Facebook chat hides Flash apps when opened

Question

When I launch the Flash application, if I open a new or existing Facebook chat window, my Flash content will disappear. I can continue to listen to music playing in the application, and when I close / minimize the Facebook chat window, my Flash content reappears. Is this a known issue?

This happens on Google Chrome 15 and Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7 with Flash Player 11.

I tested this on my own Flash application, as well as on another Flash application made by someone else, and the same behavior happens. However, it does not hide non-Flash content.

This seems to be a bug in Facebook chat and Flash content.

Answer 1

from http://developers.facebook.com/docs/appsonfacebook/tutorial/ :

If you host an Adobe Flash application in Canvas, it is recommended that you set the wmode of the Flash object to "opaque":

... Other modes (including the default mode, wmode = "window", wmode = "direct" and wmode = "gpu") require you to hide your Flash object when dialog boxes, pop-ups, chat tabs and pop-ups appear lists. This can be frustrating or confusing for users.

Answer 2

From the documentation :

If you must use the wmode window or direct values, Canvas will automatically hide and display the Flash object when dialog boxes, check boxes, chat tabs, and notifications are displayed.

Developers who want to provide a user experience of hiding and displaying can pass the JavaScript function to the hideFlashCallback options for FB.init . This function will be executed whenever the Flash object is hidden or displayed due to user behavior (clicking on a notification, etc.) and can be used by the developer to take appropriate actions: hide or show their Flash object.

 FB.init({ ..., hideFlashCallback: function(params) { if (params.state == 'opened') { $('#some-image').show(); FB.Canvas.hideFlashElement(params.elem); } else { $('#some-image').hide(); FB.Canvas.showFlashElement(params.elem); } });