Embedding Sound in Web Pages, Part I: The EMBED Tag's Controls Attribute

The EMBED Tag's Controls Attribute

Adobe's Flash 10.1 Goes Mobile (Minus iPhone)

Navigator's Controls attribute determines the shape of the <EMBED> tag's control panel. The following table summarizes the different option values:

Attribute	Description
`CONTROLS="console"`	Specifies the default control panel with a start button, a stop button, a pause button, and a volume lever. Use `WIDTH="144"` and `HEIGHT="60"`.
`CONTROLS="smallconsole"`	Specifies a much shorter control panel with a start button, a stop button, and a volume lever. Use `WIDTH="144"` and `HEIGHT="15"`.
`CONTROLS="playbutton"`	Specifies a much reduced control panel with only a play button. Use `WIDTH="35"` and `HEIGHT="23"`. Usually used with the `MASTERSOUND` attribute (see below). Navigator 4.04 on Mac crashes if `CONTROLS="playbutton"`.
`CONTROLS="pausebutton"`	Specifies a much reduced control panel with only a pause button. Use `WIDTH="35"` and `HEIGHT="23"`. Usually used with the `MASTERSOUND` attribute (see below).
`CONTROLS="stopbutton"`	Specifies a much reduced control panel with only a stop button. Use `WIDTH="35"` and `HEIGHT="23"`. Usually used with the `MASTERSOUND` attribute (see below).
`CONTROLS="volumelever"`	Specifies a much reduced control panel with only a volume lever. Use `WIDTH="74"` and `HEIGHT="20"`. Usually used with the `MASTERSOUND` attribute (see below).

The MASTERSOUND attribute lets you control a single sound track with multiple control panels, usually single-buttoned, as explained above. When combining several buttons to control a single sound file, you must follow certain rules:

Use the same NAME attribute on all buttons.
Only one button is tagged with MASTERSOUND.
The button tagged with MASTERSOUND must point to the sound file. Other may point to other files, but they must point to some files.

Here is a simple example that shows how to synchronize four different buttons to control a single sound track:

<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="3">
<TR><TD><EMBED SRC="aladdin.mid" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="23" -->
     CONTROLS="playbutton" NAME="foobar" MASTERSOUND></TD>
<TD><EMBED SRC="xfiles.mid" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="23" -->
     CONTROLS="pausebutton" NAME="foobar"></TD>
<TD><EMBED SRC="xfiles.mid" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="23" -->
     CONTROLS="stopbutton" NAME="foobar"></TD>
<TD><EMBED SRC="xfiles.mid" VOLUME="50" WIDTH="74" HEIGHT="20" -->
     CONTROLS="volumelever" NAME="foobar"></TD></TR>
</TABLE>

Explorer's CONTROLLER attribute is similar to Navigator's CONTROL attribute. It specifies whether to display the control panel or not. Even if the control panel is not displayed, you can still control the media object by clicking the right mouse on it, and then selecting one of the menu options (bringing back the control, adding the digital display, or just running the sound track). Notice that the digital display can be added to any control panel by the same right clicking.

Attribute	Description
`CONTROLLER="true"`	Specifies the default control panel with a start&pause button, a stop button, and a position lever. Use `WIDTH="200"` and `HEIGHT="60"`.
`CONTROLLER="false"`	Specifies no control panel. Use `WIDTH="200"` and `HEIGHT="15"`. Try right-clicking the object where it is supposed to be placed. The popup menu allows you to bring back the controls and the digital control display.