249285 - Firefox fails to load local HTML page from standalone flash projector or swf file using getURL or similar

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[davidkolar]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040626 Firefox/0.9.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040626 Firefox/0.9.1

Flash attempts to launch an HTML file using the system's default browser
(Firefox) but Firefox does a Google search basd on the root of the file's path
instead.

Within Flash, the "getURL()" Flash ActionScript command can be used to launch a
Web page using the computer's default browser. A flash project can be saved as a
standalone executable (a Projector) that can play the movie outside of a Web
browser. If the Flash Projector is being run from the same source as the file
you want to launch, you can use a relative path in the getURL() command to
launch a file (e.g., test.htm can be launched with getURL("test.htm","_blank")
if test.htm and the projector are in the same directory). Using this technique
starts Firefox but instead of loading test.htm, part of the file's absolute path
is passed to Firefox and a Google "I'm Feeling Lucky" search is performed. Using
an absolute path with the getURL() command bypasses the problem. (See the
"Actual Results" section.) Using Flash's text controls to assign a hyperlink to
a text object has the same result as using getURL() on a button.

This problem does not apply to Flash movies that are playing in the Web browser,
only to flash movies being played outside the browser (i.e., throught a
projector executable). The problem happens in both Windows 2000 and Windows XP
with Firefox. It does not happen (that is, it correctly launches the local page)
with IE and with the Mozilla Suite.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create a Flash movie and use the getURL() command to launch a local HTML
file. For example, getURL("test.htm","_blank");
2. Save the Flash movie as a Windows Projector.
3. Put the Flash Projector file in the same directory as the HTML file to be
launched (test.htm). Putting these files in a directory deeper than the root
directory will allow you to see the "I'm Feeling Lucky" Google search behavior.
4. Click on the link or button to launch the local HTML file.

Actual Results:  
Firefox starts up (assuming that it is the default browser), but instead of
launching test.htm, it opens two tabs. The first tab is blank. The second tab
loads a page based on a Google "I'm Feeling Lucky" search of the root directory
(but after the drive letter) where the local file is located. For example, if
the test.htm is on your desktop (C:\Documents and
Settings\Username\Desktop\test.htm), the the second tab contains the result of
the Google "I'm Feeling Lucky" search for "Documents and Settings." 

Expected Results:  
test.htm sould have been launched in Firefox. 

Files are launched correctly in Mozilla Suite and Internet Explorer (Windows XP
and 2000).

Files are launched incorrectly in Firefox .8, .9, .9.1 (Windows XP and 2000).

This problem breaks the functionality of many Flash Projector-based multimedia CDs.

Comment 1

[Dave Gomberg]

This sounds like a problem I am having on Firefox 1.0 Gecko/20041001
Firefox/0.10.1 (downloaded yesterday) on Win XP Pro SP 1.

My home page is file:///E:%5Cmydata%5CWINDOWS%5CMAIN.HTM
and it contains an anchor  <A HREF="info.htm">Sources of general info</A></TD>
referring to a local file in the same directory as the parent.

Clicking on this link causes Firefox to try to access file:///info.htm, which I
am guessing is an ambiguous reference because the disk is missing?  Or ???   But
it does not load the referenced page.

I need this to work correctly, as it does in IE and Netscape.  Any idea when it
might get fixed?   Please reply to [e-mail]

Many thanks

Comment 2

[Gerry Mahar]

I can verify that this is also a problem with 
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040913 Firefox/0.10.1

On Windows XP Service Pack 2, XP SP1, and 2000 SP4.

This has also occured with 0.9.3 on both XP SP1 and 2000 SP4

Please Confirm this bug, because a major headache for standalone flash developers.

Comment 3

[davidkolar]

After corresponding via e-mail with the authour of comment #1, I can report that
his problem is unrelated to this bug. Rather, his problem relates to links
between regular HTML pages served locally and does not relate to Flash. 

I made a testcase for this bug, but bugzilla prevents it from being uploaded
because it is too large. (The Flash projector takes up at least .5 MB even if it
is compressed.)

I can e-mail a testcase directly to anyone who is interested.

Comment 4

[davidkolar]

Information relating to Firefox's new "Tabbed Browsing" options:

In Firefox 1.0, there is a set of options under "Open links from other
applications in:." Here are the choices and how I have seen them behave under
Windows XP SP-2 with Firefox 1.0 20041107:

o  a new window --> bug occurs as described above

o  a new tab in the most recent window --> bug does not occur; links from
standalone player open correctly

o  the most recent tab/window --> bug does not occur; links from standalone
player open correctly

So the bug only occurs when "a new window" is the selected option under "Open
links from other applications in:."

Comment 5

[Bronwyn]

This is also happening for my projectors created in Macromedia Director using
the "go to URL" function.

Comment 6

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

*** Bug 275816 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[Jo Hermans]

*** Bug 276258 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8

[Jo Hermans]

confirming based on the duplicates

Comment 9

[Jo Hermans]

really confirming this time

Comment 10

[Glyn Rives]

Have web site on computer. Foxfire will cannot find files that are in folders
that are not in the root folder

Comment 11

[Scott Whittaker]

I can also confirm this Flash getURL behaviour on relative URLs triggered from
Flash .swf files and compiled projectors on Windows XP SP2. Using absolute URLs
fixes the problem, but since CD-ROM based applications can be launched from any
drive letter, absolute paths are not an option.

As an advocate of both Flash and web standards, this problem is a real
showstopper when it comes to creating interactive applications that launch web
browser windows and should be treated as a higher than average priority.

Comment 12

[m]

I want to confirm that Firefox can't open the local html file by recognizing 
the command "gotoNetpage" from Director projector. IE and Netscape are doing 
very well with this coding.   This problem breaks the functionality of many 
Flash, Director Projector-based multimedia CDs.

Comment 13

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

I did a little investigation on this and found that I get the same behavior if I
launch firefox with a URL like "file:///c|\blah\blah"

but if I change it to:

"file:///c:\blah\blah"

It works, so it appears the pipe character might be causing a problem.

Do we know if this ever worked?

Comment 14

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

OK, I understand the problem here.

A "feature" was added into Mozilla/Firefox that allows you to open multiple tabs
from a command line like this:

firefox -url "http://www.yahoo.com|http://www.google.com"

So we are hitting this code in this case because flash uses the | for the file URL.

So we are opening two tabs with "file:///c" and "the rest"

Comment 15

[steve]

The getURL method in Flash will work for local files if Firefox is already open
before you run your flash exec.

Comment 16

[Daichi Shinozaki]

Attachment: A quick-fix patch for this bug

A patch for Deer Park Alpha 2.
If the argument start with 'file:///' and contains '|', replace '|' with ':'.

Comment 17

[Daichi Shinozaki]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Please Confirm this bug, because a major headache for standalone flash developers.
I really think so.
When the firefox is the default browser, there is no way to open a local html
file(using *relative* path) from the standalone flash projector.

I can verify that this is also a problem with 
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8b3) Gecko/20050712
Firefox/1.0+

On WinXP SP1, Win2000 SP4.

Comment 18

[Daichi Shinozaki]

Attachment: Testcase #1(multipart-archive)

Comment 19

[Daichi Shinozaki]

Attachment: Testcase #2(multipart-archive)

Comment 20

[Daichi Shinozaki]

Attachment: Testcase #3(multipart-archive)

Please put all parts of a multi-part archive in the same directory then launch
the 'firefox_bugid_249285.exe'.

Contents:

2005/08/02  04:58	     1,030,969 firefox_geturl_bug.exe
2005/08/02  04:59	       164,864 firefox_geturl_bug.fla
2005/08/02  04:58		27,441 firefox_geturl_bug.swf
2005/07/15  10:36		   386 index.html

Comment 21

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Bug 221445 removed the "Accept |-separated URLs on the command line" behavior from Firefox, so this should work now (but re-open if it doesn't).