TechNote

What effect does the version have in the CODEBASE attribute of the OBJECT tag? (Flash Player)

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 3.0 and later use the CODEBASE attribute to detect which version of Adobe Flash Player ActiveX Control is installed on a user's computer. If the user's version is earlier than the version specified by CODEBASE, Internet Explorer can automatically download and install the newer version of Flash Player from the location specified in CODEBASE.

This installation is done by changing the version number at the end of the CODEBASE tag where '1,1,0,0' is the minimum version of the player needed to display the SWF file properly. Consider the following code:

codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave /cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,115,0"

The numbers '9,0,115,0' specify which version of the control is required. The first number '9' tells Internet Explorer what the major version number of Flash Player should be. The second number is the minor version number, which is seldom anything other than zero. The third number, '115,' specifies the revision of Flash Player required to correctly view Flash content on the page. The final number is the internal build number, which for public releases will generally be zero.

In most cases, the best practice is to specify the latest version of Flash Player ActiveX Control. This practice guarantees that viewers can see all of the features in the SWF file. The latest version of the control will work with movies created using earlier features. However, if you attempt to view newer SWF files with an older version of the player, you may encounter problems with the newer features during playback.

The following table shows what happens when viewers hit a URL with various versions specified in CODEBASE (some scenarios reflect a player update):

Version specified by the codebase of the URL	Version of the control on the viewer's machine	Change to viewer's machine
BEFORE visiting the URL	AFTER visiting the URL
9,0,115,0	none	9,0,115,0	latest version of control obtained from Adobe Site
7,0,63,0 (or earlier)	9,0,115,0	latest version of control obtained from Adobe Site

9,0,115,0	9,0,115,0	no change
8,0,24,0
none	9,0,115,0	latest version of control obtained from Adobe Site
5,0,30,0	9,0,115,0	latest version of control obtained from Adobe Site
8,0,15,0	8,0,15,0	no change
8,0,22,0	8,0,22,0	no change
8,0,24,0	8,0,24,0	no change

Note: The original shipping version of Adobe Flash Player 9 ActiveX Control is 9,0,115,0.

Additional Information

The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is available from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center.

December 18, 2007.

Starting with the release of the December 18, 2007 security bulletin, APSB07-20, Adobe is discontinuing support of Adobe Flash Player 7 and will no longer provide security updates. Adobe recommends that all Flash Player users on supported systems update to the most recent version of the player through the Flash Player Download Center.

Adobe's support policy for Flash Player is to support the current and previous major release. Flash Player 7 was updated with security fixes as a courtesy to customers on Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft NT, and Macintosh Classic operating systems, and for Linux and Solaris customers prior to the availability of Flash Player 9.

Those who use an unsupported configuration for the latest player or who wish to continue to use Adobe Flash Player 7 will be able to find the archived installers in the Archived Flash Player TechNote. The information in this TechNote will continue to apply to all developers testing Flash Player 7.