Public access to SWFObjectUtil.getPlayerVersion() ?

[CameronSAP]

Hello All,
although I am not a Web Developer, it seems fairly clear to me that
the offical Abode webpage for Flash detection (www.adobe.com/software/
flash/about/) uses Method SWFObjectUtil.getPlayerVersion() to
determine the version of the current Flash Player installation, and
not Method SWFObject.getFlashPlayerVersion() ?

As an SAP Developer with an absolute need to know if each PC has a
suitable version of Flash Player installed before attempting to
display any Flash content (owing to the need to avoid a forced Flash
Player installation by a user that probably does not have
administrator rights on their PC), I wonder why is isn't possible for
Adobe to make Method SWFObjectUtil.getPlayerVersion() available
generally (and possibly even to support the necessary JavaScript)? It
would appear that the proprietary JavaScript already exists, and we
all want the user experience to be as smooth as possible.

I ask this question because we have a situation with a large European
SAP client where Method SWFObject.getFlashPlayerVersion() is failing
us (though this may of course be owing to some other problem with the
relevant PCs), but the webpage www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ is
correctly returning the Flash Player version. I assume that this is
owing to a difference between the SWFObject Method and the one
apparently written by Adobe?

Regards,
Cameron

SAP Developer

[Aran Rhee]

Hi Cameron.

It is a bit of a chicken and egg senario, no? :)

You have to have a installed, working, and embedded Flash player on the page in order call the internal Flash player API method to find out what (if any) Flash player they have.

The idea with the SWFObject methodology is that you can do the detection to find out what player they have (or don't) BEFORE embedding any swf to the page. You need to know if they have the capability of displaying the desired Flash content before you go ahead and put it on the page. Otherwise, as you say, you get install upgrade messages, or broken content.

You say the SWFObject method is failing, but you didn't say in what way. Is it returning 0.0.0? or is something else happening?

Have a read of FAQ #2/#3 :http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/faq in regards to possible reasons why the detection could fail.

Cheers,

Aran

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SWFObject" group.
To post to this group, send email to swfo...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to swfobject+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/swfobject?hl=en.

[MOLOKO]

Hi Cameron

As far as I know, Adobe use several different techniques for detecting if flash is installed and showing the player version if it is. I don't think there is a single version that works 100% of the time.

I suspect the reason you're having issues is down to many users having a corrupt version of flash player installed. See item 2 in the SWFObject FAQ: http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/faq

I've had a similar problem with a major global corporate client, I've found that the best solution is to use SWFObject with 'static publishing'.