Getting Started

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There are two versions of the Skinnable Web Radio: a "Flash Component" and a "Flash Applet". The version that you should use depends on what you need it for.

• Do you need to use this web radio within a larger Flash project?
• Are you knowledgeable in Flash 8 Programming and ActionScripting?

If yes, the Skinnable Web Radio Flash Component may be for you.

• Are you an HTML developer who has little knowledge of Flash?
• Do you just want to have a web radio embedded within a webpage?

  If yes, then the Skinnable Web Radio Applet may be for you.

Component Version

To install, open the "webradio.mxp" file. This will automatically install the component in your Macromedia Extension Manager.

Then, to use the component, simply drag an instance of the component to your Flash stage, and set the component properties accordingly. The actual web radio interface will not be viewable until the skinX.swf file is also present (in the path that was set in the Component Inspector).

The .swc and .mxi files are also available, but are normally not needed unless you wish to re-compile the component .mxp file for some reason.

A PDF API is available for component users who wish to set these parameters via function calls in ActionScript. Click here to view the API.

Applet Version

To install, just copy the appropriate HTML code from the skin HTML file (skinX.html) that you want to use:

Please note that there are some file path references that you must be careful of: "swfobject.js" must be correctly referenced in the <script> tag, and "webradio.swf" must be correctly referenced. In other words, if you upload the HTML to:

http://your_domain.com/path/to/radio/skin1.html

Then, you must also upload swfobject.js and webradio.swf to the "radio" folder. Likewise, you must ensure that the skin SWF path is correct. In this example, you would upload the skins folder to:

http://your_domain.com/path/to/radio/skins/skinX.swf

Getting the file path references wrong is the #1 reason that the applet does not work for users. Another big reason is syntax errors in the XML config file.

Background Color

You can change the background color of the applet simply by changing the "#ffffff" value this javascript string:

var webradio = new SWFObject("webradio.swf?"+res+"&xml=config.xml&player_skin=./skins/skin1.swf", "skin1", "361", "272", "8", "#ffffff", true);

webradio.addParam("quality", "high");
webradio.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "always");

Additionally, the background can be made transparent by use of the following additional code, which can be placed anywhere after the "var webradio = ..." command:

webradio.addParam("wmode", "transparent");