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I would like to have a web page in which, when the user clicks on any
of several specific elements, a specific audio file is played, without
reloading the page.
The specific audio file name is obtained from a PHP script (accessing
a MySQL database) that could be called using XMLHttpRequest and
JavaScript would write in a "div" tag an "embed and play" HTML tag
containing the audio file name.
I am not sure this would work, as the embed tag is HTML and will not be
executed as the page has already been loaded. In any case, unless I am
mistaken, JavaScript in the web page can handle only a text or XML
response, and thus I can get the audio file name, but not the file
itself. I can't pre-embed all audio files in the page because there are
too many (that is why I use MySQL to index them).
Is there any way to get round this?
Thanks!

Andrew

wrote:
> I would like to have a web page in which, when the user clicks on any
> of several specific elements, a specific audio file is played, without
> reloading the page.
> The specific audio file name is obtained from a PHP script (accessing
> a MySQL database) that could be called using XMLHttpRequest and
> JavaScript would write in a "div" tag an "embed and play" HTML tag
> containing the audio file name.
> I am not sure this would work, as the embed tag is HTML and will not be
> executed as the page has already been loaded. In any case, unless I am
> mistaken, JavaScript in the web page can handle only a text or XML
> response, and thus I can get the audio file name, but not the file
> itself. I can't pre-embed all audio files in the page because there are
> too many (that is why I use MySQL to index them).
> Is there any way to get round this?
> Thanks!
>
> Andrew
>

According to specifications, there is no reason why a dynamically
created <object> element shouldn't work:

var obj = document.createElement("object");
obj.type = "audio/mpeg3";
obj.data = "http://my.audio.url";
document.body.appendChild(obj);

In practice, I've no idea how well that would work. It seems to work
flawlessly in Firefox, although no controls are presented (or if they
are I can't see them).

Jeremy

Jeremy wrote:
> wrote:
> > I would like to have a web page in which, when the user clicks on any
> > of several specific elements, a specific audio file is played, without
> > reloading the page.
> > The specific audio file name is obtained from a PHP script (accessing
> > a MySQL database) that could be called using XMLHttpRequest and
> > JavaScript would write in a "div" tag an "embed and play" HTML tag
> > containing the audio file name.
> > I am not sure this would work, as the embed tag is HTML and will not be
> > executed as the page has already been loaded. In any case, unless I am
> > mistaken, JavaScript in the web page can handle only a text or XML
> > response, and thus I can get the audio file name, but not the file
> > itself. I can't pre-embed all audio files in the page because there are
> > too many (that is why I use MySQL to index them).
> > Is there any way to get round this?
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Andrew
> >
>
> According to specifications, there is no reason why a dynamically
> created <object> element shouldn't work:
>
> var obj = document.createElement("object");
> obj.type = "audio/mpeg3";
> obj.data = "http://my.audio.url";
> document.body.appendChild(obj);
>
> In practice, I've no idea how well that would work. It seems to work
> flawlessly in Firefox, although no controls are presented (or if they
> are I can't see them).
>
> Jeremy


Thanks. Yes, you must be right. I have a non-Ajax PHP /Javascript page
that works fine by reloading and shows (with IE) neither controls nor
separate mp3 player (I don't want them) if I use <EMBED> but starts a
WMP window if I use <OBJECT>.
Andrew

wrote:
> Jeremy wrote:
>> wrote:
>>> I would like to have a web page in which, when the user clicks on any
>>> of several specific elements, a specific audio file is played, without
>>> reloading the page.
>>> The specific audio file name is obtained from a PHP script (accessing
>>> a MySQL database) that could be called using XMLHttpRequest and
>>> JavaScript would write in a "div" tag an "embed and play" HTML tag
>>> containing the audio file name.
>>> I am not sure this would work, as the embed tag is HTML and will not be
>>> executed as the page has already been loaded. In any case, unless I am
>>> mistaken, JavaScript in the web page can handle only a text or XML
>>> response, and thus I can get the audio file name, but not the file
>>> itself. I can't pre-embed all audio files in the page because there are
>>> too many (that is why I use MySQL to index them).
>>> Is there any way to get round this?
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>> According to specifications, there is no reason why a dynamically
>> created <object> element shouldn't work:
>>
>> var obj = document.createElement("object");
>> obj.type = "audio/mpeg3";
>> obj.data = "http://my.audio.url";
>> document.body.appendChild(obj);
>>
>> In practice, I've no idea how well that would work. It seems to work
>> flawlessly in Firefox, although no controls are presented (or if they
>> are I can't see them).
>>
>> Jeremy
>
>
> Thanks. Yes, you must be right. I have a non-Ajax PHP /Javascript page
> that works fine by reloading and shows (with IE) neither controls nor
> separate mp3 player (I don't want them) if I use <EMBED> but starts a
> WMP window if I use <OBJECT>.
> Andrew
>

You have to be careful with IE and <object> to get it to work properly.
Some finesse usually does the trick (google Flash Satay for an article
on getting <object> to work well). In any case, you should avoid
<embed> as it's not a valid element.

Jeremy