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SWFObject event undefined in Chrome works in IE

I want to get the currentFrame of my Flash movie when it is loaded. I followed the the tutorial found here http://learnswfobject.com/advanced-topics/executing-javascript-when-the-swf-has-finished-loading/index.html and SWFOBJECT CurrentFrame Javascript. I am using SWFObject 2.3 beta. This works perfectly fine on Internet Explorer however it does not work on Google Chrome.
In Chrome I get the error
Uncaught TypeError: e.ref.currentFrame is not a function
Checking e it returns [object Object]
Checking e.ref returns [object HTMLObjectElement]
Checking e.ref.totalFrames returns undefined
var flashvars = {};
var params = {};
var attributes = {};
function mycall(e){
setInterval(function(){console.log("Frame: " + e.ref.currentFrame)},1000);
}
swfobject.embedSWF("notmyswf.swf", "course", "100%", "100%", "6.0.0", false, flashvars, params, attributes, mycall);
Why is this not working on Chrome but works well with IE? Is the event e not detected? Is there a work-around on how to make this work on Chrome?
The purpose of this is for me to create a check if the user is really using the course he has opened and not just leaving it idle. I have already added a code that will check idle but it is not enough. Most learners, have figured out a way to just open a course, leave it there to accumulate hours of training. Some even have a program running in their computers that will just move the mouse 1-pixel every few seconds so that the computer does not go to idle. If I can check the current frame of the Flash movie, I can create a function that will calculate the current page the user is viewing every 15 minutes. If he is stuck in the same page I can then show a prompt that the user must click in order to continue viewing the course or it will automatically close.

I suggest dropping the SWF-based currentFrame approach in favor of monitoring your calls to the database using JavaScript. (Based on your comments, it sounds like the DB calls are being sent by JS, so this shouldn't be a problem.)
If the course bookmark is auto-saved every 3 minutes (as described in your comments), you can cache the value in your page's JS and do a compare every time the save is performed. If the value hasn't changed in x number of minutes, you can display your timeout warning.
If you're using a SCORM wrapper (or similar), this is really simple, just modify the wrapper to include your timer code. Something like:
//Old code (pseudocode, not tested)
function setBoomark (val){
API.SetValue("cmi.core.lesson_location", val);
}
//New code (pseudocode, not tested)
var current_location = "";
var activityTimer;
function disableCourse(){
//do stuff to disable course because it timed out
}
function setBoomark (val){
API.SetValue("cmi.core.lesson_location", val);
if(val === current_location){
//do nothing, timer keeps ticking
} else {
//reset timer using new bookmark value
if(activityTimer){ clearTimeout(activityTimer); }
activityTimer = setTimeout(disableCourse, 15000);
//Update current_location value
current_location = val;
}
}
This is a rough sketch but hopefully you get the idea.

I feel stupid!
It did not work in Chrome and Firefox because I used the wrong casing for the functions but in IE11 it works no matter the case.
So the correct functions are:
e.ref.CurrentFrame() //I used currentFrame() which still works in IE11
e.ref.TotalFrames() //I used totalFrames() which still works in IE11
e.ref.PercentLoaded() //I used this correctly and was able to get the value

Automation script is not working?

This is the first time I get my hands on with automation instruments in xcode The script works well for all button taps but the one making server connection. I don't know the reason
Here is the script I tried so far
var target = UIATarget.localTarget();
target.pushTimeout(4);
target.popTimeout();
var window=target.frontMostApp().mainWindow()
var appScroll=window.scrollViews()[0];
appScroll.logElementTree();
UIATarget.localTarget().delay(2);
appScroll.buttons()[1].tap();
The above script works up to showing the UIActivityIndicator instead of moving to next controller after success
I know There must be a very simple point I am missing. So help me out

UIAutomation attempts to make things "easy" for the developer, but in doing so it can make things very confusing. It sounds like you're getting a reference to window, waiting for a button to appear, then executing .tap() on that button.
I see that you've already considered messing with target.pushTimeout(), which is related to your issue. The timeout system lets you do something that would be impossible in any sane system: get a reference to an element before it exists. I suspect that behind-the-scenes, UIAutomation repeatedly attempts to get the reference you want -- as long as the timeout will allow.
So, in the example you've posted, it's possible for this "feature" to actually hurt you.
var window=target.frontMostApp().mainWindow()
var appScroll=window.scrollViews()[0];
UIATarget.localTarget().delay(2);
appScroll.buttons()[1].tap();
What if the view changes during the 2-second delay? Your reference to target.frontMostApp().mainWindow.scrollViews()[0] may be invalid, or it may not point to the object you think you're pointing at.
We got around this in our Illuminator framework by forgetting about the timeout system altogether, and just manually re-evaluating a given reference until it actually returns something. We called it waitForChildExistence, but the functionality is basically as follows:
var myTimeout = 3; // how long we want to wait
// this function selects an element
// relative to a parent element (target) that we will pass in
var selectorFn = function (myTarget) {
var ret = myTarget.frontMostApp().mainWindow.scrollViews()[0];
// assert that ret exists, is visible, etc
return ret;
}
// re-evaluate our selector until we get something
var element = null;
var later = get_current_time() + myTimeout;
while (element === null && get_current_time() < later) {
try {
element = selectorFn(target);
} catch (e) {
// must not have worked
}
}
// check whether element is still null
// do something with element
For cases where there is a temporary progress dialog, this code will simply wait for it to disappear before successfully returning the element you want.

how to know whether modal boxes (alert, prompt, confirm...) have been disabled in javascript?

I have a private web based app where sometimes I genuinely ask to the users what they want to do in given situations. To do so, I'm using the confirm function of javascript.
As any other modal box, after a few popups the user has the choice to disable them by simply clicking the little box as showed below:
The problem is that, if they clicked it once, they never see other messages and responses to confirm are assumed 0, which is confusing because basically it means that all the actions requiring their confirmation are cancelled with no warning! Refreshing the page does not help, they have to close it and reopen it for it to work again.
Can I detect when they checked that little box?

When that box is checked, the dialog "closes" immediately. You could check to see if the box closes unusually fast:
function dialog(message, success, failure) {
var open_time = new Date();
var result = alert(message);
var close_time = new Date();
if (close_time - open_time < 10) {
failure();
} else {
success(result);
}
}
dialog('Hello', function(result) {
// The dialog probably was closed by the user
}, function() {
// The dialog was closed really fast.
// Either the user was typing while it popped up or the browser didn't
// display it in the first place
});
Although just using CSS and HTML to create modal dialogs would probably be much easier and more consistent across browsers and platforms. I personally don't like Chrome's approach.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/tS9G6/4/
I looked a little bit through Chromium's source and that property isn't stored anywhere, so there doesn't seem to be some Chromium-specific property that you can look at.

You can't do anything about it. It's a browser feature.
You can check for the timing -
How to Detect "prevent this page from creating additional dialogs"
This suggests doing the following :
function myConfirm(message){
var start = new Date().getTime();
var result = confirm(message);
var dt = new Date().getTime() - start;
// dt < 50ms means probable computer
// the quickest I could get while expecting the popup was 100ms
// slowest I got from computer suppression was 20ms
for(var i=0; i < 10 && !result && dt < 50; i++){
start = new Date().getTime();
result = confirm(message);
dt = new Date().getTime() - start;
}
if(dt < 50)
return true;
return result;
}

document.getElementById does not return null, but also does not do what I want. No error in javascript console

In this instance, I load a single paypal page, in which I am prompted to login. Once I login, the page changes, through the use of other javascripts on paypal's end. The address does not change on this transition, nor does the source code in any material way. I am trying to find a way to have my script wait long enough after the first click to be able to get the element that loads after. I thought I could do this fairly simple using the following:
document.getElementById("submitLogin").click();
window.onload = function() {
document.getElementById("continue").click();
};
When the script is executed, the first button is clicked, the page transitions, but it won't click the second button that loads. My javascript console does not report any errors, suggesting that it is able to "get" the element. Not sure why it won't click it though.

If nothing else, you could always poll for the existence of the "continue" element at some interval:
function clickContinue() {
var button = document.getElementById("continue");
return button ? button.click() : setTimeout(clickContinue, 100);
}
document.getElementById("submitLogin").click();
clickContinue();
If you go this route, you'll probably want to include a failsafe so it doesn't run too long, in case something unexpected happens. Something like this should work:
clickContinue.interval = 100; // Look for "continue" button every 0.1 second
clickContinue.ttl = 10000; // Approximate time to live: 10 seconds ~ 10,000 ms
clickContinue.tries = clickContinue.ttl / clickContinue.interval | 0;
function clickContinue() {
var button = document.getElementById("continue"),
interval = clickContinue.interval;
return button ? button.click() :
clickContinue.tries-- && setTimeout(clickContinue, interval);
}
// ...
Take a look at PayPal's API docs and see if they provide a way to set up a callback to handle this, though. This polling technique should probably only be used as a last resort.

How to disable "prevent this page from creating additional dialogs"?

I'm developing a web app that utilises JavaScript alert() and confirm() dialogue boxes.
How can I stop Chrome from showing this checkbox?
Is there a setting I can modify?
I know I could modify the source code, but I'd like it so that Chrome could still auto-update.
I don't need to worry about other browsers since the app only runs in Chrome.
I have admin access to the (Windows) machines that run the app.

You can't. It's a browser feature there to prevent sites from showing hundreds of alerts to prevent you from leaving.
You can, however, look into modal popups like jQuery UI Dialog. These are javascript alert boxes that show a custom dialog. They don't use the default alert() function and therefore, bypass the issue you're running into completely.
I've found that an apps that has a lot of message boxes and confirms has a much better user experience if you use custom dialogs instead of the default alerts and confirms.

This is what I ended up doing, since we have a web app that has multiple users that are not under our control...(#DannyBeckett I know this isn't an exact answer to your question, but the people that are looking at your question might be helped by this.) You can at least detect if they are not seeing the dialogs. There are few things you most likely want to change like the time to display, or what you are actually displaying. Remember this will only notify the user that they are have managed to click that little checkbox.
window.nativeAlert = window.alert;
window.alert = function (message) {
var timeBefore = new Date();
var confirmBool = nativeAlert(message);
var timeAfter = new Date();
if ((timeAfter - timeBefore) < 350) {
MySpecialDialog("You have alerts turned off");
}
}
window.nativeConfirm = window.confirm;
window.confirm = function (message) {
var timeBefore = new Date();
var confirmBool = nativeConfirm(message);
var timeAfter = new Date();
if ((timeAfter - timeBefore) < 350) {
MySpecialDialog("You have confirms turned off");
}
return confirmBool;
}
Obviously I have set the time to 3.5 milliseconds. But after some testing we were only able to click or close the dialogs in about 5 milliseconds plus.

I know everybody is ethically against this, but I understand there are reasons of practical joking where this is desired. I think Chrome took a solid stance on this by enforcing a mandatory one second separation time between alert messages. This gives the visitor just enough time to close the page or refresh if they're stuck on an annoying prank site.
So to answer your question, it's all a matter of timing. If you alert more than once per second, Chrome will create that checkbox. Here's a simple example of a workaround:
var countdown = 99;
function annoy(){
if(countdown>0){
alert(countdown+" bottles of beer on the wall, "+countdown+" bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, "+(countdown-1)+" bottles of beer on the wall!");
countdown--;
// Time must always be 1000 milliseconds, 999 or less causes the checkbox to appear
setTimeout(function(){
annoy();
}, 1000);
}
}
// Don't alert right away or Chrome will catch you
setTimeout(function(){
annoy();
}, 1000);

You should better use jquery-confirm rather than trying to remove that checkbox.
$.confirm({
title: 'Confirm!',
content: 'Are you sure you want to refund invoice ?',
confirm: function(){
//do something
},
cancel: function(){
//do something
}
});

You should let the user do that if they want (and you can't stop them anyway).
Your problem is that you need to know that they have and then assume that they mean OK, not cancel. Replace confirm(x) with myConfirm(x):
function myConfirm(message) {
var start = Number(new Date());
var result = confirm(message);
var end = Number(new Date());
return (end<(start+10)||result==true);
}

function alertWithoutNotice(message){
setTimeout(function(){
alert(message);
}, 1000);
}