SWF file not launching in Chrome

Question

I have 10 html files, essentially they are quizzes that end users can open in Chrome, Safari and Firefox on both Macs and PCs.

These files were originally created about 3 years ago and now I'm finding that the latest versions of Chrome and Safari will not open on a Mac, not sure about PCs.

From my very limited knowledge about coding, these html files should be launching a .swf file that plays in the browser. Is this something that is easily fixable?

Answer 1

"My end users are not doing the quizzes online, they simply download the zip, unzip, and take the quiz. Basically they are doing these locally"

If you're willing to skip using Flash Player (the browser plugin) and just run Flash Player as a desktop application then it will run your Quiz fine.

I working am on a Windows PC. The FlashPlayer.exe should already exist on your device (ie: the browser runs it within web pages as a "plugin").

Any SWF can be right-clicked in file explorer then choose "Open with Flash Player". Maybe package such free stand-alone players in some folder with your Quiz?

Edit:

"So would you recommend having a separate package for each quiz? One for Windows and one for Mac?... Finally, by adding the stand alone player, how would the .swf file know to use the player, instead of the default .swf player on the end users computer?"

Here is the link for standalone FlashPlayers (called Projectors) from Adobe. The Projector is also a window like in picture above. Visually there is no difference between versions installer & standalone, except the installer version becomes known to other apps of your OS (eg: browsers)

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html

PC (exe) : Download the Flash Player projector

MAC (dmg) : Download the Flash Player projector

(no installation, just download and run the .exe / .dmg file). Drag swf file into the window. Test this for both operating systems.

Once tested, then decide on instructions for end-users. Apparently they can't be privately distributed (see note below), so on your site maybe offer separate links for both quiz & these player downloads.

1) Either inform users to run the downloaded standalone player & drag Quiz swf into player window when it shows.

2) Or try making some script/batch file. For example to test now on PC just put standalone player into same location as Quiz.swf. Now open NotePad program paste this text :

start flashplayer_24_sa.exe quiz.swf

Save as StartQuiz.bat in same location as Quiz.swf. Now test by double-clicking StartQuiz.bat to see it all run automatically. Research the MAC/OSx equivalent of such a script file.

note about distribution : Check with them if it's okay to package... Adobe says these are for testing by devs only & must not be distributed to general public. I think their logic (or fear?) is that if too many standalone player links are out there, the average web users might get the wrong version & won't understand when it's not showing within browsers etc.

Answer 2

Have you updated your version of the Flash plug-in? If .swf files aren't playing that could be the culprit, it could also be a setting where Flash is disabled in your browser.