1 Reply Latest reply: Nov 29, 2012 12:57 PM by sinious RSS

    Are shared objects cross-browsers ?

    eprevot123 Community Member

      Maybe a year ago I used Flash Shared Objects instead of cookies, because the data was stored in a Flash directory, and no matter if I use Firefox, Safari or Chrome, I could get the data.

      And I think I saw this in some Adobe documentation somewhere, but I can't find it anymore.

       

      Now I try today and see different data on different browsers :

      • On Safari, the data are stored and I can see /Users/myname/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/#SharedObjects/AAAAAAAA/#localhost/flash/myapp.swf/myso.sol is updated
      • On Chrome, the data are stored and I can see /Users/myname/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Pepper\ Data/Shockwave\ Flash/WritableRoot/#SharedObjects/AAAAAAAA/#localhost/flash/myapp.swf/myso.sol is updated
      • On Firefox, the data are  stored temporary but when I refresh the application, they are not there anymore, and /Users/myname/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/#SharedObjects/AAAAAAAA/#localhost/flash/myapp.swf/myso.sol is NOT updated

       

      Do you know anything about it ?

      Is there a workaround ?

       

      Edit : I just took a look at chrome://plugins/ and see I had 2 FlashPlayers, one installed in Google directory (by default I suppose) and the other installed in my Library directory (the debug player I installed). When I deactivate the one in Google directory, then the shared objects are stored in /Users/myname/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/#SharedObjects/AAAAAAAA/#localhost/flash/myapp.swf/myso.sol, like Safari.

      But i can't control how the visitors will set their browser so I still need a workaround (and explanation about what's happening on Firefox, maybe the settings too ?).

        • 1. Re: Are shared objects cross-browsers ?
          sinious CommunityMVP

          There's no foolproof way to pull this off with all the browsers and plugins running around these days. Add in that Windows 8 Metro popping people out of browsers altogether and there's even more instability in the future.

           

          I don't know what you're trying to do but if it's really important it's going to need to be server-side if you really need to attach important information to a user. Client side technologies that don't require the users permissions just aren't reliable, for a bunch of good reasons.