Converting from AniS to FlAniS
July, 2008
Let's suppose we have a simple animation already in AniS. The HTML looks like this:
<![CDATA[
<applet archive="aniscode.jar" code="AniS.class" codebase="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/webcode/anis" width=
"635" height="600" alt="You must have Java installed and working to see this page">
<param name="controls" value="overlay,startstop,show,looprock,speed,step,zoom,refresh">
<param name="image_preserve" value="0,0,1000,11">
<param name="file_of_filenames" value="mkx_radar_loop.out">
<param name="backcolor" value="#FFFFFF">
<param name="transparency" value="#000000">
<param name="overlay_labels" value="<20 dBZ, County Map, Cities, Weather, Watches/Warnings">
<param name="pause_percent" value="250">
</applet>
]]>
The first thing to do is to copy the HTML "template" file and make the changes needed
therein:
- change the location of the flanis.swf on your server (this example shows that
ours is in "/webcode/anis/flanis.swf" - a common location for all creators)
- change the HEIGHT and WIDTH values in two places
- change the configFilename= value in two places
When you are done, the HTML should look like this:
<![CDATA[
<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" WIDTH="635" HEIGHT="600" id="flanis">
<PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="/webcode/anis/flanis.swf">
<PARAM NAME=quality VALUE="high">
<PARAM NAME="menu" value="false">
<PARAM NAME="FlashVars" value="configFilename=mkx_loop.cfg">
<EMBED src="/webcode/anis/flanis.swf" NAME="flanis" swLiveConnect="false" quality=high menu=false
WIDTH="635" HEIGHT="600" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"
PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noscale"
FlashVars="configFilename=mkx_loop.cfg">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>
]]>
Next, you need to create the "configuration" text file that contains the values for the
<PARAM> items in the old AniS. In the HTML, above, we named this file "mkx_loop.cfg"
because it is unique to the "mkx" loop.
This configuration file would look like this:
<![CDATA[
# config file for MKX radar animation
controls = overlay,startstop,show,looprock,speed,step,zoom,refresh
image_preserve = 0,0,1000,11
file_of_filenames = mkx_radar_loop.out
backcolor = #FFFFFF
transparency = #000000
overlay_labels = <20 dBZ, County Map, Cities, Weather, Watches/Warnings
pause_percent = 250
controls_tooltip = overlay, Click this button to start/stop the animation, Click this button to print a copy of the display, Click this button to change better loop and rock modes, Use the slider to adjust the speed of the animation, Step one frame - forward or backward, Click this button to enable zooming by clicking on the image, Click this button to refresh the image data from the server
overlay_tooltip = Display dBZ values less than 20, Display county outlines, Display city names, Display current weather, Display severe weather watches and warnings
]]>
Note that I have also included the "tooltip" for each of the controls and overlays;
otherwise, the first portion of this file is identical in information content to the
%lt;PARAM> information in the AniS Java applet tags.
You are done!
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