I have a FLASH application that was working well in Firefox 3.5.6.
It worked erratically in IE7 and IE8.
I identified IE's issue to be the file size of the mp3 files. They averaged 500k to 1.2MB.
I edited them down to less than 200K and IE works great.
Now Firefox is hanging.
This is just spooky.
The player that I am using uses the older style of javascript from Flash that runs AC_RunActiveContent.js.
Should I go to the trouble to rewrite the pages for the newer SWFObject 2.2?
If I do will IE punish me?
There has got to be a better way to do SCORM than this.
Thanks.
Hi John,
While JavaScript is based on ECMA Script standards, Firefox and IE do implement it slightly differently. There could be a whole variety of reasons your system is hanging not necessarily based on your SWF Object. If you believe that it really is the SWF Object, a couple of questions:
1. What version of FLASH are you running ? Is this Actionscript 2 or 3 ? Do you have this information or are you using a file ?
2. How was the HTML file generated ? Was it done at the time the file was created or later ? Did it include SCORM support for the correct version (1.1, 1.2,etc.) and is Flash version checking enabled ?
3. By hanging are you talking about a "freeze" or sitting with a bank screen (often an unimplemented trap of some time). Have you tried this file on another LMS other than Moodle to make sure it is not Moodle specific. (eg: Test track ?)
These factors are rather important to know as Adobe dropped and changed some key support pieces for SCORM after Flash 8. In addition, the implementation of calls to an external interface has changed between version 9 & 10 of Flash and this can cause some really "weird" erratic behavior. These things could also be a factors.
If you do have the source code you may wish to take a look at the pipwerks site. This is one of the best at helping with the implementation of SCORM with Flash and there are files you can download (including a HTML Template that is better than the SCORM one generated by Flash). You could then do a clean re-compile with some tested code inserts.
If you have a compiled sfw you may wish to look at the article Preparing your website to handle the Microsoft changes to Internet Explorer by Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html .
If you can give me more details on 1 -3 above I may have some more specific suggestions.
W.Gemmell
While JavaScript is based on ECMA Script standards, Firefox and IE do implement it slightly differently. There could be a whole variety of reasons your system is hanging not necessarily based on your SWF Object. If you believe that it really is the SWF Object, a couple of questions:
1. What version of FLASH are you running ? Is this Actionscript 2 or 3 ? Do you have this information or are you using a file ?
2. How was the HTML file generated ? Was it done at the time the file was created or later ? Did it include SCORM support for the correct version (1.1, 1.2,etc.) and is Flash version checking enabled ?
3. By hanging are you talking about a "freeze" or sitting with a bank screen (often an unimplemented trap of some time). Have you tried this file on another LMS other than Moodle to make sure it is not Moodle specific. (eg: Test track ?)
These factors are rather important to know as Adobe dropped and changed some key support pieces for SCORM after Flash 8. In addition, the implementation of calls to an external interface has changed between version 9 & 10 of Flash and this can cause some really "weird" erratic behavior. These things could also be a factors.
If you do have the source code you may wish to take a look at the pipwerks site. This is one of the best at helping with the implementation of SCORM with Flash and there are files you can download (including a HTML Template that is better than the SCORM one generated by Flash). You could then do a clean re-compile with some tested code inserts.
If you have a compiled sfw you may wish to look at the article Preparing your website to handle the Microsoft changes to Internet Explorer by Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html .
If you can give me more details on 1 -3 above I may have some more specific suggestions.
W.Gemmell
some good stuff there Wade! - feel free to add some of that to the SCORM FAQ's
Thank you for such a detailed reply.
Our course has a compiled SWF file and a SCORM player that gets launched by loadSCO.php.
The code was compiled in ActionScript 2.0. The SCORM player uses the older techniques of javascript files that write out the flash call codes in the assembled screen.
Since we updated Firefox in the past week it is tough to know how we went from working to hanging. The irony is that IE is now working smoothly.
When we trace the code using Fiddler 2 I can see that at the time of the call for the mp3 file, the server reports back a 504 error. The file is there, otherwise, IE would fail.
I suspect that there is something about the way that FLASH is asking for the file that doesn't make it out of Firefox in the same format that it does in IE. (UTF verses voodoo?)
What's really irritating is that I can launch the movie in a stand alone HTML page and it works fine. It's only in Moodle that the problem turns up.
Our course has a compiled SWF file and a SCORM player that gets launched by loadSCO.php.
The code was compiled in ActionScript 2.0. The SCORM player uses the older techniques of javascript files that write out the flash call codes in the assembled screen.
Since we updated Firefox in the past week it is tough to know how we went from working to hanging. The irony is that IE is now working smoothly.
When we trace the code using Fiddler 2 I can see that at the time of the call for the mp3 file, the server reports back a 504 error. The file is there, otherwise, IE would fail.
I suspect that there is something about the way that FLASH is asking for the file that doesn't make it out of Firefox in the same format that it does in IE. (UTF verses voodoo?)
What's really irritating is that I can launch the movie in a stand alone HTML page and it works fine. It's only in Moodle that the problem turns up.
Hi John,
Wade has some good points about activeX. What I would do is comb the API wrapper for functions that are using activex triggers instead of the traditional javascript triggers. (IE is the whole reason we have to do the double embed, the tagging in the first place.) But my understanding is that the RunActiveContent file is basically only to handle a double-click issue with IE. The SWF should run fine without it, albeit there might be a double-click discrepancy...
What version of Moodle are you running? Did you look at the CMI logs to be sure that it's an MP3 that's causing the hang?
http://docs.moodle.org/en/SCORM_FAQ#Debugging_a_SCORM_Module
Have you been able to replicate the issue in other LMSs? You might try test track:
http://testtrack.scorm.com/test-track/test-trackbase/Signin.aspx
In addition: where is that MP3 coming from? Is it stored locally, on Moodle, or is it on another domain? Most browsers are very strict about cross-domain scripting, so if you're loading media from a different domain, you're likely to have FF hang for security reasons.
Best,
A
Wade has some good points about activeX. What I would do is comb the API wrapper for functions that are using activex triggers instead of the traditional javascript triggers. (IE is the whole reason we have to do the double embed, the tagging in the first place.) But my understanding is that the RunActiveContent file is basically only to handle a double-click issue with IE. The SWF should run fine without it, albeit there might be a double-click discrepancy...
What version of Moodle are you running? Did you look at the CMI logs to be sure that it's an MP3 that's causing the hang?
http://docs.moodle.org/en/SCORM_FAQ#Debugging_a_SCORM_Module
Have you been able to replicate the issue in other LMSs? You might try test track:
http://testtrack.scorm.com/test-track/test-trackbase/Signin.aspx
In addition: where is that MP3 coming from? Is it stored locally, on Moodle, or is it on another domain? Most browsers are very strict about cross-domain scripting, so if you're loading media from a different domain, you're likely to have FF hang for security reasons.
Best,
A