Modules: WebShow V.53_alpha Flash Media Manager Released

Posted by: tcnetOn 2007/5/2 1:51:58 10514 reads
Technical Crew Network is currently developing a Flash multimedia module for the XOOPS content management system.

The WebShow module uses a modified MyLinks directory and Jeroen Wijering's Flash Media Player v3.36 to catalog and play Flash media files, directories and webfeeds. WebShow is also a webfeed generator that will read and filter a media directory, generate an XSPF playlist and publish a webfeed button for syndication.

WebShow_v.50_alpha was released to dev.xoops.org on March 23, 2007. After some 300 downloads and no major complaints, I am pleased to offer, WebShow v.53_alpha for testing on non-production sites.

Usage
Musicians, video producers and graphic artists can catalog, display and syndicate samples of their creative works.

Indie Music sites can promote bands by genre/location, give each band a full web page, billboard specific acts and distribute multimedia playlists. Perfect for Creative Commons licensed acts.

Webcasters can archive, show and generate webfeeds of their podcast - vodcast library.

Webmasters can use this module to play copyright approved, podcast safe audio (mp3), videos (flv), animations (swf) and image (jpg, gif, png) slide show presentations with music. The module can also be used as a multimedia Web Feed Aggregator or Feed Catcher.

Catalog
Multiple categories with image and short description.
Group permissions for view, submit and auto approve.
Index page displays the categories and (n ) latest entries.
The category view displays the category title, image, description, navigation menus and (n ) sorted entries.
The single link view loads the media in the player, displays the entry's logo, description, website button, feed button, long text area and popup player button.

Flash Media Player
Parse and play utf-8 atom, rss or xspf xml webfeeds containing links to Flash media files.
Filter a media directory by file type, create and save an xspf playlist, and display a web feed syndication button.
Create, clone and modify custom players.
Module can inherit player's colors.
Display thumbnails and images for each track in the playlist.

Blocks
Playlist Links Block shows (n ) entries sorted by date, rating, popularity or at random. Options to show title, logo and statistics.
Billboard Block shows a specific, sorted or random entry with options to show title, logo, description and popup button.
Play It Block plays a specific, sorted or random entry. Options to show title, logo, description and popup button.

Notes
Jeroen Wijering's Flash Media Player is under a Non-Profit Share-A-Like Creative Commons License . Commercial users will need to buy a commercial license from Jeroen.

Upload media files with an FTP client. No media upload though the module

Front side users can submit a URL pointing to a single media file or an xml webfeed. They can not upload media files.

Use at your own risk! This module is in alpha, it is not recommended for production sites. This alpha version may be completely redesigned due to a recent upgrade of the Flash Media Player (3.37). I would suggest holding off on making a lot of entries until the beta version is released.

In its current state the player could cause heavy referrer server load when using playlists from external sites. A future version will cache external playlists.

Future Features
Retrieve and cache external playlists.
Incorporate phppp's Tag module.
Incorporate xoopseditors.
Generate latest entries web feed.
Upload media files through module.
Offer three usage levels: Directory, single page and stealth.

Credits{/b]
In order to teach myself how to build a XOOPS module, I have studied, emulated and used code written by real developers. This module would not exist without the open source contributions of the following masters.

Jeroen Wijering , Flash Media Player
Herve Thouzard (Hervet), MyLinks meta tags, admin forms
zoullou , XoopsFormColorPicker
Kazumi Ono (Onokazu) and Jochen Bünnagel (Bunny), XOOPS MyLinks Module

Thanks for sharing your time and talent with the XOOPS community.

[b]Disclaimer
By installing and using the WebShow module you agree that you will not use it to display, distribute or syndicate a third party's copyright protected media without the owner's permission. The WebShow software is not to be used to display or syndicate illegal or copyright protected media content. The creator of this software is not responsible for the media content it displays.

WebShow Links
Download WebShow from dev.xoops.org to get the latest release.
WebShow Help for administrators.
WebShow Tutorials for administrators.

Other Resources
Jeroen Wijering's Flash Media Player
XSPF Home

Requirements
Created and tested using XOOPS 2.0.16 or 2.2.4, php 4, mysql 5.0.22 and formatted for screen using IE6 at 1024x768 pixels.

Please publish all feature requests, bugs and suggestions on the dev site.