HTML5 files only play in Microsoft Edge

[pstephen24]

   I am converting (too many!) Flash files to AnimateCC. I am using Animate 2020 on a Windows 10 machine. I can convert (or write from scratch) and publish .html and .js files no problem (well maybe that's a simplification!). The file plays seamlessly in Canvas (CTRL-ENTER in Animate) and when I open the html file in Microsoft Edge. However, when I open the HTML file in any other browser (including Canvas) by double clicking it, I see everything (images, text etc) but the buttons (to drag-and-drop or go to the next scene) do not work; the pointer does not change as I move over the buttons which suggests the browser doesn't see them as buttons. I have the same problem when I copy the folder (and files) onto the school's BlackBoard server, and my Mac students say that they have the same problem.

  Clearly I need to solve this problem because I have students with different platforms and prefered browsers.

[Joseph Labrecque]

This likely has to do with security restrictions in the browsers. If you upload the HTML and all associated files to a web server (not sure if BB would work correctly) - does it run fine? Animate spins up its own little server when doing a test movie. 

[pstephen24]

Most of my students use Chrome so I use this as my default. It work perfectly when I test it from Animate and also when I double click the html file on my hard drive. However, when I open the html file on the BB server I get the image but no buttons to click or to click-and-drag.

[Joseph Labrecque]

Blackboard might be serving the files in a way that causes security blocking. Have a look in the browswer console for errors of that nature and see whether any exist. 

[pstephen24]

Thanks. I'll ask the IT people.

[pstephen24]

Well Iasked our LMS got person and he asks the following ...

"Do you know if you can export in SCORM format? I don't see another way the LMS is going to be able to play the interactive elements."

[ClayUUID]

Interactive content on Blackboard does not have to be in the form of a SCORM package. Just ZIP up your Animate content, including all required folders in the required folder structure. Go to the Content Collection for your Blackboard course, create a folder for it, select Upload Zip Package, and upload it. Then go to the student side and select Build Content -> File. Click Browse Content Collection and select the HTML document for your Animate content. Under File Options check Open in New Window. Submit.

[pstephen24]

   Appreciate your help and suggestions one and all. ClayUUID I did exactly what you suggested and that's when the problems began! Fortunately the latest update fixed the "only plays in Edge" issue since I can now play  html files in Chrome (student and my favorite) and all the interactive features appear to be fixed - so far!

   My University IT group have tried to get the files to play and cannot get them to play on BlackBoard or Canvas. As suggested before, perhaps it's a security issue. They suggest that, since I have my own web page on another server, I should link from BlackBoard to the files on this other serverwebsite. I fear it weill be a pain, but it wold be a shame to leave these custom-built files out of my lectures and labs.

   Thanks everyone for your help. Time to go re-invent the wheel, using Animate to change exisiting Flash files - if only Adobe could have held off until I retire!

[ClayUUID]

It sounds like your IT people are incompetent. There should be some error message somewhere pointing to what's going wrong. A restricted content popup in the browser. An error message in the dev console. Failed resource loads in the browser networking tab. Blocked files in the server logs. Something.

[pstephen24]

   I understand what you are saying but it's a question of keeping these people 'sweet.'

   Thanks again.

[ClayUUID]

Do any error messages appear in the browser's dev console when running from Blackboard?

[pstephen24]

No error messages, just the image with no interactive capabilities. It could be seen as a .jpg because there are no buttons.

[ClayUUID]

My company regularly hosts HTML5 Canvas documents on a vanilla Blackboard account, and they work fine in IE11/Edge/Chrome/Firefox/Safari. No idea what you're doing to break it.

[pstephen24]

Right. Talking to IT people early next week.

[Асель22343597adec]

have you solved this problem? if yes, you can share? I also have this problem ((

[phils40422687]

It seems that Microsoft updated Edge some time ago and since then the local animate/HTML_Canvas files often do not play - so I have lost that! Some of my animations run in other browsers (like Chrome) on my laptop while others do not. I have not worked it out because I use a completely different method. I can use BlackBoard, but my IT department are reluctant to give me extra hard drive space (read $!), so I simply run everything off my server which has unlimited space. My animations and simulations are used for teaching, so I have tranferred all of my files (including on-animate HTML files, images and mp4 for recorded lectures) to my server and use BlackBoard to link. It works, so I just use this rather than play around trying to solve questions that are way beyond my capabilites.