Javascript functions to control QuickTime not working in Firefox

The syntax of the last two document.embeds commands in the above comment were somehow auto-formatted to an incorrect syntax, so I'll spell out how they should read:

document.embeds followed by a left bracket followed by qtp or qtpID in quotes followed by a right bracket followed by a period and then the rest as it currently appears

Hope that helps.

I found the problem. It was the dimensions of the QuickTime Player. Since I did not want it to show, I had set the dimensions to 0, 0. When I set the dimensions to nonzero, everything worked.

Apparently, Firefox is doing some kind of optimization, and doesn't like when things are not visible.

Similarly, I was using a button as a spacer, and never assigned it a source image. The spacer worked fine it Safari, but did not take up any space in Firefox, until I assigned a source image to it.

Live and learn.

Dave, you would think the HIDDEN parameter would be the answer. Unfortunately, that does not work in Firefox, Opera, and Navigator (all tested on a Mac).

For the optimization reasons mentioned in my previous comment above, any Javascript commands used to control a QuickTime Player will not work if the player is hidden in any way, i.e., by making its dimensions zero, by moving it offpage, by hiding it behind another visible object, by scrolling it offscreen, or by using the HIDDEN parameter, though all these methods work just fine in Safari.

I can accept these restrictions, except for the 'scrolling offscreen' one. If you go to a website in a scrollable window that is, say, half the height of the screen, and a QuickTime Player happens to be scrolled below the visible area of the window, that should NOT prevent the javascript controls from working ... IMHO.

Interesting ... Are you using the QT_WriteOBJECT function from Apple's AC_QuickTime.js to create your QuickTime Player, and then issuing your QuickTime commands as, for example, document.qtp.Play(), document.qtp.Stop(), document.qtp.Rewind(), etc. (where qtp is the obj#id and emb#name specified in my QT_WriteOBJECT function)?

If so, then my guess is it must be the fact that I am embedding my javascript in an iWeb HTML snippet as an iframe that is causing this strange behavior, and not QuickTime itself?

Dave, what you have done is very similar to what I have done, with the following exceptions:

1. I'm using the regular HTML version of QT_WriteOBJECT rather than the XHTML version.

2. My first parameter is an .mp3 file rather than a .mov poster in combination with an 'href'.

3. I'm not using some of your parameters, such as, 'target', 'targetcache', 'scale', 'href', and 'name'.

4. Instead of 'name', I'm using --- 'obj#id', 'qtp', 'emb#name', 'qtp' --- which allows me to then reference the QuickTime functions as --- document.qtp.Play(); document.qtp.Stop(); --- etc.

5. I'm not creating HTML buttons as player controls; rather I am using my javascript program to detect and control the player operation with functions such as --- document.qtp.GetRate(); document.qtp.GetTime(); document.qtp.GetDuration(); document.qtp.SetVolume(); document.qtp.SetMute(); document.qtp.Play(); document.qtp.Rewind(); document.qtp.Stop() --- etc.

6. I change my .mp3 files using --- document.qtp.SetURL();

7. All my javascript is contained in an iWeb HTML snippet using an iframe.

Essentially, I've created a jukebox with button images of album covers that can be visually scrolled and then clicked to play an album via the HTML onClick, onMouseOver, and onMouseOut functions.

This all works without a hitch in Safari; however, in FF, NN, and Opera, it only works if the iframe is completely visible on the screen. It can't be scrolled offpage, and the HTML album cover buttons in the iframe cannot be dimensionless, hidden, or blocked from view.

I really think it's the iframe that is causing this behavior in all the browsers (except Safari).

BTW, as an aside, I don't have a Windows machine, but no one I know using IE on a PC has been able to get my QuickTime Player working. I think it's because, when I want to collapse an album cover, I set its width to '1px' ('0px' works only in Safari), but I think IE may require a minimum width of '2px'. I have not tried changing my image widths to '2px' yet.

I have one idea. I have noticed that after you use QT_WriteOBJECT to create a QuickTime Player, you must allow a bit of time before you issue any javascript QuickTime commands, such as document.movie.Stop(). If you issue a command too soon, the results can be unpredictable.

To resolve this, you could try setTimeout("document.movie.Stop();", 1000). If it works, you will probably hear the first movie start playing before it stops, but at least you will know that was the problem, and you can try reducing the wait time to something less than 1000 milliseconds.

You can also try setting the 'autoplay' parameter initially to 'false' when you create your QuickTime Player, and then use document.movie.SetAutoPlay(true) after the player is created to set 'autoplay' to 'true'. You may also have to then use document.movie.SetResetPropertiesOnReload(false) to keep 'autoplay' from resetting back to 'false' when you reload a movie using SetURL.

I'll be interested to hear if that helps.