Digital Workshop

Hi

I have a Flash demo (swf) that I have been trying to insert into a page without its accompanying HTML file. I prefer to have it play in the Flash player than in a browser window which requires scrolling for full view of the video and player controls.

The swf video is designed to be played in an 808X660 window to avoid distortion, if not using the HTML generated browser window. If I set the docview for 808X660 I get some minor text distortion. Does the docview border need a 2 or so pixel allowance in each dimension? If so, this would mean setting the docview at 810X662.

I also tried to insert the Flash file as a video and nothing previews or shows. Is there something I am not doing, or do Flash files have difficulty displaying using the insert video option?

Kind Regards,
Stephen
swartel@nycap.rr.com

If you use the Flash as a video object then you will not be able to interact with the controls. Also you need to have Quicktime for it to work this way. At least that is the way is was in the past.

Hi Stephen,

I have the same question, how do you insert or use a SWF file which absolutely needs the associated HTML file in order to play?

Rick

Rick,

If you have a SWF file which absolutely needs the associated HTML file in order to play then you would need to put the html page in a doc view or browser object.

Brenden
DW

Hello Brenden,

Could you please instruct me how to do this? I've did a search in the help files under "Doc View" and still can not understand how do I get to a Doc View tab or object. I can not find it. Sorry, I am totally new to Opus.


Thank you,

Rick

1. Find the Docview icon on the vertical toolbar.

2. Once selected go to the page and drag a frame the size you want your object to be.

3. Type the name of your html page into the docview dialog box.

4. Preview your page.

Brenden Knifton
DW

Hi Brenden,

I do not see that icon diplayed on the toolbar. I see the one before it and the one after it.

Rick

What publication type are you using, this object type is not available in all modes including Flash export mode.


Brenden

I am using the Flex (Flash) mode. You mean I can not diplay a SWF file which needs the accompanying HTML while in Flash mode?

I would need an Opus plugin besides the one for Flash in order to show a Flash file which needs to get its settings from the accompanying HTML file?

Rick

Correct!
You can't embed a html page inside an application created with flex. This is one of the limitations but you can create a button to launch a htlm page containing the swf you want to show.
German

That was the whole purpose of using Opus XE Flex was to drop in Flash movies created by Camtasia Studio on an Opus page. The project is named "Opus Meets Camtasia Studio." Well I guess that's not going to happen.

It would be great if DW would exclude in their feature list that Flash files which need the accompanying HTML file are excluded in the Flex mode.

Using Opus as an interface for displaying and managing content is quite common. It seems a bit strange not to be able to use the 2 types of Flash files. It is because modern HTML editors can display all Flash files allow us assume that Opus can at least match this function,

In theory, there should be a work-around. The settings / infomation within the HTML file should be able to be inserted within the HTML brackets of the Flash file

OpusPro Meets Camtasia Studio.
http://www.eiproject.net/tutorials/camt ... mtasia.htm

Rick

A point of clarity.
I work in MM Flash as well as Swish which makes files with the swf extention (basically a Flash file). The end result of Opus Flex is also just a Flash file. There is only 1 type of Flash file. However one choses to interact with it is a whole other subject. There is nothing wrong with the DW claim that a Flash file can be embeded in Opus.

When I work in MM Flash or Swish I cannot embed a HTML with a Flash inside of it either. That's kinda backwards to do it that way. That's like saying you want to have a trailer to carry stuff when you drive but you want to have it inside the car!

Hi Evereddie,

I think your describing Swish and MX with Opus is possibly kind of mixing apples and oranges. MX and Swish are dedicated authoring tools with a much limited scope than that of Opus.

Opus / Flex is not a replacement for Swish nor is MX, they serve different markets and for different needs. If you were to have Swish or MX, you would also use Opus/ Flex. Your having MX, Swish and Opus demonstrates that each tool presents different strengths.

Flex is a RAP dev tool utilizing most of the asset in Opus - it is a module to accommodate the development in Opus. Flash MX and Swish although are multimedia tools, they do not have the same mission - they are specialized production tools. However, Opus / Mediator / Magenta / Revolution are centric to the ideal of becoming containers for content by utilizing an array of objects types. This is also the basis of Powerpoint.

I would not compare Powerpoint to Swish but I would compare Opus with Powerpoint as what they try to accomplish. The 4 basic accomplishments of Opus like programs are:

1- The inclusion of many types of objects
2- Providing a wealth of power for the instructor and content provider
3- A hybrid of many tools within the same interface – one being a web authoring tool
4- Publishing output for many different environments or mediums

I do agree with you that placing a HTML within a Flash environment is not at all what you want to do.

I maintain that Flex should be able to step up to the plate and at least compete with your average HTML editor by allowing the user to play SWF files which depend on the HTML file to play.

If you are sitting waiting for the SWF file to play and it will not play – to later find out that you need to include the HTML file you will soon conclude that there are two types of Flash files.

Thank you for joining the discussion.

Regards,

Rick

Somehow you missed my point entirely. I was not comparing the programs, the capabilities, or the internal abilities of the programs. I was stating the point that in the end they all produce a FLASH file. Period.

My bigger point is that a Flash file can be made that starts on its own. Has buttons internal to itself to interact with itself, without the need to have an HTML wrapper talk to it. If you can't do that let us show you how.

Your insistence that there are different types of Flash files is like saying that there are different types of Microsoft WORD documents because I read a Science Fiction story in one WORD document and then a Love Story in another. Does that make it different types of Word Documents? I think that is considered different stories written in 'Word'. Just like different uses and end results from a Flash file.

If you had been around here for years like some of us you would also know the history and intent of the Flex output from Opus. It was a way to make a cross platform publication so that the Mac users could see something just like the PC guys. Opus only recently was thought of and developed as a Web Tool. At this point it is very clumsy at it too!

Ya know, from someone who has been working with web site design back in 1994-95 when I was designing ASCII art for dial-up BBS Systems, a year or two before anyone even HEARD of Microsoft Internet Explorer and before Macromedia invented Flash... I have to say that Opus' implementation of FLEX is nearly useless. I think it should have been polished before being included as a viable design format.

The BIGGEST issue with Flex is that it creates SWF files that can't even fully support embedded swf files. That is like first grade application of flash... the ability to launch an external swf from within another swf.

In this day and age, with applications requiring dynamic data, the inability for me to point to a .php or .asp file from within a video object that returns an swf stream is unbelievable. Opus doesn't have to know what is going on. As far as it should know, I am pointing directly to a .swf file on a server, because the .php file returns SWF data on the fly.

Basically, my point is, if the FLEX capabilities can not even match the basic needs of a an application output in SWF format, it never should have been included as a feature to begin with.