Alternating Flash Header on Refresh Script not working in Firefox

basslion · 04-09-2008, 07:57 AM

I have the following script which will load a random flash header when a person refreshes the page. Quite a great script. The issue i am having is that it only works in IE and when i load it in Firefox FireFox tries to download the flash file instead of displaying it. I have commented out the 2,3,4 & 5 flash banners as i just want to get the 1st one working.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

<script type="text/javascript">
function switcher()
{
var ad=new Array()

ad[0]='Movie1.swf';

//ad[1]='Movie2.swf';

//ad[2]='Movie3.swf';

//ad[3]='Movie4.swf';

//ad[4]='Movie5.swf';

var xy=Math.floor(Math.random()*ad.length);

document.getElementById('iframe1').src=ad[xy];
}
</script> </head>
<body onLoad="switcher()" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">

<table width="1000" height="506" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="Table_01">
<tr>
<td height="187" colspan="9">
<iframe name="iframe1" id="iframe1" src="" width="1000" height="187" scrolling="no" frameborder="0">Click Here!</iframe>
</td>

********

You can view this script in action here

http://officialelectroniczone.staging.secure2u.com/

Taltos · 04-09-2008, 10:08 AM

basslion, I haven't done this in a while but taking a quick look, it doesn't look like you have put your flash file in correctly. Maybe the new browsers and player work a little different but I believe you have to setup an <object> and <embed> to make it work nicely and properly in IE, FF and other browsers. You have just set the source of your iframe to be that movie. I think the only reason it works in IE is that IE has traditionally added features that are really outside or in contradiction to the standards that try to intelligently anticipate mistakes and problems. An example is you can leave a closing tag out in a table row or data and it might still display correctly in IE but most other browsers will make a mess of it.

Hopefully, someone that has done this more recently can verify this or you can hit google real quick and get some examples.

basslion · 04-10-2008, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taltos

basslion, I haven't done this in a while but taking a quick look, it doesn't look like you have put your flash file in correctly. Maybe the new browsers and player work a little different but I believe you have to setup an <object> and <embed> to make it work nicely and properly in IE, FF and other browsers. You have just set the source of your iframe to be that movie. I think the only reason it works in IE is that IE has traditionally added features that are really outside or in contradiction to the standards that try to intelligently anticipate mistakes and problems. An example is you can leave a closing tag out in a table row or data and it might still display correctly in IE but most other browsers will make a mess of it.

Hopefully, someone that has done this more recently can verify this or you can hit google real quick and get some examples.

I think the very best way to do this is to have a XML that uses Actionscript in Flash to load different flash images into a single Flash movie. I am going to give this a try.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 04-10-2008, 09:43 AM

Taltos has the right idea. A container movie that imports alternate .swf files into itself, but I would base it on a SharedObect file so all the scripting is action script. A well designed So file will let you do everything you need to do from alternate based on views, time, date.. whatever params you set in place and check for at each visit of the user.

basslion · 04-10-2008, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3ncryptabl3_lick

Taltos has the right idea. A container movie that imports alternate .swf files into itself, but I would base it on a SharedObect file so all the scripting is action script. A well designed So file will let you do everything you need to do from alternate based on views, time, date.. whatever params you set in place and check for at each visit of the user.

I am looking on flash den and i noticed someone there has a random banner on refresh package, so i was thinking of using this. it is xml driven.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 04-15-2008, 04:59 AM

I think you're best bet is using SharedObject. Anything else will require page code or browser manipulation which can be tricky across platforms.

The SO file is like a cookie, but for flash and it's not stored in the regular temporary internet files directory so it typically isn't deleted. Most times it can survive the lifetime of a computer, baring a restore or reformat. And as I said, you can store any variables or params which you can use to alternate, change or manipulate data in the flash by reading and even rerwriting to it.

A good example of this was on my last flash project. I made a bandwidth tester and used a SO file to store the data for the users test. So if the user had a good highspeed connection, it rated their connection as High Bandwidth, wrote the SO file and stored the data saying they are HB then the flash suggested the High Bandwidth version. If they were Low Bandwidth, it stored the users data as LB then suggested the Low Bandwidth. When the user returned, it didn't retest because it saw the file was already present so it skips the test then recalls the stored data in it from the first test and sets that as the parameter for the return, suggesting the same bandwidth from their first visit.