Here is what I figured out and how I got it to work. I do not know exactly why it works or if this is the correct way to go about things. As a said before, I do not know html, php or Smarty.
A. I downloaded the /store/skin1/customer/main/welcome.tpl file from my host server to my personal computer.
B. I opened it in Dreamweaver CS3 in a new site where the links where defined relative to this "http://yourwebsitename.com/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/" site root. Then I used Dreamweaver to Insert > Flash. I inserted the Flash (.swf) right below this line "{$lng.txt_welcome}" in the html code.
C. This is what Dreamweaver inserted in the code area:
<script type="text/javascript">
AC_FL_RunContent( 'codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0','width','250','heigh t','250','src','/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer/YourFlashFileName','quality','high','pluginspage', 'http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash','movi e','/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer/YourFlashFileName' ); //end AC code
</script><noscript><object classid="clsid
27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0" width="250" height="250">
<param name="movie" value="/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer/YourFlashFileName.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<embed src="/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer/YourFlashFileName.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="250"></embed>
</object></noscript>
Please Note: That the smiley face is actually ":" and "D" (with no spaces)
Please Note:
Also, at the top of the code Dreamweaver inserted this: <script src="Scripts/AC_RunActiveContent.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
Please Note:
x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer
=is the name of the folder on your server where your x-cart shop is installed.
FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer
=is the name of the folder holding your flash file (it should be located just one level down inside the x-cart shop install, ie. on the same level as the images folder.
D. I save the welcome.tpl file in Dreamweaver.
E. Now, on the hosting co server I backup the original welcome.tpl to a different location and replace it with the newly uploaded Dreamweaver altered welcome.tpl file, here:/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/skin1/customer/main/welcome.tpl
F. Then I create 2 folders on the host server:
/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/Scripts/ and
/x-cartShopFolderNameOnYourHostServer/FolderNameHoldingYourFlashFileOnYourHostServer/
G. In the newly created Scripts folder I upload the AC_RunActiveContent.js file created by Dreamweaver when I inserted my flash .swf into the welcome.tpl file.
Note: In Dreamweaver when you insert a flash file into an html doc, Dreamweaver will create a folder in the Site called Scripts with the above .js file in it.
H. And in the newly created flash folder I upload my .swf file and the "notes" folder created by Dreamweaver.
Note: In Dreamweaver a "notes" folder is added to your folder holding your flash files whenever you insert flash into an html doc. I don't know the significance of the files in the notes folder but they are named after your flash files (ie. YourFlashFileName.swf.mno)
This seemed to work fine and my flash animation plays on the homepage even though the forum thread said that the flash file references should be "{$ImagesDir}/flashfilename" (in which case I have no idea to what or to which folder {$ImagesDir} refers to.
However, the Flash animation only seems to play on Firefox browsers, I am still having problems with IE. I hope this helps someone.
Can someone explain how to replace Product Images with Flash .swf files and or how to add flash .swf files to the product descriptions details area?