SWF Tools: All things Flash

SWF Tools is a comprehensive API for common Flash-related tasks like:

Inserting SWF files on a page
Embedding flash in the page using common JavaScript scripts.
Playing a movie (FLV, MP4) or audio (MP3)
Playing a media playlist, using an XML file or generating dynamically.
Quickly generating playlists in common situations (eg. convert file attachments to a playlist).

The module supports a wide range of embedding methods and media players which are added by supporting modules included in the package, and it can produce standards-compliant code so that your website continues to validate.

The SWF Tools input filter lets Flash and media content be added easily to pages without exposing the PHP or full HTML input formats, but at the same time it allows the players to be customised and configured.

The API is designed to be accessible from PHP and from other modules so that they can take advantage of the embedding capabilities of SWF Tools without having to write your own code.

SWF Tools was originally written by Simon Hobbs (with some code ported from Flash Gallery and Flash Filter) and it was sponsored by emspace.

Note that SWF Tools does not include JavaScript or media players in the package. These must be downloaded separately from third party websites, and the instructions for this are included in the documentation below.

Adding YouTube content via SWF Tools

You can use the SWF Tools filter to add YouTube content to a page, but it isn't quite as straightforward as simply referencing the external

CCK FileField formatters

SWF Tools version 6 includes built in support for CCK and FileField. This is designed to make it easy to add Flash, audio, and video to a

Creating playlists (eg. xml files) on the fly

What is a playlist?

Developer documentation

SWF Tools contains, at it's core, an API for integrating Flash components into your site. You'll find here some documentation to help you

Installing SWF Tools 6.x-2.x

Introduction

Installing SWF Tools 6.x-3.x

There are a number of new features and key changes in version 6.x-3.x of SWF Tools. As this documentation comes together it will slowly

Make a swf file available in your template.

So there is a flash file used in the sites template, ie. on every page. This is a very simple example to illustrate method. You can see that

Player configuration

This section will be expanded over time to create separate pages for each player that SWF Tools supports. There are sometimes tricks, or

FlowPlayer 3

SWF Tools FAQs

There are some recurring themes on the issue queue, so I am going to open an FAQ page to start recording them!

SWF Tools troubleshooter

SWF Tools is designed so that, as far as possible, it just works. Unfortunately sometimes things don't work out that way. This page provides

Standards compliant flash

There's an increasing interest in being able to create pages that comply with the W3C standards. Drupal pages are sent with the doc-type

Streaming content from a Flash Media Server with SWF Tools

As of SWF Tools 6.x-2.x there is early support for streaming media from Flash Media Servers (such as Adobe's Flash Media Server, Red5 open

The SWF Tools input filter

The SWF Tools input filter is included as part of the core SWF Tools module, so when you enable SWF Tools the filter is available. The input

swf() syntax

The documentation below is based on this post which was put in the issue queue (thanks to kingandy for taking the time to write it!). It

Guide maintainers