SWF Controls in separate window

Hi Hal and welcome to E-learning Heroes,

When you inserted your .swf file, do you remember if you set the slide to synchronize or play independently? Your best option is to use play independently so Presenter's seekbar doesn't conflict with Instant Demo's seekbar.

Flash best practices

It's likely your Instant Demo file is published using ActionScript 3 while Presenter '09 currently supports AS2 and earlier. If that's the case, your only option is to insert the Instant Demo using Presenter's Web Object.

Does Instant Demo publish a single .swf file?

Hi David, and thanks for the help and welcome,

"do you remember if you set the slide to synchronize or play independently?"

I did not because I am playing it in a separate browser window, so I don't get that choice (because it's irrelevant, I suppose) . If I were playing in a slide, I would remove the I-D controls and set synchronize ... but I need more screen size for the demo.

"It's likely your Instant Demo file is published using ActionScript 3 while Presenter '09 currently supports AS2 and earlier. If that's the case, your only option is to insert the Instant Demo using Presenter's Web Object."

Maybe, but I doubt it, unless I'm really confused. If it is the case that I-D is using ActionScript 3, then Presenter 5 must have supported AS3 and then Presenter '09 regressed to AS2 ... and I'm betting that this is not true. Maybe you can verify.  You see, as I said in my original post, the SWF files that worked with Presenter 5 don't work with Presenter '09. 

"Does Instant Demo publish a single .swf file?"

Yes.

Thanks again.

Thanks, Hal. Is there any way you can attach the .swf or a sample Instant Demo file to the forums? I'd be happy to take a look at it.

Hi David,

I've uploaded an SWF file that I just created. It's about 30 seconds, but should give you the idea. The controls work when you open the file with IE, but do not when opened in a new browser window from an AP '09 presentation.

I no longer have Presenter 5 available, but I'd bet that the controls for this SWF would work. 

Thanks,

Hal

Thanks for posting the file, Hal. I gave it a try and I was able to load it in a new browser window and insert the swf into a slide.

Will you check out this quick screencast just to verify we're going about this the same way?  It's possible it's a Flash player issue--either with security settings or an outdated Flash player? I also attached my Presenter file used to insert your Flash movie.

Hi David,

What you did in the screencast is essentially what I am doing.

One important thing was not visible to me in the screencast, though. When you showed the SWF running in the slide, I could clearly see the scrubber cursor advancing and time counting up. This is also the case for me ... the controls (stop/start etc) work if the SWF is embedded in a slide. However, when you showed the SWF in a new browser window, the controls were not visible to me. Can you verify for me that in that case, you actually see the scrubber cursor and clock advancing and that you can use the controls? For me the SWF plays just fine an a new browser window, but the controls are not responsive. And I could not see whether this was the case for you in the screencast.

I did check my Flash add-ons and found that they were Flash 10.1 or so, and updated them (to 11.x) for both browsers IE and Firefox. This made no difference.

I checked for updates for AP '09, but none are available. 

Thanks a lot,

Hal

Hi Hal - Yes, the browser file also included the .swf's seekbar.

I posted the file to our S3 account. Can you see if the file performs off the server the same as it does locally for you? 

http://articulate-community.s3.amazonaws.com/david/2012/01/InstantDemo-test/player.html

It's possible a local Flash security setting is causing the conflict.

David

Hi David,

"Yes, the browser file also included the .swf's seekbar."

The seekbar is included in the display I see, too. But, the time clock does not advance, nor do the controls work. 

So, you are actually able to stop and restart the SWF in the separate browser window by using the controls, right?

"I posted the file to our S3 account. Can you see if the file performs off the server the same as it does locally for you? "

Thanks for going to the trouble. I get the same behavior as locally. I can see the controls, but they are not working. I cannot stop and restart the SWF, nor do I see the time advancing, even though the SWF is playing fine.

"It's possible a local Flash security setting is causing the conflict."

Maybe. I will be happy to check anything you suggest. But if that were the case, wouldn't it be a problem whenever that SWF is running (in a slide, in a browser window)? 

Thanks,

Hal

Hi Hal,

So here's something interesting. If you open the absolute url to the published .html page, the video controls work:

http://articulate-community.s3.amazonaws.com/david/2012/01/InstantDemo-test/data/swf/fm_Test.html

But I'm noticing (for the first time) that the controls don't work when loaded from Presenter: 

http://articulate-community.s3.amazonaws.com/david/2012/01/InstantDemo-test/player.html

I'm guessing it has something to do with the VideoPlayer.html and VideoPlayer.swf that Presenter uses to launch the video. This is the link Presenter's generating to open the Test.swf file:

http://articulate-community.s3.amazonaws.com/david/2012/01/InstantDemo-test/player/VideoPlayer.html?exUrl=../data/swf/fm_Test.swf&exWndWidth=691&exWndHeight=557&exWidth=687&exHeight=553&exDuration=&exPlaybar=true&exAutoPlay=true

Since you're loading the video outside of your Presenter course, you could hyperlink to the video in a new window using your own html page. Would that work?

Hi David,

"But I'm noticing (for the first time) that the controls don't work when loaded from Presenter"

Yes ... so this is my problem ... which as I said before was not a problem in Presenter 5. So my guess is that it is likely a configuration issue in '09, or probably less likely, a bug.

"Since you're loading the video outside of your Presenter course, you could hyperlink to the video in a new window using your own html page. Would that work?"

Technically yes. However, just like using it from a web object (which works), I really don't want to do this for various reasons. 

Let's see if we can find out what I need to change to make this work like it did in AP 5. It really should work.

Thanks for hanging with me on this.

Hal

No problem, Hal. I'm sorry I didn't have more info when you first posted.  My only concern with modifying video player html page is you'll need to update that each time you publish your course.

Now, if you have access to  Flash and know a little about it, you could create a base movie that loads your screencast into it. You could add a line of code that sets the loaded movie to autoplay. That would likely override the VideoPlayer.swf movie's actions. Just an idea and hopefully one that doesn't send you down an even longer rabbit hole-)

Hi David,

"My only concern with modifying video player html page is you'll need to update that each time you publish your course."

Right, and I would not want to do that unless it was absolutely necessary. In my situation though, it would be better than using a web object or a external link.

"Now, if you have access to  Flash and know a little about it,"

Not going there!

I think the thing to keep in mind here is that this stuff should work. It worked in Presenter 5 and it should work in Presenter '09.

It would be a shame for me to have to go back to Presenter 5 to get my stuff working again. I certainly don't want to do that. But I might prefer that to editing the generated html every time I publish.

There must be an answer, and hopefully someone can find it for me.

Hi Hal,

In order for your SWF to work in a new window, you'll need to insert it as a web object.  The reason for this is that the videoplayer.html file (the file that handles the playback of your SWF file), uses another SWF to handle the playback.  Being that your SWF file uses ActionScript that doesn't follow our recommended best practices, the SWF's player controls won't work.

In a web object, you're basically letting the Flash Player play your Instant Demo file natively.  Here's a screencast that shows how you can import your .SWF file as web object:

<iframe src="//www.screenr.com/embed/Afh" width="650" height="396" frameborder="0"></iframe>

https://player.vimeo.com/video/143914206

When you're inserting the web object, make sure you choose to open it in a new window.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the help.

"In order for your SWF to work in a new window, you'll need to insert it as a web object."

I have tried this and it works, but it is not a very good solution given my situation. I would much rather be able to set it up to play in a separate browser window as I was able to do in AP 5.

"Being that your SWF file uses ActionScript that doesn't follow our recommended best practices, the SWF's player controls won't work."

Please be more specific. Which of your recommended practices is not being followed? I ask because Instant-Demo has very good support and if I can present the issue to them, maybe they can fix it from their side.

Thanks,

Hal