Flash OBJECT and EMBED tag attributes

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/127/tn_12701.html

 

What's covered

• Required attributes
• Optional attributes and possible values
• Active Content JavaScript

This document lists the required and optional attributes of the object and embed tags used to publish Adobe Flash movies.

For specific usage information for these attributes, see sections of the Using Flash manual devoted to usingobject and embed tags. (Exact headings vary among Flash versions.) Information is also available inOBJECT and EMBED syntax | Flash (tn_4150).

Back to top

Required attributes

The following attributes are required within the object and/or embed tags when adding a Flash movie to an HTML page:

Both object and embed:

• width - Specifies the width of the movie in either pixels or percentage of browser window.
• height - Specifies the height of the movie in either pixels or percentage of browser window.

object tag only:

• classid - Identifies the ActiveX control for the browser. See example code in OBJECT and EMBED syntax | Flash (tn_4150) for the correct value.
• codebase - Identifies the location of the Flash Player ActiveX control so that the browser can automatically download it if it is not already installed. See example code in OBJECT and EMBED syntax | Flash (tn_4150) for the correct value.
• movie (param) - Specifies the location (URL) of the movie to load.

embed tag only:

• src - Specifies the location (URL) of the movie to load.
• pluginspage - Identifies the location of the Flash Player plug-in so that the user can download it if it is not already installed. EMBED only. See example code in OBJECT and EMBED syntax | Flash (tn_4150) for the correct value.

Back to top

Optional attributes and possible values

The following attributes are optional when defining the object and/or embed tags. For object, all attributes are defined in param tags unless otherwise specified:

• id (attribute for object, object only) - Movie Identifier. Identifies the Flash movie to the host environment (a web browser, for example). The movie can therefore be referenced using a scripting language.
• name (embed only) - Movie name. Identifies the Flash movie to the host environment (a web browser, typically) so that it can be referenced using a scripting language such as JavaScript or VBScript.
• swliveconnect - Possible values: true, false. Specifies whether the browser starts Java when loading the Flash Player for the first time. The default value is false if this attribute is omitted. If you use JavaScript and Flash on the same page, Java must be running for the FSCommand to work.
• play - Possible values: true, false. Specifies whether the movie begins playing immediately on loading in the browser. The default value is true if this attribute is omitted.
• loop - Possible values: true, false. Specifies whether the movie repeats indefinitely or stops when it reaches the last frame. The default value is true if this attribute is omitted.
• menu - Possible values: true, false.
  • true displays the full menu, allowing the user various options to enhance or control playback.
  • false displays a menu that contains only the Settings option and the About Flash option.
• quality - Possible values: low, high, autolow, autohigh, best.
  • low favors playback speed over appearance and never uses anti-aliasing.
  • autolow emphasizes speed at first but improves appearance whenever possible. Playback begins with anti-aliasing turned off. If the Flash Player detects that the processor can handle it, anti-aliasing is turned on.
  • autohigh emphasizes playback speed and appearance equally at first but sacrifices appearance for playback speed if necessary. Playback begins with anti-aliasing turned on. If the actual frame rate drops below the specified frame rate, anti-aliasing is turned off to improve playback speed. Use this setting to emulate the View > Antialias setting in Flash.
  • medium applies some anti-aliasing and does not smooth bitmaps. It produces a better quality than the Low setting, but lower quality than the High setting.
  • high favors appearance over playback speed and always applies anti-aliasing. If the movie does not contain animation, bitmaps are smoothed; if the movie has animation, bitmaps are not smoothed.
  • best provides the best display quality and does not consider playback speed. All output is anti-aliased and all bitmaps are smoothed.
• scale - Possible values: showall, noborder, exactfit, noscale.
  • default (Show all) makes the entire Flash movie visible in the specified area without distortion, while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the movie. Borders can appear on two sides of the movie.
  • noborder scales the movie to fill the specified area, without distortion but possibly with some cropping, while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the movie.
  • exactfit makes the entire movie visible in the specified area without trying to preserve the original aspect ratio. Distortion sometimes occurs.
  • noscale prevents the Flash movie from scaling when the Flash Player window is resized.
• align (attribute for Object) - Possible values: l, t, r.
  • Default centers the movie in the browser window and crops edges if the browser window is smaller than the movie.
  • l (left), r (right), and t (top) align the movie along the corresponding edge of the browser window and crop the remaining three sides as needed.
• salign - Possible values: l, t, r, tl, tr.
  • l, r, and t align the movie along the left, right, or top edge of the browser window and crop the remaining sides as needed.
  • tl and tr align the movie to the top left and top right corner of the browser window and crop the bottom and remaining side as needed.
• wmode - Possible values: window, opaque, transparent. Sets the Window Mode property of the Flash movie for transparency, layering, and positioning in the browser.
  • window - movie plays in its own rectangular window on a web page.
  • opaque - the movie hides everything on the page behind it.
  • transparent - the background of the HTML page shows through all transparent portions of the movie. This option can slow animation performance.
• bgcolor - [hexadecimal RGB value] in the format #RRGGBB. Specifies the background color of the movie. Use this attribute to override the background color setting specified in the Flash file. This attribute does not affect the background color of the HTML page.
• base -. or [base directory] or [URL]. Specifies the base directory or URL used to resolve all relative path statements in the Flash Player movie. This attribute is helpful when your Flash Player movies are kept in a different directory from your other files.
• flashvars - Possible values: variable to pass to Flash Player. Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6 or later.
  • Used to send root level variables to the movie. The format of the string is a set of name=value combinations separated by '&'.
  • Browsers support string sizes of up to 64 KB (65535 bytes) in length.
  • For more information on FlashVars, see Using FlashVars to plass variables to a SWF(tn_16417).
• fullScreenAspectRatio - Possible values: portrait or landscape. Locks the screen to an orientation. The absence of the parameter or any other value makes Flash not lock the screen in any orientation

Note: Values in brackets and italics indicate that the developer chooses the value.

Back to top

Active Content JavaScript

Note: As of April 2008, Microsoft has removed all Active Content requirements from Internet Explorer. The information in this technote is supplied for historical reference to the period from April 2006 to April 2008. For details on Microsoft's deprecation of Active Content, see MSDN. For details of Adobe's Active Content workarounds, see the Adobe Active Content Developer Center.

When you publish a Flash document with HTML using the "Flash Only" or "Flash HTTPS" HTML templates in Flash CS3 Professional, a JavaScript file linked to the HTML file, named AC_RunActiveContent.js is created. This file has to remain with the HTML file for the JavaScript-based active content embedding. For more information on active content, visit the Active Content Developer Center.

Note: For Flash 8, the inclusion of JavaScript-based active content embedding is possible through the Flash Active Content Update Extension.

A JavaScript function called AC_FL_RunContent() is used to dynamically generate the necessary objectand embed tags necessary for the browser to display your Flash movie. This function is defined within AC_RunActiveContent.js and called in the location of your HTML file where you want your Flash movie to be displayed. Example:

 <script >
		

	      if (AC_FL_RunContent == 0) 
		

	      { 
		

	      alert("This page requires AC_RunActiveContent.js.");
		

	      } 
		

	      else 
		

	      { 
		

	      AC_FL_RunContent( 
		

	      'codebase', 
		

	      'http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0', 
		

	      'width', 
		

	      '550', 
		

	      'height', 
		

	      '400', 
		

	      'src', 
		

	      'myFlashMovie', 
		

	      'quality', 
		

	      'high', 
		

	      'pluginspage', 
		

	      'http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer', 
		

	      'align', 
		

	      'middle', 
		

	      'play', 
		

	      'true', 
		

	      'loop', 
		

	      'true', 
		

	      'scale', 
		

	      'showall', 
		

	      'wmode', 
		

	      'window', 
		

	      'devicefont', 
		

	      'false', 
		

	      'id', 
		

	      'ACTest', 
		

	      'bgcolor', 
		

	      '#ffffff', 
		

	      'name', 
		

	      'myFlashMovie', 
		

	      'menu', 
		

	      'true', 
		

	      'allowScriptAccess',
		

	      'sameDomain', 
		

	      'movie', 
		

	      'myFlashMovie', 
		

	      'salign', 
		

	      '' ); 
		

	      //end AC code 
		

	      } 
		

	      </script> 

The parameters of the AC_FL_RunContent function are name-value pairs that relate to the attributes or parameters defined within the object and embed tags. The AC_FL_RunContent function automatically distinguishes between recognized attributes that goes in the object and embed tags and those that requirenpram tags. Any name-value arguments you add to the AC_FL_RunContent call, if not recognized, default toparam tags and embed attributes.