How to add 3rd party plugin content properly to a SmartClient powered website ...

[SchlauKunde]

I have seen that there is a dedicated SmartClient Flashlet component - I suppose it is intended solely for the purpose of adding Flash .swf files into the SmartClient content ...

But what about adding content for plugins other than Flash ? E.g. for a plugin that can serve 3D content ? Is the BrowserPlugin component meant to be used for such a use case ?

Examples for the Flashlet as well as the BrowserPlugin component are missing ...
And what are the rules for having 3rd party plugin content playing together well with SmartClient on the SAME webpage ? Which SmartClient components can actually deal with 3rd party plugin content - e.g.: Can it be embedded in movable windows ? Can it be layout managed by SmartClient somehow ?

[Isomorphic]

Hi SchlauKunde,

BrowserPlugin and it's subclasses make a plugin into a SmartClient component that can participate in layouts, be resized, etc. They also contain a number of workarounds that solve known issues with plugins.

We can't anticipate in advance all the issues that a 3rd party plugin may have, but implementing a subclass of BrowserPlugin and setting contents to an <object> tag is a good start.

[SchlauKunde]

I have actually created a dedicated subclass of BrowserPlugin for a special 3D content plugin; so far so good, because I CAN mix and match SC components with content for this new class now :-) !
But I don't quite grasp the overlapping behaviour: Regardless of my fiddling around with z-Indexes, the outcome is always as follows for a webpage containing one SC window component, one SC flashlet component and one component of the newly defined class:
- In IE: The SC window is OVER the Flash content AND the 3D content
- In FF: The SC window is OVER the Flash content, but UNDER the 3D content; the 3D content of the new class is always on top
- In Opera: The same as in FF, but working only in "quirks mode"

How can I make the 3D content of the newly created plugin class appear UNDER a SC component - like for example a window - in FF (and Opera), too ?

[SchlauKunde]

Let me just tell You that I am quite excited about what is possible with SmartClient and the newly created class for 3D content; especially in IE, because in IE the 3D plugin allows for windowless and transparent content (i.e. 3D content WITHOUT background and adaptive opacity); for the interested: go take a look at this webpage:
- http://www.kaitischler.name/SmartClient/SCUberSphereDanZaslavsky.html

But the above statement unfortunately does NOT hold for IE8 :-( I have just downloaded and installed "IE8-WindowsXP-x86-ENU.exe" today and was quite disappointed about it: Though the 3D plugin still works standalone on a webpage in IE8, the interplay of SmartClient components with the 3D plugin content fails currently ...
The webpage cited above should work wonderfully in IE7, but fails in IE8 ...