Making Flash video behave nicely in IE

Question

So I'm trying to make Flash video work at http://skadaddlemedia.com/beta/blog/ and http://skadaddlemedia.com/beta/about/. Things are going swimmingly in Safari and Firefox. Not so in IE.

I completely expect this is due to my Flash incompetence.

Can anyone help me see where things are going wrong? I'm attempting different methods to input my video in each of these cases:

Working nowhere: http://skadaddlemedia.com/beta/blog/testing/ uses the following code, served up by the WYGWAM EE extension:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="500" width="500">
<param name="loop" value="false" />
<param name="play" value="false" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<param name="movie" value="http://www.skadaddlemedia.com/beta/blog_uploads/SkadAnimationV2.swf" />
<embed height="500" loop="false" play="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" src="http://www.skadaddlemedia.com/beta/blog_uploads/SkadAnimationV2.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" wmode="transparent"></embed>
</object>

Working in Safari & FF, but not IE: This guy-http://skadaddlemedia.com/beta/blog/youtube%5Ftest/-uses some standard code found online with a YouTube video:

<object width="425" height="350" class="youtube_video">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Znc2sXhyB7I"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;
<param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Znc2sXhyB7I" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
</object>

Working in Safari & FF, but not IE + non-working controls: http://skadaddlemedia.com/beta/about/ uses the FLV Player plugin for ExpressionEngine. This plugin uses the swfobject.js file, so it's a bit more code than the previous examples:

<script type='text/javascript'>
var flashvars = {
file: '/beta/swf/SkadAnimationV2.swf',
image: '/beta/swf/animation_placeholder.jpg',
id: '23'
};
var params = {
wmode: 'opaque',
bgcolor: '#CCCCCC',
allowfullscreen: 'true',
allowscriptaccess: 'always'
};
swfobject.embedSWF('/beta/swf/player.swf', 'player23','550','400', '9.0.0','expressInstall.swf', flashvars, params);
</script>

I know I'm missing something fundamental here, as all three examples are broken. I'm not necessarily just looking for the fix for each of these three. I'd like for your help understanding what I don't understand it, and how to understand it.

Eventually, I'd like to build a template where the client could throw either an .flv or .mpeg4 or .mov at it, and voilà, but is something like this even possible, given I correct my current, idiotic Flash principles?

Answer 1

The reason your second code doesn't work in IE is because in IE you have to explicitly enable ActiveX (or Flash) content by clicking on the object (an appropriate warning is shown too). The only way to overcome this is to use an alternative embedding option in the form of a JavaScript which basically uses document.write to place the content, bypassing the need for activating ActiveX.

With and exception for the first code you have posted, I did manage to get the players working in IE7.

Have you tried using the AC_FL_RunContent script for embedding ? It comes with Flash and I haven't had any problems with it so far. You can find more info about it and get it on the Adobe Developer Center website.

Regarding the player that holds the audio/video controls, I got some weird behavior while trying to play the video in both IE and FF in the form of the buffering graphic being stuck on the screen along with the placeholder image while the sound already started playing. I have too tried a bunch of freeware players until I decided that I'm better off building my own. That of course, is a whole different can of worms.