Cross Browser Flash Detection in Javascript

Question

Does anyone have an example of script that can work reliably well across IE/Firefox to detect if the browser is capable of displaying embedded flash content. I say reliably because I know its not possible 100% of the time.

Answer 1

I agree with Max Stewart. SWFObject is the way to go. I'd like to supplement his answer with a code example. This ought to to get you started:

Make sure you have included the swfobject.js file (get it here):

<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>

Then use it like so:

if(swfobject.hasFlashPlayerVersion("9.0.115"))
{
    alert("You have the minimum required flash version (or newer)");
}
else
{
    alert("You do not have the minimum required flash version");
}

Replace "9.0.115" with whatever minimum flash version you need. I chose 9.0.115 as an example because that's the version that added h.264 support.

If the visitor does not have flash, it will report a flash version of "0.0.0", so if you just want to know if they have flash at all, use:

if(swfobject.hasFlashPlayerVersion("1"))
{
    alert("You have flash!");
}
else
{
    alert("You do not flash :-(");
}

Answer 2

View the source at http://whatsmy.browsersize.com (lines 14-120).

Here is the abstracted cross browser code on jsbin for flash detection only, works on: FF/IE/Safari/Opera/Chrome.

Answer 3

what about:

var hasFlash = function() {
    var flash = false;
    try{
        if(new ActiveXObject('ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash')){
            flash=true;
        }
    }catch(e){
        if(navigator.mimeTypes ['application/x-shockwave-flash'] !== undefined){
            flash=true;
        }
    }
    return flash;
};

Answer 4

If you are interested in a pure Javascript solution, here is the one that I copy from Brett:

function detectflash(){
    if (navigator.plugins != null && navigator.plugins.length > 0){
        return navigator.plugins["Shockwave Flash"] && true;
    }
    if(~navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf("webtv")){
        return true;
    }
    if(~navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE") && !~navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera")){
        try{
            return new ActiveXObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash") && true;
        } catch(e){}
    }
    return false;
}

Answer 5

Code for one liner isFlashExists variable:

<script type='text/javascript'
    src='//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/swfobject/2.2/swfobject.js'> </script>

<script type='text/javascript'>
   var isFlashExists = swfobject.hasFlashPlayerVersion('1') ? true : false ;
   if (isFlashExists) {
    alert ('flash exists');
   } else {
    alert ('NO flash');
   }
</script>

Note that there is an alternative like this: swfobject.getFlashPlayerVersion();

Answer 6

Have created a small .swf which redirects. If the browser is flash enabled it will redirect.

package com.play48.modules.standalone.util;

import flash.net.URLRequest;


class Redirect {


static function main() {

    flash.Lib.getURL(new URLRequest("http://play48.com/flash.html"), "_self");

}

}