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 a common series of steps to try.

Clear your site cache

Make sure your Drupal installation is serving the most current content. Go to Administer > Site configuration > Performance and click 'Clear cached data'. Now try the page again.

Clear your browser cache

Some browsers are pretty aggressive at caching the swf, and associated xml files. Try clearing your browser's cache and then reload the page. If possible, try the page in another browser (after clearing its cache!) and see if that works.

Check for page not found errors

A common error is that SWF Tools isn't looking the right place because it isn't expanding the path as you expect it, or the player files are in the wrong place. Check your Drupal log for page not found errors. Go to Administer > Reports > Top 'page not found' errors, or Administer > Reports > Recent log entries. If you see page not found errors relating to your missing content then this will give you clues about what is happening. It may simply be the file is in the wrong place so if you can move it things should work.

Check for access denied errors

It you are using a private file system are users permitted to see the content? Check the Drupal log for access denied errors. Go to Administer > Reports > Top 'access denied' errors, or Administer > Reports > Recent log entries. In this case you need to work on fixing the permissions for the content as the problem isn't SWF Tools. If you are manually uploading files (e.g. mp3, flv) then you can ask SWF Tools to grant access to them from Administer > Site configuration > SWF Tools > File handling, and then enable access to private files under the 'Private file system' section.

Check you have a height and width

Without a height and width set on your movie the results can be unpredictable. Check your page source code to see if values are present. If they are not see if you are able to pass some [details to be added].

Try direct embedding

Sometimes the embededing JavaScript can fail to trigger. Try using direct embedding (Administer > Site configuration > SWF Tools > Embedding settings), and under 'Embedding methods' select Direct. Now try the page again. If it works you have a script problem. Check that you are embedding the script on all pages. Under the 'Embedding methods' section check 'Add JavaScript to all pages' is enabled.

Regenerate xml playlists

Sometimes the xml playlists get broken. The easiest thing to do is manually delete the files from sites/default/files/playlists, and clear your browser cache (xml can be very persistent!) and try again.

Are you trying to use streaming media

Remember that streaming media cannot be accessed simply by writing rtmp://someServer/vod/video.m4v. You need to provide SWF Tools with the server and the file on separate parameters. See Streaming content from a Flash Media Server for more detail.

Still not working

Oops! It seems you maybe found a bug! Please search the issue queue to see if anyone else has had this problem and maybe posted a solution. If they haven't, please raise an issue. If you confirm that you followed the above troubleshooter steps first it will save time as you won't get directed here first to gather the basic troubleshooting information!

If you do have a problem then posting a link to a publically accessible page is incredibly helpful. If that's not possible the next best thing is to paste a code sample from your page source. If you were using SWF Object 2 embedding you're looking for something like:

<div id="swf-swftools-1269937065-5" class="swftools-wrapper wpaudio"><div id="swftools-1269937065-5" class="swftools swfobject2">
<p>You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.</p>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
swfobject.embedSWF("/drupal6/sites/all/libraries/audio-player/player.swf", ...);
</script>
</div>