Page 2 of 3 It was time to create my first Flash Comm app, and I decided to stream a Macromedia Video Kit video file through a Dreamweaver page. I followed the steps mandated by this plugin for streaming a video, uploaded everything where it was supposed to go, and when I opened the file in the browser.... nothing. The screen was blank. There was a big white hole where the video was to be placed.
Image 2: The Video Kit for Dreamweaver
settings I used to connect to a file on my Flash Comm account.
For the next couple of days, I tried variations on the "spell" and still I saw only white. I finally surrendered to the frustration and decided to hunt down the "evil one" (Cowie) and confront him.
The hunt took a couple of days because, as I discovered, John is a busy guy. I called him, emailed him, even tried raising his specter on Instant Messaging. Nothing. The responses from John were similar to the white block that always taunted me whenever I tried another futile variation on the spell. What I didn't know was that this magician of the first order had taken pity upon me and passed my frantic pounding on his door to a magician of the second order.
Again this last sentence is weak. Maybe: "What I didn't know was that this magician of the first order had taken pity upon me (or my frantic door pounding had worried him), and he therefore bade help from a magician of the second order as a kind of holding action.
Thus, on the third day, I received an email from John saying he had passed on my frantic pleadings and shortly after that another arrived from the "Magician of The Second Order" explaining exactly how to set up the file in my Flash Comm account and the paths to be used in the Dreamweaver Plugin.
Image 3: The "Magician
of the Second Order" responds.
It was all so obvious now, and I happily rearranged the files to match the revealed incantation instructions. But when I opened the web page, I was again confronted with a white box. The box was just sitting there, mocking me. I could hear it whispering, "You fool. Forsake this quest. You have not the smarts".
The time had come to move beyond my current magician's demesnes and seek out the wizard who got me into this mess.
Being an author, writer, Team Macromedia Member and CMX partner does have its perks. When I get "stuck" I can ask my network in the "Band of Brothers" who did this or where can I find that and, inevitably, an answer will appear. When I outlined my problem, the name that kept appearing was the guy who actually did the Plugin, Peldi Guilizzoni.
I immediately sent Peldi an email and he immediately replied. I asked if I could bother him to help solve my problem. He agreed, and so I sent him an outline of my difficulties with a lightened heart.
Image 4: The problem is outlined to the
source of my frustration.
Imagine my surprise when I got a reply from another of the Magician Masters, Chris Hock. The solution was so obvious. How could I have missed it?
Image 5: At last, a solution from the
the Master Magician's Tower.
I immediately followed Chris' suggestions and still.... a white screen. Egad! Obviously, the magicians were toying with me, and the white screen remained as a mute testimony to my ineptitude.
I replied back to Chris with an email that desperately outlined my problem:
Image 6: A little email groveling with
a Magician never hurts.
The reply was succinct:
Image 7: The question is: How does one
tell a Magician that he doesn't make sense?
I meticulously followed the instructions, and still confronted the white screen. In a couple of weeks, I was going to visit the Magician's Tower in San Francisco. My options were clear: Seek out the Magician "Hock" and grovel at his feet.
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Keywords
Flash Communication Server
