expressInstall frustration--help needed

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Nov. 13, 2009Edward Spiegel

Hi,

I know that this technically is really an swfobject issue and not a jwplayer issue BUT I am hoping that someone else has had the same problem and found a solution.

I am using swfobject 2.2 to embed by jwplayer and have discovered that the expressInstall.swf seems not to be doing what it is supposed to when a user doesn't have the right version installed. Rather than put up the dialog that asks about whether to install a new version, the flash object simply doesn't get embedded -- so the visitor just sees my placeholder text.

I have tried in IE8, and FireFox and Safari on Mac and all behave the same way

Anyone know what the problem is (I assume something boneheaded on my part)

Here is the swfobject call setup (you can visit the actual page at:
http://www.uisoftware.com/EAS/grains/indexNew.php )

<script type="text/javascript">
var flashvars = {
width : '100%',
height :'18',
bufferlength :'10',
file : '/EAS/grains/sounds/Grains_3rdMovement.m4a',
autostart : 'false',
screencolor : '333333',
backcolor : '666666'
}

var params =
{
allowfullscreen: 'false',
allowscriptaccess: 'always',
wmode: 'opaque'
};
var attributes =
{
'id': 'playerEAS',
'name': 'playerEAS'
}; swfobject.embedSWF('/RESOURCES/jwplayer/player-licensed.swf', 'playerDiv', '100%', '18', '9.1.0', '/RESOURCES/swfobject22/expressInstall.swf', flashvars, params, attributes);

Nov. 14, 2009hobbs

 
You need a bigger space for the Express Install movie.

See: http://willswonders.myip.org:8074/EAS.html

Nov. 14, 2009Edward Spiegel

Thanks. I found a few other problems. Perhaps what I found will help others avoid some of the frustrations that I encountered:

1) If you enter a required version higher than is actually available, expressInstall won't work -- you won't be prompted for a newer version and the display space will be blank. So the text page that you were so kind as to create doesn't work (at least on my computers--perhaps this is browser dependent)
2) If you use "%" in height or width definitions, expressInstall won't work either (athough you can use % in height or width when instantiating the jwplayer)

Since I can't make my jwplayer larger. I will have to write my own little javascript routine to show the link to install the flash player rather than use expressInstall technique.

Thanks for your help,

Edward

Nov. 14, 2009hobbs

 
I think the only reason that the test page doesn't work, is that I squeezed it down to the absolute minimum w&h, which may be too small on some browsers.

Try it now, requiring Flash 11,2,0,0.

Using % for width & height works. I'm using it in the first player. Those are read-only flashvars, not useful in player code, so you should not have them in your flashvars. See my page source.

If your space is too small, you will have to make your own alternate content message.

Nov. 14, 2009Edward Spiegel

Hobbs,

Your revised test page behaves the same for me as my tests. The alternate content shows up not the expressInstall content on the computer that has the latest flash. I see 'player1 goes here'. On the computer that doesn't have the latest flash, I see the expressInstall content

I suspect that it may be both browser and flash version dependent.

I tried on two macs and got the same results with FireFox and Safari. The machine that has 9.0.something sees the expressInstall. The machine that has the latest flash, displays 'player 1 goes here'

I found a discussion elsewhere that mentioned that expressInstall will behave surprisingly if you try to require a version of Flash that does not yet exist. And that is what I am finding.

Now that I understand better what is going on, I can live with displaying alternate content (which is a message that a newer Flash version is needed with a link to the latest version.

Thanks for the help.

Nov. 14, 2009hobbs

 
Interesting!

I tested the revised page (looking for Flash 11.2.0) on:

1) IE v7,0.5730.13 - Flash: 10,0,22,87

2) FF v3.0.15 - Flash: 10,0,12,36

The Express Install SWF shows in the first player div on both browsers.

Go figure...

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