Changing arbitrary flash objects wmode to transparent

Question

I need to change wmode of arbitrary flash objects to transparent from external js file to make sure they don't hide menus without using Jquery or similar libs.

In FF I use getElementsByTagName("embed") and set attribute. It seems to work well.

Specifically I'm having trouble with object set by swfObject library In IE7.

swfObject creates the following code in iE7:

<OBJECT id=mymovie height=400 width=134 classid=clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000><PARAM NAME="_cx" VALUE="3545"><PARAM NAME="_cy" VALUE="10583"><PARAM NAME="FlashVars" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="Movie" VALUE="imgs/site/tower.swf"><PARAM NAME="Src" VALUE="imgs/site/tower.swf"><PARAM NAME="WMode" VALUE="Window"><PARAM NAME="Play" VALUE="0"><PARAM NAME="Loop" VALUE="-1"><PARAM NAME="Quality" VALUE="High"><PARAM NAME="SAlign" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="Menu" VALUE="-1"><PARAM NAME="Base" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="AllowScriptAccess" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="Scale" VALUE="ShowAll"><PARAM NAME="DeviceFont" VALUE="0"><PARAM NAME="EmbedMovie" VALUE="0"><PARAM NAME="BGColor" VALUE="FFFFFF"><PARAM NAME="SWRemote" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="MovieData" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="SeamlessTabbing" VALUE="1"><PARAM NAME="Profile" VALUE="0"><PARAM NAME="ProfileAddress" VALUE=""><PARAM NAME="ProfilePort" VALUE="0"><PARAM NAME="AllowNetworking" VALUE="all"><PARAM NAME="AllowFullScreen" VALUE="false"></OBJECT>

I tried every possible way to set wmode to transparent and make the flash not hide floating objects without success including but not limited to:

1. Search for OBJECT and change its PARAM wmode to transparent.
2. Set attribute of Object (wmode=transparent)
3. Call the object SetValue function

None seems to work. Although the wmode seems to change Flash still hides other objects with high z-index. What am I missing here?

Answer 1

When you are using SWFObject to include the flash, there should be a parameter in the embedSWF method called 'params'. You pass it an object into it like this:

swfobject.embedSwf(blah,blah,blah, { wmode:'transparent'});

more here

Answer 2

I'm almost 100% sure that you cannot change the wmode parameter at runtime. I mean, you technically can, but won't have any effect. I'm actually surprised that you got any successful attempts. What Flash player version and browser did you try successfully?

I'm sorry I can't find any official link to prove my point, but I'll leave you this very interesting link about how wmode works (updated to player 10):

What does GPU acceleration mean?

Cheers,

Juan

Answer 3

It's not true that a flash movie needs to be republished to change the wmode parameter - its a myth:

http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=E5141

I have the same menu problem, and I need some code to add the wmode parameter to any flash object being called by javascript.

I think the original post pertains to this, but I'm not sure where to start and need more info.

Answer 4

I'm having this same problem. I want to fix the flash attributes so that they don't overlap my modal window. The modal window is being created by an external javascript file and it's not a viable option to ask every website admin that adds the widget to fix this manually.

Nir, did you ever find a solution?

Answer 5

I figured it out. You can see my solution here: http://www.onlineaspect.com/2009/08/13/javascript%5Fto%5Ffix%5Fwmode%5Fparameters/

Answer 6

I've been successful with this little trick:

$("embed").attr("wmode", "opaque").wrap('<div>');

It effectively redraws the flash object, worked for me.

Answer 7

Can someone translate this to pure javascript?

$("embed").attr("wmode", "opaque").wrap('<div>');

I'm trying to fix this issue without jQuery.

Thanks. Marton