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Subject:	Re: FLASH: Flash Detection
From:	Helen Triolo
Date:	Sun, 7 Jan 2001 20:09:54 GMT

Dan,

Here's a nice summary of some of your options that I pulled out of my
Q/A archive (original poster Kristopher Schultz,
http://i-technica.com/flashlist/index.asp?n=1120):

Colin Moock has an extensive explaination of all the factors (good and
bad) involved in detecting the Flash player. You'll find it here...
http://www.moock.org/webdesign/lectures/ff2knyc/

He also has developed a detection script (a combination of Javascript
and VBscript) which is one of the most extensive and bullet-proof
scripts I've seen. It actually gets included in the HTML page that your
Flash file is embedded in - not in the Flash file itself. It is called
the Moock FPI and is available here:
http://www.moock.org/webdesign/flash/detection/moockfpi/

[Gregg Caines adds:]
The best method IMHO is the macromedia 'self-detecting' scheme.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/scriptfree_detection.htm
There's no JavaScript involved so it works on those versions of IE on
the Mac that don't have the otherwise necessary plug-in array, and it
works on browsers without JavaScript enabled.

[Kristopher responds:]
This is a good approach if you KNOW that the user will have SOME version
of the Flash plug-in installed and you just need to detect whether it is
the right version or not.

BUT, the reason I don't use this approach is that when there is NO
version of the Flash plug-in installed some browsers pop up a very
user-un-friendly dialog as soon as you hit a page with Flash content
saying something to the effect of "This page contains content of MIME
type 'animation/x-flash'. Would you like to search for an appropriate
plug-in? NO YES"

Regards,
Helen
-----------------------------------------------------
i-Technica � http://i-technica.com � 301.424.6037
developer resources: http://i-technica.com/whitestuff

Dan wrote:
>
> Looking for a good source to learn about flash
> detection.
>
> I know this has been mentioned on this site before...
> I remember reading about it, but I didn't need it
> then. (the way of the world I guess).
>
> This of course is the "test" that will determin if a
> user has flash. If the test result is true (they have
> flash) then the user gets forwarded to a flash site...
> it they don't they end up at an html site.
>
> any info will be appreciated.
>
> Dan Merfeld

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