Enable JavaHelp 1.1.3 to display video

Question

I'm using JavaHelp 1.1.3 and I'm having trouble getting a video (avi) to display within JavaHelp. With a regular browser, the video displays with no problem. I've tried about 2 different methods so far:
1. Direct link - no good, JavaHelp spits out a page of bits, bytes and general gibberish.
2. Separate page using the embed keyword - at least this didn't give a page of gibberish. But all I got was a white page where my video should be with a link back to the prior page underneath.
Any ideas? I see the documentation talks about creating "lightweight objects" with the OBJECT keyword. Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

The following code will allow you to play an avi in a secondary window (using JMF) when clicked. I found that only some avi files would play - it is dependent on the encoding.
Sample object tag:
<OBJECT CLASSID="java:your.package.name.HelpShowVideo">
<param name="content" value="file:///C:/Projects/javamedia/tview.avi">
<param name="viewerActivator" value="javax.help.LinkLabel">
<param name="viewerStyle" value="javax.help.Popup">
<param name="text" value=" file:///C:/Projects/javamedia/tview.avi ">
<param name="textColor" value="blue">
<param name="textFontSize" value="large">
<param name="textFontWeight" value="bold">
<param name="textFontStyle" value="italic">
Video objects not supported
</OBJECT>Class code:
package your.package.name;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* @author Brendan Ryan using sample Java Media code from
*         http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/JDCTechTips/2002/tt0219.html
* @version 1.1 26/10/2003
public class HelpShowVideo extends com.sun.java.help.impl.JHSecondaryViewer {
    Player player;
    Component center;
    Component south;
    /** Creates new HelpStartBrowser */
    public HelpShowVideo() {
        super();
    /** Called when item is clicked */
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
        String url = this.getContent();
        showVideo(url);
    /** Use Java Media to show Video */
    private void showVideo(final String url) {
        try {
            final JDialog jd = new JDialog();
            final Container contentPane = jd.getContentPane();
            if (player != null) {
                player.stop();
            player = Manager.createPlayer(new URL(url));
            ControllerListener listener = new ControllerAdapter() {
                public void realizeComplete(RealizeCompleteEvent event) {
                    Component vc = player.getVisualComponent();
                    if (vc != null) {
                        contentPane.add(vc,BorderLayout.CENTER);
                        center = vc;
                    } else {
                        if (center != null) {
                            contentPane.remove(center);
                            contentPane.validate();
                    Component cpc = player.getControlPanelComponent();
                    if (cpc != null) {
                        contentPane.add(cpc,
                        BorderLayout.SOUTH);
                        south = cpc;
                    } else {
                        if (south != null) {
                            contentPane.remove(south);
                            contentPane.validate();
                    jd.pack();
                    jd.setTitle(url);
                    jd.show();
            player.addControllerListener(listener);
            player.start();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Video error: " + e);
}