I am having a hard time getting ExternalInterface to work on Firefox. I am trying to call a AS3 function from javascript. The SWF is setup with the right callbacks and it is working in IE.

I am using AC_RunActiveContent.js to embed the swf into my page. However, I have modified it to add an ID to the Object / Embed Tags. Below are object and embed tag that are generated for IE and for Firefox respectively.

    <object codebase=".cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="400" height="400" align="middle" id="jpeg_encoder2" name="jpeg_encoder3" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" >
    <param name="movie" value="/jpeg_encoder/jpeg_encoder3.swf" /> 
    <param name="quality" value="high" /> 
    <param name="play" value="true" /> 
    <param name="loop" value="true" /> 
    <param name="scale" value="showall" /> 
    <param name="wmode" value="window" /> 
    <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> 
    <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> 
    <param name="menu" value="false" /> 
    <param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /> 
    <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> 
</object>


<embed 
    width="400" 
    height="400" 
    src="/jpeg_encoder/jpeg_encoder3.swf" 
    quality="high" 
    pluginspage="" 
    align="middle" 
    play="true" 
    loop="true" 
    scale="showall" 
    wmode="window" 
    devicefont="false" 
    id="jpeg_encoder2" 
    bgcolor="#ffffff" 
    name="jpeg_encoder3" 
    menu="false" 
    allowFullScreen="false" 
    allowScriptAccess="always" 
    type="application/x-shockwave-flash" > 
</embed>

I am calling the function like this...

<script>
try {
    document.getElementById('jpeg_encoder2').processImage(z);
} catch (e) { alert(e.message); }
</script>

In Firefox, I get an error saying "document.getElementById("jpeg_encoder2").processImage is not a function"

Any Ideas?

I am having a hard time getting ExternalInterface to work on Firefox. I am trying to call a AS3 function from javascript. The SWF is setup with the right callbacks and it is working in IE.

I am using AC_RunActiveContent.js to embed the swf into my page. However, I have modified it to add an ID to the Object / Embed Tags. Below are object and embed tag that are generated for IE and for Firefox respectively.

    <object codebase="http://download.macromedia./pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="400" height="400" align="middle" id="jpeg_encoder2" name="jpeg_encoder3" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" >
    <param name="movie" value="/jpeg_encoder/jpeg_encoder3.swf" /> 
    <param name="quality" value="high" /> 
    <param name="play" value="true" /> 
    <param name="loop" value="true" /> 
    <param name="scale" value="showall" /> 
    <param name="wmode" value="window" /> 
    <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> 
    <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> 
    <param name="menu" value="false" /> 
    <param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /> 
    <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> 
</object>


<embed 
    width="400" 
    height="400" 
    src="/jpeg_encoder/jpeg_encoder3.swf" 
    quality="high" 
    pluginspage="http://www.macromedia./go/getflashplayer" 
    align="middle" 
    play="true" 
    loop="true" 
    scale="showall" 
    wmode="window" 
    devicefont="false" 
    id="jpeg_encoder2" 
    bgcolor="#ffffff" 
    name="jpeg_encoder3" 
    menu="false" 
    allowFullScreen="false" 
    allowScriptAccess="always" 
    type="application/x-shockwave-flash" > 
</embed>

I am calling the function like this...

<script>
try {
    document.getElementById('jpeg_encoder2').processImage(z);
} catch (e) { alert(e.message); }
</script>

In Firefox, I get an error saying "document.getElementById("jpeg_encoder2").processImage is not a function"

Any Ideas?

• javascript
• flash
• actionscript-3
• externalinterface

Share Follow edited Dec 14, 2011 at 14:19 Neil Knight 48.6k2626 gold badges136136 silver badges192192 bronze badges asked May 12, 2009 at 14:52 majestiqmajestiq 56388 silver badges2727 bronze badges 3

• Maybe you're calling the processImage function to quickly. Make sure the SWF file is loaded. After inserting OBJECT/EMBED element into document tree the browser needs some time to make a request for the SWF file. If it's not the case, please provide some more code. – Rafael Commented May 12, 2009 at 15:13
• the function doesn't get called onLoad... it happens later based on user interaction. I've made sure everything loads pletely but still have the same issue. – majestiq Commented May 12, 2009 at 16:37
• Just tested your code (the EMBED tag) with my SWF file. It worked well. Please show some more code or check the versions of flash players in Firefox and IE. Check if getElementById return the right element. Have no other ideas what could cause this issue. – Rafael Commented May 12, 2009 at 16:55

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7 Answers 7

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

Hmm, did you expose your actionscript function to Javascript with addCallback ?

Adobe documentation on addCallback

Below is an example of how a Flash movie is placed within a html page. This movie is very simple movie with a stop action at the beginning. The movie is shown below under Test Runs subject. This particular html code was auto generated by FlashMX's Publish mand. Notice that the Flash movie file is simplemovie.swf; and an id and a name have been assigned automatically by Flash to match the movie filename (minus the .swf extension). In reality, the name and id could be anything (but do not use exoteric names, especially, do not start with a number), as long as it has not been used by any other element in the same page.

`codebase="http://download.macromedia./pub/shockwave/cabs/flash`/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" ` WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="75" id="simplemovie" ALIGN=""> ` quality=medium ` swliveconnect="true" ` bgcolor=#FFFFFF WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="75" ` name="simplemovie" ` ALIGN="" `TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" ` PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia./go/getflashplayer">

there is a play function in the flash file the following function will calls that function:

function testEval(stringToEval)
{
  var movie=eval(stringToEval);
  if (movie)
  {
    if (movie.PercentLoaded())
    {
      if (movie.PercentLoaded()==100)
      {
        movie.Play();
      }
      else
      {
        alert("movie is still loading, try again soon");
      }
    }
    else
    {
      alert("movie object found-but unable to send mand"); 
    }
  }
  else
  {
    alert("movie object not found");
  }
}

See this post.

You want a JS function more like this to retrieve the Flash object (rather than getElemById):

function thisMovie(movieName) {
  if(navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1) {
    return window[movieName];
  } else {
    return document[movieName];
  }
};

And make sure not to call this function until the document is loaded.

Try having the same id in both object and embed tags. I remember one browser is using one tag and another browser the other...don't know which one is which. I had the same issue some time ago.

I'm got around by modifying the Example Code that es with flash. Making sure it works, then stripping it down and adapting it for my use.

In the example notice that the object tag the id set to "ExternalInterfaceExample", then the embed tag has the name parameter set to "ExternalInterfaceExample" as well. I think that might be your clue.

Good luck!

Are your swf's visible (on the page) before you try calling them? If not, read this: swf-not-initializing-until-visible

Try these two things:

First, try calling the function from Javascript like this:

var swf;
if(navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1) {
    swf = window["jpeg_encoder2"];
} else {
    swf = document["jpeg_encoder2"];
}
if(typeof(swf) == "undefined") swf = document.getElementById("jpeg_encoder2");

swf.processImage(z);

Second, I've found that ExternalInterface calls in Firefox seem to only work with embed tags, not object tags. See if you can get it to work if you just use an embed tag. (Right now, I'm not clear whether the HTML/Javascript bo you've posted will access the object or the embed element.)

If instead of using AC_RunActiveContent.js to embed your flash movie you use swfobject there is a easy build-in way of doing that.

<head>
 <script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>

 <script type="text/javascript">
 try {
      swfobject.getObjectById('jpeg_encoder2').processImage(z); 
      } catch (e) { alert(e.message); }
 </script>
</head>

If you are not using swfObject you could just copy and paste swfobject.getObjectById straight in to your code:

<script type="text/javascript">

function getObjectById(objectIdStr) {
        var r = null;
        var o = getElementById(objectIdStr);
        if (o && o.nodeName == "OBJECT") {
            if (typeof o.SetVariable != UNDEF) {
                r = o;
            }
            else {
                var n = o.getElementsByTagName(OBJECT)[0];
                if (n) {
                    r = n;
                }
            }
        }
        return r;

getObjectById('jpeg_encoder2').processImage(z); //call your method 
</script>