A little understanding would be useful (Flash, .flv and Websites)

[Phil]

Hi,

I've been given a set of flash files to be put onto a website (nothing unusual there).
These Flash files contain an embedded .flv file. When I test and publish the Flash file everything appears to work fine. However once it is uploaded it shows a white box instead of the .flv video. Unfortunately I can't give you a URL to see it for yourself it's on our restricted access testing server.

Attempted steps
I have uploaded the .flv file to the same location in relation to the published .swf file believing it to be simply not picking up the file. Same result

I next uploaded the entire flash file believing I may have missed a hidden file or some such. Same result

I next uploaded the entire contents of the flash file to the root folder containing the webpage. Thinking maybe there was some difference in the path to the resources because it is being run within the webpage. Same result


I'm using Flash CS3 and Dreamweaver CS3
Any suggestions as to why the file appears to be doing this would be greatly appreciated.
Even if it's to tell me I've probably forgotten something really obvious.

Regards
Phil

[Sgaspar11]

If the FLV is embedded into the flash file as long as the .flv is in the same directory as the .swf it will work fine.

This may be too obvious as well, but you are uploading the published .swf file and not the actual .fla correct?

[Phil]

Hey I'm the one that asked for the obvious to be pointed out to me in case I'd missed something which is the norm for me.

And inresponse
I am uploading the published .swf file
The .flv is in the same directory


In fact I had uploaded everything into the same root directory including the .fla file as my final attempt to get it to play correctly.

It's just bugging me that I can't see any reason for it not working.
Is there any way the path to the .flv in the .swf could be affected?

[Sgaspar11]

Yes potentially - one thing to do is to change the relative path reference in the flash file to do the ABSOLUTE path to see if that changes things.

(i.e. instead of "video.flv", it'd be http://www.site.com/flash/video.flv)

See if that fixes anything.

[Phil]

Hi again,

Just recently been asked to resolve this problem again, I'd been taken off of it for a while to do more important jobs.

I have tried changing to the ABSOLUTE path to see if that changes things as suggested by Sgaspar11.

I assume this is in the contentpath in the Parameters of the .flv in the Flash.
When I change this to http://www.camjazz.co.uk/video2/Blue_Harlem.flv
I get an error message
Failed to Load FLV:http://www.camjazz.co.uk/video2/Blue_Harlem.flv

And when I attempt to test/run the swf it generates the following message.
Error opening URL 'http://www.camjazz.co.uk/video2/Blue_Harlem.flv'


This leads me to think that either the file is protected in some way that is preventing it from being loaded by the .swf or the file is not present at that location.

I have double/triple checked that the file .flv and .swf exist at that location (they also appear to be the same size as the files before they are uploaded so doubt there are any problems with the files themselves).

Also I am unable to locate any forms of protection on these files that may be preventing them loading.

Prior to attempting the absolute path name I was at least able to get the .swf file to play locally including the .flv file.

I am really stuck here and would appreciate any advice at all.

[Sgaspar11]

Hmmm....are you using the VideoLoader(player) component? Find it in the components library and make sure you are using that.

[Phil]

Here are the files I'm using without the .flv file (it's just too large for me to post here)

http://www.footlightsrestaurant.co.u...o/BHmovie3.swf is a link to the .swf on a server where it is running correctly.

http://www.camjazz.co.uk/includes/BHvideo/BHmov1.swf is a link to where the file should be playing

The structure.jpg is an image of the file structure as reported by Dreamweaver the lefthand side are the files on the server, the righthand are the ones locally (on my computer).

As far as the VideoLoader(player) component, I think that I am using it.

I've had a couple of suggestions back from other forums suggesting I use a preloader for the .swf file and components. This isn't something I've ever used before but do you think it may help?

[Sgaspar11]

I dont have CS3 here at work yet...I'll take a look when I get home a bit later.

[Phil]

Thanks for all of your continued help on this.

However the problem has been solved

It turns out during a recent reshuffle on the server the MIME types for the domain in question were erased.

Hence the server/domain did not support the .flv extension files.
Having discovered this and replaced the deleted MIME types everything is working as expected.

I feel like such an idiot for not checking this sooner.
Thanks again for all of your help.

[Sgaspar11]

Hey nice! Good to hear!