Macromedia Flash (SWF) Deployment Kit

Dispatcher Demo

Macromedia Flash Dispatcher is a script-based detector for the Macromedia Flash Player. It detects whether the user's Web browser has the Macromedia Flash plug-in or ActiveX control installed, and if so, at what version. The Web developer can configure the Dispatcher to take the appropriate action based on its findings: either load a document containing Macromedia Flash content, load alternate content, or oversee the updating or installation of the player.

This is an interactive demonstration of Macromedia Flash Dispatcher's capabilities.

Macromedia Flash content URL: Version of Macromedia Flash software used to author content: Require latest revision of plug-in

There are three possible outcomes of the Macromedia Flash Player detection process:

1. A suitable version of Macromedia Flash Player is detected for playing the requested content version.

The Dispatcher will load the content URL.


2. An unsuitable version of Macromedia Flash Player is detected.

The Dispatcher will load the content URL if automated updating is supported on the user's browser & platform; otherwise, it will load the URL of a document that may inform the user of their options (upgrade, view alternate content) and give upgrade instructions.

URL to load if automated updating is not supported:


3. Macromedia Flash Player is not installed.

The Dispatcher can either:

In the former case, it will load the content URL if automated installation is supported on the user's browser & platform; otherwise, it will load the URL of a document that may inform the user of their options and give installation instructions. In this demo, the document, installFlash.html, also offers to remember the user's decision not to install and proceed directly to the alternative content on future visits, in which case, checking the option to install the player below has no effect.

When script-based detection of Macromedia Flash Player is not possible, the Dispatcher attempts to load a Macromedia Flash movie to carry out the detection. If Macromedia Flash Player is not installed, there is presently no choice but to let the browser redirect the user via the PLUGINSPAGE attribute of the EMBED tag. In this case, the options to install the player or load alternate content are ignored, but it is possible to set PLUGINSPAGE to the developer-supplied URL, overriding its default value (the URL for the Macromedia Flash download center on the Macromedia Web site). (If this option is checked, the URL must be absolute, not relative.)

 
Install the player URL to load if automated installation is not supported: Set PLUGINSPAGE to this URL
Load alternate URL: