[Swftools-common] How to create SWF's which can be navigated independently

[david hendy]

Hi,

This issue relates to the viewing of SWF's converted from PDF documents which are then viewed on a web site which uses jQuery dialogs. 

I have found that when I view and navigate SWF's in 2 jQuery dialogs which are open simultaneously, navigation in one SWF file interferes with navigation in the other. To be specific as soon as I click on a viewer button in one document the document being shown in the other dialog immediately returns to the starting page.

Perhaps there is a way of preventing this from happening through selecting different options when I convert the PDF to the SWF and combine the SWF with a viewer.

The following shows how I created the navigable SWF's in my PHP script on my Windows 7 PC.

define('SWF_PATH', $root_folder_path.'swf/');

define("SWFCOMBINE_EXECUTABLE",SWF_PATH.'bin/swfcombine.exe');

define("SWFDUMP_EXECUTABLE",SWF_PATH.'bin/swfdump.exe');

define("PDF2SWF_EXECUTABLE",SWF_PATH.'bin/pdf2swf.exe');

define("SWF_VIEWER",SWF_PATH.'viewers/windows/technoargia.swf');

    // ----

    // Converts the PDF to a SWF file

    // ----

    $executable=PDF2SWF_EXECUTABLE;

    $command="$executable -o $temp_swf_file_not_browsable $temp_pdf_file";

    address@hidden($command,true);

    if(!empty($result))return $result;

    // ----

    // Adds navigation buttons to the SWF file

    // ----

    $executable=SWFCOMBINE_EXECUTABLE;

    $navigation_file=SWF_VIEWER;

    $command="$executable -o $temp_swf_file $navigation_file viewport=$temp_swf_file_not_browsable";

    address@hidden($command,true);

    if(!empty($result))return $result;

    // ----

    // Gets the coordinates of the viewport bounding box

    // ----

    $coordinates=returnWidthAndHeightOfSWF($temp_swf_file_not_browsable);

    // ----

    // Uses the coordinates of the bounding box to set the size of the SWF

    // ----

    $executable=SWFCOMBINE_EXECUTABLE;

    $command="$executable --dummy $coordinates $temp_swf_file -o $temp_swf_file";

    address@hidden($command,true);

    if(!empty($result))return $result;

function returnWidthAndHeightOfSWF($swf_file){

    $executable=SWFDUMP_EXECUTABLE;

    $command="$executable -XY $swf_file";

    $result=runCommand($command,true,true);

    $coordinates=$result[0];

    return $coordinates;

}

I can achieve segregation by showing the SWF in an iframe inside the jQuery dialog. However the problem with is that use of an iframe does not appear to lead to a satisfactory solution when accounting for when the user changes their browser window size. Specifically use of an iframe appears to rule out a client-side solution. A server-side solution is not ideal because window size has to be detected in a preceding page and applied in a subsequent page or page reload.

Any tips or pointers to achieving independently acting SWF's would be much appreciated.

Regards,

David.