Can't Use Dreamweaver Flash Embedding with ExternalInterface
DavidSalahi Sep 18, 2009 1:11 PMI've been trying to use ExtermalInterface to call ActionScript 3 functions from JavaScript and have been having a problem when embedding SWF files using Dreamweaver. When I use the sample code at the bottom of the ExternalInterface docs page (http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AS3LCR/Flash_10.0/flash/external/ExternalInterface.html) the JavaScript/ActionScript function calls work fine. But when I insert a SWF with Dreamweaver CS4 they don't. They do actually work in Internet Explorer 8 but not in Firefox 3.5, Safari 4, or Chrome 3.
The problem has to do with the the way the SWF embedding is done. On the ExternalInterface page mentioned above a different form of the <object/embed> tags is used than in DW. Here's the sample code from the docs page:
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
id="ExternalInterfaceExample" width="500" height="375"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab">
<param name="movie" value="ExternalInterfaceExample.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#869ca7" />
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />
<embed src="ExternalInterfaceExample.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="#869ca7"
width="500" height="375" name="ExternalInterfaceExample" align="middle"
play="true" loop="false" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">
</embed>
</object>
In DW, instead of an <embed> tag a second object tag is inserted. I did find that by manually giving the second <object> tag its own ID (a different ID from the one given the first tag by DW I could make the function call work in FF. But you would then have to choose the ID based on the browser. And, worse, that technique doesn't work in Chrome or Safari.
So, the workaround seems to be to use the style of embedding used on the ExternalInterface page. But, I don't like that approach for several reasons. First, the page won't tell the user they need to upgrade their FlashPlayer if that's a problem. Second, you have to manually copy/past the embedding code instead of using DW's nice menu option. And I suspect there may be other benefits to the DW approach,
So, is there a way to make the DW embedding style work with ExternalInterface in all the major browsers??
David Salahi



