Flash Banners...

doc1975 · January 23rd, 2008, 09:05 PM

I recently purchased a program (Incrediflash Intro & Banner Studio), for the sole purpose of creating quick and easy animated flash banners. Well, I have since created a few of these flash banners, when saved, it creates two files:

an .html file
an .swf file

Now when I try using the same code as I have used for my .gif banners, i substitute where necessary, and this is what I have used without success:

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

It does not display accordingly. I asume the code necessary to display the flash banner is quite different from the code needed to display the .jpg "banners" i've been using.

Could anyone please point me in the right direction as to what I need to do to get the banner to display correctly?

Thank you.

Chuck S · January 23rd, 2008, 09:16 PM

http://www.w3schools.com/flash/flash_inhtml.asp

This might assist you in knowing how to include a flash into html header etc

doc1975 · January 23rd, 2008, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the quick reply, I will definitely use your reference to begin studying up on this, but...

I did a little bit of searching and was able to locate a code generator, but the problem is I am attempting to add these banners into the 'Announcement Box' of the classifieds section as they are perfectly located where I need the banner displayed - as you very well know, the 'Announcement Box' does allow for html coding but is limitted to 200 characters. Is there by some stroke of luck, a way to increase the limit as the code that's been generate is a bit over 200 characters?

Thanks again for that quick reply!

Chuck S · January 24th, 2008, 09:21 AM

Well do so at your own risk as this would make the field a text field not varchar field. You need to run that in like php myadmin etc.

ALTER TABLE cp_settings CHANGE setting setting TEXT;

doc1975 · January 24th, 2008, 09:46 AM

If you suggest not to do so, I guess I wont as I know nothing of this and don't want to risk screwing things up. Going with the code on the site you suggested, what can I add to the string of code to center the banner, as when I do apply the code as is (changing out what necessary of course), it displays left of center. I have since removed the code, and replaced it with my original .gif banner.

On another thought, if I were to apply the flash banner in conjunction with Ad Peeps, would the code generated by Ad Peeps be short enough to fit within the 200 character limit... reason I ask is that in Ad Peeps feature description, it does say that it would generate "a small snippet of HTML Coding on your website". Thanks again for all your help.

Change of subject:

Do you happen to have a recommendation for a book/manual that I could begin learning some PHP programming and a bit on MySQL? Again, I know nothing other than how to copy/paste/substitute at this point, but would really like to be a bit more self sufficient.

Also, I have a few other questions I would like to ask you concerning some additional services I will be in need of, but would like your permission to contact you directly/privately concerning these matters.

Thanks.

Chuck S · January 24th, 2008, 09:52 AM

It wont screw things up but text fields are slower than varchar a bit so your admin panel may be a little slower. You dont set a text field unless you need one like say a photo description or comment field.

There are many books one can pick up at Barnes and Noble etc any book store really that one can read up on PHP/MYSQL.

doc1975 · January 24th, 2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck S

It wont screw things up but text fields are slower than varchar a bit so your admin panel may be a little slower. You dont set a text field unless you need one like say a photo description or comment field.

There are many books one can pick up at Barnes and Noble etc any book store really that one can read up on PHP/MYSQL.

If I did alter it (convert to text box), would the option to enable it still work in the admin panel? Also, you say it will make the admin panel a bit slower, will this make the site any slower to visitors, or just on the back-end?

Furthermore, would this change be applicable to only one section (i.e. the indexpage) or would this change be made across the board (to all announcement boxes) as I would Ideally like to offer advertisers the option to "sponsor" the individual categories with their own banners.

As far as the books, I am quite aware that Barnes and Noble, etc. have a plethora of books on PHP/MYSQL, I was hoping for a bit more guideance as to which you feel would be best for a noob such as I.

Thank you.

Chuck S · January 24th, 2008, 01:02 PM

Any php/mysql beginners book would do I cant suggest any as I dont have anything entry level.

Your free to alter the database field noted and see how things are they should be fine. I am merely noting that a text field is slower to access than a varchar field. You may not see any difference at all.

Also realize your free to edit the announcement template directly and bypass the whole entry field in the admin panel and hard code your banner in your template.