Flash Component

[Geek_of_HeathMount]

All

I'm looking for a flash component that displays 9 different images (on a 3x3 grid) that will automatically change each one in turn. This has to happen at least 6 times for each image. Once all 9 images have been changed 6 times, the whole grid turns into a single image, waits for a few seconds and then starts the whole process again.

 

Ideally the images and timings would be controlled by an xml file.

 

Does anyone know of such a component, or a developer that will it it together for me

[dhicks]

I'm looking for a flash component that displays 9 different images (on a 3x3 grid) that will automatically change each one in turn.

 

Does this have to be Flash, or would an HTML Widgit or similar be suitible - where is this going to be used? Is the component to be square, with square images inside, or a different shape? Are the 9 small images to be touching or is there to be a border between them? If this is a Flash object, are the images to be compiled in to the Flash object itself, or would they be external images on the same web server that would be listed by the XML file and loaded by the component? When the small pictures change, are they to cross fade from one to the next, do some sort of slecial "twiddle" effect, or simply change?

 

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David Hicks

[Geek_of_HeathMount]

The following should answer your questions:-

 

Q. Does it have to be flash?

A. Yes, as I don't believe the same result can be achieved any other way, ie xml control file, clickable images, etc.

 

Q. Where is it going to be used?

A. Initially the component will be used on a micro site displaying showing 9 different countries. Each country will then have 6 changing images displaying various locations/ monuments etc. relating to that country. However, other projects have already been identified where the component would be used.

 

Q. Is the component to be square, with square images inside, or a different shape?

A. Yes, it will be a square, with square images inside.

 

Q. Are the 9 small images to be touching or is there to be a border between them?

A. The 9 small images will be touching.

 

Q. Are the images to be compiled in to the Flash object itself, or would they be external images on the same web server that would be listed by the XML file and loaded by the component?

A. The images would be external images held in a directory on the same server. The images would be loaded by the component via an xml file

 

Q. When the small pictures change, are they to cross fade from one to the next, do some sort of slecial "twiddle" effect, or simply change?

A. The requirement is for a simple change. However, if the component could fade the images it would be a nice to have.

 

Hope the above helps

[dhicks]

Q. Does it have to be flash?

A. Yes, as I don't believe the same result can be achieved any other way, ie xml control file, clickable images, etc.

 

HTML should be able to handle all the features needed, it's just a case of wether an HTML-based component could be packaged up to work conveiniently on a website or inside a PowerPoint presentation - Flash embeds very nicly into PowerPoint, I'm not sure about HTML.

 

Q. Where is it going to be used?

A. Initially the component will be used on a micro site displaying showing 9 different countries.

 

Is this micro site implemented inside some kind of VLE or content management system that would require a component to work in a particular way, or is this just a bunch of HTML files on a web server somewhere?

 

I can probably have a look at this over the weekend and see what I can come up with.

 

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David Hicks

[Geek_of_HeathMount]

Thanks for taking a look. The "component" will be used in a VLE where the content will be driven a bunch of files.

[dhicks]

The "component" will be used in a VLE where the content will be driven a bunch of files.

 

Which VLE? Does that VLE let you edit or upload, and then view, plain HTML, or if you want to embed a bit of HTML (like an HTML widgit) in a page does that HTML have to use a particular API or something?

 

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David Hicks

[Geek_of_HeathMount]

Which VLE? Does that VLE let you edit or upload, and then view, plain HTML, or if you want to embed a bit of HTML (like an HTML widgit) in a page does that HTML have to use a particular API or something?

 

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David Hicks

 

The VLE we are using is based on Moodle, where you can upload and edit plus add hard coded pages. No API's will be used as we will be changing our VLE in September, so the code has to "stand alone".

 

Hope this helps

[dhicks]

The VLE we are using is based on Moodle, where you can upload and edit plus add hard coded pages.

 

Right, an HTML / CSS / JavaScript based component is attached which should, I think, meet your needs. Parameters are set in the "index.xml" file, the editing of which should be pretty much self-evident, but a quick explanation of the values you can set:

 

flipMethod - "atRandom" for random, or an ordered list giving the order in which images are to flip.

finalImage - the final image shown, after all the others have been flipped round however many times you want.

flipPeriod - the delay, in milliseconds, between each image flip.

delayBeforeFinalImage - the delay, in multiples of flipPeriod, before which you switch to the final image.

delayAfterFinalImage - the delay, in multiples of flipPeriod, before which you switch back to the start again.

 

You can include as many imageSet tags as you like, the widgit will go through them in order. An example is included in the attached zip file showing the widgit enclosed on a page inside a floating iframe, you should be able to do something similar inside Moodle. I think Moodle now includes the JQuery Javascript library, which this widgit includes in its mini-ised form, so you could save a little bit of disk space by including Moodle's copy of JQuery instead.

 

I've only run this on Firefox, and I haven't included much by way of error checking when parsing the XML file or anything - you are simply advised to avoid typoes :-)

 

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David Hicks

imageFlipper.zip

[Geek_of_HeathMount]

David, You're a star thanks for your efforts