[SWFObject] flashvars somtimes fail to be passed in the first time a page loads

[Mike Palmer]

Brooks,

Try doing a test on the first frame to make sure that variable's value 
is not empty and then make the second frame gotoAndPlay back to the 
first frame. If the variable holds some value jump to the rest of the 
movie. Another way would be to use a setInterval, or to put a 
onEnterFrame event handler on a movie clip.

The fact that it works on reload is a tell-tale sign that you're 
starting the movie before the variable has been loaded. Make sure it's 
there before the movie runs.

Good luck,

Mike

Brooks Andrus wrote:

> Has anyone had an issue where the flashvars sometimes are not being 
> passed in the first time a page loads (using swfobject of course). I’m 
> getting intermittent reports from users who have to refresh their 
> browsers one time before the swf content will play back. This problem 
> is not consistent and appears to vary from machine to machine and 
> webserver to webserver. Here’s an example:
>
> 1) a users creates some content that uses swfobject and uploads to 
> their webserver. My laptop consistently will load the page on the 
> first request, but the content hangs until I refresh the browser. All 
> subsequent loads work fine, until the cache is cleared and a new 
> request is submitted. However, my desktop pc does not have this same 
> issue with the file served from the same webserver.
>
> 2) After fishing the files in question out of my browser cache and 
> uploading them to my own webserver, neither my laptop nor desktop have 
> difficulties playing back the files when they are first requested.
>
> In trying to debug this problem, I’ve noticed that when files fail to 
> load for the first time, a preloader swf file and an xml file are 
> always missing from the browser cache. The names of these files are 
> passed into the swf file embedded with swfobject via flashvars. 
> Without either of these files nothing displays (as is too be 
> expected). This appears to be a timing issue, but I’m so far unable to 
> replicate the issue on any of the webservers I have access to, so its 
> tough to trace the values of the flashvars that are supposed to be set 
> with swfobject.
>
> Here’s the link to a file that seems to consistently give users 
> difficulty:
>
> http://www.newviewnetworks.com/nvnhome/blog/client/demos/red5_0.4.1_NewApp/red5_0.4.1_NewApp.html
>
> You most likely will be facing a blank white screen until you launch 
> the sucker for a second time. However subsequent attempts will work 
> perfectly until you decide to clear your cache.
>
> Any thoughts or advice on this would be greatly appreciated (I’m not 
> ruling out a bug in my code, but the inconsistent behavior in 
> conjunction with my inability to find where my script might be going 
> off into the weeds, leads me to this forum).
>
> Regards,
>
> Brooks
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>SWFObject mailing list
>SWFObject at lists.deconcept.com
>http://lists.deconcept.com/listinfo.cgi/swfobject-deconcept.com
>  
>