RE: A Few Quick Questions

[Mark Kerr]

Hi Colin,


Actually, that message was from another Mark, but it was useful for me too.

:)


Thanks,

Mark (Kerr)



> -----Original Message-----

>

From: ownershocker [dot] com [ownershocker [dot] com]On">mailto:ownershocker [dot] com]On Behalf Of Colin

> Moock

> Sent: March 9, 1998 12:03 PM

>

To: flashermail [dot] chinwag [dot] com

> Subject: Re: A Few Quick Questions

>

>

>

flashershocker [dot] com,Internet writes:

> >Hi, Colin. I've been trying to accomplish this very thing for days, BUT:

> > 1) my "movie 2" is in a different HTML frame, and

> > 2) this HTML frame contains a completely different HTML file.

>

> >How would I control the SWF frame movement in this situation?

>

> Hi Mark,

> Sorry for the delay in response, but I was really busy at work.

>

> If you want a movie in one frame to control a movie in another frame,

> you'd use an FSCommand in movie 1 to call a function in frame 1 which

> calls a function in frame 2 which changes the movie in frame 2.

> So, in essence, it would be the same as what I described below, with

> the addition of a jump between frames in the function called by movie1.

>

> Your function in frame 1 would call a function in frame 2 using this

> syntax:

>         parent.frames['youframename'].yourfunction(yourparameters)

>

> and then you'd have a function in frame two called "yourfunction" where

> "yourparameters" is set to the frame you want the movie to change to.

> Remember that you can set this dynamically using the "args" of an

> FSCommand. The "yourfunction" in frame two would be pretty much exactly

> what I gave as my example.

>

> Now here's the rub: I actually tried to do this for real on the Levi's

> site, but had to ditch it because of three problems (all on Netscape

> 3&4):

> 1) Netscape sometimes got stuck in the PercentLoaded while loop. It

> seemed unable to access the information from the plugin once in the

> loop. IE didn't have the problem. I wondered if it had an easier time

> communicating with its activeX control.

> 2) Netscape crashed randomly.

> 3) Over a network connection, the first frame occasionally loaded

> movie1 which tried to access the function in frame2 before the frame

> had even loaded the page. This resulted in the appropriate "object not

> found" javascript errors.

>

> A bizarre clue to the problems was that if you put in javascript alerts

> to display what was happening at each stage of the process, then

> everything worked fine. Seemed to me that executing simultaneous

> multiple functions in different frames while talking to the plugin made

> Netscape die. I didn't have time on the job to continue investigating.

> The alerts forced the functions to happen one at a time, in a linear

> fashion.

>

> Let me know if you have better luck!

> Also, if anyone knows a way to have JavaScript ask the browser whether

> or not a page in a frameset has loaded yet (including its children),

> I'd appreciate hearing about it.

>

> Thanks,

> Colin

>

>

>

> >Mark

>

> >_______________________________________________________________________

>

>

>>flashershocker [dot] com,Internet writes:

> >>>1) Is there any way get one flash animation to trigger another

> >>>animation on

> >>>the same page?

> >>

> >>You have to use JavaScript (and VBscript a bit). I'll give a specific

> >>example below. You should probably sniff out Win3.1 and Mac68K before

> >>using this technique though, because they don't support Flash

> >>scripting...

> >>

> >>Also, for anyone else listening...in using similar methods, do you

> >>experience crashes in Netscape over network connections (but not

> >>locally?). I had a reproducible crash in the while() loop when waiting

> >>for PercentLoaded. No problems in IE though. I was also talking between

> >>two frames though, and I wonder if Netscape died trying to check its

> >>cache, or couldn't talk to the plugin for some reason (I'm guessing IE

> >>would have better communication with the ActiveX version...). I'd love

> >>to hear other experiences with Netscape stability in using these

> >>techniques, especially with frames...

> >>

> >>Here's the example:

> >>

> >>***IN YOUR EMBED/OBJECT TAGS***

> >>Set the name of your movies. Let's say like this:

> >><EMBED NAME="movie1" etc. etc.>

> >><OBJECT ID="movie1" etc. etc.>

> >>

> >>

> >>***IN YOUR MOVIE***

> >>1) In your movie1, set a keyframe frame where you want movie1 to change

> >>the frame in movie2.

> >>2) Set the Action to "GetURL"

> >>3) In the Network Address box, enter "FScommand:changemovie"

> >>	("changemovie" is one of two arguments you can pass to JavaScript.

> >>We'll look for it later in our function.)

> >>4) In the Target box, enter the frame you want to change to, say "15".

> >>	(the target frame is always where you put the second argument. Our

> >>"changemovie" function will catch it.)

> >>

> >>So, now your movie is asking the browser to look for a function to

> >>start. In your HTML, you write the function...

> >>

> >>

> >>***IN YOUR HTML***

> >>Use a function like this...I'll comment it and add alerts so you can

> >>track the progress of your script. Just comment out the alerts to make

> >>it work properly...

> >>

> >><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">

> >>//First, catch the function coming out of movie1 with standard syntax.

> >>Assign two variable names, command and args

> >>	function movie1_DoFSCommand(command, args){

> >>

> >>//check to see if the movie is asking to execute this action:

> >>if(command=="changemovie"){

> >>

> >>        alert('Movie1 has called change in Movie2');

> >>        //Refer to the embedded movie as "mov2", set using slightly

> >>different syntax

> >>        //depending on the browser.

> >>

> >>        var InternetExplorer = navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft")

> >>!= -1;

> >>        var mov2 = InternetExplorer ? window.movie2 :

> >>window.document.movie2;

> >>

> >>        //Ask Flash for the amount of the movie already loaded. Just to

> >>make sure we don't jump to a non-loaded frame.

> >>

> >>        var pl = mov2.PercentLoaded();

> >>        alert('Initial percent loaded is:' + pl);

> >>

> >>        //Wait until the appropriate portion of the movie is loaded.

> >>We'll use 40%.

> >>        while(pl < 40){

> >>                alert('Waiting until 40% of movie loads. Current

> >>percent loaded is only:' + pl);

> >>                pl = mov2.PercentLoaded();

> >>        }

> >>

> >>        //Now that enough of the movie is safely loaded,

> >>        //send it to the desired frame in the timeline.

> >>        alert('Required percentage loaded. Proceeding to frame 15.');

> >>

> >>        movie2.GotoFrame(15);

> >>

> >>        //now play the movie (if we want the movie to play).

> >>        movie2.Play();

> >>

> >>

> >></SCRIPT>

> >>

> >><!--The following bit is for Internet Explorer-->

> >>

> >><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">

> >><!--

> >>//  Map VB script events to the JavaScript method - Netscape will

> >>ignore this...

> >>//  Since FSCommand fires a VB event under ActiveX, we respond here

> >>Sub hotspot_FSCommand(ByVal command, ByVal args)

> >>  call hotspot_DoFSCommand(command, args)

> >>end sub

> >>-->

> >></SCRIPT>

> >>

> >>>2) Is there any way to specify different starting frames for a Flash

> >>>animation, perhaps with some sort of HTML parameter?

> >>You'd use the same set up as above, but just call the function from

> >>frame 1 of movie1, and use the mov1.GotoFrame(x) to set the starting

> >>frame.

> >>

> >>Good luck!

> >>Colin

> >>******************************

>

>>colin_moockiceinc [dot] com

> >>This .sig, like all the others, was hand-typed.

> >>******************************

>

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