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Flash Video Encoder User Guide 
Flash Video Encoder User Guide > About cue points > About the cue point XML file

About the cue point XML file

The cue point XML file lets you save your cue point data, and apply it to other video clips. An example of the file is shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<FLVCoreCuePoints>
    <CuePoint>
        <Time>2000</Time>
        <Type>navigation</Type>
        <Name>CuePoint1</Name>
    <Parameters>
        <Parameter>
            <Name>CuePoint1</Name>
            <Value>Introduction</Value>
        </Parameter>
        <Parameter>
            <Name>Cast</Name>
            <Value>ActorNames</Value>
        </Parameter>
    </Parameters>
    </CuePoint>

CAUTION

 

If you modify the cue point XML file and insert invalid values or otherwise malformed XML syntax, Flash Video Encoder will not be able to load the file.

The cue point XML file's DTD (Document Type Definition) is shown below (A DTD defines the valid document structure of the XML file, with a list of supported elements and their meaning within the XML file itself):

<!DOCTYPE FLVCoreCuePoints [
  <!ELEMENT FLVCoreCuePoints    (CuePoint+)>
    <!-- FLVCoreCuePoints is the root element in the XML file and must contain at least one CuePoint element -->
  <!ELEMENT CuePoint    (Time, Type, Name, Parameters?)>
    <!-- CuePoint contains the data for a particular cue point, and must contain one each of
         Time, Type, and Name elements, and may contain one Parameters element -->
  <!ELEMENT Time    (#CDATA)>
    <!-- Time contains the cue point time as an integer in milliseconds -->
  <!ELEMENT Type    (#CDATA)>
    <!-- Type contains the cue point type as a case-sensitive string, either "event" or "navigation" -->
  <!ELEMENT Name    (#CDATA)>
    <!-- Name contains the cue point name as a text string; it also can contain a parameter name when appearing
         inside a Parameter element -->
  <!ELEMENT Parameters    (Parameter+)>
    <!-- Parameters contains the cue point's parameters. It must contain at least one Parameter element -->
  <!ELEMENT Parameter    (Name, Value)>
    <!-- Parameter contains the data for one of a cue point's parameters. It must contain one each of
         Name and Value elements -->
  <!ELEMENT Value    (#CDATA)>
    <!-- Value contains the value-part of the name-value pair for a cue point parameter -->
]>

In addition to the restrictions enforced by the cue point XML file's DTD, the following characteristics apply to the XML format:

Cue point files that do not successfully load generate a cue point error log (CuePoints_Errors.log) that you can use to troubleshoot potential errors in the XML file. The log file is stored in the following location:

For more information, see Defining and embedding cue points.

Flash CS3


Comments


ypmits said on Jan 15, 2008 at 9:10 AM :
I've gotten the errormessage 'The XML file could not be loaded because it is
in an invalid format'... so like I always do I check the xml in FireFox and see
what the culprit is... I fix it and it validates every XML-validator available... but
Flash Video Encoder still throws me the same error... I check if I got the right
file... yes... I change the name of the file... still the same error. Hm... I check
the logfile and it give a detailed explanation of the 'OLD' error.. which is
already corrected by me. So I restart Flash Video Encoder.... I also delete the
ASO-files from within Flash... STILL THE SAME ERROR!!!! Ok... so then I
restarted the computer... checked if everything was fine and I still get the
same error... damn! Adobe... I'm going crazy here! Is this a known bug in
Flash Video Encoder?? Do you guys have a solution? I know I can put in the
cue-points manually but they are too many and I've got them all delivered in
XML.... HELP!!!!
No screen name said on Feb 11, 2008 at 10:58 AM :
I am having a problem with the XML import file and the software is not giving me any error data. There are no duplicate cue points, and they are in ascending order, however they all have the same name (but that shouldn't matter since you can use the same name if you manually add cue points). But when I try to import, it throws an error as if there were a formatting problem when I've checked 10 times and know that the XML is formatted correctly. The error log does not contain any error data, however if I take out a closing tag or something, it will write to the log file. But it won't show any error data for the error that I am getting. This is definitely a bug in the software. BTW, I'm using an extremely long XML file because we have over a thousand cue points for a 3hour+ video.
ugrowemweschickm said on Jul 6, 2008 at 4:51 PM :
I'm pretty sure that the above DTD is incorrect. To correct it replace all occurences of #CDATA with #PCDATA. Here's the whole thing:

<!DOCTYPE FLVCoreCuePoints [
<!ELEMENT FLVCoreCuePoints (CuePoint+)>
<!-- FLVCoreCuePoints is the root element in the XML file and must contain at least one CuePoint element -->
<!ELEMENT CuePoint (Time, Type, Name, Parameters?)>
<!-- CuePoint contains the data for a particular cue point, and must contain one each of
Time, Type, and Name elements, and may contain one Parameters element -->
<!ELEMENT Time (#PCDATA)>
<!-- Time contains the cue point time as an integer in milliseconds -->
<!ELEMENT Type (#PCDATA)>
<!-- Type contains the cue point type as a case-sensitive string, either "event" or "navigation" -->
<!ELEMENT Name (#PCDATA)>
<!-- Name contains the cue point name as a text string; it also can contain a parameter name when appearing
inside a Parameter element -->
<!ELEMENT Parameters (Parameter+)>
<!-- Parameters contains the cue point's parameters. It must contain at least one Parameter element -->
<!ELEMENT Parameter (Name, Value)>
<!-- Parameter contains the data for one of a cue point's parameters. It must contain one each of
Name and Value elements -->
<!ELEMENT Value (#PCDATA)>
<!-- Value contains the value-part of the name-value pair for a cue point parameter -->
]>

And like the other two posted; despite my xml being valid, the flv encoder still says it's not.

Here's a reference to where I found an explanation about cdata vs pcdata:

http://www.stylusstudio.com/xsllist/200311/post90150.html
ugrowemweschickm said on Jul 6, 2008 at 5:46 PM :
For those of you who are struggling with the flash video encoder's xml cue point feature:

Checkout this utility written in ruby called flvtool2. For those of you with ruby gems already installed you can just do a:

sudo gem install flvtool2

otherwise go get yourself so ruby gems and then do it (I guess that was rather obvious).

Anyways, some guy with a blog did a nice writeup of how to use it:

http://www.brooksandrus.com/blog/2007/03/18/flvtool2-flash-video-flv-metadata-cue-point-injector-and-cutting-tool/

 

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