Latest Windows Update

[flipsideguy]

It was bound to happen.

The latest Windows Update - released yesterday - adds the "Click to activate and use this control" step to IE6 for embedded Flash.

How come Firefox doesn't have to do this? Not that I'm complaining.

[Loyal Rogue]

Yeah. We just got the first call last night from a client wanting to know what we did to his site because it's F'd up.
Now I get to sit back and wait for the avalanche of calls signalling updated browsers... *sigh*

[hanratty21]

How come Firefox doesn't have to do this? Not that I'm complaining.

This has been explored many times here in the CL.

In short, FF does have to do this.

The long answer is that FF has chosen NOT to do this yet, because they were not included in the (ar)EOLAS lawsuit, as MS was. Once EOLAS decides that they should sue additional browser makers for infringing on their "patented technology" all others will follow suit.

RH

[flipsideguy]

Here on FK I noticed some inconsistent behaviors. Not all the Flash ads on the home page have the "click to activate" step. So I wonder if there's a way to get around it.

[jasonsplace]

I haven't played with this yet but i'm told that if the embed is created via JS then it wont display the warning. You could try using something like FlashObject.

Q. What is this Internet Explorer 'Active Content Update' I've been hearing about, and does FlashObject fix it?
A. The short answer is yes, FlashObject will fix the 'Activating Active Content' issues in the new IE Update. You read more about the subject here.

[PAlexC]

Here on FK I noticed some inconsistent behaviors. Not all the Flash ads on the home page have the "click to activate" step. So I wonder if there's a way to get around it.

I'm assuming all the ads are embedded the same way. If so, it probably has to do with interactivity, say the ad has rollovers or reacts to mouse movement.

As for Mozilla, Eolas has stated that the open-source community is free to do as they please. The only ones left to sue are Opera, Netscape and Apple. I doubt they will.

Working in e-Learning, this infuriates me beyond words.

Like hanratty said, this has been explored in depth recently in the lounge, this thread should be merged.

[jasonsplace]

It would appear that this update is only for Internet Explorer 6. I just ran all of the Windows updates and I can still view Flash. I tried to install this update as a standalone and it said that my version of Internet Explorer doesn't support it...I am using version 7.

[ihoss.com]

Wouldn't putting an iframe to the swf file solve it? It won't actually be embeded then, will it?

[jasonsplace]

Even using an iFrame wouldn't solve it because even though it isn't embeded in the HTML file with the iFrame, it is embedded in the HTML file that is being show in the iFrame.

[ihoss.com]

yeah, but I don't have an html file in the iframe, i have the swf file.

anyways, its just another reason to change to Firefox

[jasonsplace]

You could ry embedding the SWF file in an iFrame i guess...and it would probably work as long as the person has the Flash Player...you couldn't do any detection though. I agree with using Firefox but unfortunately none of my clients listen to me.

[Louis van Laarhoven]

I haven't played with this yet but i'm told that if the embed is created via JS then it wont display the warning. You could try using something like FlashObject.

Just back here from studying the flashobject docs and some others. Looks the flashobject is easiest to use. More info at MS which shows that using document.write() doesn't solve the problem.

This weekend I will start updating some sites, hope to post here and read here some experiences.

[JWin]

muther trucker...do we charge clients to correct this retarded problem?

[creativeinsomnia]

muther trucker...do we charge clients to correct this retarded problem?

Depends on your agreement with them. If it's a lot of work, more than likely, they will get charged as we would be losing money doing these free updates. Sounds as if we should be eating the cost as its more of a dev problem...it wasnt a problem when the sites were built and completed. All depends on your client relationship and agreement.

[Louis van Laarhoven]

Using flashobject.js works fine, even with getting focus on my swf right after loading the page. Nevertheless, it is extra work ...

[enpstudios]

Easy work around:

http://flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=682691

[Louis van Laarhoven]

Great, esp. the extention!
I have a way for a quick repair of existing html with only few objects. Flash as well as embedded movieplayer etc.

I use (of course) a js file: external_controls.js:

// external_control.js
function CreateControl(PARAM, DIV_ID)
{
  var d = document.getElementById(DIV_ID);
  d.innerHTML = PARAM;
}

In the head of html:

<script src="external_control.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

In the body of html around the original object/embed code:

<div id="here">
</div>
   <script type="text/javascript">
   PARAM =''+
   '<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" '+
   'codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" '+
   'width="511" height="383" id="testas2js" align="middle">'+
   '<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />' +
   '<param name="movie" value="testas2js.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" />' +
   '<param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" />' +
   '<embed src="testas2js.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="511" height="383" ' +
   'name="testas2js" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" ' +
   'pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />' +
   '</object>';
     CreateControl(PARAM, "here");
   </script>

Put the div in your code or give the existing div a id.
Wrap the code around the existing object/embed tag.
BM

Edit: sorry, I notice now this is the coffee lounge. Maybe someone put this thread or my message elsewhere?

[flipsideguy]

I haven't played with this yet but i'm told that if the embed is created via JS then it wont display the warning. You could try using something like FlashObject.

I love this method! Works and doesn't clutter my pages with embed and object tags.

So this begs the questions, is there a 'QuickTimeObject.js' out there?

Nice find JP.

[JWin]

This is by far the simplest solution I'd found

make a js file and name it whatever with this inside

// embed.js
document.write('<embed src="path/to/yourfile.swf" width="800" height="600" wmode="transparent">')

and put this in your html

<script src="path/to/yourjsfile.js"></script>

obviously in the embed tags you would define the attributes to suit your needs

[enpstudios]

Is that w3c compliant and have you tested it in the major browsers ?