AnyLink Menu W/Flash Animation - Safari Problem

[smitsmah]

1) AnyLink Problem With Flash Animation - Safari Glitch

2) Script URL (on DD): http://dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex...nkvertical.htm

3) Describe problem: I read one of the threads about the use of Any Link W/Flash... this is along the same line. I've included the AnyLink menu next to a Flash animation, added the parameter ( <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> ) plus wmode="transparent" and it works great in Firefox and IE but when viewing in Safari the animation (slideshow) jumps during the transition between slides. I removed the "wmode", which causes the menu to fail but allows the animation to transition smoothly.

I know the majority of the viewing audience (medical organization) uses Firefox, IE and Opera but I hate to develop this site without considering the growing number of Safari users. I've included a doctype and can't think of anything else... Any suggestions?

[jscheuer1]

What version(s) of Safari do you see this with? Under what OS(s)? I have Safari 3.1.2 for Windows. I've never seen anything like that in it. Earlier Safari 3 Win versions I've tried had poor Flash implementation. Oh, and:

Please post a link to the page on your site that contains the problematic code so we can check it out.

[smitsmah]

Thanks... I'm also using Safari 3.1.2 for Windows and XP/OS. I use Flash CS3 for simple slideshows but this one was built with a Flash Slideshow "builder" download (Flash Slideshow Pro). Along with the swf file there are add'l "slides" and "thumbs" folders and an xml file for slide numbering & thumbnail images.

The homepage draft is located: http://www.oapa.com/208/index.html

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated!

[jscheuer1]

It is the wmode="transparent" that 'causes' this in Safari, at least when I removed it the problem went away, but then the menu was underneath the Flash. This means that the image that is being transitioned from is shifted to what Safari sees as the background while the one being faded in is set as the foreground. It might be able to be fixed by rewriting the .swf to create another foreground layer, but since it doesn't do this in other browsers, it might already be written that way, with Safari just getting it wrong.

If there can be a rewrite, it would mean rewriting the Action Script upon which the swf is based and then compiling that into an updated version of the swf. If you don't have the Action Script code, it might be able to be decompiled first. I don't do any of that sort of thing, so I'd suggest either taking it to the Flash forum here, and/or taking it to a support forum dedicated to the swf file you are using (something like that can probably be found from the home page of the swf application). There is also the possibility that this is a known issue with this swf (or Safari), and that an update is in the works for one or the other.

Where did you get the swf? If you wrote it, you can easily work with the Action Script code and get advice from any Flash forum. If you bought it or otherwise acquired it on the web or elsewhere, there should be a forum or other help avenue(s) available specifically for it.

Now, from what you wrote above, I take it that the swf was compiled using a program specifically for that type of swf. The principal is the same though, that program should have support that can address this issue.

Are there any flashVars attributes (optional tweaks specific to only some swf files that may be specified in the tags) available for it? If so, one or more of these might help.

However, as I've already hinted, it may just be an issue with Safari, so you could report/investigate it in a Safari forum. I should caution you though that Safari is Apple, as is QuickTime - their 'answer' to Flash. So some Safari specific forums might not be all that open to helping with Flash.

Finally, you could always just move the menu away from the Flash. Then you wouldn't need wmode="transparent" and things would look and work fine.

[smitsmah]

Thanks so much for looking into this. It's pretty frustrating. I wish the browsers would get together on some of these things?!

I don't have the ActionScript code -- I was able to access the list of Variables and Objects thru Flash but since I didn't create this from scratch the rest of the code is embedded in the swf file. I also looked thru the Forum of the software supplier but didn't see anything close to resembling this issue.

I think your idea of moving the animation away from the menu is the simplest solution and I actually tried that but the client wants it in the middle. I think I'm going to try and finish the Flash slideshow I started before I found the templated version. This way I'll have full access to the ActionScript. Either that or go back to the Swiss Army script I had there in the first place!

By the way, John... I installed the ALL-Levels menu on a new website draft using the revised code you posted. It, works great and the adjustments you made to the ALL-Levels script (sliding) really add to the effects. Thanks for your hard work!