Flash 5 Splash - NSIS Forums

DuaneJeffers
21st October 2001 06:06 UTC

Flash 5 Splash
Justin and other developers -

I would like to see an NSIS splash to allow Flash 5 .swf files. It could possibly work like an HTML page set to a developer-specified size. I would like to see something like this.

-Duane

pjw62
21st October 2001 11:52 UTC

if the user has internet explorer >4 on their computer and the swf plugin, you can use the ole interface to make a HTML dlg quite easily..

pjw62
21st October 2001 11:55 UTC

sorry forgot so say, use 'ShowHTMLDialog' in 'MSHTML.DLL'. Dynamically load this (LoadLibrary .. GetProcAddress) so you can check if the user has internet explorer on the system. If this is not the case, you could display the simple bitmap..

Peter.

prodangle
21st October 2001 12:32 UTC

You could just create a flash projector file using the .swf viewer that comes with flash, and execute it at the beginning of the install.

SarCaSM
21st October 2001 14:37 UTC

Wouldn't that just make for an insanely large install file?

pjw62
21st October 2001 15:18 UTC

I was bored so I meddled with splash.c to be able to display a html dlg.

Note this is a quick hack but works okay.. you can do anything you can do in a normal web page (e.g. display flash files.. if IE cannot be loaded or isn't installed or something, it just displays the bmp..

http://www.windridge.junglelink.co.uk/splash.zip

prodangle
21st October 2001 20:28 UTC

Originally posted by prodangle
You could just create a flash projector file using the .swf viewer that comes with flash, and execute it at the beginning of the install.

[edit]
oops, meant to quote SarCaSM there ;) like this...
Originally posted by SarCaSM
Wouldn't that just make for an insanely large install file?

Yeah - s'pose it would :D :D

Thanks for your post pjw, there will be some really cool uses for that - I'll go 'n chuck together some HTML/JAVASCRIPTery to then show something else in IE if the flash plugin isn't available.

DuaneJeffers
21st October 2001 20:52 UTC

Yay, quick hack. That was quick!!!!!!! I can't wait to try it out.

-Duane

liquidmotion
21st October 2001 21:56 UTC

if you can show an animated gif for the splash, why not just export the flash into a .gif? that is, of course, unless you are wanting user interaction via the flash movie.

DuaneJeffers
22nd October 2001 06:21 UTC

I wanted actual Flash. It had nothing to do with user interaction, but rather, great animation that would have a loading process and other things. The GIF would have been a great idea, but the NSIS splash never supported anything except for .bmp .

I forgot to ask ... Does the splash have an Dev-specified size??? I really don't know.

-Duane

Edgewize
22nd October 2001 06:35 UTC

There is the obvious problem of what will happen if the user doesn't have the Flash 5 plugin.

I'd stay away from glitzy splash screens, personally, since they just distract the user. If he downloaded your installer, he already knows what your product is (hopefully) and doesn't care about looking at some l33t animations. If the animation was the point of the installer, I'd just distribute a self-playing EXE instead...

But then again, it's your installer after all.

pjw62
22nd October 2001 07:58 UTC

The size of the dlg is specified in the HTML file.
The flash plugin can be detected either by HTML or quickly by JavaScript.

DuaneJeffers
24th October 2001 03:47 UTC

Edge -
I plan on having Flash on my site, so that takes care of the plug-in prob. second, I was only going to have a short 2 second splash that said "Thanks For Downloading ... On-Demand Audio!!!!!!" With voice and text. It would also be cool to have animation, or I wouldn't have asked. But I see your reason.

-Duane