Passing Plug-in Data in URLs
QuickTime 5 introduces a new URL extension that allows you to specify a separate set of
<EMBED>
tag parameters for each movie as part of its URL. This provides much of the functionality of Plug-in Helper and is generally easier and more flexible than using Plug-in Helper to embed the settings inside a movie.
In addition, URL extensions can be added to the HTML automatically by any script that can output a text file. The syntax is
"<URL> T<Target> E<ParamA=Value ParamB=Value ...>"
The
T< >
parameter is optional. The
E<
>
parameter can enclose any of the QuickTime
<EMBED>
tag parameters. For example:
<EMBED SRC=Movie1.mov HEIGHT=256 WIDTH=320
CONTROLLER=False HREF="<Movie2.mov> T<myself>
E<CONTROLLER=True
AUTOPLAY=True>" >
This example tells the QuickTime Plug-in to play
Movie1.mov
with no controller, leaving the
AUTOPLAY
parameter unspecified (controlled by user preferences).
If the viewer clicks inside the movie's display area, the
HREF
parameter tells the plug-in to load
Movie2.mov
. The URL extensions
T<
>
and
E<
>
tell the plug-in to replace the current movie (
T<myself>
) and to autoplay with a controller (
E
<CONTROLLER=True
AUTOPLAY=True>
).
Note that the URL itself is surrounded by angle brackets, and quotes surround the URL and all its extensions jointly.
Parameter values set using this method take precedence over any values embedded in a movie using Plug-in Helper.
If you want to allow Plug-in Helper or the user preferences to override these settings, include the new
AllowEmbedTagOverrides
parameter in the
<EMBED>
tag (not in the extension), like this:
<EMBED SRC=Movie1.mov HEIGHT=256 WIDTH=320
CONTROLLER=False AllowEmbedTagOverrides=True
HREF="<Movie2.mov> T<myself>
E<CONTROLLER=True AUTOPLAY=True>"
>
Currently the
E<
>
URL extension is recognized only by the QuickTime plug-in. This extension is ignored when a URL is part of a movie playing in QuickTime Player.
But enough about URL syntax. Let's have some fun.
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