free package
Fully functional, no restrictions
Easy to install on any website
XML customizable
GPL Licensed
Watermarked :
paid package
NO watermark:
plus a Flash component (AS2 + AS3) which can be used in Flash projects
Features
- resizable to the extent of 1680 x 1050 pixels
- rotation in any angle
- optional centered image
- customizable images width & height
- all possible rotations behaviors & speeds
- multiple roll over effects
- HTML formatted tooltip
- optional image frames & reflection
Installation instructions for:
How to install this 3D Carousel Menu on your website
Step 1. SWF embedding
Download the carousel.zip package and put all the files from this package into the same folder with the HTML file in which you want the component to be embedded.
You should know first of all that the SWF file is the one that actually represents the component, while the other files (settings.xml, images.xml and JPGs in the images folder) are the assets that the SWF file uses.
A short explanation on how SWFs and XMLs interacts you will find here.
Open your HTML file with a text editor and insert somewhere between the <head> </head> tags the following lines:
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var flashvars = {};
var params = {};
params.scale = "noscale";
params.salign = "tl";
params.wmode = "transparent";
var attributes = {};
swfobject.embedSWF("carousel.swf", "CarouselDiv", "600", "400", "9.0.0", false, flashvars, params, attributes);
</script>
For a fast and easy publishing, the best thing to do is to have the SWF file, the HTML file which embeds the SWF, the swfobject.js file, and the assets that the SWF uses (XMLs, JPGs folder) in the same folder.
If that is not possible, please read this detailed article on how to specify the paths correctly.
The above code itself isn’t enough to publish the SWF file on your webpage. You just need to add a div somewhere in the body section of your page (between the <body> </body> tags of your HTML file).
So, in a specific location of your HTML body section insert this div:
<div id="CarouselDiv"></div>
Step 2. Customization
You’ll be able to define a maximum size of 1680 in width and 1050 in height in the 3rd and 4th arguments of the swfobject.embedSWF() function above. Usually the same values as for carouselWidth and carouselHeight (which you will set below).
Now you will have to define the properties of your Carousel.
You can do that in two ways:
1. By editing the settings.xml file, or much simpler, set your values on the Live Demo above and press Generate settings.xml button, then select all (Ctrl+A) and copy-paste over the existing content of settings.xml file.
2. By using FlashVars. Right after this line:
var flashvars = {};
insert the values you desire for each property, like this:
flashvars.imagesXML = "images.xml";
flashvars.rotationAngle = "20";
flashvars.showCenteredImage = "true";
Note that the properties written through FlashVars will override those written in the settings.xml file.
If you intend to have multiple carousels on the same page, for the same carousel.swf file you’ll need to have different settings.
As a warning, setting useBlur to true and a high value to blurIntensity could considerable increase the CPU usage.
For a transparent background set in settings.xml file:
<backgroundColor value="0" />
or through FlashVars:
flashvars.backgroundColor = "0";
All is left to do is to put your own images, add the tooltip text and add the behavior for when clicking each image. All these through the images XML file. Open the images.xml file (or whichever file you specified as the imagesXML property in the settings.xml file) and define in each row the image path, the URL to go to when clicking the image, the target (_self for the same browser window, or _blank for a new browser window), and the tooltip text.
You can have as many images as you like. To add a new image add a new row in the XML file.
The Lightbox functionality (showing a bigger image and a description when clicking on an image) is provided too in the carousel.zip package, specifically in the index-with-lightbox-test-on-http-server.html file.
carousel.swf has a total size of 50 KB and embeds only the Verdana font. To be able to embed any other font you’ll need the Carousel Flash component.
If you’ll want to use the Carousel in Flash projects (FLA files), the Carousel is available as a Flash component (MXP file) in the paid package
Instructions on how to use the Carousel component in Flash you will find here.
Make sure your Wordpress version is greater than 2.8 and your hosting provider is using PHP5.
1. There are two files to download:
a. WordPress Plugin that you have to install and activate
b. Free package
2. Create a new folder inside your wp-content folder called flashxml, inside this folder create a new one called 3d-carousel-menu-fx and copy the content of the free package there
3. If you copied the free package to a location different than the one above, go to 3D Carousel Menu FX from the Settings tab from your WordPress Dashboard and update the path accordingly
4. Add [3d-carousel-menu-fx][/3d-carousel-menu-fx] where you want the Flash to show up in your post/page.
5. If you want to make the 3D Carousel Menu FX part of your theme, edit the template files and add <?php carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code(); ?> where you want it to show up
6. Customize your 3D Carousel Menu FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite wp-content/flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx/settings.xml
7. To use your own images, upload them to wp-content/flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx/images and update the wp-content/flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx/images.xml file accordingly
Additional settings file
To embed the 3D Carousel Menu FX more than once, you will need another settings file and (probably) another set of images. Let's assume your new file is called settings2.xml. Add [3d-carousel-menu-fx settings="settings2.xml"][/3d-carousel-menu-fx] where you want the Flash to show up in your post/page. If you made the Flash part of your theme, add the file name as the first argument of the carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code("settings2.xml"); ?>).
No Flash support text
To support visitors without Adobe Flash Player, you can provide alternative content by adding the text between [3d-carousel-menu-fx] and [/3d-carousel-menu-fx]. If you made the Flash part of your theme, add the text as the second argument of the carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code("","Alternative content"); ?>).
If you have PHP4
To make it work with PHP4, add [3d-carousel-menu-fx width="600" height="300"][/3d-carousel-menu-fx] where you want the Flash to show up in your post/page. If you made the Flash part of your theme, add the width and height as the third and fourth argument of the carouselmenufx_echo_embed_code() function call. Don't forget to provide your own width and height values, since 600 and 300 are just examples.
Getting rid of the FlashXML.net label
To remove the FlashXML.net label from the top-left corner you'll need to buy the paid package. Once you'll do that, simply use the SWF file from the paid package to overwrite the SWF file from the wp-content/flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx/ folder.
Make sure your Joomla version is 1.5 and your hosting provider is using PHP5.
Joomla Module Instructions:
1. There are two files to download (both under GPL License):
a. Joomla Module that you have to install and enable
b. Free package
2. Create a new folder inside your Joomla folder called flashxml, inside this folder create a new one called carouselmenufx and copy the content of the free package there
3. If you copied the free package to a location different than the one above, update the Path from module's parameters accordingly
4. Customize your 3D Carousel Menu FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite flashxml/carouselmenufx/settings.xml
Joomla Plugin Instructions:
1. There are two files to download (both under GPL License):
a. Joomla Plugin that you have to install and enable
b. Free package
2. Create a new folder inside your Joomla folder called flashxml, inside this folder create a new one called carouselmenufx and copy the content of the free package there
3. If you copied the free package to a location different from the one above, update the Path from module's parameters accordingly
4. Add {carouselmenufx}{/carouselmenufx} where you want the Flash to show up in your article
5. Customize your 3D Carousel Menu FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite flashxml/carouselmenufx/settings.xml
6. The default name for the settings file is settings.xml, but if you want to use another file (for example settings2.xml), specify the name like this: {carouselmenufx settings="settings2.xml"}{/carouselmenufx} where you want the component to show up in your article
7. In some cases the width and height will not be read from the settings.xml file but you can specify them like this: {carouselmenufx width="400" height="300"}{/carouselmenufx}. Don't forget to provide your own width and height values, since 400 and 300 are just examples.
Getting rid of the FlashXML.net label
To remove the FlashXML.net label from the top-left corner you'll need to buy the paid package.
Once you will do that, simply use the SWF file from the paid package to overwrite the SWF file from the flashxml/carouselmenufx/ folder.
How to install this 3D Carousel Menu in a new or existing Adobe Flash project
Below you will see instructions on how to install and use the 3D Carousel Component (commercial package) in Flash (available for Flash 8, Flash CS3, CS4, and Flash Player 9 or later).
For basic instructions on how to integrate the Carousel’s SWF file into HTML/PHP, click here.
You can watch an installation video tutorial of the component in Flash by clicking here.
In this video you will also see:
- how to create an instance of the Carousel on the stage: from the Components panel (Ctrl+F7) drag & drop the Carousel component on the stage
- how to give a name to that instance for further use in ActionScript: click on the component instance on the stage and from the Properties panel (Ctrl+F3) enter a name (let’s say Carousel) in the text input
- how to access the properties of the Carousel (read or modify) during different moments of your Flash application
Any of the 50 properties of the Carousel could be accessed that way. The names of the properties are identical with the ones you see on the Live Demo.
For example, at any point during your Flash movie you can set:
Carousel.perspective = 30;
Carousel.stopOnRollOver = true;
Carousel.rollOverBehavior = "max";
or you can simply read the values:
var b1:Boolean = Carousel.useReflection;
var s1:String = Carousel.inverseRotation;
var n1:Number = Carousel.stoppingSpeed;
The properties of the Carousel can be of any of the three types: Number, String, Boolean. I assume it’s intuitive of which type each property is, and I will not make a list.
Warning! Setting the parameters of the Carousel component in the Component Inspector window (Shift+F7) and in the same time having a settings.xml file populated with different values for each property, the properties from the settings.xml file will have priority (meaning that a parameter set in the Component Inspector will be ignored if that parameter is also defined in the XML file)
Now maybe the most useful information consists in the events the Carousel is dispatching, and instructions on how to catch these events.
So when the user clicks on an image, the Carousel dispatches:
- thumbPressed (when the mouse was pressed)
- thumbReleased (when the mouse was released)
Along with these events, the id of the thumb pressed or released is being dispatched.
Usually you will use just one of these two, personally I like to use thumbReleased.
Other events:
- rollOverThumb
- rollOutThumb
- thumbLoaded
- frontThumb
(all these three come too with the id of the thumb being rolled over / rolled out / loaded / frontmost)
- allThumbsLoaded
Note: the order of the ids is given by the order of the images in the images.xml file.
Here is an example on how to catch these events:
in AS2:
var event1:Object = new Object();
Carousel.addEventListener("thumbPressed", event1);
event1.thumbPressed = function (obj:Object) {
trace (obj.id);
}
in AS3:
addEventListener("thumbPressed", thumbPressed,true);
function thumbPressed(event:Event):void
{
trace("thumbPressed " + Carousel.id);
}
If you’ll catch the events of the Carousel and create different behaviors for clicking the thumbs, you may want to de-activate the option of going to a specific URL address in the images.xml file. To do that, simply delete the url or target attributes in the images.xml file.
Similar products
Do you have a question?
you will get an answer in 24 hours, tops.
Jeff
Posted 22 Days AgoHi there,
I’m planning to get the paid license, but I can’t seem to get the carousel to a bigger size.
I tried to change it in settings.xml and even after clearing cache, it just still won’t get bigger, neither in firefox nor in IE8.
Hi,
Make sure you use index.php or index.html.
If you use one delete the other one.
ddagmij
Posted 22 Days AgoHas anybody used this in a Zen Cart site? If so, is there any information available on how to install and use in Zen Cart?
Hello,
Yes, you can use it. Unfortunatley, our knowledge is limited in this domain, so please read this tutorial.
Craig
Posted 22 Days AgoI’m trying to implement this component into a wiki page. can you help? i dont know the syntax for embedding a swf and im confused as to where i should host the other elements of the component.
Hello,
You will find a tutorial for that here .
james43
Posted 23 Days AgoJust installed this and noticed that it worked very well with google chrome but when I opened it in internet explorer it didn’t seem to resize with the page and looked smaller and out of sync, is there a way of fixing this?
Hi,
Could you give me a link you your website?
I’ll check it out.
subsee
Posted 23 Days AgoI tried adding new images and updated the images.xml file but the carousel is still displaying the default pictures.
Hello,
That is probably because your browser has already cached the previous versions of the xml files. Try emptying your browser’s cache and re-visiting your page.
subsee
Posted 23 Days AgoHi,
how do you change from the default pictures using joomla?
Hello,
You put your images in the images folder, your big images in the images/big folder and then open the images.xml file, and update it with the names of your photos.
Jason Antao
Posted 23 Days AgoThank you for your email. Much appreciated. Once again, I just wanna publicaly acknowledge how great your products are and encourage anyone to purchase the commercial license and to consider purchasing the components instead of just using the freeware. Support for these products by FlashXML is amazingly good!! ten out of ten!
Jason Antao
Posted 23 Days AgoOh, so what benefit do I get purchasing the personal license over using the free version? I think I just bought the wrong license. I feel the personal license has not offered me anything different.
Note to self and peeps, rather buy the commercial license. Unfortunately I cannot purchase it right now :/ Darn it! My mistake
Jason Antao
Posted 23 Days AgoHi there, I have purchased the personal license for the product, but I notice that I still have the flash link on the carousal. I have replaced the swf file but to no avail. I don’t see anything extra. Just wondering what I actually purchased that is extra. Am I doing something wrong? Love the the little spinner though, it makes me giggle I am so happy it works so well. Just wondering about the link and purchase.
Hi,
When you purchase the commercial archive the logo will no longer appear.
Make sure that you replace properly the SWF file.
Thank you.
Jason
Posted 26 Days AgoI am trying to use the 3D Carousel Menu FX, but for some reason it will not appear on my website. I if you look at the code on the page (like I did in fire bug), you will find in the blank white space that the 3D Carousel Menu FX code is appearing. But for some reason nothing is coming up.
As suggested: – Picture files are under both wp-content/flashxml3d-carousel-menu-fx/images and wp-content/flashxml3d-carousel-menu-fx/images – the web page is set at flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx
I can see the flash under http://mywebsite(see below)/community/wp-content/flashxml/3d-carousel-menu-fx/carousel.swf
However, it will not appear on my wordpress page.
Hi,
I don’t know the reason but the swfobject.js file that is required to display the Carousel Menu it’s not loading on your website. Send to support[at]flashxml.net the login details to your wordpress admin and to your FTP so we can check it.