Embedded Flash gallery with xml files and image paths

ExeOutput for PHP
1

We are working on adding support for external files to Chromium.

2

Hi,

We are using the ExeOutput 1.6 trial to see if it fits our project and we are stopped on the following problem.

The project has a Flash gallery which opens up through an index.html file and then reads xml files which
contain configuration stuff for the gallery as well as paths to the image files.

The idea is we want to keep the XML files external so they can be manipulated to change the configuration
and also they can be manipulated to add more image paths (images will be external also).

We did manage to get the gallery to find the external XML files by using the Trident engine for output (Chrome just
didn’t want to) but the image paths in the XML files cannot be resolved.

In the log I get:

 30/11/2012 16:55:09 404 ERROR: images\logo_small.png

but I have placed the logo_small.png everywhere and still it is not found.

The xml which has the image path file is like this:

<config>
	<logo_small>images/logo_small.png</logo_small>
	<website_color>#FFCC00</website_color>
	<fullscreen_button_visible>true</fullscreen_button_visible>
	<background_default>backgrounds/bkg_carbon_02.swf</background_default>
	<homepage_default>elite_homepage.swf</homepage_default>
</config>

I tried putting the logo_small.png image in the following locations:

  1. Next to .exe file
  2. In an images folder under the .exe file
  3. In a data folder under the .exe file
  4. In an images folder under the data folder under the .exe file

I also used the ‘use an absolute path for the virtual Data subfolder’ but no luck.

Any other possibilities we have missed? Can anyone offer any other info?

Thanks a lot,
Arius

3

The problem is that external files are not supported by the Chromium engine yet.
A solution would be using PHP to generate your XML file.
Modify your Flash file so that it does not read a XML file, but a PHP file.
Then with your PHP script, just output XML data with the correct header Content-type. Possible script:

<?php Header('Content-type: text/xml');
$mypath = 'images';
echo "
<config>
   <logo_small>$mypath/logo_small.png</logo_small>
   <website_color>#FFCC00</website_color>
   <fullscreen_button_visible>true</fullscreen_button_visible>
   <background_default>backgrounds/bkg_carbon_02.swf</background_default>
   <homepage_default>elite_homepage.swf</homepage_default>
</config>
";
?>
4

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

I am a bit confused. OK about Chromium but must the same be done even when using Trident for output? Because Trident managed to read the external XML but it didn’t fetch the external images referenced in the XML.

Thanks again.

5

No, Trident already supports external data, so you don’t have to use the trick mentioned previously.

6

Hello again,

Thanks for the clarification. I tried the trick you provided for Chrome but it still didn’t do the trick.

I see I forgot to mention a detail about the external image files that are referenced by the external xml.

We don’t add these files in the exeoutput file manager at all since they are elements that are not static in our situation. Images might be deleted, completely new ones might be added etc.

Might this be a reason why they can’t be found after we produce the exe? If yes, is there a solution to this?

Again, thanks for taking the time to look into our problem.