Hi,

I'm a designer, not a programmer. But I often hire programmers to implement my layouts, make them dynamic, etc. I have a client who needs to show and sell videos on her website. I think it would be best for her to display the videos in Flash format, Flash being the most common player available.

Is it possible to create an admin whereby my client can upload her videos as easily as she would upload a regular .jpg image, for example? I had one programmer tell me that the only way to upload Flash videos via an admin is to upload the <object> code, then separately upload the .swf files to the server via an ftp program. Is this really the only way? I really need a simpler solution for my client. There is no way I can ask her to generate the <object> code for numerous video .swf files.

Any ideas or recommendations appreciated. Thanks very much.

It depends on your requirements.... Currently, the user doesn't have to define am <img /> element, right? All they do do is upload the image, and then the path to the image is embedded in the src attribute of the <img /> element through server side code.

You can do a similar thing with Flash movies. Let users upload the file, and embed it in an <object> element with some server side code.

However, Flash movies tend to be more complex than images. You may need your users to enter a hight and a width and other parameters that might be fed to the Flash movie. While that is pretty easy to write out using a server side language, your users may not be knowledgeable enough to enter the correct values. However, if they were able to define an <object> element, they certainly would be able to fill in the right details for a custom solution.

For some ideas on how others have implemented this, check out the FckEditor demo at http://www.fckeditor.net/demo. Then click the Flash button to insert a Flash movie. You can upload a Flash movie and choose a height and a width. The <object> element is then added to the page.

Cheers,

Imar
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Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB, ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Dreamweaver MX 2004
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