Doesn't work in separate HTML document

So you've published a slideshow from Flash locally that loads your own XML file and content just fine, but now when you try to embed the published SWF in a separate HTML document, the slideshow breaks. What gives, right? The answer is actually pretty simple. But first a overview that explains why this usually happens.

Embedding SWFs in HTML

Whenever a SWF is embedded in an HTML document and attempts to load content from outside itself (XML, images, videos) the directory location of the HTML document is used as the "base" for the request. For example, if you have a SWF that requests "image.jpg" and you embed the SWF in an HTML document, the image would be requested from the directory where the HTML document is saved (not where the SWF resides).

The above can cause problems whenever relative links are requested by the SWF. The SlideShowPro player's default XML File Path ("images.xml") is a relative link, as is something like "gallery/album1/image.jpg". When embedding SWFs in HTML, "relative" means relative to the HTML document, not the SWF.

How to test if this is the problem

Alright, so now that we've had a little 101 on the subject, how do you know if this is the problem you're seeing? If the SlideShowPro player displays "XML data not found" or a spinning preloader animation with no content appearing (and you're not using our SlideShowPro Director product) chances are it's a relative path error.

How to fix the relative paths

First, open the XML file your slideshow is loading. Chances are your albums will look something like this:

Change them to their absolute counterparts (where those folders are online). For example:

Note: this assumes you've already uploaded your slideshow content to your web site. If you haven't already, go ahead and do so before moving on.

When finished, save your XML document and upload it to your web site.

Second, open the FLA used to publish your SWF. Select the component instance, open the Component Inspector panel, and change the XML File Path parameter to an absolute path (that points to where the XML file is online). For example, change "images.xml" to "http://yourdomain.com/slideshow/images.xml". When finished, publish a new SWF and replace any older SWFs at your web site.

Refresh your HTML document embedding the SWF in your web browser, and if all went well the error should go away.

More information

Feel free to ask us for support if you can't figure out the problem.

Page last modified by tdominey on November 14, 2010, at 10:37 AM