Custom Preloader question

Mar 17, 2011

Hello everyone.  I'm using a custom preloader (the xml version) for my presentation right now.  I can't tell if it's working, though.  I downloaded Fiddler 2, but that doesn't help since I'm just loading the player.html file from my CD.  I'm not publishing it to the internet.  However, when I load the player.html file on my Mac, it's slow and choppy.  I'm assuming this is due to each slide containing a swf and it takes awhile to load.  So I thought a preloader would be perfect.  I can't tell if it's working, though.  It looks a little faster, though not as fast as I'd like it to be.  It could just be my wishful thinking, though.

Does anyone know how to test if the custom preloader is working if it's not published to the web and it's just being viewed from the .html file on a CD?  Here is my code:

<!-- Originally Created by Philip Corriveau modifed by James Kingsley -->
<preloadinfo>
<!-- logo max size is 244x75px due to flash 6 it must either be a .swf or a .jpg-->
<logo>InUseStand.jpg</logo>
<files>
<!-- list your files to be preloaded -->
<file>data/swf/fm_SmartStand.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Intro.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_SafetyNotes.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Warnings.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_LCDDisplay.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Operation.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Harness.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Transferring.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Ambulating.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_Accessories.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_HarnessLaundering.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_ChargingBatteries.swf</file>
<file>data/swf/fm_EmergencyLowering.swf</file>
</files>
</preloadinfo>

116 Replies
Daniel Bolia

@onEnterFrame, James,

I purchased the Preloader program and have been unable to verify that it's actually working. I published the course, replaced the null.swf with preloader's null.swf. I also included the displayPercent.fla, and all of the displayPercentBlack.swf, ...Blue, ...White, et al in the player folder. I have yet to see any progress bar when opening the course in Chrome or IE.

Furthermore, I did not see any source code file mentioned on your website that could be used to modify the progress bar. I was unable to open the displayPercent.fla file because it was created with Adobe Flash Pro CS-5.5 and I only have Flash Pro CS-5. Please advise.

onEnterFrame (James Kingsley)

Hello Dan,

I am replying this in addition to the trouble ticket you placed with us.
Sorry you having trouble with the widget. Can you send us a link to your published course so that we can test it?
The source code file is displaypercent.fla; you do not need to copy it into your course. To display the progress bar you should use Articulate to insert one of the displayPercentCOLOR.swf files into a slide.
After publishing your course replace the null.swf in the "player" folder with the one you downloaded from our site.

I will attach the CS5 version of fla here. 

Thank you,
James Kingsley

onEnterFrame (James Kingsley)

@daniel bolia

Sorry you had a hard time with it. You did not respond to either my email or the post here so I thought maybe my advice had helped. I understand one line of instruction doesn't seem like much.. that is the beauty of this solution; for the preloader to work you need only copy/replace that one file. For the progress bar to work you insert it on a slide.

Glad it's working for you. If you have any other questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thanks

James

Peter Anderson

Videos in Articulate Studio ‘09 content will progressively download, so that users will not have to wait for the entire video to be downloaded to their computer before playback begins.

In some cases, however, an MP4 file may not be properly formatted to allow progressive downloading, which means users would have to wait for the video to be fully downloaded before it begins to play.  If you have an MP4 file that is exhibiting this behavior in your published content, you may be able to correct it.  Here's how.

Steve McAneney

Hi everyone. Sorry to regurgitate an old thread, but does anyone know if James' paid preloader loads Engage projects with embedded movies as well? In the documentation on his HP it doesn't make it clear. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the other 'manual' xml preloader where you add the files you want to download did preload Engage. But I want something that preloads everything (Presenter movies, Engage, and Quizmaker). 

Am I dreaming? I am prepared to pay if such a product exists. I hope Articulate 2013 enables more preloading options...

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Phil Corriveau

Steve McAneney said:

Hi everyone. Sorry to regurgitate an old thread, but does anyone know if James' paid preloader loads Engage projects with embedded movies as well? In the documentation on his HP it doesn't make it clear. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the other 'manual' xml preloader where you add the files you want to download did preload Engage. But I want something that preloads everything (Presenter movies, Engage, and Quizmaker). 

Hi Steve.  Although I haven't personally used James' paid preloader, my understanding is that his preloader looks for all assets and directories related to the published Presenter, Quizmaker and Engage content.  With that in mind, I see no reason why embedded movies in Engage projects would not be preloaded as well.  Hope that helps...

onEnterFrame (James Kingsley)

Hi Steve,

It will work for Engage assets but not quizmaker. QM is is locked down to prevent bad students from poking around looking for answers and that keeps us from finding it's assets. But most folks can find a way to move big files out of the quiz. "Watch this movie then click next to take the quiz... "

@Phil thanks for helping!

Steve McAneney

James Kingsley said:

Hi Steve,

It will work for Engage assets but not quizmaker. QM is is locked down to prevent bad students from poking around looking for answers and that keeps us from finding it's assets. But most folks can find a way to move big files out of the quiz. "Watch this movie then click next to take the quiz... "

@Phil thanks for helping!


Awesome news guys. Thanks. I'll try it out. 

Steve McAneney

I purchased the preloader, it works great!

Except....

After whittling down my content and using the lowest publish quality settings my course was still loading slowly. I uploaded it to SCORM CLOUD and it flashed through like a rocket. The problem? My proprietory LMS (built internally by my company) is simply taking forever to call up the different objects, despite the assets already having been downloaded!

It doesn't matter how great the course or the software is, if the LMS doesn't work its all a waste of time. Back to the drawing board (and back to the battle with my LMS team).

onEnterFrame (James Kingsley)

aslan azder said:

Hi everyone. Sorry to regurgitate an old thread, but does anyone know if James' paid preloader loads Engage projects with embedded movies as well? In the documentation on his HP it doesn't make it clear...

Aslan,

It will work on your Engage assets., Pretty much the only limit is Quiz assets. Well.. It still depends on your server and the user's browser. All we can do is try to load and cache it. 

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