Flash Variables and Firefox

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Hi

I'm putting together a site using HTML, CSS and a flash menu.

What I'm doing at the moment is, when a user clicks a section link in the flash menu it opens that page, within the html for this page in the Embed, Object and AC_FL_RunContent tags I have variables that tell the flash menu where it is so that it goes to the correct keyframe which highlights the current section in the menu.

Here is an example of the variables in the code:
AC_FL_RunContent 'flashvars','whatPage=portfolio_down&whatPort=sibin'

object
<param name=FlashVars value="whatPage=portfolio_down&whatPort=sibin" />

<embed src="menu.swf" FlashVars="whatPage=portfolio_down&whatPort=sibin"quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="220" height="550"></embed>

This was working fine in both IE and Firefox. I went to add more details on the same keyframes as the section higlights in the flash menu. Doing this has caused it to stop working in Firefox but it still works fine in IE.

I'm confused as to why adding some extra text to the keyframes has broken it. I know the variables are getting to the flash movie but in firefox it holds the movie on frame 1 even though it has the variables to goto the correct section.

Any help would be appreciated, This is a simple issue that is taking up all the time.

The Mighty Ken

I'd be inclined to use SWFObject instead of Adobe's default embed code.

Liam Byrne

Bear in mind that using Flash for the menu will probably cripple your SEO. Google will see the first page and will not see any pages linked from it.

The Mighty Ken

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Bear in mind that using Flash for the menu will probably cripple your SEO. Google will see the first page and will not see any pages linked from it.

Indeed. Be sure that you have a fallback, text-based nav if you're using SWFObject.

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Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the reminder about the SEO stuff. I had planned to put in a text menu too but off course that has gone to the back of the line until I get this sorted out.

I tried using the swfobject but now only one of the 2 variables I need is going in. here is where I've put the variables:

so.addVariable("flashVarText", "whatPage=Portfolio_down&whatPort=museum"); // this line is optional, but this example uses the variable and displays this text inside the flash movie
so.write("flashcontent");

// ]]>
</script>

is this correct?

It is really strange because I had it working fine in all browsers. All I added was another layer in flash and a couple of keyframes. This is what stopped it working. I tried putting the info I wanted on the existing keyframes (that worked) this broke it as well.

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Got it sorted!.

It turns out it was a bug with flash. All the variables were getting into the menu.

I have an uncanny knack of finding bugs in software and using technology in ways that bring out design flaws. Maybe a job in testing is what I should go for.

Flash didn't like me creating a new layer and text boxes for some reason. TBH CS3 seems allot more quirkier than any other previous versions.

I copied the existing section marker text and edited it to what I needed. This worked for whatever reason.

The only thing I can think of that may have affected it is I copied the text from an illustrator file into flash, this may have brought in extra information that is causing the conflict.

The swf Object looks like the right thing to use so that you can avoid declaring variables 3 times in the embed, object and ACFl

Thanks for all the help

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This did not work in the end.

As soon as I changed the text in the duplicated text boxes the whole thing breaks. If I add an image it breaks. It only lets me draw a shape.

I've tried breaking apart the text etc. to no avail.

It really doesn't make any sense and is defying logic. The only thing that I can do is copy and paste the text several times in the box. if I type after this it cuts off the last 2 lines of text for no reason.

I'm going to try a different version of flash as I've wasted so much time on what should've been a simple task.