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flash (macromedia) : web link from stand alone Flash app problem


JDRives
5/23/2007 10:21:08 PM
I have been building stand-alone Flash presentations for years, but recently
have been getting calls from some of my clients saying that the links that open
web pages from inside the presentations aren't working correctly. They say that
the browser window is opening behind the Flash presentaiton, and since the
Flash presentaiton is set to full-screen, it appears that the link is not
working at all. You can't see the browser until you close the Flash
presentation. the Flash presenations are both PC and Mac application files or
projectors. The PC version has a .exe file extension.

A typical link would have the following button code:

on(release){
getURL("http://www.discwritecd.com");
}

Sometimes, if the presentation might also end up on a website, we will open
the web page in a new window.

on(release){
getURL("http://www.discwritecd.com", "_blank");
}

Both versions of this button code launch the new browser window in front of
the presentation on all of our computers.

Does anyone know why this would happen on some computers? It doesn't happen on
any of the four testing computers that we have here. Could this be an OS or
browser config issue?

We have tested on the following computers. All computer OSs and browsers are
current with updates.
Win XP Pro/IE-7
Win XP Pro/Firefox-1.5
Windows 2000 Pro/IE-6
Mac OSX/Safari-2.0

Thanks for any help, John
LUMENPHON
5/24/2007 12:00:00 AM
When a browser window is aleady open before your flash application started, all
getURL commands will have the new windows open behind your application. I have
tried javascript method with set focus() but that also does not help.

So, whenever I call a URL in Flash, I go to a new page with instructions -
"Press ALT - TAB to view the browser" and "click back to return (make a back
button)"

Alternately, embed flash inside Zinc or Director and call browser using
respective appliaction calls.

The third method would be issue an external fscommand - exec to call a batch
file to invoke browser.
JDRives
5/24/2007 2:55:47 PM
Well, it doesn't do that on any of my computers. Even if the browser is already
open when I launch the presentation, it still comes to the forefront as soon as
I click the web link button.

Thanks for the info though, I think I will add a not under the web links to
tell people to click Alt + Tab if they don't see their web browser after
clicking the link. JDR
FlashJester Support Team
5/25/2007 12:00:00 AM
Hi John,

Here is a PC solution for you.

You can use our tools Jugglor and JStart

http://www.jugglor.com

http://jstart.flashjester.com

This request is asked quite often, so here is an example file using a PDF
and PowerPoint file instead of a Web browser.

http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_26#316

and

http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_26#268

So here you would specify the URL instead of the filename.

Actually you can also use JWeb

Here is an example

http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_22#209

Hope all the above helps.

Regards
FlashJester Support Team

e. - support@flashjester.com
w. - www.flashjester.com

"This has been one of the most impressive and thoroughly pleasant
experiences of customer support I have ever come across - astounding!"
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