In 2008, over one thousand people experienced the world’s first virtual web conference. Together, we created a new type of conference that is environmentally-friendly, affordable, and interactive.

In 2009, we are going to take it one step further.

Playerversion.com

It should be easier to find out what version of the Flash Player a user is running. I also often feel the need to check the player version myself while developing. So, for a while now I thought it would be cool to have a simple site that told you your Flash Player Version and maybe also offered some helpful links too. Today, when a burst blood vessel in my finger from too much typing stopped me from working on Singularity, I thought I could at least create that site with one hand.

So here it is: playerversion.com.

Blogged from my iPhone (and typed in with one finger!) :)

Update: There was a bug in the initial version that stopped it from working correctly on Windows with IE 6/7. This is now fixed. I don't have IE7 to test with so I'd appreciate it if someone can confirm that it works there too.

As my hand's feeling better, here's a bit more info on the detection process: It uses the latest SWFObject to embed a Flash 8 SWF which communicates the version back to the page via ExternalInterface. If the Flash Player version is less than 8, than the JavaScript detection in SWFObject is used. I also just added a link to Sephiroth's Plugin Switcher extension for Firefox/Win.

Creative Commons LicenseThe Playerversion.com article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.

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Date
February 16th, 2008

Author
Aral

Category
Flash

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32 Comments


  1. Daniel
    1

    You legend! This is a great idea

    February 16th, 2008 at 12:46 am


  2. Mike Creighton
    2

    The internet thanks you immensely. Excellent productivity hack.

    February 16th, 2008 at 1:34 am


  3. clark slater
    3

    Works cool on FF (XP) but IE7 shows ‘You don’t have Flash installed’ message….and I most surely do :)

    February 16th, 2008 at 2:02 am


  4. Dimitri
    4

    Handy site, but I’m having the same issue as Clark here on Vista.

    February 16th, 2008 at 4:11 am


  5. stan
    5

    sounds good, but what about http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ ? also accessible from the “About Adobe Flash Player…” right click on flash content..

    February 16th, 2008 at 9:16 am


  6. Aral
    6

    Hi Clark, Dimitri,

    I’m using the latest SWFObject for the version detection. Will look into this.

    February 16th, 2008 at 9:43 am


  7. Aral
    7

    IE 6/7 issues should now be fixed. I’ve tested with 6. Can someone please test and confirm with 7? Thanks!

    February 16th, 2008 at 11:30 am


  8. Cerebral
    8

    Hi, I confirm it’s working properly in IE7. This allowed me to know I only had version 6 installed in that crappy browser :) Otherwise this page is a good idea (detection + gathering of useful links) which will be easier to type than the flash player detection page I know by heart, namely http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome, so thanks for this.

    February 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm


  9. Aral
    9

    Hi Cerebral,

    Thanks for confirming the fix for IE7 :)

    I also hope it’ll make it easier to troubleshoot issues with end users. Telling them to go to playerversion.com and telling you what they see should be easier than having them type in complicated Adobe URLs.

    February 16th, 2008 at 12:32 pm


  10. Aral
    10

    @Stan: I just added that link to the page. I feel playerversion is simpler than the About page and contains more useful links.

    February 16th, 2008 at 12:34 pm


  11. niel smith
    11

    Hi,
    that is so funny to see that I also had this idea a few days ago. Well done.
    I guess I have to think of something new ;)

    February 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm


  12. Martin
    12

    Thanks Aral, great service!

    February 16th, 2008 at 2:37 pm


  13. Ronny
    13

    Great job… However: I hope when your hand is better, and you have a moment of spare time you make it look more ‘Aral’ ;) Anyway: great job, and very good idea!
    You truly have great ideas!

    February 16th, 2008 at 5:25 pm


  14. stan
    14

    Thanks. Actually what I like about the about page is to be able to check that I’m up-to-date at the same time. If you could find some way to let us know that directly that would save a click :P Good idea anyway!

    February 16th, 2008 at 5:37 pm


  15. Aral
    15

    Hi Ronny,

    Thanks! I don’t think I’ll have a lot of time to devote to making it pretty but who knows, if I need a break at some point, maybe :)

    @stan: Ask and you shall have. The page now tells you what the latest version of the Flash Player is.

    February 16th, 2008 at 7:47 pm


  16. JesterXL
    16

    Feature Request: A badge so I can link to it from my site.

    Barter: I’ll give you a capabilities SWF in return.

    February 17th, 2008 at 1:43 am


  17. Johnny
    17

    @Jester XL - I’ll make a badge if thats ok with Aral?

    February 17th, 2008 at 7:37 pm


  18. C4RL05
    18

    Great idea!

    Love the idea of the links. I would add the link to download the debugger and projector, that are such a pain to find at adobe’s.

    http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

    February 17th, 2008 at 7:41 pm


  19. Adrian Parr
    19

    Hey Aral,

    We must have had the same thought. Check out my blog post from the 12th Feb (four days before you posted yours).

    http://www.adrianparr.com/?p=27

    :-)

    February 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm


  20. Aral
    20

    @Johnny: Please do + thanks! :)

    @Carlos: Thanks, man. I just added the link.

    @Adrian: Flash minds think alike? :)

    February 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am


  21. Jason The Saj
    21

    Hey Aral,

    Question regarding the issue you had in IE with SWFObject. I had what might be a similar issue (in my case a problem with userAgent described here). I was just wondering if your problem was related - and if so, what did you change to correct it in SWFObject?

    http://thesaj.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/swfobject-20-not-returning-useragent-in-ie6-anyone-else-encounter-this/

    Much obliged…

    - The Saj

    PS - See everyone next week in Atlanta @ 360Flex

    February 18th, 2008 at 2:37 pm


  22. Aral
    22

    Hi Jason,

    The issue wasn’t SWFObject but a bug in my JS that only showed up on IE.

    February 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm


  23. Johnny
    23

    @Aral - I’m on to it. I’ll put it on my site and I will put a link for anyone to download the badge if they want to put it on their site. As soon as it is done I will let you all know.
    Thanks :-)

    February 18th, 2008 at 8:58 pm


  24. Johnny
    24

    Ok here goes (I hope this shows up on here) Version 1:

    Version 2:

    Let me know if these are ok or if anything needs to be added.
    Cheers :-)

    February 18th, 2008 at 10:05 pm


  25. Johnny
    25

    Whoops! HTML not showing :-(
    Ok heres the links to my flickr so that you can view them there:

    Version 1 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2023/2275514538_2c1499eeeb_o.png

    Version 2 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2027/2275514568_8a6f38ec5a_o.png

    February 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm


  26. Guy Watson
    26

    Thanks Aral. Very useful!

    Whats all this about though:

    The latest Flash Player version is 9,0,115,0 (on Windows 95/NT it is 7,0,73,0).

    ?

    February 19th, 2008 at 12:03 am


  27. Aral
    27

    Hey Guy,

    Thanks! That’s just a summary of the latest player version info from the About Flash page.

    February 19th, 2008 at 12:33 pm


  28. John laPlante
    28

    I think it’s been done a few times. I was reading the SWFObject page yesterday. And the page for testing express install includes a link to a similar page.
    http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/flashversion.html

    A group at Carnegie Mellon has a page that shows a variety of stats on plugins and media support:
    https://odin.web.cmu.edu/~jar2/detection.html

    February 19th, 2008 at 8:54 pm


  29. Guy Watson
    29

    Yes i figured that much, just wondered why it was telling me about Flash Player on Windows 95/NT, when its a legacy player and will no longer be upgraded and im on a Mac :)

    February 20th, 2008 at 1:55 am


  30. Aral
    30

    Hi John,

    I had the Flash Player version on my site for ages too buy I feel that having a site dedicated to it, with an easy to remember URL will be helpful for people (I know it will be for me; I’ve felt the need on many occasions).

    @Guy: That would be because it’s a tiny bit of static text typed in by the monkey behind the keyboard (me!) :)

    February 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pm


  31. Nick
    31

    0.0023s

    I have never faster bookmarked a site.

    Thanks You!

    February 21st, 2008 at 3:11 am


  32. odziez uzywana
    32

    Nice project man. I’ve got IE 7 and it works really fine. I guess many people will find it useful. Keep up the good work.
    Regards

    July 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm

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