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Flash Reference Guide

Aug 22, 2003

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The beta version of Flash Player 8 is now available. How will this affect you? Let's download Flash Player 8 and take a look.

The New Flash Player Installation Process

The first step is to download and install the new beta. You can get the software at the following Web address:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/public_beta

When you go to the above link, you'll notice one immediate change with the installation process. When installing Flash Player 7 (the current player), you need to know which Web browser a customer uses in order to install the player correctly. You'd install Flash Player 7 on a Windows system running Internet Explorer, for example, differently than you would install it on a Mac running Netscape. Typically, to accomplish this juggling act, you need to write the following JavaScript around the HTML OBJECT tag:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript">
<!--

var flashinstalled = 0;
var flashversion = 0;
MSDetect = "false";
if (navigator.plugins && navigator.plugins.length)
{
  x = navigator.plugins["Shockwave Flash"];
  if (x)
  {
   flashinstalled = 2;
   if (x.description)
   {
     y = x.description;
     flashversion = y.charAt(y.indexOf('.')-1);
   }
  }
  else
   flashinstalled = 1;
  if (navigator.plugins["Shockwave Flash 2.0"])
  {
   flashinstalled = 2;
   flashversion = 2;
  }
}
else if (navigator.mimeTypes && navigator.mimeTypes.length)
{
  x = navigator.mimeTypes['application/x-shockwave-flash'];
  if (x && x.enabledPlugin)
   flashinstalled = 2;
  else
   flashinstalled = 1;
}
else
  MSDetect = "true";

// -->
</SCRIPT>

You can also do the same with VBScript:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">

on error resume next

If MSDetect = "true" Then
  For i = 2 to 7
   If Not(IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash." & i))) Then

   Else
     flashinstalled = 2
     flashversion = i
   End If
  Next
End If

If flashinstalled = 0 Then
  flashinstalled = 1
End If

</SCRIPT>

With Flash Player 7, developers and designers need to be constantly aware of the Web browser market and whether or not the customer has Flash installed on his machine and JavaScript/VBScript turned on. For this reason alone, many companies haven't upgraded to Flash Player 7, opting for the safer route of using an older version of Flash, such as Flash 6 or even Flash 5.

That's all changing. The new Flash Player 8 Public Beta comes with a new installation process that's very similar to the one used by Macromedia Central, which is a super-sized version of Flash Player. Flash Central supports a lot of features you will not find in the Flash 7 player, such as support for regular expressions, encoding, and other features. Central is different from the Flash Player, yet Central can be easily distributed if the customer coming to your site is using Flash 6 or higher. There are no alarming security boxes that appear at the start of the installation process. What you encounter instead is a pleasant question asking if you want to install Central.

Since version 6 of the Flash Player, Macromedia has had in place a device that detects the version number of a SWF movie you are viewing. This has been needed so that you can write the correct Flash Player detection JavaScript. A Flash 7 SWF movie will not play correctly in a Flash 6 Player. The device that Macromedia added actually has a dual role, which is turned on with the release of the Flash Player 8. With Flash Player 8, you no longer need to write JavaScript or VBScript programs to detect which version of the Flash Player your customer has installed. Now, if a newer version of the Flash Player is required, you receive the same message and installation process used by Macromedia Central. The installation is managed by the Flash Player and not through scripting in your Web browser. This new process is much more efficient. In many ways, it appears that Central was the test subject for this new distribution mechanism.

Installing Flash Player 8 Public Beta

The first thing you'll see when you get to the site is this message:

Click on the blue banner and the following pop-up will appear, connecting you to the Macromedia servers. The pop-up is not a JavaScript pop-up. It's a pop-up that appears within the Flash interface. You no longer need to worry about pop-up blockers preventing users from upgrading their software.

Within a few seconds you'll be asked this very pleasant question: "This content requires Macromedia Flash Player 8. Would you like to install it now?"

If you say, "yes," the page refreshes and presents this screen:

You have installed the Flash Player 8 Public Beta successfully.

There are two clear advantages to this new installation process. The first is that Flash is no longer tied to the user's Web browser, which may have JavaScript turned off and a pop-up blocker turned on, thus preventing a normal upgrade. The second advantage is that the new player can now be even more easily distributed than any other version, ensuring a faster adoption rate.

Time to Experiment

Frankly, Macromedia is keeping quiet on the new features in the Flash Player 8. There are, however, a couple of features in the beta version that you can test.

If your application is heavy on ActionScript, you'll want to test the application against the new player. ActionScript is running much faster on Flash Player 8. I've developed a number of Flash applications that have thousands of lines of code and they just about sing with the new release.

Second, try installing Flash Player 8 Public Beta on different operating systems and Web browsers. You're now part of Macromedia's testing process and really can help make a difference by reporting any bugs you run into at this site:

http://www.macromedia.com/bin/fp8betafeedback.cgi?

Now is the time for you to take advantage of this public beta test cycle. I encourage you to give it a try.

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