Preserved Topic: Client Side Filter Detection?

I am currently running a site based around PHP/MySQL, which handles everything, from template calls, to content loading.

I have recently started using Flash for design critical aspects of the site, and at the same time statistics show that some people still do not have the Flash plugin. Therefore I am presented a quandry. I need to represent to those who do not have the Flash Plugin the same thing in an HTML format.

This leaves me with wondering, should this be handles client side or server side.

I am sure JS can determine if a plugin in installed, as well as PHP. So which would be the best choice, to use to display correct results?

I wouldn't mind seeing how the PHP version would work, actually. I'm going to have that same issue.

Guess you can't with PHP... JS here I come.

Actually in IE you can't actually tell if the plug-in is installed.

One of the few things that NN did better with JS is developing a plug-ins array. In IE you need to see if the flash mime type is supported. Its part of the navigator object

if (navigator.mimeTypes["application/x-shockwave-flash"]) flash=true;
elseif (navigator.plugins["Shockwave Flash"]) flash = true;

It's becoming more popular to use Flash to detect itself. (Embed a movie on a page that pushes people to the flash page if they don't go anywhere there is a META refresh that pushes people to a non-flash page)




Walking the Earth like Kane

Yes, I have been reading about that. The problem with the refresh idea, is that it doesn't help when you are simply trying to replace small area's where flash is being used, instead of full pages, of flash content.

even if the mime type is supported in IE it still returns a 0 array length. so you cant use this method, the most common method is to use vb script for ie, where you try and create an instance of an activex object and then see if it exists. eg.,

if (agent.indexOf("msie") != -1 && parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4 && agent.indexOf("win")!=-1 && agent.indexOf("16bit")==-1) {
document.write('<scr' + 'ipt language="VBScript"\> \n');
document.write('on error resume next \n');
document.write('if IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.6")) then flashVersion = 6 \n');
document.write('if flashVersion < 6 and IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.5")) then flashVersion = 5 \n');
document.write('if flashVersion < 5 and IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.4")) then flashVersion = 4 \n');
document.write('if flashVersion < 4 and IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.3")) then flashVersion = 3 \n');
document.write('</scr' + 'ipt\> \n');
}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eddie Traversa http://dhtmlnirvana.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dynamic XHTML Developers Guide
By Jeff Rouyer & Eddie Traversa
Pre-order From Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887902546/dhtmlnirvana-20
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