TechNote

Installing the Adobe Flash Active Content Update extension

Microsoft recently released an update to Internet Explorer that changes how Internet Explorer handles some web pages that useinteractive controls. Interactive controls are ActiveX controls that provide user interfaces. When a web page uses theAPPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements to load an ActiveX control, the control's user interface is blocked until the user activates it. If a page uses these elements to load multiple controls, each interactive control must be individually activated. For this reason, certain web pages, including the default Adobe Flash Player web page, may require users to manually activate ActiveX controls by clicking on the control or using the TAB and ENTER keys.

For more information on this change, please see Microsofts Activating ActiveX Controls.

To eliminate the need to first activate the Adobe Flash Player so users can interact with Adobe Flash content, Adobe has created the Adobe Flash Active Content Update extension, which installs two HTML templates that Adobe Flash authors can use to embed their Adobe Flash SWF files. Using these templates, embedded SWF files will activate seamlessly without the need for an additional mouse click or other user activation.

Installing the Flash Active Content Update extension

If you have custom HTML pages that include Adobe Flash SWF files or other interactive controls (for example, HTML pages created using Dreamweaver with embedded Adobe Flash or other interactive content within), you will need to update those web pages to address the changes made by Microsoft to Internet Explorer. To learn more about modifying the existing HTML to automatically activate ActiveX controls, see the Adobe Active Content Developer Center.

To install the Adobe Flash Active Content extension

Download the Adobe Flash Active Content Update extension from the Flash Support Center Downloads page.
Download the extension to the desktop. The extension is packaged in a ZIP file.
Extract the MXP file from the ZIP, and double-click the MXP to install.
Read the Adobe extensions disclaimer and any third-party extension license that may be included.
Select Accept to continue with the installation, or select Decline to cancel the installation.
Restart the Adobe Flash application for the installation to take effect.

Publishing Adobe Flash content using an Active Content HTML template

Open the Adobe Flash movie you want to publish for the new Active Content HTML templates.
Do one of the following to open the Publish Settings dialog box:
- Select File > Publish Settings.
- In the Property inspector for the document (which is available when no objects are selected), click the Settings button.
On the Formats tab, the HTML file type is selected by default. In the File text box for the HMTL file, either use the default filename, which matches the name of the document, or enter a unique name, including the .html extension.
Click the HTML tab to display the HTML settings.

Select an installed Active Content template to use from the Template pop-up menu. The Active Content templates are:

_Active Content Update HTTP	Basic HTML template to display Adobe Flash content.
_Active Content Update HTTPS	Displays Adobe Flash content in HTML and directs users who dont have Adobe Flash Player installed to a secure HTTPS server to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

For general information on using Publish Settings, refer to the Adobe Flash documentation.
Choose the Publish button to publish the HTML file.
Run Apply Active Content Update from the Commands menu. This copies AC_RunActiveContent.js to the HTML output folder (the folder containing your published SWF file and the HTML template). You only need to perform this action once per folder.
Upload the SWF file, HTML template, and AC_RunActiveContent.js file to your website.