Flash Article

Flash video template: Dynamic video playlist

Understanding the files and servers

Before beginning the development of your dynamic playlist application, you should understand how to deploy it to the web. The setup differs for progressive and streaming delivery, but only slightly. The biggest difference is where you place your video files. Take a closer look (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Server configuration and file locations for both progressive and streaming delivery

No matter which delivery method you choose, you'll have to upload your application SWF and associated files to your standard web server. All of these files are required:

• AC_RunActiveContent.js (required for full-screen playback)
• playlist.xml
• SkinUnderPlayStopSeekFullVol.swf (or another player skin of your choosing)
• VideoPlaylist.html
• VideoPlaylist.swf
• /thumbs directory containing all thumbnail JPGs specified in playlist.xml

You'll also need to upload your video files. The location you place them depends on your delivery method.

For progressive delivery, just create a new directory called videos in the same location as the files above and copy all of your files there. After doing so, you're ready to test your application.

Note: You can download the free Flash Media Development Server 3 for local testing or sign up for an account with a Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS) provider if you don't yet own a Flash Media Server license.

For streaming delivery, you will need to upload your videos to Flash Media Server (FMS). The setup is quite simple. This article assumes that you are running FMS locally, but the application setup would be the same if you were using a remote server. Follow these steps to set up your FMS application:

1. Create a directory inside the Applications directory (in your Flash Media Server directory) called videoplaylist.
2. Copy the generic main.asc file (provided) into videoplaylist.
3. Create a streams directory inside videoplaylist.
4. Create a _definst_ directory inside the streams directory.
5. Place the video files that you wish to appear in your playlist in this _definst_ directory.

That's all the setup required on the server side for streaming delivery. You'll then be ready to connect to the application and test your streaming video playlist (once you create it, of course—I'm getting to that!)

The ActionScript for your playlist is identical for either deployment method. The only difference is in the source path of your videos in the playlist.xml file. I cover this in more detail in the next section.

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