Flash OBJECT and EMBED tag attributes

This document lists the required and optional attributes of theOBJECT and EMBED tags used to publish Flash movies.

For specific usage information for these attributes, refer tosections of the Using Flash manual devoted to using OBJECT andEMBED tags (exact headings vary among Flash versions). Informationis also available in Macromedia FlashOBJECT and EMBED tag syntax (TechNote tn_4150).

For more information on scripting with Flash see Scriptingwith Flash.

Required attributes:

• CLASSID - Identifies the ActiveX control forthe browser. (See example code in TechNotetn_4150 for the correct value.) OBJECT only.
• CODEBASE - Identifies the location of theFlash Player ActiveX control so that the browser can automaticallydownload it if it is not already installed. OBJECT only. (Seeexample code in TechNotetn_4150 for the correct value.)
• WIDTH - Specifies the width of the movie ineither pixels or percentage of browser window.
• HEIGHT - Specifies the height of the movie ineither pixels or percentage of browser window.
• SRC - Specifies the location (URL) of themovie to be loaded. EMBED only.
• PLUGINSPAGE - Identifies the location of theFlash Player plug-in so that the user can download it if it is notalready installed. EMBED only. (See example code in TechNotetn_4150 for the correct value.)
• MOVIE - Specifies the location (URL) of themovie to be loaded. OBJECT only.

Optional attributes and possible values:

• ID - Identifies the Flash movie to the hostenvironment (a web browser, for example) so that it can bereferenced using a scripting language. OBJECT-specific.
• NAME - Identifies the Flash movie to the hostenvironment (a web browser, typically) so that it can be referencedusing a scripting language such as JavaScript or VBScript.EMBED-specific.
• SWLIVECONNECT - (true, false) Specifieswhether the browser should start Java when loading the Flash Playerfor the first time. The default value is false if this attribute isomitted. If you use JavaScript and Flash on the same page, Javamust be running for the FSCommand to work.
• PLAY - (true, false) Specifies whether themovie begins playing immediately on loading in the browser. Thedefault value is true if this attribute is omitted.
• LOOP - (true, false) Specifies whether themovie repeats indefinitely or stops when it reaches the last frame.The default value is true if this attribute is omitted.
• MENU (true, false)
  • True displays the full menu, allowing the user a variety ofoptions to enhance or control playback.
  • False displays a menu that contains only the Settings optionand the About Flash option.
• QUALITY - (low, high, autolow, autohigh, best)
  • Low favors playback speed over appearance andnever uses anti-aliasing.
  • Autolow emphasizes speed at first but improvesappearance whenever possible. Playback begins with anti-aliasingturned off. If the Flash Player detects that the processor canhandle it, anti-aliasing is turned on.
  • Autohigh emphasizes playback speed andappearance equally at first but sacrifices appearance for playbackspeed if necessary. Playback begins with anti-aliasing turned on.If the actual frame rate drops below the specified frame rate,anti-aliasing is turned off to improve playback speed. Use thissetting to emulate the View > Antialias setting in Flash.
  • Medium applies some anti-aliasing and does notsmooth bitmaps. It produces a better quality than the Low setting,but lower quality than the High setting.
  • High favors appearance over playback speed andalways applies anti-aliasing. If the movie does not containanimation, bitmaps are smoothed; if the movie has animation,bitmaps are not smoothed.
  • Best provides the best display quality anddoes not consider playback speed. All output is anti-aliased andall bitmaps are smoothed.
• SCALE - (showall, noborder, exactfit)
  • Default (Show all) makes the entire movievisible in the specified area without distortion, while maintainingthe original aspect ratio of the movie. Borders may appear on twosides of the movie.
  • No Border scales the movie to fill thespecified area, without distortion but possibly with some cropping,while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the movie.
  • Exact Fit makes the entire movie visible inthe specified area without trying to preserve the original aspectratio. Distortion may occur.
• ALIGN - (l, t, r, b)
  • Default centers the movie in the browser window and crops edgesif the browser window is smaller than the movie.
  • Left, Right, Top, and Bottomalign the movie along the corresponding edge of the browser windowand crop the remaining three sides as needed.
• SALIGN - (l, t, r, b, tl, tr, bl, br)
  • L, R, T, and B align themovie along the left, right, top or bottom edge, respectively, ofthe browser window and crop the remaining three sides asneeded.
  • TL and TR align the movie tothe top left and top right corner, respectively, of the browserwindow and crop the bottom and remaining right or left side asneeded.
  • BL and BR align the movie tothe bottom left and bottom right corner, respectively, of thebrowser window and crop the top and remaining right or left side asneeded.
• WMODE - (window, opaque, transparent) Sets theWindow Mode property of the Flash movie for transparency, layering,and positioning in the browser.
  • Window movie plays in its own rectangularwindow on a web page.
  • Opaque the movie hides everything on the pagebehind it.
  • Transparent the background of the HTML pageshows through all transparent portions of the movie, this may slowanimation performance.
    
    
    
    Note: This property is not supported in allbrowsers and platforms. For more information about WMODE see How to make aFlash movie with a transparent background (TechNotetn_14201).
• BGCOLOR - (#RRGGBB, hexadecimal RGB value)Specifies the background color of the movie. Use this attribute tooverride the background color setting specified in the Flash file.This attribute does not affect the background color of the HTMLpage.
• BASE - ( . or base directory orURL) Specifies the base directory or URL used to resolveall relative path statements in the Flash Player movie. Thisattribute is helpful when your Flash Player movies are kept in adifferent directory from your other files.
• FLASHVARS (variable to pass to FlashPlayer) Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6 or later.
  • Used to send root level variables to the movie. The format ofthe string is a set of name=value combinations separated by'&'.
  • Browsers will support string sizes of up to 64KB (65535 bytes)in length.
  • For more information on FlashVars, please refer to Using FlashVarsto pass variables to a SWF (TechNote tn_16417).

Note: Values in italics indicate that thedeveloper chooses the value.