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 (AS3) which can be used in Flash projects
Features
- Papervision3D engine
- multiple camera and plane views
- auto play options
- extensive tooltip properties
- unlimited number of images
- supports multiple types of images
- customizable overall width and height
- supports different images widths and heights
- configurable reflection
- optional scroll bar with multiple skins
- external PNGs (changeable) for play/pause buttons
Installation instructions for:
How to install this Cover Flow on your website
Step 1. SWF embedding
Download the coverflow.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("coverflow.swf", "CoverFlowDiv", "600", "260", "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="CoverFlowDiv"></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 widthComponent and heightComponent (which you will set below).
Now you will have to define the properties of your Cover Flow.
You can do that by editing the settings.xml file, or much simpler, set your values on the Live Demo above and press Generate button, then select all (Ctrl+A) and copy-paste over the existing content of settings.xml file.
If you intend to have multiple Cover Flows on the same page, for the same coverflow.swf file you’ll need to have different settings. Please read here how publish a component twice on the same page.
Now all you have 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 XML file with a text editor 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.
To add Lightbox functionality (showing a bigger image and a description when clicking on an image) please read this article.
If you’ll want to use the Cover Flow in Flash projects (FLA files), the Cover Flow is available as a Flash component (MXP file) in the paid package
Instructions on how to use the Cover Flow component in Flash you will find here.
To be able to remove the FlashXML.net label from the top-left corner you will need to purchase the paid package
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 cover-flow-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 Cover Flow FX from the Settings tab from your WordPress Dashboard and update the path accordingly
4. Add [cover-flow-fx][/cover-flow-fx] where you want the Flash to show up in your post/page.
5. If you want to make the Cover Flow FX part of your theme, edit the template files and add <?php coverflowfx_echo_embed_code(); ?> where you want it to show up
6. Customize your Cover Flow FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite wp-content/flashxml/cover-flow-fx/settings.xml
7. To use your own images, upload them to wp-content/flashxml/cover-flow-fx/images and update the wp-content/flashxml/cover-flow-fx/images.xml file accordingly
Additional settings file
To embed the Cover Flow 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 [cover-flow-fx settings="settings2.xml"][/cover-flow-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 coverflowfx_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php coverflowfx_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 [cover-flow-fx] and [/cover-flow-fx]. If you made the Flash part of your theme, add the text as the second argument of the coverflowfx_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php coverflowfx_echo_embed_code("","Alternative content"); ?>).
If you have PHP4
To make it work with PHP4, add [cover-flow-fx width="600" height="300"][/cover-flow-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 coverflowfx_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/cover-flow-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 coverflowfx 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 Cover Flow FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite flashxml/coverflowfx/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 coverflowfx 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 {coverflowfx}{/coverflowfx} where you want the Flash to show up in your article
5. Customize your Cover Flow FX using the Live Demo from the top of this page. Generate the settings.xml text and use it to overwrite flashxml/coverflowfx/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: {coverflowfx settings="settings2.xml"}{/coverflowfx} 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: {coverflowfx width="400" height="300"}{/coverflowfx}. 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/coverflowfx/ folder.
Below you will see instructions on how to install and use the Cover Flow Component in Flash (available for Flash CS3, CS4, and Flash Player 9 or later).
For basic instructions on how to integrate the Cover Flow’s SWF file into HTML/PHP, click here.
You can watch an installation video tutorial of a very similar component in Flash (3D Carousel Menu FX) by clicking here.
In this video you will see:
- how to create an instance of the component on the stage: from the Components panel (Ctrl+F7) drag & drop the 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 in the text input
- how to access the properties of the component (read or modify) during different moments of your Flash application
Any property of the Component could be accessed that way. The names of the properties are identical with the ones from the settings.xml file.
The properties of the component can be of any of the three types: Number, String, Boolean. We assume it’s intuitive of which type each property is.
Warning! Setting the parameters of the 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)
For now, this component doesn't dispatch events, but stay tuned for an update.
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Do you have a question?
you will get an answer in 24 hours, tops.
Benjamin
Posted 16 Days AgoAbout my last post: I already figured it out.
I can set the follwing property to an index: currentIndexPicture
So it looks something like this:
coverflowInstance.currentIndexPicture = 4;
Ben
Posted 16 Days AgoI have bought the full version of the coverflow.
Is it possible to acces public methods of the component? I want to build a search engine around it and then tell the component to select a certain index. The it has to animate to the index.
Greetings Ben
Hi,
You’ll be able to access only the public properties via code (the same that are in the settings.xml file).
Thank you.
Mike Locke
Posted 17 Days AgoHow do I remove the FlashXML.net label? I currently customized the free version the way I wanted, but then purchased the personal license. So I just simply want to remove the label, but keep all my settings. Thx ~ Mike
Hello,
Swap out the .swf file inside the free archive with the .swf file from the archive you downloaded when you bought the component.
Signguy
Posted 18 Days AgoI installed everything correctly to best of my knowledge. I am having trouble viewing coverflow fx in other browsers on my other computers. I tried other windows computers in my home and my macs. I can see it on my computer… (which is the one I am uploading and working on the site with. But the others can not view it. A large blank area is all I see. I tried to reset cookies, cache etc. did not work. Is it an issue with wordpress? Can someone advise me on this.
www.wedosigns.biz (still under construction, of course)
Kevin, the signguy
Hi,
You have to change the value of imagesXML attribute from your settings.xml to images.xml because you’re using images2.xml and you don’t have this file.
prnike
Posted 23 Days AgoHow to install in Dreamweaver
Hello,
You will find a tutorial for that here .
nc
Posted 25 Days AgoResolved my issue. Turns out your XML output from the full-screen demo had some sort of issue. I am not sure what line of code, but I went into the standard settings.xml and changed some stuff myself. Seems to work fine. Changes do require I delete cache on my browser
nc
Posted 25 Days AgoCorrection: I didn’t realize you needed to edit images.xml – However, no matter what changes i make to settings.xml the player remains exactly the same as demo. I’ve since taken the demo site down because I needed the space. Is there a cache issue or something ?
Nc
Posted 25 Days AgoI’ve loaded the trial onto my site following your Joomla instructions. I have deleted all the images excluding 3 of my own for demo purposes. I’m getting a load icon and nothing more. Please see http://demo.nektonicweb.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93&Itemid=161
I would love to buy the commercial one but I don’t understand the issue.
James Fisher
Posted 25 Days AgoHi,
I have a couple of questions.
Can Coverflow FX be used to display videos from YouTube/Vimeo either in the coverflow itself or in a lightbox when a coverflow image is clicked or do the video need to be hosted on the same server?
Can videos displayed in the coverflow (on the same server) have a full screen option?
This will be used on a Joomla site.
Thanks,
James
Hi,
I’m sorry but only FLV files can be used in the Cover Flow. The full screen button it’s also not implemented yet.
Tuesday
Posted 26 Days AgoHI
I tried to install the program on wordpress but got an error saying
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in /home/content/D/r/e/mysiteaddress/PurpleInkBlog/wp-content/plugins/cover-flow-fx/cover-flow-fx.php on line 35”\
I looked at the line of code, but I don’t know what it should be changed to to fix it. Can you please help me? As of now I can’t activate the plugin at all.
Hi,
Please make sure your domain uses PHP 5.