.com/tutorial.php?movid=13_1
This is one of 6 tutorials for hotspots.
Regards
Hopki
In the Hotspot Editor, Area or Point, if you enter a Url, http:// etc, the Target, _blank will open the Url in a new window, or _self will open the Url in the same window replacing your panorama.
If you put a SWF in the Url field, the Target becomes Pan/Tilt/Field of View (FoV).
THis will allow you to point the tour, dictating which view you open the panorama up with.
The same for the Skin Editor,
If you are using Go To Url action the Target can be either _blank or _self with the same result as above.
If you use a Open Next Panorama Action, Pan/Tilt/FoV will also do the same as above.
Please see: http://gardengnomesoftware.com/tutorial.php?movid=13_1
This is one of 6 tutorials for hotspots.
Regards
Hopki
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
support@ggnome.com
https://ggnome.com/wiki/documentation/
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
support@ggnome.com
https://ggnome.com/wiki/documentation/
Those tutorials are very good. I've been watching them many times.
So for local navigation and when all swf files are in the same folder is it sufficient to have VRfile.swf name placed inthe URL field ?
Or is it supposed to be Drive:\folder\folder\VRfile.swf ?
How should other folders should be accessed ?
../project/VRfile.swf ? ( back one folder, change to project folder, swf file )
or
project/VRfile.swf ( go to folder project from the starting point of the first "master" swf file.
What if I am using a local server for testing ? ( XAMPP )
Does it have to change for online situation to http:// sitex.com /vrfolder/VRfile.swf
or does it work with the local configuration ?
For some reason form VR1(master) I can jump to VR2 and then navigate back VR1 but from VR2 I can't navigate further to VR3,4 and so forth. I couldn't find any reason why this will happen. All other VRs are setup same as VR2. They all are in the same folder now.
If I start with any of the "slave" VRs directly I can navigate through the hotspots. That is locally and without the presence of the custom skin. Which you only have if you start with the master. Maybe you guys should mention this in the tutorials or FAQ somewhere, it took me a while to understand that I don't have to apply the skin to each VR. I didn't know anything about layers in flash.
On some other matter:
Somebody noticed a small bug with adding sound files and you set an on init behavior - it ruins the skin. I ran into this problem too. You would want to do that if you have a background sound but you want it stopped on load, muted at start or something. My way around it was to stop it on load - that still produced a leak of sound, a blip, which I solved by adding a 1/4 of a sec silence at the start of the track.
I am sure this will work in the end, one way or another. Those tutorials do help a lot. Maybe the answer is there, I couldn't find it though.
Thanks Hopki !
Thanks GG!
Bo3D
So for local navigation and when all swf files are in the same folder is it sufficient to have VRfile.swf name placed inthe URL field ?
Or is it supposed to be Drive:\folder\folder\VRfile.swf ?
How should other folders should be accessed ?
../project/VRfile.swf ? ( back one folder, change to project folder, swf file )
or
project/VRfile.swf ( go to folder project from the starting point of the first "master" swf file.
What if I am using a local server for testing ? ( XAMPP )
Does it have to change for online situation to http:// sitex.com /vrfolder/VRfile.swf
or does it work with the local configuration ?
For some reason form VR1(master) I can jump to VR2 and then navigate back VR1 but from VR2 I can't navigate further to VR3,4 and so forth. I couldn't find any reason why this will happen. All other VRs are setup same as VR2. They all are in the same folder now.
If I start with any of the "slave" VRs directly I can navigate through the hotspots. That is locally and without the presence of the custom skin. Which you only have if you start with the master. Maybe you guys should mention this in the tutorials or FAQ somewhere, it took me a while to understand that I don't have to apply the skin to each VR. I didn't know anything about layers in flash.
On some other matter:
Somebody noticed a small bug with adding sound files and you set an on init behavior - it ruins the skin. I ran into this problem too. You would want to do that if you have a background sound but you want it stopped on load, muted at start or something. My way around it was to stop it on load - that still produced a leak of sound, a blip, which I solved by adding a 1/4 of a sec silence at the start of the track.
I am sure this will work in the end, one way or another. Those tutorials do help a lot. Maybe the answer is there, I couldn't find it though.
Thanks Hopki !
Thanks GG!
Bo3D
-
sportsnapper
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:28 pm
HI,
What I've found is thet you can create a folder structure when making a tour either on your local drive, or using XAMPP. But you really need to duplicate that at some point when you transfer this to a live server.
So you can use relative references as in ../project/VRfile.swf in the go to next panorama field (an in fact you can use relative references in the output field when generating the swf as well - I keep all my scenes in separate directories and then generate them into a single tour directory YMMV).
But what you need to be careful about when placing the tour on to the web server is that you set the basepath in the Flash params. This tells the flash swf where it lives, and where relative references are and then you can put your project directory in any location on the server - but you should keep the same project structure.
So if you have http://www.tour.com/somedir/somedir2/project/VRfile.swf - then you'd need to set you basepath in the html to <param name="base" value="http://www.tour.com/somedir/somedir2/"> then all the relative references will work.
A search for "base" in the forums will turn up more detail on this....
This isn't really in the docs - it's workflow/project management and I know that some others do this differently, and it's taken me lots of time and some mistakes to work out how I want to do this. I would certainly recommend that you map out your directory structures, flows between scenes, hotspots and external images before you plunge in too deep. Rework takes longer than you think!
regards
Gareth
What I've found is thet you can create a folder structure when making a tour either on your local drive, or using XAMPP. But you really need to duplicate that at some point when you transfer this to a live server.
So you can use relative references as in ../project/VRfile.swf in the go to next panorama field (an in fact you can use relative references in the output field when generating the swf as well - I keep all my scenes in separate directories and then generate them into a single tour directory YMMV).
But what you need to be careful about when placing the tour on to the web server is that you set the basepath in the Flash params. This tells the flash swf where it lives, and where relative references are and then you can put your project directory in any location on the server - but you should keep the same project structure.
So if you have http://www.tour.com/somedir/somedir2/project/VRfile.swf - then you'd need to set you basepath in the html to <param name="base" value="http://www.tour.com/somedir/somedir2/"> then all the relative references will work.
A search for "base" in the forums will turn up more detail on this....
This isn't really in the docs - it's workflow/project management and I know that some others do this differently, and it's taken me lots of time and some mistakes to work out how I want to do this. I would certainly recommend that you map out your directory structures, flows between scenes, hotspots and external images before you plunge in too deep. Rework takes longer than you think!
regards
Gareth
-
Hopki
- Gnome
- Posts: 13017
- Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:16 pm
- Location: Layer de la Haye, Essex UK
- Contact:
Hi
@ bo3d
Yes you are correct, If all the SWF files are in the same folder, then the Url only needs to point to the SWF, so pano1.swf, pano2.swf etc, uploaded or local, this should not change if using the html page provided by Pano2VR.
Some methods of embedding SWF files will cause the links to be broken, so you will need to add a file path to the Url.
Ok, for the sound thing, in V3 beat4, if you look you have, Viewer Init as an action. Use that instead of just Init.
The difference is that the Init works before the Panorama is loaded, and viewer Init after it is loaded.
Regards
Hopki
@ bo3d
Yes you are correct, If all the SWF files are in the same folder, then the Url only needs to point to the SWF, so pano1.swf, pano2.swf etc, uploaded or local, this should not change if using the html page provided by Pano2VR.
Some methods of embedding SWF files will cause the links to be broken, so you will need to add a file path to the Url.
Ok, for the sound thing, in V3 beat4, if you look you have, Viewer Init as an action. Use that instead of just Init.
The difference is that the Init works before the Panorama is loaded, and viewer Init after it is loaded.
Regards
Hopki
Garden Gnome Support
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
support@ggnome.com
https://ggnome.com/wiki/documentation/
If you send an e-mail to support please send a link to the forum post for reference.
support@ggnome.com
https://ggnome.com/wiki/documentation/
In addition to Gareth
The relative / absolute url is not on pano2VR end to control. You need to remember that Flash files never remember their location on server. They will assume the location of their host file, and will seek files (xml/jpg/swf) to load, from the host file directory perspective. And as Gareth said, it's crucial to maintain the directory structure on your desktop and on the server. This apply to every single content design in Flash, from websites to games, panoramas... etc.
If you design your panoramas and keep them within same directory, all path will change the moment you use HTML/PHP to refer to them from else where. One way around it is to design the linking with that in mind from very beginning, and test your panoramas in browser rather than on desktop. Of course, the moment you relocate your HTML/PHP host file, you will need to change the paths to your files accordingly.
The relative / absolute url is not on pano2VR end to control. You need to remember that Flash files never remember their location on server. They will assume the location of their host file, and will seek files (xml/jpg/swf) to load, from the host file directory perspective. And as Gareth said, it's crucial to maintain the directory structure on your desktop and on the server. This apply to every single content design in Flash, from websites to games, panoramas... etc.
If you design your panoramas and keep them within same directory, all path will change the moment you use HTML/PHP to refer to them from else where. One way around it is to design the linking with that in mind from very beginning, and test your panoramas in browser rather than on desktop. Of course, the moment you relocate your HTML/PHP host file, you will need to change the paths to your files accordingly.
Thank you guys, I making progress, good progress. I am more confident now with my swf files placement. If it doesn't work, the error must be somewhere else.
I think of myself as a photographer not a web designer or programmer so I am happy when I can get away without doing any of the later. I don't mind doing it, and the skin editor sure helps a lot keeping me far from flash action script, but that's somebody's else job. I know, these days it's the way we roll, doing a bit of everything. It might be fun and exciting for some, assembling the bits and pieces together, solving the little riddles programming throws at you, I'd rather stay away. Again the skin editor sure helps a lot.
Thanks!
I think of myself as a photographer not a web designer or programmer so I am happy when I can get away without doing any of the later. I don't mind doing it, and the skin editor sure helps a lot keeping me far from flash action script, but that's somebody's else job. I know, these days it's the way we roll, doing a bit of everything. It might be fun and exciting for some, assembling the bits and pieces together, solving the little riddles programming throws at you, I'd rather stay away. Again the skin editor sure helps a lot.
Thanks!