Playing flash video when a click is required to start?

June 2, 2008 5:59 PM

Is there any way to get a flash video to play when a click is required to start it? I would like to be able to programmatically visit a site that has a flash video and then click on the start button. I have looked into Selenium, but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution there.
posted by zzztimbo to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I'd imagine this would be a security issue on the Flash side due to the use of Flash in advertising coupled with the problem of click fraud.
posted by rhizome at 6:37 PM on June 2, 2008

If said site is Youtube you could use Greasemonkey to start the player since it now has a javascript API. If not, maybe a sample link and I can try to help you?
posted by bertrandom at 10:22 PM on June 2, 2008

Response by poster: It has been mentioned that it can be done with Selenium.
http://clearspace.openqa.org/message/22322

But I'm not clear on the details and would like a concrete example.

For instance, I would like to make this video play in an automated fashion.
http://revision3.com/trs/parenthetical/

It currently requires user interaction in the form of a click.
posted by zzztimbo at 11:23 AM on June 3, 2008