Detecting the Flash Player

For somebody to be able to see your Flash movie online they need the appropriate Flash player to be installed into the Browser. So if you create a movie in Flash 5 they will need the Flash 5 Player (or a more recent version of the player). If you create a Flash MX movie the Browser needs the Flash 6 Player and Flash MX 2004 needs the Flash 7 Player.

•  Flash 5 = Player 5
•  Flash MX = Player 6
•  Flash MX 2004 = Player 7

Standard Browsers like Internet Explorer come with the Flash Player installed. But there is no guarantee that it will be the most recent version. When Macromedia first bring out a new version of Flash, they also bring out a new version of the Flash Player. Initially nobody will have the new Player. The geeks (like me) will quickly want to try out the new Flash features but the general public will not go out of their way to get the new Player or even know what a Flash Player is.

The good news about Flash MX 2004 movies is that most of them will play on the previous player. That is:

Almost all Flash MX 2004 movies will play on Player 6 !!

But any new MX 2004 feature will not work. So for example in the previous tutorial I created movies which take advantage of the right click feature new to MX 2004. I have noticed that these movies will play on Browsers that have Player 6 installed - but the right click button is disabled as if it were a Flash MX movie.

If the right click was just an added extra in my movie that would be one thing. But if in a tutorial for showing you how to create a movie with a right click - the examples didn't work - my tutorial would look stupid. So on that page I need to test to see if the viewer has Player 7 installed or not.

If you start to utilise some of the new features Flash MX 2004 you will want to make sure that audience can see what you have intended. This is why you want to detect if they viewer has the version 7 Player or not. The simplest way to do this is to use the in built detection kit that comes with Flash MX 2004. This tool is not perfect. In fact it is a little clumsy (and not fool proof) but on the other hand it is easy to use. This detection kit is part of the Publishing process.

Cross Ref: If you are not familiar with how to Publish a Flash Movie see the Beginners tutorial: Publishing a Flash Movie This is an MX tutorial but little has changed in the new version.

Publishing a Movie in Flash MX 2004

1. When you are ready to publish your movie go to: File > Publish Settings
2. Under the Format tab select: Flash and HTML
   
   
   

   Flash and HTML selected under the Format Tab. (Click to enlarge)
   
   
3. Go to the tab: Flash
   
   If you wish to use the new Features in MX 2004 you will want to:
   
4. For Version select: Flash Player 7
5. For ActionScript version select: ActionScript 2.0
   
   
   

   The latest Player and Version of ActionScript have been selected. (Click to enlarge)

   Note: If you have not used any feature which is new to MX 2004 you should select an older player and ActionScript version 1.0
   
   Extra Note: in older versions of Flash if you select a Flash Player which is incompatible with your movie the Output box would jump out and say - hey, you got it wrong (well not in those words) but Flash MX 2004 does not necessarily do this !!
   
   If you are not sure if you have used any of the new MX 2004 features select Player 6 and ActionScript 1.0 and publish the movie. You should then open the newly created Flash movie and test it manually. A bit of a drag - but quite honestly you should always test a movie once published.

6. Next go to the tab: HTML
7. Select: Detect Flash Version
   
   
   

   Detect Flash Version has been selected. (Click to enlarge)
   
   
8. Click on the button:
   
   
   
   What you get is a dialog box which shows you two important things:
   
   
   1. What Flash version to detect. In this case it will look for version 7. If in the Flash tab (step 5 above) Flash Player 6 had been selected the version here would say: 6
   2. This dialog box also shows you that when you publish your movie Flash will create 3 web pages. The dialog box shows you what the names of these files will be.

   Note: The file names in your Version Detection dialog box will be different to the ones above.

   My Flash file is called: myMovie so all the names are automatically a variation on that theme.
   
   File 1: myMovie.html
   This appears to be a blank web page. In actual fact it has a Flash movie on this page. It is not visible as it is just a white square. Although this movie is not visible, it is busy detecting which version of the Flash Player the Browser has installed.

   Note: Any links to the page with your movie should be directed to this page.

If the Browser has Player 7 installed the Flash movie will automatically load the page: myMovie_content.html

If the Browser has an older version of the Flash Player installed it will automatically load the page: myMovie_alternate.html

This detection and consequent loading of the next web should happen within a second or two.

File 2: myMovie_content.html
This is the web page that has your Flash MX 2004 movie loaded.

File 3: myMovie_alternate.html
This file does not have your Flash movie loaded but the following message:

---

You don't have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player.

This web site makes use of Macromedia^®Flash^TM software. You have an old version of Macromedia Flash Player that cannot play the content we've created.

        Why not download and install the latest version now? It will only take a moment.

Macromedia and Flash are trademarks of Macromedia, Inc.

---

If the punter clicks on the Flash Player button it will take them to the Macromedia Download Centre. From there then have the opportunity to install the new Flash Player.

Note: If you want to see the Download Centre web page click on the button:

If you don't want to send your visitor off to the Macromedia web site you could change the content of this page to anything that you want. In other words it could have similar content to the page with the Flash MX 2004 movie. There are good reasons not to send your viewers off to the Download Centre:

• If somebody has come to see your site they do not really want to go off to another site, there is also no guarantee that they will return!
• Many people are nervous about installing things on computers and may find it confusing or simply not install the plug-in.
• The most important reason not to send them off to the Download Centre is because part of the installation process involves re-starting their computer. This was not true of previous Flash plug-ins and in my opinion is a major retrograde step.
  

Enough of all that. I am now going to go back to the steps you need to complete to make your plug-in detector:

9. If you wish to you may change the names of the files in the Version Detection Settings dialog box, but there is no need. I only got you to open it so that you can see what Flash is going to do when you Publish your movie.
   
   To close the Version Detection Settings dialog box click: OK
   
   
10. To Publish your work click the Publish button:
    
    This will create a number of files:
    
    
• 3 HTML web pages as mentioned above.
  
  
• 2 Shockwave (swf files) Flash movies (the blank movie used in the detection page and the actual movie that you want to use).
  
• 1 Image (Gif file) which is used for Get Flash Player button:

It is important that you upload all these files to your web site.

11. To close the Publish settings dialog box click: OK

Foot Notes: Pros and Cons

If is obvious why a plug-in detector is useful and some of the short falls should now be apparent. There are three particular issues

1. That to install the new Flash Player you need to leave your site and go to Macromedia.com
2. That if somebody does install the plug-in they may need to restart their computer.
3. That the detector is not on the same page as your Flash MX 2004 movie.
   
   This is a problem because many people may not arrive at the page from your menu but from a search engine or other external link. In this case they will miss the Flash detector altogether !!
   
   The Long View
   Over time the newer Flash Player will become more and more wide spread and eventually these issues become irrelevant as the vast majority of computers will have the newer plug-in After a year (or so) of the release of the Flash MX 2004 you be more relaxed about Plug-in detection and within two years it will have become only a small percentage of computers that do not have that plug-in
   
   Important
   Remember that a very small percentage of all the computers the world may still be a very large number of machines! If your movie does not use any of the new features of MX 2004 do not set the publish settings to use Flash Player 7. Always select an earlier Flash Player. See steps 4 and 5 above for details on this.

Those users who want to customize the flash detection script read the following. You want a pop up window to appear if a user doesn't have flash or run some script to alert the user that they need to install flash or even install flash automatically for the user.

Open the html page that has the flash detection movie on it. In the html view of that page edit the HasFlash.html parts

Edit the http://www.webwasp.co.uk to the web link of the page you want to open as a pop up window.

Cross Ref: To see how to edit the pop up code and customize it to your needs see here: Pop Up Windows

Just so you know the close window script that closes the flash detection window, also stops that prompt that you normally get from the window.close(); asking if your sure you want to close the window by using :

This blocks the Windows prompt so it is more user friendly. Also it may be worth noting if you wanted a different pop up Window (if the user doesn't have flash) you can use the same idea. Edit the NoFlash.html as written below:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=4,0,0,0" width="80" height="80" target="_blank"> <param name="movie" value="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=HasFlash.html&altContentURL=NoFlash.html&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=false" /> <param name="quality" value="low" /> <embed src="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=HasFlash.html&altContentURL=NoFlash.html&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=false" quality="low" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="80" height="80" / target="_blank"> </object>

Like so:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=4,0,0,0" width="80" height="80" target="_blank"> <param name="movie" value="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=javascript:runme()&altContentURL=javascript:runme2()&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=false" /> <param name="quality" value="low" /> <embed src="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=javascript:runme()&altContentURL=javascript:runme2()&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=false" quality="low" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="80" height="80" / target="_blank"> </object>

Then use this code in your web page head section

<noscript>This Page Needs Java Script Support</noscript> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> <!-- function runme() { var ScreenWidth = window.screen.width; var ScreenHeight = window.screen.height; var movefromedge = 0; placementx = (ScreenWidth/2)-((400)/2); placementy = (ScreenHeight/2)-((300+50)/2); var PopUpUrl = "http://www.webwasp.co.uk"; WinPop = window.open(PopUpUrl, "", "width=400,height=300,toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,scrollbars=0,menubar=0,resizable=0,left="+placementx+",top="+placementy+",screenX="+placementx+",screenY="+placementy+","); setTimeout("closeme()", 2000); } function runme2() { var ScreenWidth = window.screen.width; var ScreenHeight = window.screen.height; var movefromedge = 0; placementx = (ScreenWidth/2)-((400)/2); placementy = (ScreenHeight/2)-((300+50)/2); var PopUpUrl = "http://www.webwasp.co.uk"; WinPop = window.open(PopUpUrl, "", "width=400,height=300,toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,scrollbars=0,menubar=0,resizable=0,left="+placementx+",top="+placementy+",screenX="+placementx+",screenY="+placementy+","); setTimeout("closeme()", 2000); } function closeme() { window.opener = null; window.close(); } //-- target="_blank"> </script>

The timer is set to 2 seconds (2000 milliseconds = 2 seconds) to allow sufficient time for the pop up page to load before closing the flash detection page. You may want to alter the time laps if your pop up takes longer to load or doesn't load in time.

It is also worth noting if you set allowFlashAutoInstall=true

Then the flash player detection movie will automatically auto install the latest version of flash for the user

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=4,0,0,0" width="80" height="80" target="_blank"> <param name="movie" value="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=HasFlash.html&altContentURL=NoFlash.html&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=true" /> <param name="quality" value="low" /> <embed src="flash_detection.swf?flashContentURL=HasFlash.html&altContentURL=NoFlash.html&contentVersion=7&contentMajorRevision=0&contentMinorRevision=0&allowFlashAutoInstall=true" quality="low" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="80" height="80" / target="_blank"> </object>

That's it, enjoy!