SlideShowPro for Flash can pause, play, restart, stop, and loop your slideshow images/videos. This chapter will explain how playback works, as well as the parameters available for modification.
On startup, SlideShowPro for Flash automatically loads the first image or video in the first album. If the asset is an image, it will "hold" for four seconds before the next asset in queue is loaded and a cross-fade transition effect is applied. At any point during the slideshow a viewer can stop auto-playback by either clicking on the pause button or a link in the navigation. They can then continue to browse content manually, or restart auto-playback by clicking the play button.
Auto and manual playback are controlled through PLAYBACK/Display Mode. It is set to "Auto" by default. If you'd rather start your slideshow in manual mode, set it to "Manual." SlideShowPro will load the first asset and stop. The viewer will then be able to start auto-playback on their own.
While in auto-playback, the viewer is given a configurable amount of time to view an image before SlideShowPro begins loading the next. This stretch of time is assigned through TRANSITION/Pause. As noted in the earlier Media Player chapter, this interval only applies to images (not videos).
The TRANSITION/Pause parameter applies the same amount of time to every image in your gallery. But what if you'd like to display one image for 3 seconds, and another for 5? You can do that by modifying your XML file to include pause attributes, like so:
<img src="tree.jpg" pause="10" />
If using SlideShowPro Director, you can modify this by selecting an image/video in the "Content" area of an album.
When edited, SlideShowPro for Flash will then stop for 10 seconds after loading the "tree" photo. You can mix images with and without pause in the XML. Any image that does not have an XML override will use TRANSITION/Pause.
By default, when SlideShowPro for Flash loads it requests data, then auto-starts with the first album in your gallery. You can modify this behavior through PLAYBACK/Startup. Options include "Load Album" (the default), "Load Album Then Wait", and "Open Gallery." When set to "Load Album Then Wait", the first album is loaded but no content automatically appears. It instead waits for content to be selected in the navigation or called through an external method. If set to "Open Gallery", the gallery interface pops open to allow users to choose which album they'd prefer to start with.
In both auto and manual display modes, a transition effect is applied when switching content. You can control the style of transition used through TRANSITION/Style, which includes "Blur", "Cross Fade" (Default), "Complete Fade", "Dissolve", "Drop", "Lens", "Photo Flash", "Push", "Wipe", "Wipe and Fade", "Wipe to Background" and "Wipe and Fade to Background". If you'd rather not have any transition, set it to "None." The direction of "Wipe", "Push" and "Dissolve" are set through TRANSITION/Direction.
If SlideShowPro for Flash is in auto-playback mode when reaching the end of an album, it will automatically load the first asset of the next album in queue. If another album is not available, it will stop. This behavior is controlled through the PLAYBACK/Auto Finish Mode parameter. The default option is "Switch," which loads the next album. Additional options include "Restart," which will re-load the first asset in the current album, "Stop" which stops auto-playback, and "Open Gallery" which pops open the gallery so the user can select the album they'd prefer to continue with.
As noted earlier, slideshow content is auto-loaded in sequential order. This is set through the PLAYBACK/Order parameter, which is set to "Sequential" by default. When switched to "Random," SlideShowPro for Flash keeps your content links in the order in which they're included in the XML, but instead of auto-loading the next content in line it picks content at random from anywhere in the current album. No images or videos are loaded twice, and Auto Finish Mode works just the same.