FLASH: Window Launcher, Version 2 Now Posted

[Colin Moock]

Hi all,

Well, I finished the code and tutorial for the new version of my

browser-window launching routine for Flash (known as Technique #3 if

you're familiar with my site). Those of you who have been using the old

version should definitely upgrade to Version 2 at:

http://colinmoock.iceinc.com/webdesign/flash/


Here's what's new:


1) Window Popper now checks for checks for previously launched windows

before it launches a new one. If the user tries to open a second window

before closing the first one, Window Popper will notify them that the

window is already open, and will bring it to the front of the screen

(feature not available in IE3). This feature was much more annoying to

implement than you might expect. There's a disturbingly long list of

browser bugs and incompatibilities that make the workarounds kinda

tricky**.


2) I fixed the BACK button problem many of you were having where

pressing BACK on the browser caused a window to relaunch instead of

returning the user to previous page. This is an extension to the BACK

button fix posted on November 23, 1998 in that it now accomodates for

Netscape4's problematic implementation of history.back() by sniffing

Netscape4 and using location.replace() instead of history.back() for

that browser only.


3) The window features are much easier to use because I broke them out

into separate lines instead of using the huge single line.


4) The tutorial is generally improved and cleaned up.


For those of you that don't know about the Window Launcher, it's a

method for launching secondary browser windows from Flash that works on

ALL JavaScript capable browser (yes, EVEN Netscape 2.0 if you can

believe it). You can find instructions on how to implement it, complete

with code samples, at the above URL.


If you know anyone who's not on the list, but uses the old version,

please let them know. And, as usual, if you have problems using the

launcher or find bugs, please let me know...that's why there's a

Version 2 now :)


Happy Popping!

Colin

colinmoock.iceinc.com


-------------------------------------------------




** I think that's why you don't see this implemented with full

cross-browser support very often. I scoured online sources, Danny

Goodman's Bible, and the O'Reilly JavaScript Definitive Guide, but

nobody mentions the bugs. If you're interested in what they are, you

can read my article on the non-flash way to do popups here:

http://colinmoock.iceinc.com/webdesign/javascript/


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