Wednesday, December 05, 2007

iFlash Switcher : Installing new player versions

We're using the iFlash Switcher Firefox extension to enable testing with different versions of the Flash player on our Intel Macs. It's a very handy tool. Anyway today saw the release of Flash Player Update 3 (9.0.115.0). So we were keen to install it if only to do some testing on it's H.264 video capabilities. But getting iFlash Switcher setup turned out to be a bit of a chore. So I'd like to document this process for the next update and to save others my pain:
  • Locate the folder where iFlash Switcher stores the various plugin versions. It should be something like Users:userName :Library :Application Support :Firefox :Profiles:crazyName.default :extensions :iflashswitcher_intel@sephiroth.it :chrome:plugins:
  • The plugin versions will be in their own folders (i.e 9.0 r47). Make a copy of all the available plugin folders (I copied them to Desktop:tmp).
  • Download and install the latest version of the Flash Player.
  • The newly installed player will be located at Library: Internet Plug-Ins: Flash Player.plugin. Create a new folder in the iFlash Switcher plugins folder using the version number (i.e 9.0 r115) and copy the new plugin to that folder.
  • Move the copied plugin folders (from step 2) back into the iFlash Switcher plugins folder.
  • Open Firefox and change to the player version you want to work with (there is a Flash icon in the lower right corner).
Most of this is easy. It's just locating the plugin folder that causes grief.

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