Works fine on my machine but not on the internet server?

[Motorised]

Works fine on my machine but not on the internet server?

by Motorised » Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:28 pm

During the summer of 2011 we were fortunate here in London, or more specifically at Somerset House to have an exhibition by the Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei. I took a panorama which I have uploaded to http://www.shoostreet.com/panos/ThaRivSomHse/somersetHouseWeiwei.html But it seems to be suffering from the conundrum that it works fine on my machine when I test it in all browsers, but I cannot get it to work on the remote server. The obvious answer would be to rebuild it, but because I was being harassed by a security guard the images were rushed and featured a lot of noise as well as the security guard. It was my intention to go back and do it again when the light was better and also when I’d made further enquiries at the front desk about photographing the exhibition – as I had done the day before and was assured it was Ok. As a consequence I deleted the original images. But never got a chance to go back before the exhibition was permanently removed. So I can’t rebuild it. If anybody has suffered this problem and has worked out a solution, please do let me know. The original Panorama *.swf & html files can be made available if you would like them. If you would like to have a look at the exhibition, here's some stills I took at the time. https://plus.google.com/100922191419330641523/posts *





*Please don't tell me I should not have deleted the original files. Yes, I know.

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:34 pm

*Please don't tell me I should not have deleted the original files. Yes, I know.

Did you keep at least the "xxData" folder belonging to the xx.swf and xx.html files?

best, Klaus

PS: basically there is no reason why it shouldn´t run from any server - IF you did not check "restricted to . . " and IF you set the path right containing ALL content: xml files, DATA folder, .swf, .html and also the license files. Otherwise it can´t run.

THIS is how it should look like: (the .kpt file doesn´t need to be ion the folder)

Last edited by klausesser on Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:08 pm

Hello Klaus, yes all the files are there as they should be. Like I said, it works fine on my own machine when I test it in the IDE and in all browsers. Out of all the panos on the site, that's the only one that doesn't work. I haven't done anything different for that particular pano, that I didn't do for all the other panos. I've searched everywhere in the hope I've got some backup files somewhere, but I haven't. Incidentally, it was the very first pano I ever built and at the time it was really a voyage of discovery. I wasn’t initially going to post it, but as it worked and because I can’t rebuild it, I thought I might as well use it anyway. It was only when I wanted to link to it, that I discovered it wasn’t working. I’m quite happy to let you have the folder to inspect it for yourself. You might notice something I haven’t? The folder is 12mb possibly 10mb if I zip it?

Update.......

Yes, I've just checked it again. The path and the files are all there present and correct. Like I said, it works fine when I run the web page on my machine from within the IDE. Tested in all browsers, and it's fine.

Last edited by Motorised on Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:15 pm

Yes, I've just checked it again. The path and the files are all there present and correct. Like I said, it works fine when I run the web page on my machine from within the IDE. Tested in all browsers, and it's fine.

What error-message do you get?

best, Klaus

Sorry: i saw you just get a black area where the pano should be. Are you sure you linked it correctly into the window?

Last edited by klausesser on Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:22 pm

No error message at all. It works fine on my machine just as it should. Checked in all browsers, and it works fine. But not on the remote server. I've even uploaded it a couple of times just to make sure it arrives as it should. I think I've got your email address Klaus, do you want the folder?

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:36 pm

No error message at all. It works fine on my machine just as it should. Checked in all browsers, and it works fine. But not on the remote server. I've even uploaded it a couple of times just to make sure it arrives as it should. I think I've got your email address Klaus, do you want the folder?

Yes! Send it to me - i´ll try it on my sever. I once had a new server which also made trouble showing interactive panos - i had to set permissions. But i prefered to skip the server then.

best to you, Klaus

Last edited by klausesser on Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:04 pm

Hello Klaus, yes all the files are there as they should be.

If I view the SWF file I get error messages that suggest that this is a file permissions problem.

You mention an IDE - what are you using to create this web site?

Last edited by mediavets on Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Gund]

by Gund » Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:47 pm

If you zip or rar the tour that works fine on your computer and give it for the people here to download than there would be more help from the forum. Otherwise it is very difficult to say what is wrong.

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:24 pm

files missing or permission problem. these two possibilities.
error message show up if accessing the swf directly, so mixing of foldernames and subdirectories...:
http://www.shoostreet.com/panos/ThaRivSomHse/somersetHouseWeiWei.swf
Georg

Last edited by gkaefer on Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:52 am

There probably is a lot wrong with it, ( boxes that should have been ticked and boxes that weren’t ticked ) especially as it was the first pano I ever built. Being the first one it was an experiment to learn from. I never intended to use it. As soon as I saw it, my first reaction was to go back and do it again, and intended to delete it altogether. But then other things got in the way and I got busy with other work, and hardly before I knew it, the exhibition had gone. But because it worked Ok on my machine I thought I’d use it anyway. It’s the only pano on the site that doesn’t work. Or at least I think it is, I haven’t really checked but as far as I can see having tested nearly all of the panos it all seems to work properly, with nothing to worry about. Naturally I tested the whole site on my own machine before I uploaded it to the server, and Expression Web 4 has good error checking mechanisms in place that work well.

Except, having said that I’ve found the maps can be a little unreliable. Sometimes they work, mostly they don’t. The Battersea Park Boating Lake map doesn’t work (listed 6th on the home page). But I’ve left it there anyway and found an alternative, which I’ve used everywhere else, as you’ve probably already noticed. If you can tell me why the map doesn’t work, I’ll soon fix it.

I hadn't thought about posting zip's so you could download them, and as there’s no reason why not, I’ll put it here. http://www.shoostreet.com/aiWeiWeiZip.html Thanks for the suggestion. Good idea.

Well done Georg, good suggestion. Thank you, but we’re going to need a miracle to rebuild it as we haven’t got the original images or the original pano to work with.

And finally, as it happens I’ve got two versions. One with an html file and one self contained. Both of which were experimental. I’ll post both versions here and let you see if you can do anything with them to get one working. Good Luck Guys……..

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:52 pm

It’s a bit too late to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, but it’s just right to wish everybody a Happy New Year and may it be a prosperous one for us all. Especially our European cousins, the poor Greeks who are suffering extreme hardship and deprivation. May their travails be over sooner rather than later.

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:23 pm

did download the first zip. I can confirm what you did describe. extracted your zip to local disc and all working fine opening the swf file in firefox.
I uploaded the subfolder fo your zip file and all content to my website and same errors about missing files as it is in your links above...
I even did rename the folder to not contain any spaces. no change.
http://www.gigapixel.at/aiWeiWeiBuild/somersetHouseWeiWei.swf
(I will delete it again tomorrow...)
I did try to find an decompiler for swf files that can open an panotour file.... no way. 6 tried. two were able to grant correct preview, one even I could look somehow deeper, but nowhere I could find a place handling paths/folder etc. so ...

maybe kolor team does have an internal "forensic" tool to inspect what went wrong (settings/building process) so paths work locally but not remote...

Georg

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:41 pm

maybe kolor team does have an internal "forensic" tool to inspect what went wrong (settings/building process) so paths work locally but not remote...

In the "swfobject" folder seems to be content which doesn´t belong there asfaik . . .

best, Klaus

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:52 pm

... you refer to the second zip containing not only the plain tour but also the handmade html and the map. this cant be causing the error. using only the first zip file with tour only data these data is missing and the errors occur also.
if the ptp project file would exist than we could check the settings... but I expect only kolor now can look into the swf file to find the error.
Georg

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:12 pm

Georg, you've done a grand job. Thank you.

Hopefully Kolor will want to get involved, and that they can offer a solution.

The expression on the security guard’s face is priceless. He kept shouting at me to stop what I was doing and I kept saying …yes yes in a minute…and carried on regardless. Luckily I managed to keep him in just one frame.

The file Klaus is referring to is an Expression Web 4 system file. It’s a file that EW4 uses to hold the whole site together. EW4 really is an excellent application as it keeps the site together and knows where all the files are and if a key web page is altered it updates all the other pages that uses that link or whatever, that’s just been updated. Whether it be html or css or js. EW4 also integrates directly with Windows OS.

It really is a clever programme and I like it a lot. But as Klaus correctly points out, it leaves file folders everywhere that you soon learn to ignore and just leave alone because they don’t affect the site at all or get in the way of anything.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:53 pm

Hopefully Kolor will want to get involved, and that they can offer a solution.

OK - I'm not a Kolor employee but I believe I have finally figured out why you have this problem.

The capitalisation in your file and folder names doesn't match what the player expects from the SWF with embedded XML.

So if you change this string in file and folder names from 'somersetHouseWeiwei' to 'somersetHouseWeiWei' you will find it works.

Let this be a lesson never to use mixed case in file and folder names.

Windows file system is case insensitive, *nix operating systems typically used for web servers are not. This is why it works when viewed locally but not when you put it online.

The clue is actually in the error messages displayed when you link directly to the SWF when it is online - compare the path names of the images it cannot find to the path names on the server.

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:43 pm

Well spotted Andrew.

Excellent detective work. Well done and thank you for your diligence. It is much appreciated.

Originally this was – somersetHouseWeiweidata with a lower case final w……..and this was somersetHouseWeiWei.swf with an uppercase W ……..unless I’m mistaken.

So I changed them both to lower case w and sent them up, with no luck……

So I changed them both to Upper Case final W

Now at least we get an error message, which unfortunately means nothing to me. But it does seem to suggest an internal communication problem between the swf and it's data files.

I should think the error message must mean something to Kolor, if they want to get involved. They might not want to. After all it's not their fault, it's mine entirely.

Any ideas as to where we can go from here?


On the remote sever I now have somersetHouseWeiweidata

And

somersetHouseWeiwei.swf

And

somersetHouseWeiWei.swf

I’ve tried calling both from within the html file and the error message is the same.

Last edited by Motorised on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:57 pm

So I changed them both to Upper Case final W

You didn't change this one! - see screenshot - as I mentioned you need to change the string whereever it appears in every filename and folder - so this folder/directory name needs to be changed to somersetHouseWeiWeidata.

If you look at the error messages you will see that this is the name of the folder/directory in which the panarama player is expecting to find the files it fails to load.

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:09 pm

You will need to change this one too.

This issue is easy to avoid if you never use mixed case in file and folder/directory names; stick to lower case.

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:21 pm

Ok, we’ve now got the swf, data and html files all with the final capital W. All exactly the same.
Now we get the same error message with the buttons :>) At least it’s an improvement.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:34 pm

Ok, we’ve now got the swf, data and html files all with the final capital W. All exactly the same.
Now we get the same error message with the buttons :>) At least it’s an improvement.

What is the URL you are viewing?

I can't see that you have changed the folder/directory names I described in my previous two posts?

Have you changed these folder/directory names because they don't seem to have been changed when I view your server files and directory listings?

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:47 pm

Ok, everything is now with a captial W.........I've listed here the screen shots of file manager on the remote server...

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:53 pm

But are there any menu button and panorama image files in these folders and lower level folders - it appears that you may have deleted them?:

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:08 pm

I have edited all the relavant references to the string somersetHouseWeiwei and changed them to somersetHouseWeiWei in example you offered as a ZIP file and then upload to my server and it's working fine for me:

http://www.threerivers.org.uk/ThaRivSomHse/somersetHouseWeiWei.html

Don't forget you need to edit the HTML file too:

Last edited by mediavets on Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Motorised]

by Motorised » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:15 pm

Yes, got the html file Ok...........done that.

You were right. The image files had disappeared. Goodness knows where they went as I certainly didn't delete them. But now I've replaced them so all the file folders are as they should be. Still no pano???

I'm going to have to sleep on it Andrew. See you tomorrow, hopefully.