Home › Family › Stuart

Flash module is being used in the real world!

Fri, 20/04/2007
stuart

The little module for Drupal that I wrote and that makes it very easy to add flash content has been downloaded a few times, and every now and then I get a request for help or a bug report.

The latest request was from this site. My module is being used in the real world! How cool is that! You can see an example of the flash content they are embedding on this page.

As an aside, I am now an "official" Drupal contributor so Flash node, mailsave and audit files are now official Drupal projects with their own download pages and everything.

Comments

Wed, 11/06/2008 - 15:51 — Anonymous (not verified)

flashnode with drupal6.2 issue

HI,Stuart,
I am sorry I might post this question in the drupal .
When I downloaded flashnode and extracted it in the modules folder, I could

enable it in the admin panel. But then I can not do anything on it any more. I cann't
see it in the Administer › User management>Permissions, and can't see it in create content
or anywhere else. What's wrong there?

Thanks in advance
OrNot

Thu, 12/06/2008 - 19:24 — stuart

Not sure!

I've been busy on other stuff, so not yet updated my local system to 6.2. I'll try to do it shortly and make sure there isn't a bug with flash node as a result of the update!

Sat, 14/06/2008 - 21:25 — stuart

I don't get this problem

I just tried installing a clean, new Drupal 6.2 and then I added the latest 6.x-1.1 release of flash node, and it works fine. I can create content, and have the permissions on the user administration page.

Try disabling and re-enabling the module (I hate saying that as it's a bit of trouble shooting cliche, but sometimes it works!)

If that doesn't work, then what other modules are you using (just in case there's a clash, although unlikely).

Wed, 25/04/2007 - 15:17 — Andreas Hennig (not verified)

Thanks

Hi Stuart,

your module has been very helpful to us and debugging it was a great help to me in taking my first steps with modules. Would you mind telling me what documentation you'd recommend I start with in trying to learn more about modules?

Thanks again for mentioning our site :)

Andi

Wed, 25/04/2007 - 22:04 — stuart

Trial and error...

...and the web!

I taught myself how to do modules, and learned PHP and MySQL along the way, by using mostly web resources. I found the following resources helpful and still refer to them regularly now...

But the main thing was trial and error, having a good idea of what I wanted the module to do, and then referring to all the other modules to see how various things are implemented and adapting them. Oh, and usually staying up far too late playing with lines of code.

I found Drupal a great system to work with - I really like the way you can develop modules without having to touch the main core. Every now and then I write a wrong line and I get a white screen with no output, but not too often these days...

Fri, 20/04/2007 - 23:45 — Thomas (not verified)

Example Macro Flash

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for you Flash Module.
My Drupal is 4.7. I have installed the flash module.

This is my error: You are missing some Flash content!
Maybe your browser does not have javascript enabled, perhaps you don't have the version of Flash this content needs (it needs at least version ), or perhaps the content hasn't initialised correctly. Please check your settings and then try again. Thank you!

Can you put one Real example of Macro Flash, please?
[flash|nid=player_holding_nid|flashvars=parameter_string]

Many Thanks for you help.

Sat, 21/04/2007 - 00:31 — stuart

Error message

The error message you are seeing means that the flash substitution isn't occurring. Does the holding node work properly and is it just the flash macros that are a problem? If it is just macros then that's curious because the substitution script should be available on every page.

Do you have a page on the web that I can visit to see what is happening? That might help me see what is going on "behind the scenes".

Sat, 21/04/2007 - 00:22 — stuart

Like this...

In its most basic form a flash macro can be as simple as [flash|nid=123] In its most complicated version you might want to use it with a flash movie that takes some flash parameters too, like the audio player below...

[flash|nid=738|flashvars=playerID=1&bg=0xCDDFF3&leftbg=0x357DCE&lefticon=0xF2F2F2&rightbg=0xF06A51&rightbghover=0xAF2910&righticon=0xF2F2F2&righticonhover=0xFFFFFF&text=0x357DCE&slider=0x357DCE&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0xFFFFFF&loader=0xAF2910&soundFile=/drupal_files/soul_limbo.mp3]

That was generated using a macro that looks like this:

[flash|nid=738|flashvars=playerID=1 &bg=0xCDDFF3 &leftbg=0x357DCE &lefticon=0xF2F2F2 &rightbg=0xF06A51 &rightbghover=0xAF2910 &righticon=0xF2F2F2 &righticonhover=0xFFFFFF &text=0x357DCE &slider=0x357DCE &track=0xFFFFFF &border=0xFFFFFF &loader=0xAF2910 &soundFile=/drupal_files/soul_limbo.mp3]

Note that in the example above I have put a space before each & so that the line breaks! You don't need the spaces when you do this for real!

You can check that this is "recycled" flash content by viewing node 738 which is the place holder that stores the flash player ready for use elsewhere on the site. If you visit that node you'll find that the player is grey, and that it doesn't play anything, because the holding node has no flashvars of its own.

By the way, the audio player is the 1 Pixel Out Flash audio player! It's very neat :-)

Sat, 21/04/2007 - 11:27 — Tomas Hidalgo (not verified)

Flash module work fine!!!

Thank you very much for your help and your time.
The only problem of the module flash was about me :-( At first, I did not understand the philosophy of module operation. The steps for their correct operation are the following:
1. administer -> input formats. Enable the flash filter in "Full HTML"
2. I have created a new node of the Flash type (Ex.: 228) and I have added the file player.swf
3. I have created a new node of the Article type and in its content I have added the tag [flash|nid=228]. The new node show the object flash correctly.
4. For test the flashvar option I have added the following options in tag of flash [flash|nid=228|flashvars=playerID=1
&bg=0xCDDFF3&leftbg=0x357DCE&lefticon=0xF2F2F2&rightbg=0xF06A51
&rightbghover=0xAF2910&righticon=0xF2F2F2&righticonhover=0xFFFFFF
&text=0x357DCE&slider=0x357DCE&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0xFFFFFF
&loader=0xAF2910&soundFile=/files/flash/car.mp3]

5. The flash module work fine!!! You can view one example in: http://www.padelalmeria.es/200704/test_the_flash_module

Thanks, Great work!!!
See youuuuu.

Tomas Hidalgo
thsa@cajamar.es

Sat, 21/04/2007 - 00:54 — stuart

Script error?

I just noticed that a javascript error occurs when the player is activated. I don't remember seeing that before, and the player plays, so not sure what is going on. Something to investigate later...

Sat, 21/04/2007 - 01:02 — stuart

Ah! I see it...

The player comprises the player flash movie, but also some accompanying javascript. The flash calls one of the js functions, but I don't load the js so it throws an error. It doesn't stop the player functioning, so I'll leave it alone for now. Using this player was only a "proof of concept" exercise anyway :-)