After implementing the fullscreen feature, I’m thrilled. I’m convinced that every elearning app like this should include it as a feature. And I wondered why I hadn’t seen it used before…so I thought, “Perhaps SCORM/AICC calls can’t be made when it is in fullscreen mode?” While I haven’t taken the time to actually test that theory, I did put together a quick html/swf to test whether the ExternalInterface class is usable when the swf is in fullscreen mode. And it works! Here is the example (warning – it opens in a new window). To test for yourself, first put it in fullscreen by clicking the button (it’s a toggle). Then, click the ‘Call ExternalInterface’ button to call a simple function in the html page named ’showAlert’, which shows an alert box.

So, here’s the code:

In Flash:

/*************************
* External Interface – work in fullscreen mode? YES!
*************************/
function checkInterface(e:MouseEvent):void
{
if (ExternalInterface.available)
{
status_txt.text=”ExternalInterface available!”;
ExternalInterface.call(”showAlert”, “It works!”);
}
else
{
status_txt.text=”ExternalInterface Unavailable!”;
}
}
myButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, checkInterface);

// fullscreen
function goFullScreen():void
{
if (stage.displayState==StageDisplayState.NORMAL)
{
stage.displayState=StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN;
}
else
{
stage.displayState=StageDisplayState.NORMAL;
}
}
fullscreenBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, _handleClick);

function _handleClick(event:MouseEvent):void
{
goFullScreen();
}

——————————–

Function I added to the html page published from Flash (with ‘allowFullscreen’ param set to true):

function showAlert(text)
{
alert(text);
}

So, theoretically, going fullscreen shouldn’t cause any issues with communications with an LMS. As you noticed if you tried the example, calling the showAlert function in the html page forces the swf out of fullscreen mode. I’m assuming (too many assumptions here?) that this won’t happen for behind-the-scenes calls.

Have you tried this? What has your experience with using fullscreen flash for your elearning?

<!– Fullsize the browser window (Adobe Connect makes it too small to start!) –>
<script language=”Javascript1.1″ type=”text/javascript”>
if (top.frames.length!=0)
top.location=self.document.location;
self.moveTo(0,0);
self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);
self.focus();
</script>

If anyone reading this has had any success getting 3rd-party (ie, not packaged by Captivate or Adobe Presenter) AICC content to track properly in Adobe Connect Training, *please* email me a working sample as I’d love to see it work.