Dynamic vs. Static Embedding

Prior to this release, the only option for embedding Flash objects with SwfObj, was statically. This embeds the objects directly into the html rendered by WordPress.

By dynamically embedding them, WordPress instead places a div tag on the page that holds the alternative content only. Once the page has loaded, Javascript replaces this alternative content with the Flash object.

I’ll defer you to the official SwfObject project for the advantages and disadvantages of either SwfObject embedding method.

How to embed objects dynamically

By default, SwfObj is set to embed statically. If you would rather use dynamic embedding by default on your site, it is very easy to change the settings. Go to Settings > SwfObj and in “Default Embedding Mode” select “Dynamic Publishing”. Save your changes and you’re all set.

If you ever want to use the other method for a particular post, you can override the default with the new dynamic_embed attribute. Here are a couple examples.

[swfobj src="..." dynamic_embed="true"] ← (embedded dynamically)
[swfobj src="..." dynamic_embed="false"] ← (embedded statically)

Other developments

In more exciting news, Joen Asmussen the developer behind the Flash Shorttags SwfObject Plugin requested that I merge in features from his plugin so he could discontinue it in favor of SwfObj. As a result, you can also use the [flash] shorttag to embed your Flash objects. I really appreciate Joen approaching me about merging our two plugins. It makes things simpler for everyone out there looking for an easier way to embed Flash on their WordPress site.

I originally developed this plugin for myself because embedding Flash was such a pain. It’s been great to see so many other people getting value from it as well. Thanks to your help and suggestions SwfObj continues to improve. Please continue to send any comments or suggestions you may have as you use it on your sites. And if you really want to show your appreciation, feel free to buy me lunch.

Actually, I thought SwfObj was ready for the WordPress upgrade. I use a beta version to try and stay ahead of the curve. The plugin worked fine in my beta so it was good. Then I came across BraveNewCode’s plugin checker and discovered the SwfObj plugin was breaking a cardinal rule. FAIL!

Plugin No-No

According to the plugin checker, my plugin was not compatible with the latest WordPress release for the following reason:

Uses ‘wp-content’ directly in code

Translated, this means I was hardcoding the wp-content path in my plugin, rather than using the WP_PLUGIN_URL constant.

As of WordPress 2.6, the wp-content directory can be located anywhere the site admin wants it to be. By hardcoding this path, anyone who had moved it would get errors when they tried to use the SwfObj plugin. There’s a good post on how to correct the wp-content hardcoding problem if you are guilty of it too.

SwfObject 2.2

SwfObject also released an update. In response, I’ve updated SwfObj to use the latest SwfObject code, version 2.2. Onward and upward we go!

And there you have it, the latest SwfObj build. An updated SwfObject release and some compatibility fixes. All are available now at a WordPress repository near you.

From URL

The main change in 2.7 that necessitated this release is the “From URL” tab in the media upload/insert popup. This requires a new handler in the plugin. I also took the time to add all of the features available for uploaded swfs to swfs linked to using the “From URL” tab.

Holiday Bugs

There are always bugs to be squashed and this release includes a few of fixes as well. One to note is that the alt content is no longer automatically wrapped in <p> tags. This means you can put it in whatever wrapper you’d like.

2009 is coming

I do have some plans for upgrading the project in ’09. The major update I’d like to make is to enable dynamic embedding of swfs using SwfObject as an alternative to static embedding. I’ve had a couple of requests for this feature so I know others are looking for it, too.

If you have anything you’d like to see added/improved in ’09 please let me know.

Thanks again to all who have provided feedback and support. Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

Taming the big bully

Apparently, unknown to me, this plugin has been inserting swfobj shortcode whenever a media object is imported into a post from the Media Library, whether it is a Flash object or not. That kind of over-aggressive attitude is not welcome around here. As a result I added a media check to the import function. Now the swfobj shortcode is only inserted when embedding Flash objects. I also sent the plugin to time-out and told him he needed to apologize to everyone for his bad behavior.

Class-itis

A minor bug fix that most people probably won’t notice involved cleaning up the class attribute. It was being added to both object tags as well as being placed in a defunct param tag. The class attribute is now only applied to the outer object tag and no defunct param tags to speak of.

I’d also like to take this chance to thank all of you who have sent in feedback both good and bad on this plugin. Thank you for taking the time to contact me so I can continue to improve the SwfObj plugin. And a very big thanks to the generous person who recently sent me a donation as well!
Please continue to send any bug or feature requests you have. All feedback good and bad is appreciated.

WordPress hooks

WordPress has conveniently added hooks to its core code, allowing developers the ability to modify content and add functionality without having to hack WordPress source files. These include filters and actions. For these tutorials we will be using both the ‘add_filter‘ and ‘add_action‘ functions.

If you are unfamiliar with WordPress’s hooks, I’d recommend reading their API documentation first.

Creating a media tab

When viewing media in WordPress’s media library, there are tabs for images, video, and audio. I am going to add a “Flash” tab to the list. You can add whatever media tab you require.

Adding file type categories is actually quite easy to do. To add a tab, you first need to know the MIME type of your category. Flash files (.swf files) use the ‘application/x-shockwave-flash‘ MIME type. If you don’t happen to know the MIME type for your files, upload one using the WordPress media button. Once it is uploaded, WordPress displays its type right under the file name.

The WordPress hook to add a category tab to your library is the ‘post_mime_types‘ filter. WordPress uses an array called $post_mime_types to store all of the MIME types it lists in the Media Library. To add a new media type, you simply need to add it to this array. The following code adds a “Flash” media category that lists all .swf files in the library.

function modify_post_mime_types($post_mime_types) {
    $post_mime_types['application/x-shockwave-flash'] = array('Flash', 'Manage Flash', 'Flash (%s)');
    return $post_mime_types;
}

add_filter('post_mime_types', 'modify_post_mime_types');

The array that is stored in the new $post_mime_types entry holds the following values

1. The title of the media type (‘Flash’).
2. The title to display when viewing this category in the Media Library (‘Manage Flash’).
3. And the title to put on the tab in the Media Library (‘Flash (%s)’). The %s is replaced by the number of items in this category.

Extras

WordPress allows you to add both general and specific MIME types. You can add an ‘application‘ type which will show all objects whose MIME type starts with ‘application/‘. To only show a specific file type, use the full MIME type, such as ‘application/x-shockwave-flash‘. Make sure if you are declaring something specific, that you use the full MIME type, not just the value after the ‘/‘.

Here are a few file types you may be interested in.

• PNG: image/png
• PDF: application/pdf
• ZIP: application/zip

You can also remove media types from the list if you’d like. To do this, use the unset function. Here is an example that removes the ‘audio’ category from the Media Library.

function modify_post_mime_types($post_mime_types) {
    unset ($post_mime_types['audio']);
    return $post_mime_types;
}

And there you have it. Total control over the media types listed in WordPress using the WordPress API. In future posts we’ll discuss how to customize uploading, editing and embedding media into your posts. Please post any comments or questions you have.

If anyone has a better name for the “WordPress 2.5 Media API tutorial series” please let me know. That’s a monster to type out.

Coming Soon to a Feed near you

The plan is to make these short and simple. Each one will highlight one or two API hooks available in WordPress and how they work. The first in this series will be released later this week. If you are interested, subscribe to the feed and you’ll be ready to go. Or just check in later this week

If you have any questions or requests, please let me know. Feedback will drive the development of future articles. And as always, donations are very much appreciated.

I am also looking for sponsors of this series if anyone is interested. All the articles will be published freely here irregardless of whether I get any funding. It doesn’t hurt to ask, I hope.
If interested, contact me for terms.

Upgraded interface

If you use the media toolbar to insert Flash objects into your posts, you will now find a lot more options available for customizing the embedded object. These include width, height, alignment, id, class, allowfullscreen, etc. Any options filled in will be included in the auto-generated shortcode when the object is inserted in the post.

In an effort to keep the library interface clean and practical, the advanced options are tucked away by default. If you want to use them to embed an object, click “Show Advanced Options” and they magically appear. The interface is still a bit cluttered, but its the best I’ve got for now.

The webpage

SwfObj’s official web page also got an upgraded look. It has two fat download and donate buttons. I also added a “recent news” blurb, so you can quickly see any new posts about the plugin. Pretty exciting. Ok, not really.

The future

There is still more to be done on SwfObj. Not all of the Flash parameters are supported yet. The code could use some polishing. And lots of testing and bug fixing. If anyone has any problems or feature requests, please let me know.

Hopefully I’ll get some translations in as well. Any takers?

Updates probably won’t be as frequent as the last two releases, though. Most of the major features are in now. Rather than playing with plugins all the time, I think it’s time to start doing some actual Flash.

SwfObj is overdue for an overhaul. As I stated in my original release announcement, the purpose of this plugin is to take the pain out of uploading and embedding Flash media in WordPress. Right now it makes it easier to embed content, but you still have to upload the Flash files to the server manually, figure out their URLs, and then type out the shortcode. This falls far short of being painless.

Today SwfObj is taking a step in the right direction. Expanded features now make uploading and embedding Flash content into WordPress just a little easier. Still not painless, but closer.

Upload Flash directly

When you install and enable the latest SwfObj release, a new media button will appear in your post editor. This allows you to upload new Flash content to your WordPress Media Library for embedding. Additionally you can view all of the Flash content currently in your library and insert it into your post. Simply click on the “Media Library” to see all of your Flash objects.

Inserting Flash content from the library injects the proper shortcode into the post or page you are editing. Currently it only embeds the “src” and “alt” properties. Any additional properties such as dimensions have to be added manually. Future releases will auto-embed more properties.

Multiple language support

This release also adds international support for the SwfObj plugin. If anyone wants to translate this into their native language, please do. I’d love to have this available in several languages.

Try it out

If you use Flash a lot in your posts and are looking for an easier way to upload and embed them, this plugin may be something you’ll want. Feel free to download the latest version of the SwfObj plugin and try it out. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I’d love to hear about any features you’d like to see, or problems you have encountered while using it. All feedback, good and bad, is welcome.

The upgrading process was pretty simple. Before doing anything, I made sure to backup my files and database. That was probably the hardest part. WordPress also recommends disabling all plugins before upgrading, so I did that too. I use SVN to keep WordPress up to date on my server, so upgrading the source code was just a command line away.

svn update

Then I went to the upgrade link, re-enabled my plugins and was up and running. It can’t get much easier than that. Nice work WordPress!

Pretty Colors

This upgrade is probably the most dramatic change in WordPress since version 1.5 came out. A revamp of the admin interface, lots of new features and tools, increased security. And while there are all these new things going on, the first that popped out to me was the new color scheme. How shallow is that? Just goes to show how much design matters.

Fortunately, the WordPress team worked with Happy Cog to create the new interfaces and I think they work really well. The admin section is less cluttered and focuses on what blogging is all about, writing content.

Dashboard Widgets

The ability to edit the dashboard without having to install third-party hacks is a welcome change. The dashboard was always something I quickly clicked around. It was a wasted jumble of stuff I didn’t care about that posed a distraction instead of a quick launch point for what I needed to do in the site. Now that I can go in and edit it, I might actually find it useful.

No-Distractions Post Editor

Last year everyone was talking about Writeroom and its no-distractions take on writing. Writeroom revolutionized computer writing by blocking out all other programs and replacing your screen with a blank slate of words. By killing all the multi-functionality goodness of your computer, it forced you to focus on the task at hand. Writing.

Now it seems all of the CMS developers out there are following suite. Expression Engine is including this feature in their next release, and I’m pleased to see that WordPress is using it, too. While a browser can’t remove all distractions as well as a desktop application can, it is nice to not have all those links and tabs staring back at you while you are trying to think.

Media Buttons

These are very much improved from the previous version. Instead of a clunky images section taking up space on the page, you only get the media upload, import dialogs when you are going to use them. Additionally there was only the option of importing images. The new media buttons also include video, audio and a generic media option. This might just make it possible for me to upload my Flash while writing my posts.

I never liked the old image upload/import mechanism and opted to ftp media up and hand enter it. It remains to be seen whether this new system allow me to avoid the tedium of manually uploading and importing my media.

Shortcodes

I am probably the most excited about this feature. With shortcodes, you can abstract tedious blocks of html into simple, brief “codes”. Best of all, the API allows for additional shortcodes to be written and used. I’ve been wanting an easier way to enter Flash content. Being a standards junkie, I’ve had to hand enter my Flash media. This finally gives me an option for quickly entering the bulky object tags and all of their params the way I want them to be entered. I can’t wait to get that shortcode up and running.

Complaints

My one problem with the new WordPress was being able to use the Visual Editor. A while ago I changed my settings to use the advanced html editor, since I put most of my tags in by hand. Now that WordPress allows easy switching between the visual editor and the html editor, I wanted to revert my settings back to using the default editor. It took way to long to find the check box that switched it back. (It’s in the user settings page, if you happen to have the same problem.)

If you want to read up on all the new features in WordPress 2.5, here is Matt Mullenweg’s full break down of the updates.

It also appears that this new, full page editor makes it way too easy to write ridiculously long posts and not notice until it’s too late. Maybe it isn’t such a good thing to have no distractions.

Unfortunately they were spam, so I never got the chance to see them on the site and I still don’t know what they mean. Can anybody understand this?

lwksv bchsgz fmbnvpodu zeldwqh adkntys svxd zhjywdab

Happy Spam

Most people these days are complaining about the burden comment spam has become. I, however, found it somewhat encouraging. It makes my site feel real now. Someone, somewhere, has noticed my blog. Never mind the fact that this thing out there that noticed me has no brain. What bliss!

To discourage this kind of happy feeling from returning anytime soon, I’ve enlisted the help of super-hero Akismet to destroy all those mindless villains from commenting on my blog again. So to all you robots out there reading this, BEWARE! And to all of you imaginary friends that I pretend are reading this, keep posting your imaginary comments, no-one is blocking those and a lot of them are very entertaining.

Hmmm, maybe I should make an imaginary comment blocker. Since you need a robot to block robot comments, an imaginary friend should be able to block imaginary comments. I’m sure there are people out there who want to get rid of imaginary comments on their blogs. Does anyone have an imaginary friend who’s up to the task?