As Kyle mentions, sometimes you just have to wait. The ExternalInterface mechanism is not available immediately upon loading the SWF... it takes a few (milli)seconds. If you try to access EI before it has fully loaded, you'll get an error. The simple solution is to ping the SWF until EI is ready... I believe this is what Kyle's system CheckPlayer system does.
- philip On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 4:50 AM, Getify Solutions, Inc. <get...@gmail.com>wrote: > > Also, to chime in, there are in fact sometimes timing problems (in various > browser/embedding environments) with accessing a SWF (even in the ONLOAD > event handler) and trying to access it's ExternalInterface functions. > There > are a few "recent" threads about that topic. > > I have a helper library called CheckPlayer ( > http://checkplayer.flensed.com/) > which implements a set of logic to "wait and check for" EI availability, > and > then when it's definitively ready, it calls a function of your choice (your > "callback") to let your code know. > > So, either using that library, or implementing your own logic similar to > that, is the key... you have to "asynchronously" wait for the EI to become > ready (after the call to embedSWF) before you are able to make calls to it > (especially if embedSWF is called during loading of the page before dom is > ready!). > > --Kyle > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Aran Rhee" <aran.r...@gmail.com> > Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 3:31 AM > To: <swfobject@googlegroups.com> > Subject: RE: Trying to access the flash element right after > swfobject.embedSWF results in error > > > > > Embedding / ID - so when the swf gets written to the page, it will > > overwrite > > the old div etc and take over the ID. You the notes are correct, you are > > grabbing the ID of the swf (which WAS the ID of the replacement element) > > > > callEI() - This was just an example function name to demonstrate that you > > could call whatever function you wanted to on the onload event :) > > > > > > > > Cheers, > > Aran > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: swfobject@googlegroups.com [mailto:swfobj...@googlegroups.com] On > > Behalf Of Mohan > > Sent: Friday, 30 January 2009 6:30 PM > > To: SWFObject > > Subject: Re: Trying to access the flash element right after > > swfobject.embedSWF results in error > > > > > > > > > > On Jan 30, 1:51 pm, "Aran Rhee" <aran.r...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> First of all, just checking - Did you overwrite the id with something > > other > >> than "flashcontent" in your attributes object? If not, then you want: > >> > >> var swf = document.getElementById("flashcontent"); > > > > Hmm. Thats different from what I have seemed to understand from the > > ""Dynamic publishing" section of the tutorial at > > http://www.pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/ExternalInterface/2.0/index.html. > > In the "Notes" it indicates that you grab hold of the SWF by using its > > ID and not the id of the element that you pass in the call to > > swfobject.embedSWF. Am I reading that wrong ? The working example at > > http://www.pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/ExternalInterface/2.0/dynamic.html > > also uses the SWF ID and that seems to work ok, so I think this is > > correct, no ? > > > >> Also - have you looked at the reference page examples for external > >> > > interface: > http://www.bobbyvandersluis.com/swfobject/testsuite_2_1/test_dynam > > ic_... > > > > Sorry mate - I am getting a 404 when clicking the link you gave > > above? > > > >> l > >> > >> I think you want to try to call the EI method only once you have an > >> onload > >> event on the window / page to ensure everything is ready and available, > >> so > >> you could do something like: > >> > >> <body onload="callEI();"> > > > > Where can I find more information on this callEl function ? > > > >> > >> On write a separate onload function within your <head> functions like: > >> > >> window.onload = function() > >> { > >> var swf= document.getElementById("ExternalInterfaceExample"); > >> if (swf && typeof swf.sendTextToFlash != "undefined") > >> { > >> swf.sendTextToFlash(text); > >> } > >> > >> } > >> > >> Philip (pipwerks) or others may have a better solution than this... > > > > Thanks for the suggestions mate. > > > > > >> > >> Aran > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: swfobject@googlegroups.com [mailto:swfobj...@googlegroups.com] On > >> > >> Behalf Of Mohan > >> Sent: Friday, 30 January 2009 4:13 PM > >> To: SWFObject > >> Subject: Trying to access the flash element right after > >> swfobject.embedSWF > >> results in error > >> > >> Hello, > >> > >> I have been trying to use this great library to embed some flash > >> dynamicly and then access the flash API via javascript > >> (ExternalInterface). The problem I am having seems to be, because I > >> try to access the flash element right after the call to > >> swfobject.embedSWF, the element does not seem to be ready yet. > >> > >> For example, starting with the example code > > fromhttp:// > www.pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/ExternalInterface/2.0/dynamic.html > >> (Thanks for the example!), if I were to modify the following > >> javascript in the dynamic.html global scope by trying to get at the > >> swf object I get an "swf is null". However the event handling code > >> that access the flash element still works ok, indicating that the > >> flash did get embedded ok. > >> > >> swfobject.embedSWF("ExternalInterfaceExample.swf", "flashcontent", > >> "550", "200", "8", false, flashvars, params, attributes); > >> var swf = document.getElementById("ExternalInterfaceExample"); //added > >> line > >> swf.sendTextToFlash(text); //trying to use the flash object right > >> after embedding it > >> > >> Is this because the flash element is not ready yet ? How would I > >> implement something that needs to be run right after the call to > >> swfobject.embedSWF ? The examples I have seen always make use of the > >> swfobject in some event handler and not right after the call to > >> swfobject.embedSWF. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > >> > >> Mohan > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SWFObject" group. To post to this group, send email to swfobject@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to swfobject+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/swfobject?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
