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General website
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Wordpress
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Facebook
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Joomla
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Flash
Step 1. SWF embedding
Download the 3d-carousel-menu.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="/img/spacer.gif">
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 3D Carousel Menu.
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 3DCarouselMenuFX.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) can be added following the steps from this tutorial.
3DCarouselMenuFX.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 3D Carousel Menu 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 3D Carousel Menu component in Flash can be found here.
You can see an example on how to add a product in your Wordpress article/page here and how to add it in your theme or as a widget 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 in 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 fx3dcarouselmenu_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. Download the ZIP file and use the included settings.xml file 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 fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code("settings2.xml"); ?>).
Add as widget
To add the 3D Carousel Menu FX as a widget, go to Widgets from the Appearance tab in your WordPress Dashboard, then drag and drop the 3D Carousel Menu FX from Available Widgets to the widget area you want. You can specify a different settings.xml file and an alternative content for users without Adobe Flash Player from the widget's settings.
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 fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code() function call (for example <?php fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code("", "Alternative content"); ?>).
Change WMODE
By default, the WMODE value is transparent but you can change it to window from the 3D Carousel Menu FX in the Settings tab in your WordPress Dashboard. For widgets, this can be done from the widget's settings. If you want to have a different WMODE value in a specific place, it can be done like this: [3d-carousel-menu-fx wmode="window"][/3d-carousel-menu-fx]. If you're using the PHP function, here's an example on: <?php fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code("", "", 0, 0, "window"); ?>.
If you have PHP4
To make it work with PHP4, add [3d-carousel-menu-fx ][/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 fx3dcarouselmenu_echo_embed_code() function call. 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'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.
You can see an example on how to add a product in a Facebook page here.
1. Download the free package. You need to host all the included files from the package on your own domain, since Facebook doesn't allow file hosting.
2. Log in to your Facebook account.
3. Go to the Developer application.
4. Click on Set Up New App and create a new application.
5. Go to Facebook Integration, fill in the Canvas Page text field (minimum 7 characters), Canvas URL with the URL to where the Flash is located, make sure the Canvas Type is br, br Size is Auto-resize and fill in the Tab URL text field.
6. Then go to Application Profile Page, choose Add to My Page from the left menu and click on Add to Page next to the page you want
7. Go to the page where you added the application, click on Edit Page, go to Apps, click on Edit Setttings of the application you previously created and fill in the Custom Tab Name then click Save and Okay
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 do that, simply use the SWF file from the paid package to overwrite the SWF file from the location where you hosted all the files from the free package.
The module is used for adding the product in one or more pages in a given position (e.g. top, bottom, sidebar) while the plugin is used for adding the product inside a specific article.
You can see an example on how to install a module in your Joomla 1.5 website here, how to install a plugin in your Joomla 1.5 website here, how to install a module in your Joomla 1.6 website here and how to install a plugin in your Joomla 1.6 website here.
Make sure your Joomla version is at least 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 (version 1.5 or version 1.6+) 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 3dcarouselmenufx 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. Download the ZIP file and use the included settings.xml file to overwrite flashxml/3dcarouselmenufx/settings.xml
Note that the Joomla Module can only be used once in your website.
Joomla Plugin Instructions:
1. There are two files to download (both under GPL License):
a. Joomla Plugin (version 1.5 or version 1.6+) 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 3dcarouselmenufx 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 plugin's parameters accordingly
4. Add {3dcarouselmenufx}{/3dcarouselmenufx} 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. Download the ZIP file and use the included settings.xml file to overwrite flashxml/3dcarouselmenufx/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: {3dcarouselmenufx settings=settings2.xml}{/3dcarouselmenufx} 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: {3dcarouselmenufx }{/3dcarouselmenufx}. Don't forget to provide your own width and height values, since 400 and 300 are just examples.
Changing WMODE
By default, the WMODE value is transparent but you can change it to window from the module/plugin's parameters. If you want to have a different WMODE value in a specific article, it can be done like this: {3dcarouselmenufx wmode=window}{/3dcarouselmenufx}.
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/3dcarouselmenufx/ folder.
Below you will see instructions on how to install and use the 3D Carousel Component in Flash (available for Flash 8, Flash CS3, CS4, CS5 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.
