mac-dev.net » Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)

1. With the new version of Jeroen’s player, there are some security issues with regard to referencing remote files. Any file (even those that reside on your own webserver) should be able to reference a crossdomain.xml file in the site’s root directory. This is often seen with poster images and playlists. Here’s how to fix it:

To automatically give a movie loaded from yoursite.com access to data on www.yoursite.com, you must use a cross-domain policy file. The following steps describe how the owner of yoursite.com would add a cross-domain policy file to her site, thus allowing data to flow from yoursite.com to www.yoursite.com, and vice versa.

Create a new text file named crossdomain.xml.
Open crossdomain.xml in a text editor.
Add the following XML code to the file:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy SYSTEM "http://www.macromedia.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd"> <cross-domain-policy> <allow-access-from domain="www.yoursite.com" /> <allow-access-from domain="yoursite.com" /> </cross-domain-policy>

Save the file.
Upload the file to the root directory of yoursite.com (so that the file can be accessed at http://www.yoursite.com/crossdomain.xml).

More information on crossdomain.xml can be found here:

http://moock.org/asdg/technotes/crossDomainPolicyFiles/

2. Every time you upgrade the plugin (especially for major releases), you need to disable and reactivate the plugin from your WordPress options plugin admin page. Doing this will clear the plugin options and potentially clear up issues. You will lose your global settings, as this process resets the options to their default values. Usually, these are pretty simple to reconfigure, but you may want to make note of your current settings.

Is SWF supported? It seems to load in my player.

Though SWF files load in the player, their use is discouraged. The player cannot read the duration and dimensions of SWF files and cannot control its volume or playback.

Why am I getting a “Video not found:” error?

Most likely, the path or filename is incorrect. Here’s how you can test it.

Troubleshooting a “Video not found:” error -

Step 1: Determine the URL for the file you’re telling the player to source. For example, if your tag is:

[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv /]

Step 2: Copy and paste that URL into your browser:

http://www.yourdomain.com/videos/my-video.flv

Step 3: If the browser tries to download the file, that’s a good sign. It means that it’s accessible and as such, the video player will be able to source it.

If, on the other hand, it shows a FILE NOT FOUND or a 404 error you either have a permission issue on your webserver, or you have the path or filename wrong. Make sure your filename matches EXACTLY (case matters on most web servers).

How do I create and use a playlist?

Playlist usage is easy, just point to the playlist file from your tag like this:

[flashvideo file=playlist-name.xml /]

Here are the recognized playlist file formats with specifications (definitions) and examples:

I have the file (or filename) directive in my tag, but I still see “Error: Required parameter “file” is missing!”

You need to add the file parameter to every tag, so the player knows what to play. This is the only required piece of information for this plugin to function. Here’s an example: [flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv /] You may also receive this error if you’ve forgotten to place a space after your filename (before the closing tag /]).

The plugin will respect both relative and fully qualified file references. Here are two examples:
Relative:

[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv /]

Fully Qualified:

[flashvideo file=http://www.mydomain.com/videos/my-video.flv /]

How do I override a default variable?

Simply add the variable as a parameter in your post tag. If you wanted to override the default width and height (320×240) you would do it inline like this:
[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv width=480 height=480 /]
Every variable on the options page can be used inline as an override to the default value.

What happened to the floating controls?

Once again, floating controls have changed. They are now controlled by the controlbar option. This allows you to show the controlbar below the player (bottom), floating (over) or not at all (none).

Old Way:

[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv height=240 displayheight=240 /]

New Way:

[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv height=240 controlbar=over /]

How do I add a YouTube video?

Just use the full URL to the YouTube video page in the filename argument.

Example:

[flashvideo file=http://youtube.com/watch?v=pShf2VuAu_Q /]

Can I link to a remote file? Can I read a FLV file from another server?

Loading playlists (or an FLV, SWF files, ID3 data, etc.) from another web server is not permitted by the Flash Player security model. You can circumvent this by placing a crossdomain.xml file in the root of the website that contains the media files. If you don’t have access to the external site, you can use a proxy (example).

I have installed the plugin according to the directions on your website. However, when I view the post I see the “Get Flash to see this player” message.

Some WordPress themes don’t properly include all of the code that plugins need to function properly.
To see if your theme is including the proper WordPress functions:
1. View the source code for your page and look for the following (should be near the top of the page):
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-content/plugins/flash-video-player/swfobject.js">
2. Copy the full URL for swfobject.js and paste it into your browser address bar. If that doesn’t display javascript, it’s not being linked properly. If you do see the script
3. If you don’t see the script tag for swfobject.js, then your WordPress template probably isn’t calling the wp_head() tag. You can either add wp_head() it into the template file, or you simply add the script tag.

How to add the wp_head() tag:
1. Open the header template file of your current WordPress theme (usually called header.php).
2. Check for this:

<?php wp_head(); ?>

3. If it’s not there, you will need to add it somewhere between the HTML HEAD tags:

<head></head>

Why doesn’t my swf file play properly? (no volume, stops, skips)

Because the media player is a swf file, it can behave unexpectedly when playing back other swf files. Think of it this way, if the player is telling Flash to perform one action, and the embedded swf is telling Flash to do something else (play and stop, for example), the player may get confused and act erratically. The best solution is to embed flv files for video playback instead of swf if you’re experiencing problems.

Why do I see code in my [search, category, archive, search, etc] pages?

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

var s0 = new SWFObject("http://www.mac-dev.net/blog/wp-content/plugins/flash-video-player/mediaplayer.swf","n0","480","190","7");
s0.addParam("allowfullscreen","true");
s0.addParam("allowscriptaccess","always");
s0.addVariable("javascriptid","n0");
s0.addVariable("height","190");
s0.addVariable("width","480");
s0.addVariable("image","http://www.mac-dev.net/blog/videos/300-lg.jpg");
s0.addVariable("searchbar","false");
s0.addVariable("screencolor","0×000000");
s0.addVariable("logo","http://www.mac-dev.net/blog/images/mac-dev-logo.png");
s0.addVariable("overstretch","true");
s0.addVariable("showeq","false");
s0.addVariable("showicons","true");
s0.addVariable("shownavigation","true");
s0.addVariable("showstop","false");
s0.addVariable("showndigits","true");
s0.addVariable("showdownload","false");
s0.addVariable("usefullscreen","true");
s0.addVariable("autoscroll","false");
s0.addVariable("displayheight","240");
s0.addVariable("thumbsinplaylist","true");
s0.addVariable("autostart","false");
s0.addVariable("bufferlength","3");
s0.addVariable("repeat","false");
s0.addVariable("rotatetime","5");
s0.addVariable("shuffle","false");
s0.addVariable("smoothing","true");
s0.addVariable("volume","80");
s0.addVariable("enablejs","true");
s0.addVariable("linkfromdisplay","false");
s0.addVariable("linktarget","_self");
s0.addVariable("searchlink","http://search.longtail.tv/?q=");
s0.addVariable("file","http://www.mac-dev.net/blog/videos/300-lg.flv");
s0.write("video0");

The WordPress theme you’re using uses a function in WordPress that shortens the post length for these types of pages.

The easiest way to fix this issue is to simply add a
1. Add an excerpt to the post or place the flashvideo tag after the <!–more–> tag in your post.

The excerpt can be entered in a separate text field in the WordPress admin menu on the new/edit post screen. Alternatively, you can add the MORE tag to your post to make sure your excerpt breaks before the flashvideo tag. Here’s an example:

Please enjoy the following music video specifically posted here for your enjoyment.

[flashvideo file=videos/my-video.flv /]

2. Some people want the full video to be displayed in search results and archive pages. To do that, you will have to edit your theme’s template file.

a. Determine which page needs to be edited. The usual suspects are: archive pages, category pages, tag pages and search pages.
For archive pages, the URL usually looks like either ?m=200606 or /2006/06/
For category pages, the URL usually looks like either ?cat=7 or /category/
Search pages use the ?s=searchword URL format

b. Next, you will need to edit the appropriate template file. You can do this by logging into your admin console and selecting “Appearance” (for WordPress 2.7), “Design” (for WordPress 2.5), or “Presentation” (for WordPress 2.3).

c. Click on “Editor” or “Theme Editor”. If you don’t see a button that says update file, you aren’t going to be able to edit the file using the admin interface due to permissions on the server. You can FTP or SSH into your server and edit the file manually — template files are located in the /wp-content/themes/yourtheme folder.

d. On the right side of the editor, locate the file you need to edit (determined in step “a” above). This will likely be either category.php, archive.php, search.php or similar. If you don’t see any of those, the file you probably need to edit is index.php (which is the default when those files aren’t present).

e. Select your file by clicking its name to load it into the theme editor.

Scan the loaded file for the line that looks like this:

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

and replace it with this:

<?php the_content(); ?>

This will ensure that your page displays the entire post and will fix the issue.
There is an alternative to editing the theme template to fix this problem.

How do I enable Google Analytics tracking on my videos?

Enabling Google Analytics for your Flash Video Player has several steps.

First, and most important, make sure you website is currently being tracked by Google. If you need to sign up, visit this webpage: Google Analytics. It’s free for private use. Once you’ve signed up and configured your website appropriately (and see your traffic data), you’re ready to track videos!

The Google Analytics plugin requires additional javascript code be added to the page. More information can be found on the Google Analytics Plugin Page. Paste the following code into the HEAD of your document:

<script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXX-X"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script>

ATTENTION: You need to replace the XXXXX-X with your siteid assigned by google analytics. (see under settings -> edit site -> status check -> newcode.)

Now you can simply add the plugin name to the options page. You can list as many as you want, just separate them with a comma. (ie; googlytics-1, viral-1, rateit-2)

Or you can place it in-line, like this:

[flashvideo file=videos/myvideo.flv plugins=googlytics-1 /]

More information and available plugins can be found here: LongTail Video Plugins

I see video, but have no audio! (Or, I have audio but no video)

Please check the filetype you’re attempting to play with the player. You’re probably trying to play a SWF file, which is unsupported.

Why doesn’t my JavaScript interaction work?

Due to security restrictions in the Flash Player, javascript interaction will not work when testing locally. Accessing remote media files or jumping to remote URL’s simply won’t work. Try from your web server and it should work properly.

Why doesn’t fullscreen work for me?

Fullscreen only works if you have the Flash Player 9,0,28,0 or higher installed.

Why doesn’t my progress bar work? Why are my dimensions messed up?

Your FLV file doesn’t have correct metadata inserted. You can fix this by using the small tool available at http://www.buraks.com/flvmdi/ or the windows alternative Ruby tool: flvtool2.

Do I need to add quotes around the values of the parameters?

No, it’s there for backward compatibility. However, any spaces in filenames or paths will not work.

Does this release work with permalinks enabled?

Yes! This release has fixed previous issues and now supports all permalink structures.

Do you have any screenshots?

Yes. You can view many of them on the Flash Video Player Plugin Screenshot Page.

My video doesn’t work when I upload it to the server!

If the player plays FLV files on your computer but not on your website and your website is running of an IIS server, then the FLV mimetype isn’t added to the server yet. You can check this by typing in the direct address to your FLV file in your browser. If you get a 404, you’re on IIS without mimetype. You can contact your server administrator or fix it yourself.

Can I add the video player to my WordPress template file? How about my sidebar? A widget?

No. Because of the nature of WordPress plugins, they have to be part of a blog post and won’t work properly if you try to add the shorthand code to a template file. I’m not sure how Widgets work, so right now the answer is no.

How do I link to an RTMP stream?

The way the player calls an RTMP stream has changed recently. You will need to update any tags for the new syntax. Here’s an example:

[flashvideo streamer=rtmp://rtmpvideos.com/stream file=my-stream type=video /]

Why aren’t my custom player colors working?

Try typing in the hex code by hand. Sometimes when you copy/paste, there will be special characters that look right, but aren’t. Make sure the codes begin with the 0x, just like the examples (that’s a ZERO then lower case x).

My image doesn’t display! or My video doesn’t play!

For security reasons, a Macromedia Flash movie playing in a web browser is not allowed to access data that resides outside the exact web domain from which the SWF originated. If you are referencing a file that resides outside of your domain, the hosting domain is required to have a crossdomain.xml file defined. For examples of crossdomain.xml files as well as an exhaustive overview of the Flash policy for loading remote content, refer to this TechNote from Adobe

Tag Examples:

1. Audio Player with only controls visible:

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ZkUROJ86Y height=50 /]

2. Playlist

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

[flashvideo file=videos/hed-playlist.xml height=400 playlistsize=80 playlist=bottom /]