Compact Flash Mp3 Player - tips and tricks
Introduction:
This flash mp3 player comes with a lot of features which can easily be changed using the XML file. What's nice about this mp3 player is that it automatically generates the playlist from your songs folder and it displays the song's artist and name from the ID3 tags (which you can edit with Winamp or iTunes for example).
Note - this flash mp3 player supports the basic functions of an mp3 player:
- play/pause
- next/prev
- timer/total time
- draggable volume bar
- draggable progress bar
- sound visualizer
- reads ID3 tags for song's artist and name
The sound visualizer height reacts when you drag the volume bar, based on the bit rate of your song. So for example if you move your volume to the maximum value, the visualizer will grow in size based on the songs bit rate.
Features:
1. Customize the player through the XML file.
2. Add unlimited songs in the playlist.xml file or in the folder (if you use the PHP script).
3. Customize the colors from the XML file.
4. Set the width of the player in the XML file.
5. Support for the basic functions of an mp3 player.
Folder structure:
Please navigate to the deploy folder, inside the project folder. This folder contains all the files you need to upload to your server to have the Compact Flash Mp3 Player work. Your server must support PHP if you want to use the scan.php file instead of adding the songs manually in the XML.
player/xml/settings.xml
XML configuration file - this is where you make all changes to the look and feel of your Compact Flash Mp3 Player.
player/xml/playlist.xml
Playlist XML configuration file - this is where you write the path to the songs. If you use the PHP script we provided, the PHP script will write this same XML file, keeping the same structure.
js/swfobject.js
Deconcept SWFObject is a small JavaScript file used for embedding Adobe Flash content. The script can detect the Flash plug-in in all major web browsers (on Mac and PC) and is designed to make embedding Flash movies as easy as possible.
js/expressInstall.swf
SWFObject has full support for the Adobe Flash Player Express Install feature. Using expressinstall, your users never have to leave your site to upgrade their Flash Player.
preview.swf
This is the component swf file which is embedded in your website.
index.html
HTML document used to embed the swf file. Please check the source code to see how the variables are passed to the swf file, using any text editor such as Notepad or Textedit.
settings.xml structure:
Below you can see what each of the attributes in the XML file means:
<settings width="357"/>
Here you can define the player width.
<settings height="95"/>
Here you can define the player height.
<settings marginAround="5"/>
Here you can define the size for margins.
<settings distanceBetweenX="5"/>
Sets the distance between elements on width.
<settings distanceBetweenY="5"/>
Sets the distance between elements on height.
<autoStartPlayer value="true"/>
If true the player will start playing on init.
<autoPlay value="true"/>
If true the first song will automatically start when the player is loaded.
<loop value="true"/>
If true the playlist will loop through all the songs.
<restartList value="true"/>
If true the player goes to first/last song at the end/begining of the list.
<init_volume>50</init_volume>
Set the default volume value.
<background color="0x171716"/>
Sets the player background color.
<play_pause_button color="0xF7941E"/>
<prev_next_button color="0xE6E7E8"/>
Here you can define the colors for the play/pause and prev/next buttons.
<playlist start_song_no = "0"
bg_fill_color="0x2B2B2B"
bg_stroke_color="0xFFFFFF"
visualizer_color="0x7C5425"
visualizer_bg_color = "0x2B2B2B"
song_text_color="0xFFFFFF"/>
Set the start song, the background's fill and stroke colors for the playlist, as well as the visualizer's fill and stroke colors and the song text color.
<time_text color="0x58595B"/>
Set the total time and time counter text color.
<progress_bar height="15" color="0xffffff"/>
<download_bar color="0x383837"/>
Set the colors and height for the progress and download bars.
<volume_scrub color="0xF7941E"/>
Set the volume scrub color.
<volume_bar level_color = "0xFFFFFF" bg_color="0x383837"/>
Set the volume's back and level bars colors.
playlist.xml structure:
This xml contains the player's songs. It looks like this:
<playlist>
<folder name="artists">
<file path="songs/artists/song1.mp3"/>
<file path="songs/artists/song2.mp3"/>
<file path="songs/artists/song3.mp3"/>
</folder>
</playlist>
Self-explanatory attributes. The name attribute contains the folder's name. Each song must be inside it's own folder in the songs folder. This is done so that the PHP script can generate for example a list of artists, and each artist can have it's own album of songs.
This player only plays a single playlist, so if you want to add new songs, you will need to add them to the folder node, like the three sample songs already there.
The scan.php file scans the SONGS folder, and it sends to flash a generated XML similar to the playlist.xml file.
The folder structure needs to be as follows:
SONGS/ALBUM1/SONG1.MP3
SONGS/ALBUM1/SONG2.MP3
SONGS/ALBUM1/SONG3.MP3
Flashvars:
In the html file you can set the swf width and height, the player width (the width defined in the flashvars has priority over the width defined in the settings.xml file), the path to the files if you choose to put them in another location rather than the player folder, and the two xml files with the settings and the songs path.
var stageW = 560;
var stageH = 300;
var cacheBuster = Date.parse(new Date());
var params = {};
params.bgcolor = "#FFFFFF";
params.allowfullscreen = "true";
var flashvars = {};
flashvars.pathToFiles = "player/";
flashvars.componentWidth = 357;
flashvars.settingsPath = "xml/settings.xml";
// if you want to automatically read the information from a folder, use the php file instead
// flashvars.xmlPath = "scan.php?dir=songs";
flashvars.xmlPath = "xml/playlist.xml";
// EMBED CODE
swfobject.embedSWF("preview.swf?t="+cacheBuster, "FlabellComponent", stageW, stageH, "9.0.124", "js/expressInstall.swf", flashvars, params);
As you noticed, we use swfObject for embedding the swf file. We also use a cacheBuster, because IE usually (or should we say always) acts strange. This prevents the stage width and height from being missread.
Support:
If you need any help using the product, please contact us at [email protected].
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Secret Smokes
on 28/3/10
Rather than using its XML or scan.php playlisting functions, I want to pass the filename of the *single* mp3 file dynamically to the player. In other words, I want to use the player on a Wordpress blog with one audio file per post - so I want the page to dynamically pass the filename to the Player each time, and for the player to only ever play one file.
Can this be done within Compact Flash MP3 Player, or do I need something else to get this happening?
Bests, and thank you,
Jon.
on 29/3/10
Otherwise, you would need to pass the XML file to this player directly, not through php, and only add a single song in the XML.
Either way you wish to proceed, let us know if you need any assistance.
on 29/3/10
on 29/3/10
Frank E. Lancaster
on 12/4/10
I have set the autoplay value to "false" so that the player doesn't start when the page is opened, but that seems to affect all subsequent songs as well. The player advances to song 2 after song 1 has played, but then one must hit the play button again to start the next song. What I would like to have happen is that once someone pushes the Play button for song 1, song 2 will then play automatically when song 1 has finished, and then song 3 etc. until the stop button is pushed. "Loop value" was not altered and remains set at "true", but this doesn't seem to affect what i want to do. Is there some code I can add??.............frank
on 12/4/10
Frank E. Lancaster
on 12/4/10
on 12/4/10
Frank E. Lancaster
on 12/4/10
Kim Conley
on 15/4/10
Thanks for any help.
Kim
on 16/4/10
on 16/4/10
on 19/4/10
visualrealityink
on 18/4/10
I have already purchased the product and I know there has to be an easy way to this.
Thanks
on 19/4/10
nubyd
on 20/4/10
on 21/4/10
ViktorNiklasson
on 2/5/10
The songs start directly when i click on the play button, I have try with other players and then it can loads in about 5minutes -.-' Really good and fast player!
on 3/5/10
ViktorNiklasson
on 2/5/10
Does anyone know how to fix this ?
on 3/5/10
achilles251
on 23/5/10
on 24/5/10