Adding Video Beyond Default File Extensions

[jlehrhoff]

Is it possible to expand the functionality to allow more than AVI and MPG? For instance I am trying to add a WMV file...
Same for the documents upload in questions, it only lists the "allowed file extensions" as *.doc and *.pdf would like to possibly allow DOCX XLSX, etc

[pwiesner]

Can you clarify what you would like to accomplish? It is not entirely clear what you are trying to do.

Would you like to know if it is possible to embed video files of any format into your survey? Do you want to know how to control what file types are allowed by the upload item? Something else?

[jlehrhoff]

Yes, the HTML Editor in a free form text question specifically

The video only allows *.AVI and *MPG, flash only SWF (I understand this limitation but it would be nice if Checkbox can build an FLV player in), and document upload only allows *.DOC and *.PDF

For Video I would like to allow .WMV, .WMA and some other popular types...
well for documents I would like to at least allow the office 2007 types and possible Excel/PowerPoint

[pwiesner]

Thank you for the clarification. Because the HTML editor is a third party product we have limited control over its functionality. It is possible to configure it to allow additional media types but there is no guarantee the video's will play on every computer.

To add new file types you will need to edit the<Checkbox Root>\Resources\HTMLItemEditorConfig.xml file. It sounds like you would like to add new entries to the MediaFilters and DocumentsFilters sections.

[jlehrhoff]

awesome, thanks! Now the problem is that the video doesn't display it shows as a text box (see attached image). I first tried it with WMV and then AVI to make sure it wasn't related to file type. That is what I get in Internet Explorer 8

The second attachment is what I see when I open it in Firefox 3.5.2.
I opened on another PC that had IE 7 and it played...

Also it seems that based on what area you are using in Checkbox a different file in this folder applies, but all have these same XML fields.

In this example I had to add the extension to the QuestionEditorConfig.xml

[pwiesner]

As I mentioned in my previous reply, there is no guarantee that the videos will play. There are several factors that could cause issues.

1 - Your operating system will need to be able to play the video, this is not a guarantee with either .avi or .wav files.
2 - Your web browser will need to know how to play the video or have been configured to open it in an external application.

This is a little out of the scope of our support but I believe that Flash is the standard for video on the intenet. This is the case because the Flash player is installed on over 99% of computers. (Adobe - Flash Player Version Penetration)

[jlehrhoff]

I agree, but FLV flash is taking over SWF flash I believe but FLV needs a SWF player to run it...