Another FF3 bug related to wmode:opaque

[Getify Solutions]

It appears from my testing that interactable SWF's, including for instance the ExpressInstall swf with the "yes" and "cancel" buttons in it, is not able to be interacted with in FF3 win if it is added with wmode:opaque.  I assume the same is probably true of transparent, though I didn't try specifically.  The SWF appears just fine, and even mouse hover events appear to operate... but I can't click on any buttons in the SWF and get them to respond.

 

The good news is that SWFObject already doesn't pass the wmode parameter to the expressinstall.swf based on our test suite, so we aren't directly affected.  However, I imagine this problem is greater than just that one SWF... it probably has something to do with detecting mouse downs or something, and thus would be more widespread for FF3 users who use wmode opaque.

 

Just thought maybe this warning should also be included in our FAQ's about wmode and FF3 issues, as there may very well be people experiencing this issue.

 

Also, I wonder where would be the appropriate place to file this bug?  With FF or with Adobe?

 

 

--Kyle

[Aran Rhee]

Kyle.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

There are other bugs with FF 2.x (unsure about 3.x) on mouse clicks not being registered in general with wmode=transparent.

 

Mouse_up will also fail. That's a worry, because if there is something being dragged around and the listener is on the stage, the release event won't be noticed if it's over a part of the stage that isn't occupied (ie on the transparent background).  That causes more problems.

 

There is another great FF bug which is the reverse:

 

If you have some artwork in a flash file, and then set wmode=transparent=true in my HTML page, IE (and Safari) only registers the Mouse.onMouseDown event when you click on the actual artwork. In FF, the event will fire when you click anywhere on the Stage area at all.

 

 

I am never sure where to log these. With the two above, I logged them on the Astro bugbase, but it would probably be worthwhile to log at the Mozilla bugbase too.

 

A

[Bobby]

Wmode is a very buggy area, with multiple issues in multiple browsers,
and I think that Adobe itself could qualify best if they themselves or
a browser vendor should solve an issue, so I would say, in any case
report it to Adobe, and I hope they will address it soon, because,
because IMO the wmode topic as a whole is kind of a troublesome area.

A short while ago I made a list to capture the different issues around
wmode:

++++

Issues reported on the SWFObject forum:

Firefox 2 / XP SP3
- flash including mouseover/button
- wmode = transparent
- scroll down HTML page until Flash is outside viewport, scroll back
up:
- SWF now requires click-to-activate

Opera 9.50 / XP SP2
- wmode = opaque
- SWFs with do not appear and if you try to right click, you will get
"movie not loaded"
message. After F5 is hit, movie is shown suddenly.

Firefox 3 / PC (NOTE: this is clearly a FF3/PC issue)
- does work correct in in FF2/PC and FF3/Mac
- using object element
- flash including mouseover/button
- using wmode transparent/opaque
- Firefox 3 on Windows has a different default style for the object
element than in Firefox 2 or for the equivalent embed element, so it
treats it like an active link.
- Workaround: FAQ Q15; http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/faq

SWFObject static publishing authoring issue (NOTE: an often made
authoring mistake)
- When using static publishing ensure to define your wmode parameters
for each object element

Reported workaround to the problem with having to click to get mouse
events to work in FF is on scroll have a container div change it bg
color:
http://groups.google.com/group/swfobject/browse_thread/thread/78941dd05b6ac24/1108916fc3b2bb1c#1108916fc3b2bb1c

++++

Wmode bugs reported to Adobe: https://bugs.adobe.com/

Allow FullScreen does not work with wmode = opaque
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FB-10800

Rendering problem while scrolling a container with wmode plugin
attribute
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-110

Wheel mouse does not work in Firefox when wmode is set to opaque or
transparent
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-12415

Mouse events don't work in Flash over iframe in Firefox 2 for Windows
(Flash component
wmode = transparent or opaque)
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-289

Mouse wheel doesn't work as expected when wmode="transparent" and the
SWF object is not
positioned at (0,0)
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-15459

Mouse coordinates are incorrectly handled when the Flash component is
rendered on top of
an IFRAME and has wmode=transparent
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-15127

Full screen mode error on multiple monitor systems when wmode is set
to transparent /
opaque : full screen player always loads on primary monitor
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-163

++++

Elsewhere:

Wmode opaque + Firefox + CSS fixed positioning issue:
http://tom-lee.blogspot.com/2008/03/wmodeopaque-firefox-positionfixed.html

An article describing several wmode issues:
http://www.asserttrue.com/articles/2006/11/17/firefox-and-flash-swf-selection-and-focus-problems

++++

Also FF3 introduces a series of new Flash related issues:
1. Firefox Flash display issues: Q14 our FAQ; http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/faq
2. Firefox/PC introduces a dotted border around my SWF when using
Firefox 3 on Windows and wmode transparent or opaque: Q15 our FAQ;
http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/faq
3. Firefox Flash referer issue:
http://blog.deconcept.com/2008/06/28/help-encourage-mozilla-to-fix-a-firefox-bug/

All these issues listed here are very common issues web developers
face every day. None of these are caused by SWFObject.

[Colin Scroggins]

Would anyone mind checking me to see if my wmode wounds are self-
inflicted, or if I am banging my head up against one of the known
issues?

I have no issues with my dropdowns using UFO on the following URL:
http://ted.unm.edu

However, after replacing UFO with SWFObject, I have issues with the
dropdown in IE7 and FF3 on Windows (but not FF3 on Mac or IE6 on
Windows).
http://ted.unm.edu/index-new.html

[Philip Hutchison]

your page fails in FF2 also, so it isn't a FF3 bug.  it appears you need to set the z-index in your CSS for both the flash content DIV and the UL containing your menu (i searched your CSS and HTML for z-index and didn't find any hits).

see the example(s) i posted here:
http://pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/z-index/2.0/index.html

- philip

[Colin Scroggins]

Philip: I appreciate the help! I looked at your site and added z-index
as inline styles, but it still is not working. Check out
http://ted.unm.edu/index-new2.html

I guess what I am curious about is that UFO has been working (http://
ted.unm.edu) and did not require z-index as long as wmode was there.
You are correct in that FF2 on Windows had the issue, as well.

[Philip Hutchison]

the new link you gave gives me a 403 (forbidden error).

however, looking at your original link again, i see where the problem is.  you're combining the static publishing technique with the static publishing technique.  you need to choose one or the other.

i have examples for both on my site (http://pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/z-index/2.0/index.html).

in your code you've used the nested <object> markup from the static publishing technique (including the swfobject.registerObject bit), but you can't use the three javascript objects (flashvars, params and attributes) with the static publishing method; you have to add that code to your markup manually.  see the documentation for details.  http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/documentation

- philip

[Colin Scroggins]

Philip,

Removing the dynamic calls and using only static seems to have fixed
it.

Thanks for your help.
---
Colin

On Jul 8, 9:43 am, "Philip Hutchison" <platelu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> the new link you gave gives me a 403 (forbidden error).
>
> however, looking at your original link again, i see where the problem is.
> you're combining the static publishing technique with the static publishing
> technique.  you need to choose one or the other.
>
> i have examples for both on my site (http://pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/z-index/2.0/index.html).
>
> in your code you've used the nested <object> markup from the static
> publishing technique (including the swfobject.registerObject bit), but you
> can't use the three javascript objects (flashvars, params and attributes)
> with the static publishing method; you have to add that code to your markup

> manually.  see the documentation for details.http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/documentation
>
> - philip
>
> On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 6:38 AM, Colin Scroggins <colinscrogg...@gmail.com>