TinyMCE is removing my Flash. Which editor is best for me?

[Jesse Stratford]

Hey everyone. I've got a fresh installation of Mambo 4.5.2.1 and I'm new to Mambo in general. Working with TinyMCE (including the latest release which I downloaded and installed over the default which ships with 4.5.2.1) I'm having some problems.

My pages have Flash elements in them. When I copy and paste from IE, most formatting comes over beautifully but all Flash elements are removed. Even if I manually re-add the Flash <object> tags, etc. they are removed. Does Tiny not support Flash?

I run a tutorial site with a whole lot of content. I'm keen to use whichever editor is going to allow me to most easily port my not-so-XHTML-compliant SHTML files quickly and easily into Mambo.

Is there an editor which handles image uploads, etc. automatically? When I copy into Tiny from my site, the images appear, but they aren't actually being added to the articles (as in uploaded). I didn't even know making them appear was possible, so I'll ask the stupid question just in case there is some super editor out there which will do everything I want.

I'm looking for the best editor which will suit these needs. Commercial isn't an issue although I like and believe in free software alternatives where possible.

Thanks heaps in advance!

[swordhert]

hmm what version of TinyMCE you are using?

[Jesse Stratford]

Hey there.

Tried both the default which ships with 4.5.2, for which I only know the title "TinyMCE WYSIWYG Editor" and the latest version I could find at MamboForge, which is TinyMCE-EXP 1.25 Beta 3.

I understand I should be able to switch between Beginner and Advanced mode, but when I go to Mambots > Site Mambots, weird stuff happens. I get a paginated list with a whole lot of mambots. Tiny is obviously on the 2nd of the 2 pages, so I click "Next >>" and then the list refreshes and shows only the following:
1 Search Content Public search content.searchbot
2 Search Weblinks Public search weblinks.searchbot
3 Search Contacts Public search contacts.searchbot
4 Search Categories Public search categories.searchbot
5 Search Sections Public search sections.searchbot
6 Search Newsfeeds

I think this must be a bug in the Mambots section of this release, as I'm sure that's not supposed to happen

Also, atm I'm trying FCKeditor but I'm noting that, while that one supports Flash, it also puts <font color> tags around links. The original links I'm copying in are colored based on CSS and don't have such tags. It's kinda frustrating.

[swordhert]

hmm quite strange

did you install admin component of tiny?

[Jesse Stratford]

Aha! Indeed I did not. I wasn't aware they were two separate packages.

I have done now... And I see there's a Flash specific tab which certainly suggests Flash support. This warrants a re-test I think.

... [testing music] ...

OK. Switched back to TinyMCE-EXP editor. Copied and pasted in content which includes Flash. This time I get a black box where the Flash should be, but when I save the article or view the HTML source, the Flash code is still stripped out...

Any further ideas? Thanks.

[Jesse Stratford]

OK it looks like the problem is solved.

First off, thanks a lot to swordhert for making me aware of the existence of the Admin component because that seemed to help a great deal.

What I've done is enabled the Flash insert button via Components > TinyMCE-EXP Admin > Plugins tab > Load Flash = Yes

I also changed the Flash directory on the Flash Manager tab to the same directory I use for story images. And it works.

Now I can insert the Flash files manually via the little button in Tiny.

Unfortunately I'm still unable to copy and paste directly from the original page, but it's just a few extra moments' work to link up the Flash manually.

If anyone can think of a reason why copying and pasting isn't working, please let me know. FYI, an example of the Flash embed code follows below, in case someone is aware of a compliance issue with Tiny which might be causing it to be dumped.

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
 codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0"
 width=300 height=150>
          <param name=movie value="test1.swf">
          <param name=quality value=high>
          <param name=bgcolor value=#FFFFFF>
          <embed src="test1.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF  width=300 height=150 type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">
          </embed> 
        </object>

[swordhert]

nice news

[happy_noodle_boy]

Originally Posted by Jesse Stratford

OK it looks like the problem is solved.

First off, thanks a lot to swordhert for making me aware of the existence of the Admin component because that seemed to help a great deal.

What I've done is enabled the Flash insert button via Components > TinyMCE-EXP Admin > Plugins tab > Load Flash = Yes

I also changed the Flash directory on the Flash Manager tab to the same directory I use for story images. And it works.

Now I can insert the Flash files manually via the little button in Tiny.

Unfortunately I'm still unable to copy and paste directly from the original page, but it's just a few extra moments' work to link up the Flash manually.

If anyone can think of a reason why copying and pasting isn't working, please let me know. FYI, an example of the Flash embed code follows below, in case someone is aware of a compliance issue with Tiny which might be causing it to be dumped.

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
 codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0"
 width=300 height=150>
          <param name=movie value="test1.swf">
          <param name=quality value=high>
          <param name=bgcolor value=#FFFFFF>
          <embed src="test1.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF  width=300 height=150 type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">
          </embed> 
        </object>

Yes, we have a little bit of a problem here.

The Flash plugin works in a rather unusual way. It uses an img tag as a placeholder in the editor, and 'converts' this to the relevant flash code when you save or open the html editor.

TinyMCE uses a set of 'valid' elements for each tag, ie: there is a set of elements for the img tag, a tag etc., all others are stripped out from the code. The reason pasted content is removed as you mention, is because the object, param and embed tags are not defined as valid. They were in previous version of TinyMCE and the flash plugin, but not in this latest one, as doing so resulted in a problem with inserting flash.

Because of this, I don't think this Flash plugin is the way forward, as it doesn't support flash elements that you insert 'manually'. There is a workaround though.

Disable the flash plugin.
Open tinymce_exp.php and remove 'object from invalid_elements
add the following to extended_valid_elements :

object[classid|codebase|width|height],param[name|value],embed[src|quality|width|height|type|pluginspage|bgcolor]

and any other elements for each tag that you want eg: align.

This is an ongoing problem that I am trying to solve. The Flash plugin was not created by me (just the plugin dialog), so I have been relying on the work and updates of the original creator for a solution.

Ryan.

[Jesse Stratford]

Thanks Ryan. The more we used Tiny the more we found it had ongoing problems with Flash - parameters displaying in document body rather than being rendered as source code - but this PHP fix seems to have gotten around them for the time being at least. We appreciate your response greatly. And thanks for the hard-work on an otherwise excellent editor!

[Jesse Stratford]

Looks like I spoke too soon. When this patch is applied, the param tag appear issue is still an issue.

I'm really struggling to find an editor which supports Flash. Any suggestions much appreciated. Here's what I've tried:

Tiny: Problems as stated above
fckeditor: Doesn't really seem to work with Flash, plus it inserts <font color> tags around all our links when copied from existing HTML pages. Any suggestions on that much appreciate.
Xstandard: Won't install. Seen others are having this issue too but no resolution yet.
HTMLArea3 XTD WYSIWYG Editor: No Flash support. Doesn't work in Firefox without a hack.

I'm really desperate for a working editor. It doesn't need to do anything special. Just needs to not screw with our Flash code and (preferably) do XHTML formatting.

Between my friend and I we must have spent 20 hours researching these issues with no resolution. Getting desperate!

[happy_noodle_boy]

Are the param tags being removed altogether? At which stage do you notice this, when you reopen the article for editing, when you save the article and view the content?

[Jesse Stratford]

Thanks for the reply. Here's the process and problem from the beginning for clarity. This whole process was conducted in Firefox 1.0.2.

• Log into Admin and create new item.
• Copy and paste in content from "Tutorial details" to "right, let's move on." from this URL - http://www.actionscript.org/tutorial...es/index.shtml
• Click save immediately.
• Go to live site and preview item - looks good.
• (Here's the problem) Edit item via Admin interface. A param shows up in WYSIWYG view, where Flash should be. See attached screenshot.
• Save again.
• Preview - whoops! Param now shows up in content item as text! SWF is also now appearing twice in the page. Once before the param. Once after.
• Every time you go back and edit the item, the SWF is magically added once more and another param shows up... Edited this one four times, now have four SWFs...

Apart from this bug, Tiny is almost perfect four our purposes. Any help MUCH appreciated.

(Please excuse low quality screen grab - getting it in under this forum's upload limits is hard I've added a close up so you can read the text. Note that the red box was put in by me to indicate where the issue is occurring)

[happy_noodle_boy]

Stupid question maybe but did you disable the plugin? You can't have the plugin enabled and use the 'manual method'.

[Jesse Stratford]

Hehe there are not stupid questions. I could have overlooked anything. But I haven't overlooked that. At least I'm pretty sure.

In Components -> TinyMCE-EXP Admin -> Flash tab all options are set to Yes. In plugin tab, all options set to Yes except Load Font Tools. In editor tab, Allow Script Elements and Iframe Elements are both "No".

[happy_noodle_boy]

Originally Posted by Jesse Stratford

Hehe there are not stupid questions.

Yes you're right, only stupid answers.

In plugin tab, all options set to Yes except Load Font Tools.

There's the problem. 'Flash' should be set to 'No'.

[Jesse Stratford]

Ah damn! That's fixed the problem, for sure. But I see now that was on Ryan's original post. I'm sorry for wasting your time mate. There's a few of us working in the system at the moment and likely one of us set it back to On. Might even have been me late last night.

Thanks heaps. And sorry again!

[happy_noodle_boy]

No problem, glad to help.

I will look at a solution for this 'Flash problem' and try to create something that users can at least work with until a permanent solution is found.

It will probably entail using the Flash dialog, but using it to insert the flash code like you've done manually, with the ability to add extra elements via the source code editor.

btw, I will be visiting your site to take some lessons. I use Flash at work to make interfaces for Touchscreens but my knowledge is very limited.

Cheers

Ryan.

[Jesse Stratford]

That's good to hear Ryan. I'm glad to think that my site may be able to help you in the same way you have helped me. thanks again, and good luck

[eyezberg]

Jesse Stratford!
It's been buggin' me for the last days where I know that name from;
thanks for posting the link to actionscript.org!
Are you going Mambo now? cool

Have you had a look at mrabear's component MOSMedia?
Given the amount of swf's you're likely to use, I think it would be a wise investment..
http://www.ag-solutions.net/content/view/23/45/
$60...

[Jesse Stratford]

Hehe. It's funny to be recognized on the Internet.

Thanks for the suggestion. We're implementing Mambo at the moment, after wanting to do so for a long time. It seems mature enough (and easy enough to use) for our purposes now. It's not guaranteed to go into production though; we still have some specific issues we need to sort out.

It's the best of CMS's we have found in our long search, considerring our current (and future) needs. We're keen on open source and community based things, of course, so it suits us very well so far.