developer documentation r17362

Integrating widgets

Widgets in media Factory

Media Factory has a built in Widget Publisher that allows you to create and customize various Flash based widgets that you can use throughout your applications. We have recently switched to ActionScript 3.0 for all of our new widget development and as result there is a recommended minimum requirement of Flash Player 9.0 or higher in order to view widgets inside of a browser window. Some of our older widgets are still ActionScript 2.0 and will function properly with older version of the Flash Player. Please see the individual widgets for more details.

Media Factory currently contains the following Widgets:

1. 7.2 Integrating widgets
1. 7.2.1 Videoplayer
2. 7.2.2 Audio player
3. 7.2.3 Videowalls
4. 7.2.4 Webcam recorder

Using the Widget Publisher

The widget publisher is broken into 4 different sections

• Info - General information about your widget. The information here is mostly used for organization and identification purposes.
• Behavior - The behvior settings dtermine the kinds of controls you want to provide with the widget.
• Design - Design contains all of your colour selections and layout features for the widget.
• Embed - Provides you with the code you'll need to place your customized widget on your site.

Follow the widget specific links above to see what choices you have under each of these sections.

At any time during the creation process you can use the "Preview" button on the lower left-hand side of the screen to see what your current settings will look and feel like without actually affecting your live widget. If you are happy with the preview, use "Save" to finalize your changes and reflect the new settings on your live widget. Note that certain settings require you to also update your embed code before the changes can be seen.

A Note On Embed Codes

In order to place a widget on your website, you'll need to use an embed code that will be provided by the Widget Publisher after you have determined your settings. The embed codes come in a variety of formats suited specifically for different purposes.

• Standard HTML

  The standard HTML embed code is a static set of HTML tags that will display a Flash movie in any browser. The embed code can be used anywhere, but it is also static and does not work very well if you need to change settings (via FlashVars) on a page by page basis.

• XHTML

  XHTML is similar to the above except that it is XHTML compliant. This is also a static format of embed code and again it can be used anywhere.

• Javascript

  Javascript embed codes are a dynamic embed code that allow you to change settings on-the-fly. Javascript embed codes will only work on websites where Javascript is enabled so its uses can be limited.

• STL

  The STL embed codes are Media Factory specific codes that will only work if they are placed inside of an application template. STL embed codes provide a compact and clean way to place embed codes into your site.

Although there can be exceptions, we recommend that you DO NOT alter the embed codes when you grab them from the widget publisher. The settings you choose impact the outputted embed code so any changes you make could negatively affect the work you put into setting up your widget.