[thelist] QT detection (was Platform/Browser Testers)

[George Dillon <> Evolt!]

> I'm a developer who put some js plugin/redirect invisible logic behind the
> links and need to make sure its all jiving..
>
> Seam to be having issues with ... quicktime detection..

Are you reinventing the wheel or have you studied this carefully and are now
trying to make-the-best-of-a-bad-job/work-around given the known issues to
do with QT detection?

I tried to do something like this a while ago and gave up... maybe you
should *consider* that option sooner rather than later.

Even before IE6, detection of QT (and version thereof) was an inexact
science, with even Apple confessing that ultimately it couldn't be done 100%
reliably:

>From "Quicktime and Javascript" (c. December 2000)
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/authoring/qtjavascript.html

"Using JavaScript to detect a plug-in is something of a black art. You need
to take into account the user's operating system, browser type, and browser
version you need to use JavaScript, VBScript, and ActiveX objects, and even
then it won't always work. The easiest and most reliable way to detect
QuickTime is to use QuickTime itself. Still, in some circumstances it is
possible to detect a plug-in by using a combination of JavaScript and
VBScript."

As I understood it the best option then was not to bother trying to detect
but to offer the user a menu of choices - relying on their knowledge of
their own system as the least worst (and least complicated) of two bad
options.

The prospects for QT detection worsened further with the release of IE6.
Breaking the default JVM driven support for plug-ins struck many as a
deliberate attempt by M$ to kill off QuickTime as the default cross-platform
video format (or at the very least to force their still insecure ActiveX
down everyone's throats).

So I reckon that ...

> It should redirect and load QT else REAL else Windows Media.....
> QT is the default.

is a beautiful dream.

OTOH if you can make it a reality, please tell us how...

HTH / TIA

George Dillon


PS  Some more links [ these from October 2001]

QuickTime Detection and Response (QTDR)
http://dopey.gcsu.edu/QTDR/
"...The basic detection/response schemes described in "QuickTime for the
Web" [
http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/quicktime/qtdevdocs/QT4WebPage/QT4WebBoo
k.htm ] by Steven Gulie of Apple Computer, Inc. (available from Amazon) are
combined and extended through the use of scripting, object tags and
reference movies that launch autoHREF movies which launch web pages and the
QuickTime Player as appropriate or download the QuickTime ActiveX
component..."

QuickTime - Tutorials - QuickTime Active X Plugin
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/tutorials/activex.html
"Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, versions 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 no longer
support Netscape-style plug-ins, such as the plug-in installed as part of
QuickTime 5.0.2 and earlier versions... To restore compatibility, Apple has
provided an ActiveX control..."