Alternatives to swfobject for embedding flashplayer - apache-flex

Does anybody know if there's a better alternative to swfobject?
I actually like swfobject, I just wanted to hear if anybody found something better.
Or maybe it is the best way.
If you do not know swfobject you can find it here:
http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/

It is the best way I know of, and I have never had a problem with it. Note that you cannot put JS in embed code for posting on some social networking sites such as Facebook. In those cases you will need to use the usual object and embed tags.

You can try ActiveContent, which is Adobe's solution for embedding flash. It's the default for flex builder, and (I believe) CS4.
You can find the source to this in the flex builder directory;
$FLEX_BUILDER_LOCATION\sdks\3.3.0\templates\client-side-detection
Generally, people prefer swfobject because of it's simplicity. But activecontent is a field-tested solution.

There are many alternatives to SWFObject, including SWF embedding code that ships with some popular JS frameworks, but none are as bulletproof as SWFObject.
Adobe is in the process of adopting SWFObject 2.x for most of its publishing products (SWFObject will replace Adobe's ActiveContent JavaScript-based solution).
BTW, If you use SWFObject's static publishing approach, your SWF will work without JavaScript being enabled. It simply won't have access to Adobe's ExpressInstall utility. See http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/documentation#Should_I_use_the_static_or_dynamic_publishing_method?
You don't even need to download SWFObject if you use Google's Ajax API repository :)

SWFObject 2. The best way to get your flash movie seen by as many people as possible. (Except those with JavaScript turned off!)

There's a nice "wrapper" for swfobject called "EasySWF". They're using swfobject, but just made it much easier to understand/implement.
From their documentation adding an SWF is as easy as:
easyswf({swf: "path/to/the.swf", width:400, height:100});
Here's the address:
http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/easyswf/
Looks like they're using it throughout their site as well?

Related

OpenStreetMap in ASP.NET

I'm interested in using OpenStreetMap in a web application developed using ASP.NET.
Anyone knows if there is a control, library or wrapper for using OpenStreetMap in ASP.NET? (C#, not using Javascript).
Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure whether they have any ASP specific tools, but Cloudmade have lots of tools & API you can use to get OpenStreetMap into your app. It's mostly done on the client though through JavaScript, so I don't think you'll find much in the way of C# tools.
I could be wrong though...
BruTile is a C# library for displaying a slippy map. It can be used on the web, displaying via silverlight.
In my opinion a silverlight requirement is not a sensible choice for a public website, and not very sensible for internal use either from a long term perspective, so this isn't a great solution. But this is the only thing I'm aware of which matches what you're asking for.
"not using Javascript" is a curious restriction, since most embedded web maps use javascript. Perhaps you mean you don't want to work with any javascript, but the website can use it. In which case... I'm still not aware of any C# solution, but a library which wraps OpenLayers or one of the other alternatives, hiding all javascript development from you, would be very feasible. Someone should build such a thing! In the meantime, the javascript to display a slippy map is quite simple I promise :-)
The other approach might be a Static Map Image generating library which fetches tile images, stitches them into a single image and caches it locally for you to display in an <img> tag. Again such a thing would be very feasible (easy!?) to build with C#. Someone should do it! In the meantime you can link to one of those services (e.g the new one from MapQuest) directly from an <img> tag on your site. ...No javascript, and no C# either!

How would I convert a HTML5 / CSS3 document to PDF?

We're currently generating reports for our web application using html5 / css3, and they look good on screen, but obviously when the user hits print who knows what is going to come out of the printer. So, what I would like to know is what is the best way to convert these reports to PDF for download / printing while maintaining the same visual quality of the on screen reports.
Update 2010-10-26 16:01: We're using both .NET and Perl
The only think I can think of that might work is wkHTMLtoPDF. It's a QT app that sits on top of WebKit to generate its PDF.
The good news is that it even evaluates JS so just about anything goes.
The other good news is that QT is available across a wide selection of platforms. Whatever you might be using, chances are you can use QT.
Try Prince XML, the results are pretty to look at.
If you are using some of the new HTML5 elements like Canvas, then probably even the popular PDF converter wont help you.
I suggest you to put suitable print-friendly version of your CSS. This could be achieved by using media="print" attribute in the <link rel="stylesheet"... tag of a separate CSS file, which is containing the definitions for print version.
Some options (all proprietary):
Aspose.Pdf for .NET: Expensive, very good though.
Winnovative HTML to PDF Converter: I've already use their tool, gets the job done.
ExpertPDF: Another good one.
For open-source alternatives, please see here:
Open Source HTML to PDF Renderer with Full CSS Support
ExpertPdf (www.html-to-pdf.net) supports html5 / css3.
You can try the online demo here:
http://www.html-to-pdf.net/free-online-pdf-converter.aspx
There is a node module html5-to-pdf that works pretty well.
Is free and open source.
It runs on Electron. There are some bugs (for example anchor tags render the hyperlink as well) - but it might be an easy fix.

Writing web forms filler/submitter with QT C++

I'm scratching my head on how to accomplish the following task: I need to write a simple web forms filler/submitter with QT C++, it does the following:
1) Loads page url
2) Fills in form fields
3) Submits the form
Sounds easy, but I'm a web developer and can't find the way how to make QT accomplish the task, I only managed to load url with QWebView object using WebKit, have no idea what to do next, how to fill in fields and submit forms. Any hints, tutorials, videos? I appreciate this.
QWebElement class does all the work, just reading through the class documentation gave me a full idea on how to accomplish my task. Thanks to eveyrone for suggestions.
The best solution would be to write the logic in JavaScript that does what you want and then inject it into the page using QWebFrame::evaluateJavaScript() after it finishes loading.
There's also another way to do this; involving the document tree traversal API that's been available in QtWebKit since 4.6: QWebElement. You'd basically process the form pretty much the same as you would do in JavaScript, except that here the API is different and more limited. It's C++ though and might be a little bit faster. I guess, this approach might be less attractive for you, given you're a web developer and probably already know JavaScript.

CKEditor running in Flex 3?

I'm interested in integrating CKEditor into my Flex 3 application so that users can generate full HTML documents. After some quick googling, I am interested in using CKEditor, but I can't find any home-run success stories on using it with Flex 3. For example, I found:
http://blog.aboutme.be/2009/10/25/ckeditor-running-in-flex-and-air/
and a couple of similar blogs. Based on posted comments, however, it looks like there either may be integration issues, cross-browser issues, or similar gotchas.
I'd like some advice on scoping this effort and potential pitfalls, and any pointers to useful snippets, tutorials or blogs on similar efforts. I am also open to better HTML editors for flex -- I just haven't found any.
I was able to get mine working (with Bob Tate's help setting everything up) without having to use Drumbeat Insight's control. if you need some help or pointers, email me directly with CKEditor in the subject line. jeremysl#hotmail.com
You can't really integrate a non-Flex component into a Flex application.
Your best bet is to look into using the iFrame trick to make it appear as if CFEditor is part of your Flex application. Google around for iFrame trick to find more info on it.
There is an HTML Component from Drumbeat Insight that helps solve a lot of the issues w/ this trick.

Multiple file uploader - looking at Google Docs implementation

I'm looking to implement a multiple file uploader in my ASP.NET 3.5 site.
Now, the Google Docs multi-file uploader is pretty awesome, and I'd like to create something like that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Google Docs is not open source, so I can't get my hands on the source code for it.
Any ideas on how this is implemented, or the best way of creating a nice interactive multi-file uploader like it?
I strongly suggest you give this jquery file upload plugin a try: "uploadify". It makes it super easy to integrate such a feature.
Nice and interactive : you can build a Silverlight client to send your files to webserver. It allows to select multiple files at once.
I guess 'Zhaph - Ben Duguid' had the best answer for this one. Post it as an answer and I'll accept it!
GoogleDocs uses a combination of Flash and JS, with the bulk of the work happening in the Flash object, rather than the JS, and they heavily minify their JS to make it smaller to download, and also harder to read...

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