Javascript functions to control QuickTime not working in Firefox

Piersp, I wasn't aware you were hiding anything, but now it all makes sense. I don't know why David hasn't experienced this problem in all major browsers other than Safari, but that is exactly what I am experiencing.

In my hundreds of hours of struggling with this issue, I was able to find ONE WAY of actually hiding images so that it works in all browsers, and FWIW, I will share it with you, and maybe you can apply it to your situation.

Make a 'shield' image, either the same color as your background if you don't want anything to show in that area, or any other color or image that you do want to show in that area. Put the image you want to hide behind the 'shield' image, and then set the transparency of the 'shield' image to 100%.

If this does not cause a problem in FF, etc., then try setting the transparency of the 'shield' image to 50%, then 25%, etc. I was able to get it to work with a 'shield' transparency of 1% (i.e., 99% opaque), which is far more opaque than you need to keep the hidden image from showing through.

Hope that helps.

I wonder if David is not experiencing the 'hidden' problem with FF because he is using a G4 and/or Tiger?

Regarding the onClick event handler, I would call GetURL() before retriggering SetURL(), and I would not call GetURL() until you know that the player is ready, because a GetURL() call can cause problems if the player is not ready. Something like the following will work using a GetVolume() call, which is a nondestructive call and will just return 0 if the player exists but is not ready. This assumes that you have not previously set the volume to 0.

function processMouseClickedMovie(theMouseClickedMovie)
{
// Check if the player exists and is ready.
// Don't use parens with the first GetVolume.
// Assumes you have not previously set the volume to 0.
//
if (document.movie && document.movie.GetVolume && (document.movie.GetVolume() != 0))
{
// The player exists and is ready.
// Now check if mov1.mov is incorrectly playing.
//
if ((theMouseClickedMovie != "mov1.mov") && (document.movie.GetURL() == "mov1.mov"))
{
// mov1.mov is incorrectly playing.
// Play the correct movie.
//
document.movie.SetURL(theMouseClickedMovie);

// Wait 1 second.
// Check again to make sure that mov1.mov is not still playing.
//
setTimeout(function() {processMouseClickedMovie(theMouseClickedMovie)}, 1000);
}
}

else
{
// The player either does not exist yet, or exists and is not ready yet.
// Wait 1 second, and then check again.
//
setTimeout(function() {processMouseClickedMovie(theMouseClickedMovie)}, 1000);
}
}

Hope there are not too many typos in the above handler. 🙂

FYI, Apple recommends a minimum QT Object dimension of 2 pixels (18 pixels if the Controller is visible), because one browser (they didn't say which one) can't handle anything less.

Piersp, could you describe exactly what is happening?

I wouldn't exactly call them skills, as much as trial and error. 🙂

From your description of the function simplification, I think you may have introduced an error that is preventing the function from working. The simplified function with mov2.mov hardcoded in should look more like this.

function processMouseClickedMovie()
{
// Check if the player exists and is ready.
// Don't use parens with the first GetVolume.
// Assumes you have not previously set the volume to 0.
//
if (document.movie && document.movie.GetVolume && (document.movie.GetVolume() != 0))
{
// The player exists and is ready.
// Now check if mov1.mov is incorrectly playing.
//
if (document.movie.GetURL() == "mov1.mov")
{
// mov1.mov is incorrectly playing.
// Play the correct movie.
//
document.movie.SetURL("mov2.mov");

// Wait 1 second.
// Check again to make sure that mov1.mov is not still playing.
//
setTimeout("processMouseClickedMovie();", 1000);
}
}

else
{
// The player either does not exist yet, or exists and is not ready yet.
// Wait 1 second, and then check again.
//
setTimeout("processMouseClickedMovie();", 1000);
}
}

Again, I apologize for any inadvertent syntax errors.