References to media

In XDIME 2, the object element supports the following media types: image, audio, flash and video.

You can use device independent policies, file types .mauc, where the selection is based on device or category targeting. However, transcoding is not supported in these cases. You can also process external resources, where transcoding is based on device policies.

Parameters used with media

mcs-external-label: Provides the content for a link that will activate the display of an external resource.

mcs-preferred-image-type: Allows page authors to specify the preferred output format for the selected image. The value of the parameter accepts a space-separated list of the image formats, in order of preference.

mcs-priority: Allows page authors to specify which image properties MCS and MAP should preserve, if possible, if there is no variant/format matching the device capabilities that can handle all image properties. The parameter accepts a space-separated list of properties, in order of preference. At presents, the following two values are supported: 'transparency' and 'pixeldepth'. The value of 'transparency' indicates that formats supporting transparency are preferred before those that do not support it; 'pixeldepth' means that formats with more color depth are preferred before those with less color depth. This parameter overrides the value of the Priority attribute set using the image policy editor.

mcs-transcode: Specifies whether or not an image is transcoded. Supported values are either 'true' (default) or 'false'. If the reference in the src attribute is an image file, the image will be transcoded. If the reference is to an image policy, the attribute will be ignored and automatically typed as a convertible image.

mcs-watermark-url: Allows authors to specify that a transparent watermark should be overlaid on an image. The value of the parameter specifies the URL of the watermarking image to use.

Note:

Flash objects are not transcoded, since they will scale automatically on the client. The mcs-transcode parameter must therefore be set to false. Otherwise an error will occur.

Using the parameters

The parameter values are provided in the name and value attributes of the contained param element.

Authors can specify the mcs-external-label parameter, which defines the content used for a link to an external resource, without having to know the exact media type type.

<object
  src="http://example.com/sports/goal.png"
  style="mcs-media-style:external">
  <param name="mcs-external-label" value="Last night's winning goal"/>
</object>

Styling

The mcs-media-style style property determines whether an object element should be treated as part of a page or an external resource that a user will explicitly retrieve.

Supported values are either 'integral' to display the media automatically, or 'external' if further action is required.

Any value that is not supported by the device is ignored, and the first remaining value, if any, determines the markup to generate. If there are no remaining values then the object element is ignored and its body is processed instead.

Specifying the source type

If you use the srctype attribute on the object element, then you must refer to an MCS policy variant, and all the variants must be of the same type.

If the srctype attribute is not specified, MCS will attempt to work out the type based on the file extension using values in the web.xml file.

Specifying the preferred output format

The mcs-preferred-image-type parameter allows page authors to specify the preferred output format for the selected image. The value of the parameter accepts a space-separated list of the image formats, in order of preference. If a format from the list is invalid or is not supported by the device, then the next format will be examined. If the parameter is not specified, or the list does not contain any formats supported by the device, then the type specified by the device repository will be used. The following file formats are supported:

bmp
gif
jpeg
pjpeg
png
tiff
videotex
wbmp

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2002/06/xhtml2">
  <head>
    <title>mcs-preferred-image-type</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div>
      <object src="http://localhost:8080/mcs/welcome/images/logo_sys_r_rgb_150.gif"
        srctype="image/gif"> 
        <param name="mcs-transcode" value="true"/>
        <param name="mcs-preferred-image-type" value="png gif tiff"/>
        Antenna Software logo
      </object>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

References to video resources

The mcs:video element supports video media types. Depending on the device capabilities, video assets can be embedded in the page, or the page can contain a link which, when clicked, will activate an external video asset. mcs:video can contain one or more mcs:video-source elements and an optional mcs:video-fallback element. Each mcs:video-source element references a single video asset. The src attribute specifies the URI of the asset, and the type attribute defines its content type. MCS processes mcs:video-source elements in the order you list them. If the first content type is invalid or is not supported by the device, then the next element will be examined. If the list does not contain any formats supported by the device, then the contents of mcs:video-fallback will be processed. Please note that MCS uses the device repository to determine whether or not the given content type is supported by the device. The repository contains information about the built-in browser capabilities, i.e. it does not take into account extensions/plugins that can be installed on the device by the user.