SWF and Dynamic Image Server

[DavidPatrick]

Hi-

 

I apologize in advance, as this may be more of a Flash question than a Watchout question, but it does seem to be isolated to using an SWF in the DIS.

 

I have an SWF file that parses a JSON file (local on the machine) and displays text. It's a brute-force way of showing tweets on screen; upstream of me the JSON will be edited by a moderation system that actually accesses the web. It takes a couple of parameters to identify the JSON file and the tweet ID.

 

When I use this SWF in a web browser via an HTML doc, it works great. As expected. When I do the same thing via the DIS, it's like it can't find the JSON files. It simply shows the generic text field data, not pulling any text from the JSON files. I've moved file locations around, adjusted the trusted settings in the Flash control panel, etc. Nothing seems to get it going. 

 

So my question is, are there any limitations / caveats / peculiarities to the way the DIS would handle a SWF looking for / reading a local file vs how a web browser (Firefox on this PC) would handle ti?

 

Thanks!

dp

 

p.s. I know my DIS works correctly, since I'm using the same machine to pull photos in other areas of my timeline. It does load the SWF correctly, just doesn't display the text.

[Mike Fahl]

You may want to try this example, which does something quite similar, reading from a local file:

 

   http://academy.dataton.com/recipe/editable-text

 

this recipe has some further details on the Flash sandbox, which tends to get in the way sometimes:

 

   http://academy.dataton.com/recipe/circumventing-flash-sandbox

 

Mike

[maccalder]

I am having a similar issue - it is like Image Server is loading the first frame of the movie but not playing it - Running Flash 11.9.900.117 (activeX version) - for example, with the Analogue Clock example, I get a clock displaying 12:00:00. My sandbox settings have been updated as per the file above. The editable text with images project worked fine. I can drop and replace image files no dramas, it just seems like flash movies are not actually playing.

[jfk]

... it just seems like flash movies are not actually playing.

 

Nor should they.

Dynamic Image Server is for still images only, not movies.

Granted you can update still images every second or so,

but no full frame rate moving stuff.

[maccalder]

SWF - colloquially known as a Flash movie file. Not talking Movie as in Movie file. Take for example the Dynamic image server academy example here - all I am getting is the first frame of the movie, no scripts from within it are being executed, all it displays is all three hands pointing straight up. No updates, nothing. 

[Hugo Janzen]

We are trying to load an SWF-file using a Dynamic Image Server.

The SWF-file has an animation of 10 seconds, but the SWF only appears after 20 seconds.

On our timeline, the SWF is already at its final frame when it appears.

Is there any way to force the SWF to start at frame 1 when it is shown on the timeline?

[Mike Fahl]

Not really. The image server will begin to preload the SWF a few seconds ahead of the cue (like other media). If it then starts playing immediately when loaded, it may have come partway into its animation by the time it appears on screen. I'm not aware of any way by which the precise start of the animation could be controlled.

 

Mike

[zackboyd]

Not really. The image server will begin to preload the SWF a few seconds ahead of the cue (like other media). If it then starts playing immediately when loaded, it may have come partway into its animation by the time it appears on screen. I'm not aware of any way by which the precise start of the animation could be controlled.

 

Mike

 

Could you add pre-roll into the animation, and then define the amount of pre-roll on the timeline in watchout, in hopes of having them line up?

 

Z

[Mike Fahl]

Yes, if you roll into the cue, the time you need to account for should be fairly consistent. There's some overhead in the image server end for loading it in, though, so it's hard to say what accuracy you can expect. Also note that the overhead here may change slightly in WATCHOUT 6 due to the new inage server.

 

Mike