Problems with "Download if needed" checkbox in Xtras dialog

If you want an Xtra to autodownload and install to the user's hard drive when a Shockwave movie using it is played, you must check the "Download if needed" option for the Xtra in Modify -> Movie -> Xtras. As soon as you check the box for an Xtra, Director uses the download path defined in the file XTRAINFO.TXT for the Xtra to try and find the Xtra package files. Director does not actually download the files, but does need to extract information from them like their version number. If Director cannot find the files or extract the needed information successfully, it will put up an error dialog and uncheck the "Download if needed" box.

If you get an error when checking the "Download if needed" box, here are some things to check:

1. Check that XTRAINFO.TXT specifies the path to the directory containing the two package files and then the root file name of the package files without the extension. In the following example the package files, which are named "myxtra.w32" and "myxtra.ppc" reside in the directory "shock"

[#nameppc:"My Xtra", #nameW32:"MYXTRA.X32",

#package:"http://www.domain.com/shock/myxtra"]

2. Check that the package files have been uploaded using binary, not text transfer. A text transfer will change the files and the packages won't work. After the transfer compare the number of bytes in the file on the server with the number of bytes in the file on your hard drive. They should be identical.

3. Make sure that your server is delivering the file when the URL is requested. An easy way to check this is to try to retrieve one or the other of the packages by typing the URL in a browser. Since no MIME type will be set up for the package file types the browser should find the URL and start delivering the file as text, which will look like a page of gibberish in the browser. For instance, with the filepath setup in #1, typing this URL in the browser should deliver the Mac package to the browser:

http://www.domain.com/shock/mypack.ppc

If you are getting a server error delivering the package to your browser, you must fix the problem on your web server. updateStage support cannot help you with this. Your webmaster will have to trouble-shoot. The most common reason for it is that the permissions on the directory or on the package file itself do not permit access to the web server. Another reason can be a setting on some web servers that tries to guess a file's MIME type by looking at its content.

For instance on Apache servers the "Smart MIME types" or "Magic MIME types" option will check inside a file to determine MIME type. Shockwave package files have the string "RIFF" in the spot "Smart MIME types" uses to determine a Microsoft WAVE file type. If "Smart MIME types" is on, an Apache server will try to deliver a package file as an audio file and a server error results. Turn off "Smart MIME types" for the Apache server to deliver Shockwave packages correctly.

For instance, here is an entry in the MIME Magic config file, which has a default file name of "magic" that will cause an Apache server to deliver Shockwave packages incorrectly:

	#	Microsoft WAVE format (*wav)
	#			Microsoft RIFF
	0	string	RIFF	audio/unknown
	#			- WAVE Format
	>8	string	WAVE	audio/x-wav

If nothing is happening in Shockwave when a package is supposed to autodownload, the simplest thing to try is to open up Director authoring, and go the the Modify -> Movies -> Xtras dialog. Delete the Xtra from the movie's Xtras list, then add it again and check the "Download if needed" button. Director will try to find the packages and reinsert the package info into the movie. If this procedure is successful, the new Shockwave you make out of the movie should work.

You must follow this procedure for a movie that you want to download the newest version of any xtra. The version of an xtra a movie requires is embedded during the process triggered by the "download if needed" button. The version number is taken from the xtra present in Director authoring when you hit the DIN button. So if your movie was made under SomeXtra v2 it will only autodownload a new version of the xtra if the version it finds in the Shockwave support folder is earlier than v2 or if no xtra is there.