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Is there a feature in the HTML code to forcibly stop music and sound from playing?
I'm playing with the idea of using Vitalize in forum avatars, and it would be necessary to disable music and sound in them from the HTML code. An option like:
<PARAM NAME="DisableSound" VALUE="TRUE">
<PARAM NAME="DisableMIDI" VALUE="TRUE">
There is no parameter for that. I'll see if we can add one.
Dines, couldn't you just code your avatar with no sound and music applied or create a shortcut key or button on them to mute sounds, again coded into the avatar itself?
I think he wants everybody to be able to create and submit avatars to the forum, and if someone of them adds sound or music to theirs things will just get irritating. He can't ask everybody to not create avatars with sound or music - people love to break rules.
Just for info, even if I add these features that won't prevent people from using Direct Show or other sound objects to play sounds...
Aw right, I didn't think of that.
Yeah, but it's a start. People using DirectShow would presumably have to download the file from somewhere, or build it into their CCN.
Would CT consider releasing a little of the CCN file format specification, so webmasters can check certain details in the header on the server-side?
For instance, if someone uploaded an old gam file you could use PHP to test it and extract the author name, description, number of levels, and which extensions would be needed.
Having access to the extension table could be useful in vetting which ccn files are accepted as avatars. Sites like the VCade could use it to monitor competitions (e.g. a competition where a certain extension or group of extensions are either permitted or not permitted).
I guess it all depends on what parts of the CCN file are compressed.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, retrieving details like the game's frame dimensions would be one example of its use.
no way! that would just bring about another flash where everyone can decompile your game or get you level passwords, score submission frames etc. it is a worthless and stupid security lacking thing to doQuote:
Originally Posted by Dines
can be done by looking in the CCN temp folderQuote:
Originally Posted by Dines
I think u're jumpin the gun there, mate. I said 'A LITTLE' of the format. Header info, and the ext table if it's not compressed. I'm not asking for an entire format spec.Quote:
it is a worthless and stupid security lacking thing to do
My guess is, based on the way virtually every other format works, that it has an uncompressed header specifically so that other apps can read it easily. That's why so many formats have headers. It's a way of reading key data without having to comprehend the whole structure.
Finding the extensions using the CCN temp folder isn't viable in this scenario, since this is server-side. The point of reading the ext table and header is to allow the server to receive an uploaded file, check its extensions without running the app, and then weed out inappropriate CCNs.
We're not talking stripping images or decoding events. It was hard enough getting images from the old protected .gam files, I think things have got more advanced since then. A spec for the header won't compromise your apps any time soon.
It sounds like the most stupid feature I've heard 'upload a CCN and check for inapropraiate extensions' vitalize! does that for you.
And I've never heard of a site that allows you to upload EXEs or SWFs and check what they use or get header information or whatever, so I still see no point in doing the same thing with CCNs as its a huge security flaw. Release a bit of the format and people will have a real easy time guessing how the rest of the format works.
He means checking them for sound extensions so that he can have Vitalize! based forum avatars. I think a better idea would be to have an option in the embed code which can disable a specific MFX.Quote:
vitalize! does that for you.
...or embedding code that only allows specific MFX's or none at all to be loaded.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neat_Kliker2
To be honest you don't sound particularly nice when you don't agree with someone.Quote:
Originally Posted by neat_Kliker2
Yeah, I was gonna point that out, but arguments here get locked, so let's just let it ride. Any more and he'll just get a 'notify'. ;)
NK: You still don't seem to be getting this. I'm talking about the HEADER. This is the point of headers, they're MEANT to be read, it's kind of their purpose.
They enable you to see the number of tracks in a MIDI without playing it. They let you find the dimensions and resolution of a JPEG without building a decoder.
They're a universal standard.
I won't have build 247 until I can get a new CD Drive, so I can't do many tests on the format myself. But after a quick look, I have a nasty feeling that the CCN is compressed almost entirely after the Identifier Bytes (The 'PAME', 'GAME', 'GAPP', 'PAPP' codes used to identify a .gam or .cca). And I'm not expecting or asking CT to explain their encryption and compression algorythms, that would be thick (explaining quite neatly why I didn't ask for them in the first place, si?).
I think Jam and Nifflas' suggestions are fairly good alternatives. But how it would work, I'm not entirely sure. Something like:
<PARAM NAME="DisableMFX" VALUE="DIRECTSOUND.MFX, SOMETHING_ELSE.MFX">
<PARAM NAME="AllowMFX" VALUE="STRINGARRAY.MFX, LALALA.MFX">
A 'disable' would mean all MFXs run except the ones listed in this parameter.
An 'enable' would mean NO MFXs run, except those listed in the parameter.
<PARAM NAME="IsDisallowed" VALUE="blockedCCN.gif">
That could come in too, maybe? Rather than run the CCN without those extensions, having this optional parameter could instead show a 'blocked' picture in the vitalize display.
This would give you two potential ways of handling this. If you don't include the IsDisallowed, then the CCN just runs without the forbidden extensions. If you DO include it, then the CCN doesn't run at all, and instead Vitalize displays an image of your choice.
Thoughts?
EDIT: Just a little note, but I still get the feeling that a way to retrieve the size of the ccn from it is gonna be somehow important for things like the VCade. We've been doing it with GIF, PNG and JPG for years to help arrange layouts on webpages. Not having that ability with CCNs on serverside could pose a problem.
Let the user submit the size and problem out of the way ;)Quote:
EDIT: Just a little note, but I still get the feeling that a way to retrieve the size of the ccn from it is gonna be somehow important for things like the VCade. We've been doing it with GIF, PNG and JPG for years to help arrange layouts on webpages. Not having that ability with CCNs on serverside could pose a problem.
I do agree with the whole header idea. It could be a nice way to provide some information about the content of the vitalize file, such as it's title, window size, extensions used, and other things that php scripts might want to know when building automated systems that handles several vitalize apps.
Err, not quite. As Dines pointed out, a header contains all info in an uncompressed form that is easy readable, and says absolutely nothing about how the rest of the format works, as it doesn't even follow the rest of the format specifications. A header more or less only needs to contain a value to represent the size of the header, and some strings and/or values. There's nothing about a header that can be considered a security flaw, nor does it even give a hint how to understand the rest of the file.Quote:
so I still see no point in doing the same thing with CCNs as its a huge security flaw. Release a bit of the format and people will have a real easy time guessing how the rest of the format works.
I've never heard of sites where you just download lots of random .exe's anyway (either you download a .zip or installer) - but when it comes to all other formats, that statement doesn't work. There are many websites with file databases, that lists all files among with information directly from it's header, instead of asking the user for it when submitting the file. It's a very common and practical way to build file databases, without having to store information about each file in a separate database or file.Quote:
And I've never heard of a site that allows you to upload EXEs or SWFs and check what they use or get header information or whatever
A good use in case of Vitalize would for example be to get the width and height directly from the header, for the php script to output in the embed tag. This way, you will not have to store the width and height of each vitalize app externally when building a php script that can generate a 'view' page for several vitalize apps of different widths and heights. And yes, this is common with SWF files too.
My main concern is that people may type the wrong value, either intentionally or unintentionally. At the end of the day, if width and height are already stored in some convenient place on the header, you may as well just read it from the server. Cos at least you'll know it's right :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Villy
Just for info you can already get the size of the CCN, once it's loaded, via the getDefaultWidth and getDefaultHeight functions of the latest version of the Vitalize! ActiveX control and/or plugin (ps: these functions will be replaced by properties in the next version).
Dines, I've done what you suggested in the new version :
- new Sounds and Music parameters, to disable internal sounds and music in CCN applications. Usage :
In OBJECT tag : <PARAM NAME="Sounds" VALUE="no">
In EMBED tag : Sounds="no"
In OBJECT tag : <PARAM NAME="Music" VALUE="no">
In EMBED tag : Music="no"
- new DisableExts parameter. Allows you to disable a list of extensions. You have to specify the filename of the extensions to disable, without extension. Usage :
In OBJECT tag : <PARAM NAME="DisableExts" VALUE="kcbutton,kcedit,kcvfw">
In EMBED tag : DisableExts="kcbutton,kcedit,kcvfw"
- new EnableExts parameter. Allows you to disable all the extensions except for some of them. Usage :
In OBJECT tag : <PARAM NAME="EnableExts" VALUE="kcbutton,kcedit">
In EMBED tag : EnableExts="kcbutton,kcedit"
Note: if you use both EnableExts and DisableExts, only EnableExts is taken into account.
Hmm... there is a little issue with the feature to disable sounds and music, it has no effect with MMF 1.5 / TGF 1 CCN files. So I'll disable MMF1/TGF1 CCN files if these options are used. New version later today. :)
Yves: This is great! It should definitely be more than useful, particularily with avatars 'n stuff!
Yves, that was simply great product development support on your part. Thanks!
that is utterly awesome service my friend, thankyou :)
No problem :)