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Using Flash

Summary of Contents for FLASH 8-USING FLASH

Page 1: ...Using Flash...

Page 2: ...A and its suppliers All rights reserved Macromedia Flash 8 video is powered by On2 TrueMotion video technology 1992 2005 On2 Technologies Inc All Rights Reserved http www on2 com Visual SourceSafe is...

Page 3: ...le Timelines and levels 37 About nested movie clips 37 Using absolute and relative target paths 39 About scenes 44 Working with scenes 45 Using the Movie Explorer 46 Using Find and Replace 48 Using th...

Page 4: ...ances with behaviors 94 Creating custom behaviors 96 Best practices for using behaviors 98 Breaking apart instances 101 Getting information about instances on the Stage 102 Copying library assets betw...

Page 5: ...54 Chapter 6 Working with Text 157 About FlashType 159 About Unicode text encoding in Flash applications 160 About font outlines and device fonts 160 Creating text 162 Creating scrolling text 166 Sett...

Page 6: ...Flash Professional only 228 Applying filters Flash Professional only 229 About blend modes Flash Professional only 239 Applying a blend mode Flash Professional only 241 Chapter 10 Creating Motion 243...

Page 7: ...unds to buttons 315 Using sounds with Sound objects 316 About accessing ID3 properties in MP3 files with Flash Player 316 Using the sound editing controls 317 Controlling sound playback using behavior...

Page 8: ...s Flash Professional only 357 About using components with screens Flash Professional only 360 Accessibility in the Flash screens authoring environment Flash Professional only 361 Chapter 15 Creating M...

Page 9: ...tent 511 Worldwide accessibility standards 512 Macromedia Flash Accessibility web page 513 Understanding screen reader technology 513 Using Flash to enter accessibility information for screen readers...

Page 10: ...Setting feedback options for a learning interaction 582 Setting Knowledge Track options for a learning interaction 583 Setting navigation options for a learning interaction 584 Setting control button...

Page 11: ...ts 11 label 630 listbox 631 listitem 635 menulist 636 menupop 639 menuitem 640 popupslider 642 property 645 radiogroup 645 radio 646 targetlist 647 textbox 649 About the Configuration Folders 651 Inde...

Page 12: ...12 Contents...

Page 13: ...ion to a complex interactive web application such as an online store You can make your Flash applications media rich by adding pictures sound and video Flash includes many features that make it powerf...

Page 14: ...h Professional 8 includes all the features of Flash Basic 8 along with several powerful new tools It provides new expressiveness tools for optimizing the look and feel of the Flash files you design Ex...

Page 15: ...ectangles on page 137 Enhanced strokes Joins and caps on strokes are now drawn more cleanly and precisely A join is the place where two strokes come together A cap is the end point of a stroke that do...

Page 16: ...ibility and ease of use Script Assist A new assisted mode in the Actions panel Script Assist lets you more easily create scripts without having detailed knowledge of ActionScript Script Assist helps y...

Page 17: ...mation see Using Components Macintosh document tabs You can now open multiple Flash files in the same window and select among them using document tabs at the top of the window For more information see...

Page 18: ...ection resulted in the creation of three separate HTML pages The Flash Player detection feature has been improved so that it now publishes only a single HTML page simplifying the publishing of your Fl...

Page 19: ...Flash Player from having to continually redraw the image providing a significant improvement in playback performance For more information see Runtime bitmap caching movie clip and button symbols on pa...

Page 20: ...he playback of a video clip with accompanying interactive content when individual cue points are reached For example you can create a Flash presentation that has video playing in one area of the scree...

Page 21: ...menu let you automate tasks in a document This chapter contains the following sections Creating or opening a document and setting properties 22 Using document tabs for multiple documents 25 Saving Fla...

Page 22: ...an also use the Property inspector to set properties for an existing document The Property inspector makes it easy to access and change the most commonly used attributes of a document For more informa...

Page 23: ...ningful search results for Flash content do the following Enter a descriptive title in the Title text box Enter a description in the Description text box Descriptions can contain searchable keywords a...

Page 24: ...ment click the triangle in the Background Color box and select a color from the palette 6 To specify the unit of measure for rulers that you can display along the top and side of the application windo...

Page 25: ...document tabs for multiple documents When you open multiple documents tabs at the top of the Document window identify the open documents and let you easily navigate among them Tabs appear only when do...

Page 26: ...duce the document file size using the File Save and Compact command See Saving documents when you undo steps on page 58 To save a Flash document 1 Do one of the following To overwrite the current vers...

Page 27: ...characters in their naming schemes Many Flash designers and developers adopt a naming system that uses a noun verb or adjective noun combination for naming files Two examples of naming schemes are as...

Page 28: ...s the time it takes to save the document When you select Save As and type a new name for the file Flash writes a new and optimized version of the file which results in a smaller file size When you sel...

Page 29: ...s use a bitmap as a file convert the bitmap to vector artwork and modify it in other ways See Chapter 7 Using Imported Artwork on page 191 Video You can import video clips from other applications as e...

Page 30: ...s on page 302 Controlling sound playback using behaviors on page 318 In screen based documents you can use behaviors to control screens See Creating controls and transitions for screens with behaviors...

Page 31: ...en the library of any Flash document while you are working in Flash to make the library items from that file available for the current document You can create permanent libraries in your Flash applica...

Page 32: ...use the Play button in the library preview window or the Controller to preview the item You can use folders in the library to organize library items See Working with folders in the Library panel on p...

Page 33: ...e All Folders from the Library options menu To move an item between folders Drag the item from one folder to another If an item with the same name exists in the new location Flash prompts you to repla...

Page 34: ...g library items You can rename items in the library Changing the library item name of an imported file does not change the filename To rename a library item do one of the following Double click the it...

Page 35: ...See Sorting items in the Library panel on page 33 Updating imported files in the Library panel If you use an external editor to modify files that you have imported into Flash such as bitmaps or sound...

Page 36: ...ing an external editor You don t need to understand every ActionScript element to begin scripting if you have a clear goal you can start building scripts with simple actions You can incorporate new el...

Page 37: ...more information see About nested movie clips on page 37 You can use ActionScript to send a message from one Timeline to another You must use a target path to specify the location of the Timeline to w...

Page 38: ...consider the hierarchy on a computer the hard disk has a root directory or folder and subdirectories The root directory is analogous to the main Timeline of a Flash document it is the parent of every...

Page 39: ...nce is always a full path from a level name regardless of which Timeline calls the action for example the absolute path to the instance california is _level0 westCoast california A relative path is di...

Page 40: ...nd the target Timeline Relative paths can address targets only within their own level of Flash Player For example you can t use a relative path in an action on _level0 that targets a Timeline on _leve...

Page 41: ...r button you must assign an instance name to the movie clip or button A loaded document doesn t require an instance name because you use its level number as an instance name for example _level5 To spe...

Page 42: ...following Enter an expression that evaluates to a target path in a parameter box Click to place the insertion point in the script Then in the Functions category of the Actions toolbox double click th...

Page 43: ...e layer folders to organize similar layers If applicable place your layers that include ActionScript and a layer for frame labels at the top of the layer stack in the Timeline This makes it easy to lo...

Page 44: ...cenes force users to progressively download the entire SWF file even if they do not plan or want to watch all of it Your users progressively download the entire file instead of loading the assets they...

Page 45: ...r fashion you use actions For more information see Chapter 5 Syntax and Language Fundamentals in Learning ActionScript 2 0 in Flash To display the Scene panel Select Window Other Panels Scene To view...

Page 46: ...ces of a particular symbol or action Print the navigable display list that appears in the Movie Explorer The Movie Explorer has an options menu as well as a context menu with options for performing op...

Page 47: ...k Windows or Control click Macintosh an item in the Movie Explorer navigation tree 2 Select an option from the menu Go to Location jumps to the selected layer scene or frame in the document Go to Symb...

Page 48: ...replace the specified element with another element of the same type Depending on the type of specified element there are different options available in the Find and Replace dialog box You can find and...

Page 49: ...ord is deselected the word place can be searched as part of the word replace Match Case searches for text that exactly matches the case uppercase and lowercase character formatting of the specified te...

Page 50: ...r a value for minimum and maximum font size to specify the range of font sizes to be searched When Font Size is deselected all font sizes in the scene or document are searched To replace the specified...

Page 51: ...nd replace a color 1 Select Edit Find and Replace 2 Select Color from the For pop up menu 3 To search for a color click the Color control and do one of the following Select a color swatch from the col...

Page 52: ...ce a symbol with another symbol of any type movie clip button or graphic To find and replace a symbol 1 Select Edit Find and Replace 2 Select Symbol from the For pop up menu 3 For Name select a name f...

Page 53: ...ind Next to find the next occurrence of the specified sound video or bitmap Click Find All to find all occurrences of the specified sound video or bitmap 7 To replace a sound video or bitmap do one of...

Page 54: ...behavior Rename library items Move library items Edit library items Import to library Create font symbols Create library folders Expand all library folders Create video stream symbols Convert to compi...

Page 55: ...created or opened that document up to a specified maximum number of steps The History panel doesn t show steps you ve performed in other documents The slider in the History panel initially points to...

Page 56: ...mmand Undoing steps with the History panel You can undo the last step or multiple steps with the History panel When you undo a step the step is dimmed in the History panel To undo the last step perfor...

Page 57: ...Control click or Command click to deselect a selected step 2 Click Replay The selected steps replay in order and a new step labeled Replay Steps appears in the History panel Copying and pasting steps...

Page 58: ...ask numerous times You can create a new command in the Commands menu from steps in the History panel and reuse the command multiple times Steps replay exactly as they were originally performed You can...

Page 59: ...t a command to rename and enter a new name for it 3 Click Close To delete a name from the Commands menu 1 Select Commands Edit Command List 2 Select a command 3 Click Delete and click Close Running co...

Page 60: ...set you ve defined The predetermined sets are listed at the top of the menu For example if you are familiar with the shortcuts found in Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand you can use those short...

Page 61: ...to the keyboard shortcuts To remove a shortcut from a command 1 From the Commands pop up menu select a command category The Commands list displays the commands in that category 2 Select a command fro...

Page 62: ...text editing context menu that appears with Flash documents in Flash Player 7 and later The standard context menu appears when a user right clicks Windows or Control clicks Macintosh on a document in...

Page 63: ...tems Custom context menu items are automatically encoded using Unicode UTF 8 text encoding About the links menu in Flash Player If a user is using a Netscape browser or an Active X application to disp...

Page 64: ...en This option draws more slowly than the Fast option Anti aliasing works best on video cards that provide thousands 16 bit or millions 24 bit of colors In 16 or 256 color mode black lines are smoothe...

Page 65: ...se Modify Curves Optimize to minimize the number of separate lines that are used to describe shapes Limit the number of special line types such as dashed dotted ragged and so on Solid lines require le...

Page 66: ...proves streaming performance When external SWF files GIF and XML files and variables are streamed into a player by using ActionScript calls such as loadMovie and getUrl the data flows at the rate set...

Page 67: ...aph to show settings for the corresponding frame in the left window and stop the document 6 If necessary adjust the view of the graph by taking one of the following actions Select View Streaming Graph...

Page 68: ...Macintosh these options are divided between the Page Setup and the Print Margins dialog boxes The Print and Page Setup dialog boxes are standard within either operating system and their appearance dep...

Page 69: ...sh Project Each file can be added to a particular Flash Project only once Files can be organized in nested folders A Flash Project is an XML file with the file extension flp for example myProject flp...

Page 70: ...another project Flash automatically saves and closes the first file To view the Flash Project panel Select Window Project To view the Project pop up menu When a project is open click the Project butt...

Page 71: ...ect the item in the Flash Project panel and do one of the following Click the Remove button at the lower right corner of the Flash Project panel Press the Delete key Right click Windows or Control cli...

Page 72: ...om the context menu 2 In the Project Settings dialog box select the FLA file in the tree structure 3 Select a publish profile from the Profile menu For information on publish profiles see Using publis...

Page 73: ...lowing Select Find Missing File from the Project pop up menu Right click Windows or Control click Macintosh and select Find Missing File from the context menu 3 Navigate to the file and click OK Using...

Page 74: ...atabase Path text box click Browse to browse for the VSS database you want or enter the full file path The file you select becomes the srcsafe ini file used to initialize SourceSafe b In the Project t...

Page 75: ...te the local version with the version from the remote site Troubleshooting remote folder setup Flash Professional only A web server can be configured in a wide variety of ways The following list provi...

Page 76: ...d to a remote site Use underscores in place of spaces and avoid special characters in filenames and folder names wherever possible In particular colons slashes periods and apostrophes in filenames or...

Page 77: ...ch symbol has its own Timeline You can add frames keyframes and layers to a symbol Timeline just as you can to the main Timeline For more information see Using the Timeline in Getting Started with Fla...

Page 78: ...assets on page 108 For an introduction to using symbols and instances see Basic Tasks Create Symbols and Instances in Flash Tutorials This chapter contains the following sections Types of symbols 79 A...

Page 79: ...er movie clip instances You can also place movie clip instances inside the Timeline of a button symbol to create animated buttons Use font symbols to export a font and use it in other Flash documents...

Page 80: ...en you are in symbol editing mode the slice guides appear with dotted lines superimposed on the symbol on the main Stage The guides do not appear when the symbol is in edit in place mode Slice guides...

Page 81: ...prevents Flash Player from having to continually redraw the image which provides a significant improvement in playback performance For example when creating animations with a complex background you ca...

Page 82: ...a unique instance name to be used with ActionScript For information on assigning a name to an instance see Creating instances on page 85 You can also use ActionScript to control movie clip or button...

Page 83: ...ing and movie clip symbols on page 79 5 Click OK Flash adds the symbol to the library The selection on the Stage becomes an instance of the symbol You cannot edit an instance directly on the Stage you...

Page 84: ...e main Timeline select every frame in every layer of the animation on the Stage that you want to use For information on selecting frames see Using the Timeline in Getting Started with Flash 2 Do one o...

Page 85: ...from the context menu Select Duplicate from the Library options menu To duplicate a symbol by selecting an instance 1 Select an instance of the symbol on the Stage 2 Select Modify Symbol Duplicate Sym...

Page 86: ...fects assign actions set the graphic display mode or change the behavior of the instance The behavior of the instance is the same as the symbol behavior unless you specify otherwise Any changes you ma...

Page 87: ...ude prebuilt features such as accessibility support and can be customized Button components include the PushButton and RadioButton For more information see Chapter 4 Button component in Using Componen...

Page 88: ...n see Adding sounds to buttons on page 315 9 When you finish select Edit Edit Document Drag the button symbol from the Library panel to create an instance of it in the document Enabling editing and te...

Page 89: ...her objects on the Stage using the Edit in Place command Other objects are dimmed to distinguish them from the symbol you are editing The name of the symbol you are editing is displayed in an Edit bar...

Page 90: ...f the symbol on the Stage and right click Windows or Control click Macintosh and select Edit in New Window from the context menu 2 Edit the symbol as needed 3 To change the registration point drag the...

Page 91: ...Classes in Learning ActionScript 2 0 in Flash To edit instance properties you use the Property inspector Windows Properties The properties of an instance are saved with it If you edit a symbol or reli...

Page 92: ...let you reduce the color or transparency values by a specified percentage The controls on the right let you reduce or increase the color or transparency values by a constant value The current red gree...

Page 93: ...can change an instance s type to redefine its behavior in a Flash application For example if a graphic instance contains animation that you want to play independently of the main Timeline you could r...

Page 94: ...document without writing ActionScript Behaviors are prewritten ActionScript scripts that let you add the power control and flexibility of ActionScript coding to your document without having to create...

Page 95: ...duplicate X offset and Y offset of pixels from original to copy GotoAndPlay at frame or label Plays a movie clip from a particular frame Instance name of target clip to play Frame number or label to p...

Page 96: ...tionScript code needed to perform the desired behavior and save the file in the Behaviors folder of your local computer Behaviors are stored in the following location Windows C Documents and Settings...

Page 97: ...al edition of Flash 8 specify pro for the authoringEdition parameter 5 Optional If your custom behavior require a dialog box enter parameters using the properties and dialog tags To learn about the ta...

Page 98: ...nd can be useful for novice Flash and ActionScript users Before you start using behaviors take a close look at how you want to structure your FLA file What behaviors do you need for your project What...

Page 99: ...code or code on individual objects easy to find and edit in the Actions panel Find and replace Lets you search for strings and replace them in a FLA document Script pinning Lets you pin multiple scri...

Page 100: ...es it is easier to write the ActionScript yourself The main difference between a FLA file with behaviors and a FLA file without behaviors is the workflow you must use for editing the project If you us...

Page 101: ...viors Use Movie Explorer to locate ActionScript Clearly document the use of behaviors if you are working with a complex document If you keep track of where you use behaviors you might have fewer heada...

Page 102: ...nfo panel In the Info panel you can view the instance s size and location the location of its registration point its red R green G blue B and alpha A values if the instance has a solid fill and the lo...

Page 103: ...the asset or by opening the library of the source document in the destination document and dragging the source document assets into the destination document You can also share symbols between documen...

Page 104: ...ts are loaded into the destination document during document playback that is at runtime The source document containing the shared asset does not need to be available on your local network when you aut...

Page 105: ...accessible for linking to destination documents To define a runtime shared asset in a source document 1 With the source document open select Window Library to display the Library panel 2 Do one of th...

Page 106: ...ng Select a movie clip button graphic symbol bitmap or sound in the Library panel and select Properties from the Library options menu Click the Advanced button to expand the Properties dialog box Sele...

Page 107: ...l you select Any assets that the selected symbol uses are also copied into the destination document To update or replace a symbol 1 With the document open select a movie clip button or graphic symbol...

Page 108: ...ave a copy of the symbol or component that has a different modification date from the one you re pasting If you choose not to replace the existing items Flash attempts to use the existing item instead...

Page 109: ...onflicts between library assets do one of the following Click Don t Replace Existing Items to preserve the existing assets in the destination document Click Replace Existing Items to replace the exist...

Page 110: ...110 Using Symbols Instances and Library Assets...

Page 111: ...ate a filled shape with no outline by using No Color as an outline And you can apply a solid color fill to text See Setting text attributes on page 166 You can modify stroke and fill attributes in a v...

Page 112: ...dient and bitmap fills 121 Copying strokes and fills with the Eyedropper tool 124 Locking a gradient or bitmap to fill the Stage 124 Modifying color palettes 125 About the Color Mixer The Color Mixer...

Page 113: ...t fill an alpha value of 100 creates an opaque fill Current Color Swatch displays the currently selected color If you select a gradient fill type Linear or Radial from the fill Type pop up menu the Cu...

Page 114: ...se with Flash Player 8 These controls called overflow modes let you specify how colors are applied beyond the gradient For more information see Transforming gradient and bitmap fills on page 121 Using...

Page 115: ...and weight for a selected object you can use the Stroke Color controls in the Property inspector For stroke style you can choose from styles that are preloaded with Flash or you can create a custom s...

Page 116: ...ption to set the style for a path end None is flush with the path s end Round Square extends beyond the path by half the stroke width 8 Optional If you are drawing lines using the Pencil or Brush tool...

Page 117: ...lor s hexadecimal value in the text box Working with solid colors and gradient fills in the Color Mixer To create and edit solid colors and gradient fills you can use the Color Mixer If an object is s...

Page 118: ...Brightness values for HSB display or hexadecimal values for hexadecimal display Enter an Alpha value to specify the degree of transparency from 0 for complete transparency to 100 for complete opacity...

Page 119: ...icating the colors in the gradient 5 Optional Select an overflow mode to apply to the gradient extend the default mode reflect and repeat 6 Optional Select the linear RGB check box to create an SVG co...

Page 120: ...or as described in Using the Stroke Color and Fill Color controls in the Property inspector on page 115 4 Click an object on the Stage to apply the stroke modifications Applying solid gradient and bit...

Page 121: ...andles is displayed When the pointer is over any one of these handles it changes to indicate the function of the handle Center point Select and move the center point handle to change the center point...

Page 122: ...hape the gradient or fill in any of the following ways To reposition the center point of the gradient or bitmap fill drag the center point To change the width of the gradient or bitmap fill drag the s...

Page 123: ...fill drag the square handle at the center of the bounding box To change the focal point of a circular gradient drag the middle circular handle on the bounding circle To skew or slant a fill within a s...

Page 124: ...or filled area to apply the new attributes Locking a gradient or bitmap to fill the Stage You can lock a gradient or bitmap fill to make it appear that the fill extends over the entire Stage and that...

Page 125: ...xport and modify a file s color palette you use the Color Swatches panel You can duplicate colors remove colors from the palette change the default palette reload the web safe palette if you have repl...

Page 126: ...is used when you create new files To load the web safe 216 color palette In the Color Swatches panel select Web 216 from the pop up menu in the upper right corner Sorting the palette To make it easier...

Page 127: ...dd Colors To replace the current palette with the imported colors select Replace Colors 2 Navigate to the desired file and select it 3 Click OK To export a color palette 1 In the Color Swatches panel...

Page 128: ...128 Working with Color Strokes and Fills...

Page 129: ...ools work and how drawing painting and modifying shapes can affect other shapes on the same layer This chapter contains the following sections About vector and bitmap graphics 130 About Flash drawing...

Page 130: ...lled vectors that also include color and position properties For example the image of a leaf is described by points through which lines pass creating the leaf s outline The color of the leaf is determ...

Page 131: ...ts appearance In particular resizing a bitmap graphic can make the edges of the image ragged as pixels are redistributed within the grid Displaying a bitmap graphic on an output device that has a lowe...

Page 132: ...You can use the Pointer tool to move the object by clicking the bounding box and dragging the shape anywhere you d like to position it on the Stage Overlapping shapes using the Merge Drawing model Wh...

Page 133: ...e lines shapes and paths and for painting filled objects To draw freeform lines and shapes as if drawing with a real pencil you use the Pencil tool See Drawing with the Pencil tool on page 136 To draw...

Page 134: ...g the Object Drawing model By default Flash uses the Merge Drawing model To draw shapes using the Object Drawing model you must click the Object Drawing button in the Tools panel To enable the object...

Page 135: ...are completely enclosed by the selection marquee Points that lie within the selection area will still be selected Select Contact Sensitive Selection and Lasso tools if you want to select objects or gr...

Page 136: ...e Property inspector See Using the Stroke Color and Fill Color controls in the Property inspector on page 115 3 Select a drawing mode under Options in the Tools panel Select Straighten to draw straigh...

Page 137: ...A value of zero creates square corners 4 Drag on the Stage If you are using the Rectangle tool press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys while dragging to adjust the radius of rounded corners For the Ov...

Page 138: ...between 0 and 1 to specify the depth of the star points A number closer to 0 creates deeper points like needles If you are drawing a polygon leave this setting unchanged It does not affect the polygo...

Page 139: ...hor points as hollow and deselected anchor points as solid If this option is not chosen selected anchor points are solid and deselected anchor points are hollow Show Precise Cursors specifies that the...

Page 140: ...ndows or Command click Macintosh anywhere away from the path To close a path position the Pen tool over the first anchor point A small circle appears next to the pen tip when it is positioned correctl...

Page 141: ...the tangent handles of the curve appear 4 Release the mouse button The length and slope of the tangent handles determine the shape of the curve segment You can move the tangent handles later to adjust...

Page 142: ...n nudge selected anchor points to make small adjustments Deleting unneeded anchor points on a curved path optimizes the curve and reduces the file size To move an anchor point Drag the point with the...

Page 143: ...of the segment or adjust curved segments to change the slope or direction of the curve When you move a tangent handle on a curve point the curves on both sides of the point adjust When you move a tang...

Page 144: ...e for new strokes remains constant even when you change the magnification level for the Stage so the same brush size appears larger when the Stage magnification is lower For example suppose you set th...

Page 145: ...Stroke Color and Fill Color controls in the Property inspector on page 115 3 Click the Brush Mode modifier and select a painting mode Paint Normal paints over lines and fills on the same layer Paint F...

Page 146: ...ines and shape outlines created with the Pencil Brush Line Oval or Rectangle tool by dragging with the Selection tool or by optimizing their curves You can also use the Subselection tool to display po...

Page 147: ...shaping easier Increasing the magnification can also make reshaping easier and more accurate see Optimizing curves on page 149 or Using the Stage in Getting Started with Flash To reshape a line or sha...

Page 148: ...rticularly useful when you are having trouble reshaping a number of very short curved line segments Selecting all the segments and smoothing them reduces the number of segments producing a gentler cur...

Page 149: ...outline 3 Set additional options Use Multiple Passes repeats the smoothing process until no further optimization can be accomplished this is the same as repeatedly selecting Optimize with the same ele...

Page 150: ...ot selected 4 Drag on the Stage Modifying shapes You can modify shapes by converting lines to fills expanding the shape of a filled object or softening the edges of a filled shape by modifying the cur...

Page 151: ...g steps also creates larger files and slows drawing Expand or Inset controls whether the shape is enlarged or reduced to soften the edges Snapping To automatically align elements with one another you...

Page 152: ...dit Preferences Windows or Flash Preferences Macintosh and click the Editing tab 2 Under Drawing Settings adjust the Connect Lines setting See Specifying drawing settings on page 154 Pixel snapping Yo...

Page 153: ...en Snap Alignment is turned on dotted lines appear on the Stage when you drag an object to the specified snap tolerance For example if you set Horizontal snap tolerance to 18 pixels the default settin...

Page 154: ...ther Smooth Curves specifies the amount of smoothing applied to curved lines drawn with the Pencil tool when the drawing mode is set to Straighten or Smooth Smoother curves are easier to reshape where...

Page 155: ...bout Flash drawing models on page 131 To set Selection Subselection and Lasso tool contact options 1 Select Edit Preferences Windows or Flash Preferences Macintosh The Preferences dialog box is displa...

Page 156: ...156 Drawing...

Page 157: ...nt size style color tracking kerning baseline shift alignment margins indents and line spacing See Setting text attributes on page 166 The Check Spelling feature lets you check spelling in text fields...

Page 158: ...or input text field you can flow the text around an image including a SWF or JPG file or a movie clip See Using HTML formatted text in Learning ActionScript 2 0 in Flash You can use ActionScript to fo...

Page 159: ...or five within the first frame of a Flash document so be aware of the number of fonts you use FlashType font rendering may also cause an increase in the Flash Player s memory usage Using four or five...

Page 160: ...lication containing static text Flash creates outlines of the text and uses the outlines to display the text in Flash Player When you publish or export a Flash application containing dynamic or input...

Page 161: ...rs on page 172 About masking device fonts You can use a movie clip to mask text that is set in a device font and converted into a movie clip For a movie clip mask on a device font to function the user...

Page 162: ...ypes of text fields static dynamic and input All text fields support Unicode Static text fields display text that doesn t change characters dynamically Dynamic text fields display dynamically updating...

Page 163: ...a round handle appears at the lower left corner of the text block For static vertical text with right to left orientation and a fixed height a square handle appears at the lower left corner of the tex...

Page 164: ...and its contents appear in the SWF file To set preferences for vertical text 1 Select Edit Preferences Windows or Flash Preferences Macintosh and click the Editing tab in the Preferences dialog box 2...

Page 165: ...width or height 6 Select text attributes in the Property inspector as described in Setting text attributes on page 166 To change the dimensions of a text block Drag its resize handle When text is sele...

Page 166: ...g text attributes You can set the font and paragraph attributes of text Font attributes include font family point size style color letter spacing autokerning and character position Paragraph attribute...

Page 167: ...x and select a font from the list or enter a font name 5 Click the triangle next to the Point Size value and drag the slider to select a value or enter a font size value Text size is set in points reg...

Page 168: ...d kerning will be applied to horizontal text only To set preferences for vertical text see Creating text on page 162 Using the Property inspector you can also apply superscript or subscript styles to...

Page 169: ...cal columns To set alignment margins indents and line spacing for horizontal text 1 Select the Text tool 2 To apply settings to existing text use the Text tool to select a text block or text blocks on...

Page 170: ...ti aliasing for each text field rather than each character Also when you open existing FLA files in Flash 8 the text is not automatically updated to the Advanced Anti Alias option you must select indi...

Page 171: ...sing transition appears Larger values cause the characters to look thicker Specifying Custom Anti Alias creates a larger SWF file because font outlines are embedded In order to use the Custom Anti Ali...

Page 172: ...ble by a user 1 Select the horizontal text that you want to make selectable by a user 2 Select Window Properties 3 In the Property inspector select Static Text or Dynamic Text Input Text is selectable...

Page 173: ...6 Optional If you want to use bitmap fonts for your font symbol select the Bitmap Text check box and enter a font size in the Size text box For information on bitmap text see Setting anti aliasing opt...

Page 174: ...block 1 Select the Text tool 2 Do one of the following Drag to select characters Double click to select a word Click to specify the beginning of the selection and Shift click to specify the end of th...

Page 175: ...options for checking spelling To use Spelling Setup 1 Open the Spelling Setup dialog box Do one of the following Select Text Spelling Setup Use this option if you have not initialized the Check Spelli...

Page 176: ...rner identifies words not found in the selected dictionary or dictionaries and also identifies the type of element where the text is located such as text field frame label or other 2 Do one of the fol...

Page 177: ...ort For example you can use Timeline effects to make text bounce fade in or out or explode For more information on using each effect see Using Timeline effects on page 244 Breaking text apart You can...

Page 178: ...L to which you want to link the text block Preserving rich text formatting Flash lets you preserve rich text formatting in input and dynamic text fields If you select the Render Text as HTML formattin...

Page 179: ...a text field on the Stage Assign the text field an instance name in the Property inspector Use the ActionScript createTextField method to create a text field dynamically Assign the text field an insta...

Page 180: ...elect which fonts on your system are substituted for the missing fonts or you can let Flash substitute missing fonts with the Flash System Default Font specified in General Preferences If you install...

Page 181: ...n the Font Mapping dialog box click a font in the Missing Fonts column to select it Shift click to select multiple missing fonts to map them all to the same substitute font The default substitute font...

Page 182: ...the text field and its content using the TextField andTextFormat objects The TextField object has the same properties as the MovieClip object and has methods that let you set select and manipulate the...

Page 183: ...acter is a breaking character such as Enter Windows or Return Macintosh Click the Selectable button to enable users to select dynamic text Deselect this option to prevent users from selecting the dyna...

Page 184: ...eld receives a set of default properties The default properties of the new text field are as follows type dynamic border false background false password false multiline false html false embedFonts fal...

Page 185: ...played in the Script pane _root createTextField mytext 1 50 50 200 100 6 In the Actions toolbox select the Built in Classes category then select the Movie category then select the TextField category a...

Page 186: ...the Movie category then select the TextField category and then select the Properties category Finally double click the multiline property 5 Enter the following parameters Object is the instance name o...

Page 187: ...thod 3 Do one of the following to place text in the text field Enter text into the text field on the Stage Set the text property of the TextField object See Creating text on page 162 In the Actions to...

Page 188: ...age Assign the text field an instance name in the Property inspector Use ActionScript to create a text field dynamically with the createTextField method Assign the text field an instance name as a par...

Page 189: ...d an instance name in the Property inspector Use ActionScript to create a text field dynamically with the createTextField method Assign the text field an instance name as a parameter of the createText...

Page 190: ...190 Working with Text...

Page 191: ...and edit it in Flash or convert the bitmap to vector artwork See Working with imported bitmaps on page 200 You can also import video into Flash See Chapter 11 Working with Video on page 271 For infor...

Page 192: ...tafile Format WMF files that you import directly into a Flash document instead of into a library are imported as a group in the current layer See Importing file formats for vector or bitmap files on p...

Page 193: ...5 If the name of the file you are importing ends with a number and there are additional sequentially numbered files in the same folder select whether to import the sequence of files Click Yes to impo...

Page 194: ...the following vector or bitmap file formats into Flash 8 regardless of whether QuickTime 4 is installed You can import the following bitmap file formats into Flash only if QuickTime 4 or later is inst...

Page 195: ...bjects within Fireworks and continue to modify those filters and blends using Flash 8 Flash only supports modifiable filters and blends for objects imported as text and movie clips If an effect or ble...

Page 196: ...ayers are flattened into the single layer The Fireworks frames are contained in the new layer 6 For Objects select one of the following Rasterize if Necessary to Maintain Appearance preserves Firework...

Page 197: ...reates clipping paths to simulate the appearance of a gradient fill Clipping paths can increase file size To minimize file size use gradient fills with eight colors or fewer in FreeHand When you impor...

Page 198: ...For Options select any of the following options Include Invisible Layers imports all layers visible and hidden from the FreeHand document Include Background Layer imports the background layer with the...

Page 199: ...Illustrator EPS or PDF from the Files of Type Windows or Show Macintosh pop up menu 3 Navigate to a file and select it 4 Click Open The Import Options dialog box appears 5 For Convert Pages select one...

Page 200: ...support three dimensional DXF files Although Flash doesn t support scaling in a DXF file all imported DXF files produce 12 inch x 12 inch files that you can scale using the Modify Transform Scale comm...

Page 201: ...ixel dimensions and position on the Stage Using the Property inspector you can assign a new name to the bitmap and you can swap an instance of a bitmap that is replace the instance with an instance of...

Page 202: ...t To use the default compression quality specified for the imported image select Use Document Default Quality To specify a new quality compression setting deselect Use Document Default Quality and ent...

Page 203: ...Linkage in the Linkage Properties dialog box select Export for ActionScript 4 Enter an identifier string in the text box and click OK Applying a bitmap fill You can apply a bitmap as a fill to a grap...

Page 204: ...the PNG source file or the bitmap file is to be opened 4 Perform the desired modifications to the file in Fireworks 5 In Fireworks select File Update 6 Return to Flash The file is automatically updat...

Page 205: ...uded in the selection A higher number includes a broader range of colors If you enter 0 only pixels of the exact same color as the first pixel you click are selected For Smoothing select an option fro...

Page 206: ...RGB color values is less than the color threshold the two pixels are considered the same color As you increase the threshold value you decrease the number of colors 4 For Minimum Area enter a value be...

Page 207: ...129 This chapter contains the following sections Selecting objects 208 Grouping objects 211 Moving copying and deleting objects 212 Stacking objects 215 Transforming objects 215 Flipping objects 221 R...

Page 208: ...ormation point If you select multiple items of different types on the Stage such as an object a button and a movie clip the Property inspector indicates a mixed selection The Property inspector for a...

Page 209: ...ect everything on every layer of a scene Select Edit Select All or press Control A Windows or Command A Macintosh Select All doesn t select objects on locked or hidden layers or layers not on the curr...

Page 210: ...e you want the first line to end and click Continue setting end points for additional line segments 4 To close the selection area double click To select objects by drawing both freehand and straight e...

Page 211: ...the objects To create a group 1 Select the objects on the Stage that you want to group You can select shapes other groups symbols text and so on 2 Select Modify Group or press Control G Windows or Co...

Page 212: ...e the Info panel To move objects by dragging 1 Select an object or multiple objects 2 Select the Selection tool position the pointer over the object and do one of the following To simply move the obje...

Page 213: ...ayer scene or file and then select Edit Paste in Place to paste the selection in the same position relative to the Stage About copying artwork with the Clipboard Elements copied to the Clipboard are a...

Page 214: ...See Scaling objects on page 219 Rotating objects on page 219 and Skewing objects on page 220 4 Click the Create Copy button in the Transform panel the left button in the lower right corner of the pan...

Page 215: ...object or group up or down one position in the stacking order If more than one group is selected the groups move in front of or behind all unselected groups while maintaining their order relative to e...

Page 216: ...ove the transformation point during a transformation Drag the transformation point To realign the transformation point with the element s center point Double click the transformation point To switch t...

Page 217: ...bounding box and drag the object to a new position Do not drag the transformation point To set the center of rotation or scaling drag the transformation point to a new location To rotate the selection...

Page 218: ...distort objects when freely transforming them See Transforming objects freely on page 217 To distort graphic objects 1 Select a graphic object or objects on the Stage 2 Select Modify Transform Distor...

Page 219: ...uniformly To scale the object either horizontally or vertically drag a center handle 4 To end the transformation click outside the selected object or objects Rotating objects Rotating an object turns...

Page 220: ...tate the object Drag a center handle to skew the object 4 To end the transformation click outside the selected object or objects To rotate objects by 90 1 Select the object or objects 2 Select Modify...

Page 221: ...ransformed object to its original state 1 Select the transformed object 2 Select Modify Transform Remove Transform To reset a transformation performed in the Transform panel With the transformed objec...

Page 222: ...and bitmaps into ungrouped editable elements you use the Break Apart command Breaking apart significantly reduces the file size of imported graphics Although you can select Edit Undo immediately after...

Page 223: ...lect Modify Break Apart NO TE Breaking apart animated symbols or groups within an interpolated animation is not recommended and might have unpredictable results Breaking apart complex symbols and larg...

Page 224: ...224 Working with Graphic Objects...

Page 225: ...out filters Flash Professional only Filters let you add interesting visual effects to text buttons and movie clips and are most often associated with applying drop shadows blurs glows and bevels to gr...

Page 226: ...bjects within Fireworks and continue to modify those filters and blends using Flash Professional 8 Flash only supports modifiable filters and blends for objects imported as text and movie clips If an...

Page 227: ...type at the opposite end of the tween a matching filter is added automatically to ensure that the effect is at the end of the animation sequence Flash does the following to prevent motion tweens from...

Page 228: ...re set differently between the beginning and end of the tween knockout inner shadow inner glow and type of gradient glow and gradient bevel For example if you create a motion tween using the drop shad...

Page 229: ...ou want to apply a filter to You can apply filters only to text button and movie clip objects 2 Select the Filter tab in the Property inspector 3 Click the Add Filter button and select a filter from t...

Page 230: ...e Filters pop up menu 4 Select the filter preset you want to apply from the list of available presets at the bottom of the preset menu To enable or disable a filter applied to an object Click the enab...

Page 231: ...guration Filters filtername xml To create a library of filters with preset settings 1 Apply the filter or filters you want to use to the object 2 When you have a filter setting that you want to save f...

Page 232: ...object Click the Color box to open the Color pop up window and set the shadow color Drag the Strength slider to set the darkness of the shadow The higher the numerical value the darker the shadow Ente...

Page 233: ...plicated object and skew it using the Free Transform tool Modify Transform Rotate and Skew 4 Apply the Drop Shadow filter to the duplicated movie clip or text object and select the Hide Object check b...

Page 234: ...movie clip or text object that you want to apply a glow to 2 Select the Filters tab in the Property inspector 3 Click the Add Filter button and select Glow from the pop up menu 4 Edit the filter sett...

Page 235: ...r 3 Click the Add Filter button and select Bevel from the pop up menu 4 Edit the filter settings in the Filter tab of the Property inspector Select the type of bevel you want to apply to the object fr...

Page 236: ...fecting its width Drag the Angle dial or enter a value to change the angle of the shadow cast by the glow Drag the Distance slider to set the distance of the shadow from the object Select the Knockout...

Page 237: ...b of the Property inspector Select the type of bevel you want to apply to the object from the Type pop up menu You can choose an inner outer or full bevel Drag the Blur X and Y slider to set the width...

Page 238: ...from the pop up menu 4 Drag the slider for the color attributes you want to adjust or enter a numerical value in the corresponding text box The attributes and their corresponding values are as follow...

Page 239: ...the different blend modes to achieve the effect you want Flash provides the following blend modes Normal applies color normally with no interaction with the base colors Layer lets you stack movie clip...

Page 240: ...e resulting effect of a blend mode may be considerably different depending on the color of the underlying image and the type of blend mode you apply NO T E Alpha blend mode requires that a Layer blend...

Page 241: ...of the movie clip instance using the Color pop up menu in the Property inspector For more information see Changing the color and transparency of an instance on page 91 3 Select a blend mode from the...

Page 242: ...fy that the blend mode you selected is appropriate to the effect you re trying to achieve You might need to experiment with both the color and transparency settings of the movie clip and the different...

Page 243: ...can also create animation by changing the contents of successive frames in the Timeline You can make an object move across the Stage increase or decrease its size rotate change color fade in or out or...

Page 244: ...imeline effect to an object Flash creates a layer and transfers the object to the new layer The object is placed inside the effect graphic and all tweens and transformations required for the effect re...

Page 245: ...log box that appears for the effect view the effect preview based on default settings Modify the default settings as desired and then click Update Preview to view the effect with the new settings For...

Page 246: ...on delay in frames results in pause between copies Blur Creates a motion blur effect by changing the alpha value position or scale of an object over time Effect duration in frames Allow horizontal blu...

Page 247: ...effects to create Fade In Out Fly In Out Grow Shrink and Spin Left Right effects Effect duration in frames Move to position x y offset in pixels Change position by x y offset in pixels Scale lock to...

Page 248: ...ontext menu About tweened animation Flash can create two types of tweened animation motion tweening and shape tweening In motion tweening you define properties such as position size and rotation for a...

Page 249: ...imation Flash stores the values for each complete frame For information on frame by frame animations see Creating frame by frame animations on page 264 About layers in animation Each scene in a Flash...

Page 250: ...empty keyframe is represented by an empty circle before the frame Subsequent frames that you add to the same layer have the same content as the keyframe To create a keyframe do one of the following Se...

Page 251: ...movies generally have a frame rate of 12 fps while the standard motion picture rate is 24 fps The complexity of the animation and the speed of the computer on which the animation is being played affec...

Page 252: ...t block is placed on a separate layer during the Distribute to Layers process For information on breaking text apart see Breaking text apart on page 177 New layers New layers created during the Distri...

Page 253: ...ces groups and type Additionally Flash can tween the color of instances and type creating gradual color shifts or making an instance fade in or out To tween the color of groups or type you must make t...

Page 254: ...s color instance or text block only To tween the color of elements other than instances or text blocks use shape tweening See Tweening shapes on page 261 5 Click any frame in the tween s frame span a...

Page 255: ...Property inspector to synchronize the animation of graphic symbol instances with the main Timeline 11 If you re using a motion path select Snap to attach the tweened element to the motion path by its...

Page 256: ...ng the rate of change 6 To rotate the selected item while tweening select an option from the Rotate menu Select Auto to rotate the object once in the direction requiring the least motion Select Clockw...

Page 257: ...to the motion path 2 Do one of the following Select the layer containing the animation and select Insert Timeline Motion Guide Right click Windows or Control click Macintosh the layer containing the...

Page 258: ...ou want to unlink 2 Do one of the following Drag the layer above the motion guide layer Select Modify Timeline Layer Properties and select Normal as the layer type in the Layer Properties dialog box A...

Page 259: ...face the user on the Stage Scale Specifies custom ease settings for the scale of an animated object For example you can more easily customize the scale of an object so it appears to be moving away fro...

Page 260: ...g for All Properties check box is selected Unsupported easing curves Certain types of easing curves are not supported No part of the graph can represent a nonlinear curve such as a circle The Custom E...

Page 261: ...dows or Command V Macintosh You can copy and paste the ease curve The copied curve remains available until you exit the Flash application Tweening shapes By tweening shapes you can create an effect si...

Page 262: ...een toward the end of the animation drag the slider up or enter a positive value between 1 and 100 By default the rate of change between tweened frames is constant Easing creates a more natural appear...

Page 263: ...For example if you re using three shape hints for a triangle they must be in the same order on the original triangle and on the triangle to be tweened The order cannot be abc in the first keyframe and...

Page 264: ...select a frame in the layer where you want the animation to start 2 If the frame isn t already a keyframe select Insert Timeline Keyframe to make it one 3 Create the artwork for the first frame of the...

Page 265: ...e a new blank keyframe select Insert Timeline Blank Keyframe or right click Windows or Control click Macintosh the frame where you want to place the keyframe and select Insert Blank Keyframe from the...

Page 266: ...end of the sequence Using onion skinning Normally Flash displays one frame of the animation sequence at a time on the Stage To help you position and edit a frame by frame animation you can view two or...

Page 267: ...ointer Onion 2 displays two frames on either side of the current frame Onion 5 displays five frames on either side of the current frame Onion All displays all frames on either side of the current fram...

Page 268: ...to another mask You can also use ActionScript to create a mask layer from a movie clip A mask layer created with ActionScript can be applied only to another movie clip See Using movie clips as masks...

Page 269: ...tweening to the object as described in Tweening shapes on page 261 If the mask object is a type object or graphic symbol instance apply motion tweening to the object as described in Tweening instances...

Page 270: ...270 Creating Motion...

Page 271: ...Flash Video including information on how to create and publish Flash Video This chapter includes the following topics About video features in Flash 272 About using video in Flash 274 Video and the Pr...

Page 272: ...several content delivery network CDN providers to offer hosted services for delivering on demand Flash Video across high performance reliable networks Built with Flash Communication Server and integra...

Page 273: ...ons for controlling the playback of video files Using the FLVPlayback component New to Flash Professional 8 the FLVPlayback component lets you quickly add a full featured FLV or MP3 playback control t...

Page 274: ...y Pause and Seek behaviors as well as the buffer time and size for a given video file Because the video content is kept external to the other Flash content and the video playback controls it s relativ...

Page 275: ...nd the video playback controls This lets you easily add or change content without having to republish the SWF file Streaming video with Flash Communication Server or FVSS provides the following advant...

Page 276: ...d files in QuickTime video MOV Audio Video Interleaved file AVI Motion Picture Experts Group file MPEG or other formats depending on your system For information on file formats supported for importing...

Page 277: ...in SWF format The QuickTime file contains a Flash track but the linked video clip remains in QuickTime format For more information see Importing linked QuickTime video files on page 290 Video and the...

Page 278: ...t the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark video codecs on page 280 Comparing the On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark video codecs on page 281 About encoding video on page 281 Tips for creating Flash video on page 282 S...

Page 279: ...of the file cannot be imported You can still import the video without sound For more information on audio support in MPEG video see About audio support for MPEG video on page 279 About audio support f...

Page 280: ...es the best combination of video quality while maintaining a small file size If your Flash content dynamically loads Flash video using either progressive download or Flash Communication Server you can...

Page 281: ...encoding video Flash provides several video encoding solutions that let you encode your video clips into the FLV format Flash Video Import wizard The Flash Video Import wizard lets you encode video c...

Page 282: ...motion compresses differently from footage of a soccer match Follow these guidelines to deliver the best possible Flash video Whenever possible always encode a file from its uncompressed form If you...

Page 283: ...ment to find the best setting for your project Modem 160 x 120 Dual ISDN 192 x 144 T1 DSL cable 320 x 240 Know progressive download times You should know how long it is going to take to download your...

Page 284: ...ou select whether to import a video clip as a streamed progressively downloaded embedded or linked file Also depending on the location of your file the Video Import wizard provides a series of options...

Page 285: ...4 Optional If the video you are deploying is not in FLV format the Import Video wizard displays the Encoding panel For information on encoding your video using the Import Video wizard see Selecting a...

Page 286: ...t is already deployed to a Flash Communication Server or FVSS or you can select a video file that is stored locally on your computer and upload the video file to the server after importing it into you...

Page 287: ...s your source video clip into the FLV format if it isn t already in FLV format and creates a video component on the Stage that you can use to test video playback locally 6 Upload the following assets...

Page 288: ...le 1 To import the video clip into the current Flash document select File Import Import Video The Import Video wizard is displayed 2 Select the video clip on your local computer that you want to impor...

Page 289: ...can customize it by converting it into a MovieClip object that can be more easily controlled using ActionScript By default Flash expands the Timeline to accommodate the playback length of the video c...

Page 290: ...lish the SWF file as a QuickTime video You cannot display a linked QuickTime clip in SWF format The QuickTime file contains a Flash track but the linked video clip remains in QuickTime format For more...

Page 291: ...ectory path of a linked QuickTime video You can set the directory path of a linked QuickTime video clip in the library for the current Flash document To set the directory path of a linked QuickTime vi...

Page 292: ...ead 5 To play the video do one of the following Click the Play button in the button controls to play the video from the current playhead position Click Preview to play the video with the current in an...

Page 293: ...l preconfigured encoding profiles that you can use to encode your video In the Encoding panel you can select an encoding profile to determine the level of compression to be applied to the video clip T...

Page 294: ...g options 2 Select a video codec with which to encode your content from the Video codec pop up menu If you are authoring for Flash Player 6 or 7 choose the Sorenson Spark codec if you are authoring fo...

Page 295: ...Low Medium or High to automatically select a Data Rate value When you select Low Medium and High from this menu the Maximum Data Rate text box updates to reflect the specified value Select Custom and...

Page 296: ...no 3 Click Next to move to the next panel of the Video Import wizard or select another of the Advanced Settings tabs to further modify the video clip Embedding cue points Flash Professional only Cue p...

Page 297: ...nt in the video where you want to embed a cue point The video preview window lets you visually identify points in the video at which to insert a cue point You can also use the elapsed time counter loc...

Page 298: ...l clip removing unwanted frames 1 From the Encoding panel of the Video Import wizard click Show Advanced Settings The Advanced Flash Video Encoding Options are displayed 2 If you haven t yet specified...

Page 299: ...from an external source you should place your video inside of a movie clip symbol This way when you load FLV files dynamically you can adjust the dimensions of the movie clip to match the actual dime...

Page 300: ...ties that are not available when using imported video as described in the following list You can use longer video clips in your Flash documents without slowing down playback External FLV files are pla...

Page 301: ...n embedded or linked video clip on the Stage 2 Select Window Properties Properties 3 In the Property inspector do any of the following Enter an instance name in the Name text box on the left side of t...

Page 302: ...ayback Behaviors are prewritten ActionScript scripts that you add to a triggering object to control another object Behaviors let you add the power control and flexibility of ActionScript coding to you...

Page 303: ...39 5 If required select settings for the behavior parameters and click OK Default event and actions for the behavior appear in the Behaviors panel 6 In the Behaviors panel under Event click On Release...

Page 304: ...e FLVPlayback component does the following Provides a set of prefabricated skins with which to customize playback controls and the look and feel of the user interface Lets advanced users create their...

Page 305: ...onent at runtime to use the source FLV dimensions The default value is false bufferTime The number of seconds to buffer before beginning playback The default value is 0 contentPath A string that speci...

Page 306: ...ponent Flash Professional Only in the Components Language Reference totalTime The total number of seconds in the source FLV The default value is 0 If you use progressive download Flash uses this numbe...

Page 307: ...it is ready for serving from a web server Otherwise it is an absolute Windows or Macintosh file path If you specify an HTTP URL the FLV is a progressive download FLV If you specify a URL that is a Rea...

Page 308: ...achVideo to attach the video stream to the Video object For more information see attachVideo Video attachVideo method in ActionScript 2 0 Language Reference Media components Flash Player 6 and 7 The m...

Page 309: ...streaming video and provide user control The MediaPlayback component provides the easiest and quickest way to add video and a controller to your Flash documents The MediaPlayback component combines th...

Page 310: ...310 Working with Video...

Page 311: ...ou select compression options to control the quality and size of sounds in exported SWF files You can select compression options for individual sounds using the Sound Properties dialog box or define s...

Page 312: ...ary for the current document You can import the following sound file formats into Flash WAV Windows only AIFF Macintosh only MP3 Windows or Macintosh If you have QuickTime 4 or later installed on your...

Page 313: ...best to import 16 bit sounds If you have limited RAM keep your sound clips short or work with 8 bit sounds instead of 16 bit sounds To import a sound 1 Select File Import Import to Library 2 In the Im...

Page 314: ...previously applied effects Left Channel Right Channel plays sound in the left or right channel only Fade Left to Right Fade Right to Left shifts the sound from one channel to the other Fade In gradual...

Page 315: ...r 15 minutes enter 60 Looping stream sounds is not recommended If a stream sound is set to loop frames are added to the file and the file size is increased by the number of times the sound is looped A...

Page 316: ...earning ActionScript 2 0 in Flash To use a sound in a Sound action you assign an identifier string to the sound in the Linkage Properties dialog box To assign an identifier string to a sound 1 Select...

Page 317: ...ing sound files smaller by removing unused sections To edit a sound file 1 Add a sound to a frame for more information see Adding sounds to a document on page 313 or select a frame that already contai...

Page 318: ...avior such as clicking the button select a target object the sound to be affected by the behavior and select settings for the behavior parameters to specify how the behavior executes To load a sound t...

Page 319: ...x enter the linkage identifier and the instance name of the sound you want to stop and click OK 5 In the Behaviors panel under Event click On Release the default event and select a mouse event from th...

Page 320: ...onization pop up menu When you play the SWF file the sound stops playing when it reaches the ending keyframe 6 To play back the sound simply move the playhead About the onSoundComplete event The onSou...

Page 321: ...in the Publish Settings dialog box These global settings are applied to individual event sounds or all stream sounds if you do not select compression settings for the sounds in the Sound Properties di...

Page 322: ...3 compression option on page 323 Using the Raw compression option on page 324 Using the Speech compression option on page 324 4 Set export settings 5 Click Test to play the sound once Click Stop if yo...

Page 323: ...imported MP3 file with the same settings the file had when it was imported 1 In the Sound Properties dialog box select MP3 from the Compression menu 2 Select Use Imported MP3 Quality the default sett...

Page 324: ...3 For Sample Rate select an option to control sound fidelity and file size Lower rates decrease file size but can also degrade sound quality Rate options are described in the following list 5 kHz is b...

Page 325: ...ash file and to reduce the size of the sound Get more out of the same sounds by applying different effects for sounds such as volume envelopes looping and in out points at different keyframes You can...

Page 326: ...mats into Flash you instead import a proxy sound in a supported format such as MP3 or AIFF that is replaced with an external device sound that you specify You can use device sounds only as event sound...

Page 327: ...a startDrag stopDrag event using Script Assist 331 About Script Assist Script Assist lets you build scripts by selecting items from the Actions toolbox the list on the left side of the Actions panel Y...

Page 328: ...ActionScript using Script Assist 1 Select Window Actions The Actions panel appears 2 Click the Script Assist button The Actions panel enters Script Assist mode When Script Assist in enabled the Actio...

Page 329: ...a category in the Actions toolbox to display the actions in that category and then do one of the following double click an action drag it to the Script pane or right click Windows or Control click Ma...

Page 330: ...Assist mode you cannot replace all gotoAndPlay actions with gotoAndStop To pin a script to the Actions panel Click the Script Pin button The Actions panel displays the script in the Script pane even w...

Page 331: ...the methods and functions used to create this example see Learning ActionScript 2 0 in Flash To create a startDrag stopDrag event using Script Assist 1 Create a new Flash document and save it as circl...

Page 332: ...ready existing Layer 1 8 Rename Layer 1 by double clicking its name in the Timeline and typing the name Actions in its place 9 Select the first frame of the Actions layers 10 Select Window Actions to...

Page 333: ...Click the Add button and select Global Functions MovieClip Control startDrag 16 Enter type into the Target text box 17 Select the Expression and Constrain to Rectangle check boxes 18 Enter the follow...

Page 334: ...he MyCircle movie clip instance and ensure that the Relative path radio button is selected Click OK 23 Click the Add button and select Global Functions MovieClip Control stopDrag The finished code loo...

Page 335: ...you author a screen based document the screens are arranged in a structured hierarchy that you create You structure the document by nesting screens in a branching tree You can easily preview and modif...

Page 336: ...nal only 356 About using the Movie Explorer with screens Flash Professional only 357 About using Timelines with screens Flash Professional only 357 About using ActionScript with screens Flash Professi...

Page 337: ...ype of default screen in the document A Flash Slide Presentation uses the slide screen as the default screen type A slide screen has functionality designed for a sequential presentation A Flash Form A...

Page 338: ...the parent of that screen If a screen is nested several layers deep all the screens above that screen are its ancestors Screens that are at the same level are sibling screens All screens nested in an...

Page 339: ...ens For more information see Screen class Flash Professional only Form class Flash Professional only and Slide class Flash Professional only in the Components Language Reference Slide screens let you...

Page 340: ...ar FLA files for the following reasons The code that attaches to screens when you use behaviors often doesn t interact with other ActionScript you might write you can place behaviors there and you mig...

Page 341: ...ternal AS files to avoid complexity Placing ActionScript directly on screens is acceptable but avoid placing ActionScript on instances on the Stage You can create a class that extends the Form class F...

Page 342: ...a document see Selecting and moving screens Flash Professional only on page 351 To hide or show the Screen Outline pane Select Window Other Panels Screens To expand or collapse the tree In Windows cli...

Page 343: ...orm screen as the default screen type For more information see Slide screens and form screens Flash Professional only on page 339 When you create a new screen based document it contains a top level co...

Page 344: ...creen The new screen is a sibling screen of the selected screen You can also add a nested screen one level below the currently selected screen You can add a screen of the default screen type or select...

Page 345: ...een button at the top of the Screen Outline pane Select Insert Screen Select Insert Screen from the screens context menu To add a screen of a specified type at the current screen level 1 Select a scre...

Page 346: ...l a screen For more information see About using ActionScript with screens Flash Professional only on page 357 If you change the default screen name the instance name is updated with the new name likew...

Page 347: ...Snap option to make sure the registration point stays in the same relative position when the screen width and height change For more information see Specifying the ActionScript class and registration...

Page 348: ...n point grid indicates the position of the screen registration point in relation to its content By default the registration point of a slide screen is in the center and Auto Snap is on The registratio...

Page 349: ...rty inspector you can set parameters to control how the screen appears and behaves during playback Different parameters are available for slide and form screens The following parameters are available...

Page 350: ...er a screen is visible or hidden at runtime When visible is set to true the screen is visible at runtime When visible is set to false the screen is hidden This property does not affect the visibility...

Page 351: ...nts of a slide screen when its parent appears by deselecting this option When the Hide Screen context menu option is deselected you can select the child slide screen on the Stage This feature affects...

Page 352: ...de Screen context menu option is deselected See the previous procedure 2 Select the parent screen in the Screen Outline pane 3 Click in the contents of the child screen on the Stage To edit an item on...

Page 353: ...een Do one of the following Right click Windows or Control click Macintosh the screen and select Cut or Delete from the context menu Select the screen and click the Delete Screen button at the top of...

Page 354: ...behavior from the submenu 4 If the behavior requires that you select a target screen the Select Screen dialog box appears Select the target screen in the tree control Click Relative to use a relative...

Page 355: ...e transition Follow these guidelines when adding transitions For most situations the In option is recommended Use the In option when applying a transition that uses the on reveal event Use the Out opt...

Page 356: ...with screens Flash Professional only You can use the Find and Replace feature to find and replace a specified element in a Flash document that uses screens You can search for a text string font color...

Page 357: ...frames or layers You cannot view or modify the main Timeline of a screen based document You can add frames keyframes and layers and manipulate content on a screen s Timeline For information on working...

Page 358: ...the instance name the screen name and the linkage identifier also update For more information see Setting properties and parameters for a screen Flash Professional only on page 347 The class name ide...

Page 359: ...elect the screen expand the Timeline collapsed by default and select the first frame in the Timeline However it s usually best to use an external ActionScript file rather than a frame action for compl...

Page 360: ...red applications that show data and enable nonlinear user interactivity For example you can use forms to populate a container component When you use components with screens you can use the Focus Manag...

Page 361: ...her documents with one exception when keyboard shortcuts are used to navigate panels Control Alt Tab in Windows or Command Option Tab on the Macintosh the Screen Outline pane receives focus the first...

Page 362: ...362 Working with Screens Flash Professional Only...

Page 363: ...nts on page 366 You can use a Western style keyboard to create text on the Stage in Chinese Japanese and Korean For more information see Using a Western keyboard to enter Asian characters on the Stage...

Page 364: ...iles that are not Unicode encoded 385 Selecting an encoding language All text in a computer is encoded as a series of bytes Many different forms of encoding and therefore different bytes represent tex...

Page 365: ...ll text it encounters is Unicode encoded If your document loads external text or XML files the text in these files should be UTF 8 encoded You can create these files using the Strings panel or in a te...

Page 366: ...stem running the player If the text in a SWF file contains glyphs that are not supported by the specified font both Flash Player 7 and Flash Player 8 attempt to locate a font on the user s system that...

Page 367: ...rnal maximum number of glyphs for the authoring tool a warning dialog box appears To embed font sets from text on the Stage 1 Select the text on the Stage 2 In the Property inspector Window Properties...

Page 368: ...between a particular language and all the necessary Unicode glyph ranges as shown in the following Korean examples The font set groupings are based upon the Unicode Blocks as defined by the Unicode C...

Page 369: ...characters punctuations and special characters symbols Traditional Chinese Level 1 5000 most commonly used Traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan Traditional Chinese All All Traditional Chinese...

Page 370: ...you save test or publish the application a folder with an XML file is created for each language For more information see Selecting languages for translation on page 371 4 In the Strings panel encode...

Page 371: ...o show the text on the Stage in any of the languages you selected The selected language appears when you publish or test the file When selecting languages you can use any of the languages provided in...

Page 372: ...button The language no longer appears in the Active languages field 4 Repeat step 3 until you have removed all the languages you want 5 When you are done removing languages click OK The column for eac...

Page 373: ...a text field perform the steps in the following procedure To assign an existing ID to a text field 1 Select the Text tool from the toolbar On the Stage create an input or dynamic text field 2 Type th...

Page 374: ...gs on the Stage in the language selected as the Stage language using features such as find and replace see Finding and replacing text on page 49 and spelling checking see Using the Check Spelling feat...

Page 375: ...Settings button to display the Settings dialog box 3 Select the Replace Strings Automatically at Runtime check box 4 Click OK All instances of input and dynamic text are replaced with the translated s...

Page 376: ...Flash developer with knowledge of ActionScript you can invoke text replacement at a time that you designate by creating your own custom component or using ActionScript to access the language XML file...

Page 377: ...nes a specification for an extensible localization interchange format that lets any software provider produce a single interchange format that can be delivered to and understood by any localization se...

Page 378: ...trans unit id 002 resname IDS_MAILING LIST source Would you like to be on our mailing list source trans unit trans unit id 003 resname IDS_SEE YOU source see you soon source trans unit trans unit id...

Page 379: ...Strings panel on page 380 To translate text in the Strings panel 1 Select Window Other Panels Strings to open the Strings panel 2 For each language to be translated select the appropriate language col...

Page 380: ...L to show the Import XML dialog box 3 In the Select a Language pop up menu select the language of the XML file you are importing and click OK 4 Navigate to the folder and XML file to import The XML in...

Page 381: ...e XMLConnector component Flash Professional only in the Components Dictionary Using a Western keyboard to enter Asian characters on the Stage With Flash you can enter Asian characters on the Stage usi...

Page 382: ...ime using the loadVariables action the getURL action the LoadVars object or the XML object You should save the external file in UTF 8 recommended UTF 16BE or UTF 16LE format using an application that...

Page 383: ...ation see getURL function in ActionScript 2 0 Language Reference Use the LoadVars object a predefined client server object to load an external text file from a specified URL For more information see L...

Page 384: ...g documents with multilanguage text using text variables You can include Unicode encoded contents in text variables using the syntax uXXXX where XXXX is the four digit hexadecimal code point or escape...

Page 385: ...rpret some external files as Unicode and some as other encoding because this can yield unexpected results If you set the system useCodepage property to true remember that the traditional code page of...

Page 386: ...386 Creating Multilanguage Text...

Page 387: ...ure There are four main layers in the Flash data integration architecture The data binding layer provides a way to map data elements to properties of Flash data components which can then be mapped to...

Page 388: ...ent elements that comprise the Flash data architecture Data binding is represented by the red arrows between the components As shown in the diagram you will need to set up data bindings between proper...

Page 389: ...might best be addressed by a database administrator see Advanced topics in data integration on page 431 For more information see the following topics in this chapter Additional resources 390 Creating...

Page 390: ...earch Application www macromedia com devnet mx flash articles google_search html XMLConnector XML Tutorial Timesheet Timesheet Tutorial in Flash Help Bike Trips Sample www macromedia com devnet mx fla...

Page 391: ...to Macintosh HD Applications Macromedia Flash 8 Samples and Tutorials Samples DataIntegration DinnerMenu 2 In Flash create a new Flash document and save it as dinner_menu fla in the Dinner Menu folder...

Page 392: ...t the DataSet component and click the Bindings tab You see the binding to the xmlConn instance that you just added Now add two new bindings a Bind the DataSet s dataProvider property to the DataGrid s...

Page 393: ...Stage Add a connector component Add a DataSet component which you will bind to your data source and UI components Add UI components that will display data to users such as a DataGrid component Add a...

Page 394: ...lass 8 Add additional UI components and ActionScript code for the resolver functionality that is for adding editing or deleting data records Bind UI components to resolver components Data binding Flas...

Page 395: ...and myInput_txt are bound to each other In a real world application you would most likely import a schema define additional bindable component properties and create multiple bindings between data comp...

Page 396: ...vnet mx flash data_integration html Working with schemas in the Schema tab Flash Professional only The Schema tab in the Component inspector lets you view and edit the schema for each data related com...

Page 397: ...f data but is independent of how the data is actually stored For example the results from a WebServiceConnector component or an XMLConnector component could have identical schemas even though the web...

Page 398: ...nal only on page 416 For a WebServiceConnector component you can import the WSDL for a web service to define the schema See Connecting to web services with the WebService connector component Flash Pro...

Page 399: ...onent Property button at the upper left of the Schema tab to add a component property 4 In the Schema Attributes pane the bottom pane of the Schema tab enter editable for the field name value and sele...

Page 400: ...fields attributes or both Attributes are preceded with in the list Schema item of type Array which has one subfield called n representing the index of the array which can be of any type including Obje...

Page 401: ...component according to the Kind setting At this point the data is in whatever format the component provides the raw form of the data For example the XMLConnector component always provides data as a st...

Page 402: ...hese four attributes occurs when the data field is accessed with data binding It is possible to directly access a component property from your ActionScript code but when you do this you re working wit...

Page 403: ...sts the properties exposed for binding represented by their schema location of the component that s selected on the Stage and contains Add Binding and Remove Binding buttons The bottom pane shows info...

Page 404: ...a read write property See Configuring bindings on page 405 To walk through the steps of creating a binding see Creating a simple application on page 391 which creates a simple data application or A s...

Page 405: ...hema tab in is represented by a left pointing arrow Out The selected schema item is the source of a binding Whenever its value changes the value is copied to the other end of the binding On the Schema...

Page 406: ...ocument root a single component path tree appears relative to the document root If the Stage shows the contents of a movie clip being edited from the library two component path trees appears The first...

Page 407: ...n the Direction attribute for the binding is set to In Creating an indexed binding In the example application created in Creating a simple application on page 391 the data grid displays the dinner men...

Page 408: ...ay Notice that on the Bindings tab the attribute Index for food is dynamically added as shown in the following image you ll fill in this value in a later step 4 With the results dinner_menu food n des...

Page 409: ...ck different items in the data grid The text area updates with the detailed description for each food item Each time the user selects a new item in the data grid the index of the array is updated to s...

Page 410: ...tions that occur in response to events such as the following The data of a component property changes A web service call is completed An XML document is fetched You can create a log of all actions tha...

Page 411: ...sh Professional only in the Components Language Reference Data binding in Flash Player 7 versus Flash Player 6 Bindings between components are executed based on default component events for example a...

Page 412: ...ML through HTTP such as JSP ASP Servlet or ColdFusion In addition to or instead of using these connector components advanced developers and database administrators can use the WebServices classes to w...

Page 413: ...You can load and view the schema of any web service by entering the URL into the WSDLURL parameter of a WebServiceConnector component instance The following example demonstrates how to load and view t...

Page 414: ...ariety of UI controls to let users input values for the parameters and to get back and display the results of the web service To see this web service in action see the Tips application in the followin...

Page 415: ...the connectivity layer of your application you can use the Web Services panel to manage your web services The following illustration shows the Web Services panel to which several web services have be...

Page 416: ...al sample of real data or if you know XML scripting create a sample yourself You import that sample XML file using the Component inspector Be sure that the sample you use contains all the elements you...

Page 417: ...component is an XML object The root element of that object is called Inventory which contains the elements Vendor Categories and so on The Vendor element contains a single element called Name which i...

Page 418: ...lowing tutorials on Macromedia DevNet Bike Trips Sample at www macromedia com devnet mx flash articles xmlconnector html and Data Integration Using ASP at www macromedia com devnet mx flash articles f...

Page 419: ...e server is the ideal place for business logic that can determine the best way to respond to requests for data and the results that should be sent back to the client This is also the most secure way t...

Page 420: ...chema properties in your code For more information see Making data binding classes available at runtime Flash Professional only in Components Language Reference For a tutorial that uses the DataSet co...

Page 421: ...llustration shows the flow of data through a UI component DataSet and Resolver component and the DeltaPacket object produced For a common workflow and information on how you use the methods properties...

Page 422: ...ponents Language Reference The objects can be sophisticated client side objects that mirror their server side counterparts or in their simplest form a collection of anonymous objects with public prope...

Page 423: ...et component instance function getSQLData_Result result myDataset dataProvider result Array of objects returned from a web service The following illustration shows an example of using the Component in...

Page 424: ...cript array The illustration on the right shows how the results datapacket row array is bound to the dataProvider property of the myDataset instance of the DataSet component Accessing the data After t...

Page 425: ...types Num Makes the first item the current item myDataSet first Traces through the properties while myDataSet hasNext access the data through the Dataset properties trace myDataSet firstName myDataSe...

Page 426: ...ield name lastName data type String field name usCitizen data type Boolean and field name age data type Integer 6 Drag a DataGrid component onto the Stage and name it myGrid 7 Select the DataGrid comp...

Page 427: ...aSet component The DataSet component generates a DeltaPacket an object that contains a list of changes made to the data at runtime The resolver component then converts the DeltaPacket to the appropria...

Page 428: ...ndle updates for example in your own ASP page Java servlet or ColdFusion component For more information see the XUpdate specification at http xmldb org sourceforge net The XUpdateResolver component wo...

Page 429: ...ear 1974 town Leizig town country Germany country xupdate element xupdate insert after xupdate modifications When you use the XUpdateResolver component with a DataSet you must set the correct encoder...

Page 430: ...nd deletes performed on the DataSet component You can view or bind the contents of the update packet using the updatePacket property of the RDBMSResolver component The RDBMSResolver component works on...

Page 431: ...a component property to a schema on page 398 Advanced topics in data integration This section discusses advanced topics such as refinements you make to schema settings and information for developers w...

Page 432: ...user input is bound to the params property of a connector component such as the XMLConnector component or WebServiceConnector component Another common example is when UI components are bound to data f...

Page 433: ...Options dialog box which appears when you select this item These settings vary according to formatter For example the Boolean formatter has settings for the text that represents the true and false va...

Page 434: ...is convenient for calculating and displaying values based on calculations or concatenations performed other fields located in a record for instance you can create a calculated field that combines the...

Page 435: ...rue or false value To make the billable attribute display a true or false value 1 Select the XMLConnector component click the Schema tab and select the billable schema field 2 In the bottom pane of th...

Page 436: ...MX Professional 2004 and Flash Professional 8 None The default kind This kind is identical to the Data kind Data The schema item is a data structure and the data field is stored within the data struc...

Page 437: ...ded decoded at runtime Sometimes you might want a component property to have a different data type that what is actually stored inside the component For example an XMLConnector component results prope...

Page 438: ...oder extracts information from a DeltaPacket and generates XPath statements that are passed to the XUpdateResolver component to generate XUpdate statements It gets the information that is needs to gen...

Page 439: ...substitutes the value from the id field of the data set to generate the correct XPath for the specified record In the next example the contacts node with a category attribute of Management represents...

Page 440: ...This formatter converts a data object to a string You define the output format using a string template The template is arbitrary text that can refer to the data fields in one of the following ways fi...

Page 441: ...l array and adds a label property to each object using the values you define The following template would achieve this this would be on a binding between your array and the List component s DataProvid...

Page 442: ...ll this ValidationError some informative message The custom class must be in the classpath and formatted as shown in the following example class myCustomType extends mx databinding CustomValidator fun...

Page 443: ...e default values for the new data type If you select to completely reload the schema for a component property you will lose all the edits that had previously been made within the Schema Attributes pan...

Page 444: ...eld Name Data Type You must set these for every data set field that you define Validation Options Read Only Required If validation is desired Formatter Formatter Options For fields that need formattin...

Page 445: ...the values for each property from the XML data and assign these values to the created item The Name and URL fields will have values Provide this item to the DataSet component The ID field does not ex...

Page 446: ...selection by name A B node selection of all child nodes of A B by wildcard C node selection of all C nodes that have exactly two ancestors Predicate syntax to further specify nodes to be selected B C...

Page 447: ...efresh the binding with ActionScript code For more information see ComponentMixins class Flash Professional only in the Components Language Reference in particular see the ComponentMixins refreshDesti...

Page 448: ...holds the ID from the operation node that was sent out msg optional An attribute containing a message string that describes the problem that occurred when attempting the operation field 0 1 or more c...

Page 449: ...te id 11295627477 field name id type numeric oldValue 10 key true delete insert id 12345678901 field name id type numeric newValue 20 key true field name firstName type string newValue Davey key false...

Page 450: ...mined If a field is defined as a key field using the RDBMSResolver component s fieldInfo parameter it will always appear in the update packet with key true Otherwise the field s key attribute in the u...

Page 451: ...ue Mickey field name lastName oldValue Tork newValue Dolenz update results_packet The results packet contains four types of nodes Operation nodes contain the result of operations from the update packe...

Page 452: ...t the fields that are necessary to uniquely identify the record that was deleted Each field node must have a name attribute an oldValue attribute and a key attribute whose value is set to true Insert...

Page 453: ...are made on the objects If methods are called on an anonymous object nothing happens because the methods don t exist However the DataSet component tracks them in the DeltaPacket which guarantees that...

Page 454: ...454 Data Integration Flash Professional Only...

Page 455: ...iguring publish settings for Flash Player detection on page 468 Flash Player 6 and later supports Unicode text encoding With Unicode support users can view multilanguage text regardless of the languag...

Page 456: ...wing the publishing format and settings 498 Using Flash Player 498 About configuring a web server for Flash 499 Playing your Flash SWF files The Macromedia Flash SWF file format is for deploying Flash...

Page 457: ...for sharing data between Flash documents Flash Player 7 and later enforces a stricter security model than earlier versions of Flash Player There were two primary changes in the security model between...

Page 458: ...erly To test server configuration see TechNote 4151 on the Macromedia Flash Support Center at www macromedia com go tn_4151 If your server is not properly configured follow the procedure below to conf...

Page 459: ...h profile so that the established publish settings are always available Depending on the options you specify in the Publish Settings dialog box the Publish command creates the following files The Flas...

Page 460: ...e same location as the FLA file To change where files are published click the folder beside the filename and browse to a different location in which to publish the file 5 To create a stand alone proje...

Page 461: ...lash Player detection on page 468 3 Select a load order to specify how Flash loads a SWF file s layers for showing the first frame of your SWF file Bottom Up or Top Down This option controls which par...

Page 462: ...ou can enter a password in the Password text box If you add a password others must enter the password before they can debug or import the SWF file To remove the password clear the Password text box Fo...

Page 463: ...network but not on the local system For more information see About local and network playback security on page 458 Setting the classpath To use an ActionScript class that you ve defined Flash must lo...

Page 464: ...activates the SWF file and specifies browser settings This document is generated automatically by the Publish command from HTML parameters in a template document The template document can be any text...

Page 465: ...ttributes in the object and embed tags Match Movie the default uses the size of the SWF file Pixels enters the number of pixels for the width and height in the Width and Height field Percent specifies...

Page 466: ...can handle it anti aliasing is automatically turned on Auto High emphasizes playback speed and appearance equally at first but sacrifices appearance for playback speed if necessary Playback begins wi...

Page 467: ...lt Show All shows the entire document in the specified area without distortion while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the SWF files Borders can appear on two sides of the application No Border...

Page 468: ...s is because the JavaScript in those templates conflicts with the JavaScript used to detect the Flash Player To detect for the presence of Flash Player before allowing a browser to view SWF files that...

Page 469: ...h Player detection code If an end user does not have the version of Flash you ve specified to view the SWF an HTML page with a link from which to download the latest version of Flash Player is display...

Page 470: ...ls for the exported bitmap image or select Match Movie to make the GIF the same size as the Flash SWF file and maintain the aspect ratio of your original image 5 Select a Playback option to determine...

Page 471: ...ower value results in greater transparency A value of 128 corresponds to 50 transparency 8 Select a Dither option to specify how pixels of available colors are combined to simulate colors not availabl...

Page 472: ...x Colors to set the number of colors used in the GIF image Selecting a smaller number of colors can produce a smaller file but can degrade the colors in the image 11 Click OK to save the settings with...

Page 473: ...ile as a PNG file unless you mark a different keyframe for export by entering the frame label Static To publish a PNG file with your Flash SWF file 1 Do one of the following to open the Publish Settin...

Page 474: ...on a colored background and it increases the PNG file size Export an image without smoothing if a halo appears or if you re placing a PNG transparency on a multicolored background Dither Solids applie...

Page 475: ...te To use this option you should know how to create and use custom palettes To select a custom palette click the Ellipsis button to the right of the Palette box at the bottom of the dialog box and sel...

Page 476: ...ntent that you export to the QuickTime format should contain only those features supported by Flash Player 4 Future releases of the QuickTime Player might support additional Flash file formats If you...

Page 477: ...lays in the stacking order of the QuickTime video Top places the Flash track always on top of other tracks in the QuickTime video Bottom places the Flash track always behind other tracks Auto places t...

Page 478: ...lish settings configuration You can then export the publish profile to other documents or for others to use them Conversely you can import publish profiles to use in your document Publish profiles off...

Page 479: ...blish profile and you want to save the modifications you can create a duplicate profile To duplicate a publish profile 1 From the Current Profile pop up menu in the Publish Settings dialog box File Pu...

Page 480: ...or browse to a new location and click Save Importing a publish profile Other users can create and export publish profiles which you can import and select as a publish settings option To import a publ...

Page 481: ...custom templates using any HTML editor Creating a template is the same as creating a standard HTML page except that you replace specific values pertaining to a Flash SWF file with variables that begin...

Page 482: ...Flash 8 language Configuration HTML The boot drive is the drive from which Windows 2000 or Windows XP boots usually C The user is the name of the person logged in to the Windows 2000 or Windows XP op...

Page 483: ...ing Flash documents on page 459 Using HTML template variables The following table lists the template variables that Flash recognizes For a definition of all the tags with which these variables work se...

Page 484: ...Devicefont DE Bgcolor BG Movie text area to write movie text MT Movie URL location of SWF file URL MU Image width unspecified image type IW Image height unspecified image type IH Image filename unspec...

Page 485: ...label the frame to appear as Static For JPEG during the publish operation place the playhead on the frame to be used for display 3 In an HTML editor open the HTML template you ll modify Flash stores H...

Page 486: ...ul shorthand elements Each variable causes Flash to insert into a template any nondefault values for some of the most common Flash object and embed parameters including PLAY PL QUALITY QU SCALE SC SAL...

Page 487: ...w3 org 1999 xhtml xml lang en lang en head CS title TI title head body bgcolor BG url s used in the movie MU text used in the movie MT object classid clsid d27cdb6e ae6d 11cf 96b8 444553540000 codebas...

Page 488: ...arameters For object four settings height width classid and codebase are attributes that appear within the object tag all others are parameters that appear in separate named param tags as shown in the...

Page 489: ...st as you write custom HTML to show Flash content Unless noted all items apply to both the object and embed tags Optional entries are noted Parameters are used with the object tag and are recognized b...

Page 490: ...tem src attribute Value movieName swf Template variable MO Description Specifies the name of the SWF file to be loaded Applies to the embed tag only movie parameter Value movieName swf Template variab...

Page 491: ...tribute Value http fpdownload macromedia com pub shockwave cabs flash swflash cab version 7 0 0 0 Description Identifies the location of the Flash Player ActiveX control so that the browser can automa...

Page 492: ...unrelated to fscommand actions you can prevent Java from starting by setting SWLIVECONNECT to false You can also force Java to start when you are not using JavaScript with Flash by explicitly setting...

Page 493: ...arance whenever possible Playback begins with anti aliasing turned off If Flash Player detects that the processor can handle it anti aliasing is turned on Autohigh emphasizes playback speed and appear...

Page 494: ...rowser window when width and height values are percentages Showall Default makes the entire Flash content visible in the specified area without distortion while maintaining the original aspect ratio o...

Page 495: ...conditions see scale attribute parameter on page 494 L R T and B align the application along the left right top or bottom edge respectively of the browser window and crop the remaining three sides as...

Page 496: ...Explorer 4 0 This attribute parameter works only in Windows with the Flash Player ActiveX control Window plays the application in its own rectangular window on a web page Window indicates that the Fla...

Page 497: ...n SeamlessTabbing parameter Value true false Description Optional Lets you set the ActiveX control to perform seamless tabbing so that the user can tab out of a Flash application This parameter works...

Page 498: ...le remains in this location until you overwrite or delete it Using Flash Player Flash Player plays Flash content in the same way as it appears in a web browser or an ActiveX host application The playe...

Page 499: ...r can show error messages or a blank window with a puzzle piece icon If your server is not properly configured you or your server s administrator must add the Flash SWF file MIME types to the server s...

Page 500: ...500 Publishing...

Page 501: ...sily Dreamweaver generates all the needed HTML code You can start Flash from within Dreamweaver to update the Flash content See Updating Flash content for Dreamweaver on page 510 This chapter contains...

Page 502: ...ger edit them in vector based drawing programs To export a Flash document or image 1 Open the Flash document you want to export or if you are exporting an image from the document select the frame or i...

Page 503: ...ommand Versions of the Adobe Illustrator format before 5 do not support gradient fills and only version 6 supports bitmaps File type Extension Windows Macintosh Adobe Illustrator on page 503 ai Animat...

Page 504: ...olor or Standard Color the standard 216 color browser safe palette You can also select to interlace smooth make transparent or dither solid colors For information on these options see Configuring publ...

Page 505: ...h drawings better than the older Windows Metafile format However some applications do not yet support this graphics format This format has no definable export options Encapsulated PostScript EPS 3 0 w...

Page 506: ...tion where it will be saved and click Save 5 In the Embedded Video Properties dialog box click OK to close the dialog box JPEG Sequence and JPEG Image The JPEG export options match the JPEG Publish Se...

Page 507: ...s sets the size of the exported bitmap image to the number of pixels you enter in the Width and Height fields Resolution lets you enter a resolution in dpi To use the screen resolution and maintain th...

Page 508: ...in a video editing application The Export QuickTime Video dialog box contains the following options Dimensions specifies a width and height in pixels for the frames of a QuickTime movie By default yo...

Page 509: ...ginal document Deselect Maintain Aspect Ratio to set both the width and the height Video Format selects a color depth Some applications do not yet support the Windows 32 bit image format If you have p...

Page 510: ...select Edit with Flash from the context menu In the Site panel right click Windows or Control click Macintosh the Flash content in Design view and select Open with Flash from the context menu The Flas...

Page 511: ...sider Depending on your audience s needs additional requirements might arise Visually impaired users For visually impaired users including those with color blindness remember the following design reco...

Page 512: ...uttered design that is easily navigable This chapter contains the following sections Worldwide accessibility standards 512 Macromedia Flash Accessibility web page 513 Understanding screen reader techn...

Page 513: ...e and read the web content aloud Visually impaired users often rely on this technology You can create Flash content designed for use with screen readers only with Windows platforms Viewers of your Fla...

Page 514: ...ion on Microsoft Accessibility Technology visit the Microsoft Accessibility website at www microsoft com enable default aspx The Windows ActiveX Internet Explorer plug in version of Flash Player 6 sup...

Page 515: ...ther accessible objects the clip itself is ignored and the objects inside it are made available to screen readers Basic accessibility support in Flash Player Flash Player provides some basic accessibi...

Page 516: ...not exposed to screen readers at all The Flash Accessibility panel The Flash Accessibility panel lets you provide accessibility information to screen readers The Accessibility panel is a self contain...

Page 517: ...ormation to the screen reader This option is for movie clips only and is selected by default Disabling this option for a movie clip causes that movie clip to appear as a simple clip in the accessible...

Page 518: ...applications You can use the Accessibility panel to assign names to buttons and input text fields so that they are identified appropriately by the screen reader There are two ways of doing this Use t...

Page 519: ...n t detect you can specify a name for the button or text field You can also specify a name if the text label is near a button or text field but you don t want that text to be used as that object s nam...

Page 520: ...scription text box To define accessibility for a selected object in a Flash application 1 Select the object on the Stage and do one of the following Select Window Properties if the inspector is not vi...

Page 521: ...ie clip or Flash application to screen readers Turning off automatic labeling for an object and specifying a name You can specify a name for an individual object if automatic labeling does not provide...

Page 522: ...ing If the object is a movie clip button text field or another object deselect Make Object Accessible If the object is the child of a movie clip deselect Make Child Objects Accessible Creating a keybo...

Page 523: ...d shortcuts See Testing accessible content on page 533 To indicate the name of a keyboard shortcut for the screen reader 1 On the Stage select the button or input text field for which you want to crea...

Page 524: ...aking an entire Flash application accessible After a Flash document is complete and ready to be published make the entire Flash application accessible To define accessibility for an entire Flash appli...

Page 525: ...medium for most screen reader users Consider how any sound in your document will interact with the text spoken aloud by screen readers It might be difficult for screen reader users to hear what their...

Page 526: ...example dynamic text must have tab indexes even though a user cannot tab to dynamic text If you do not produce a tab index for every accessible object in a given frame Flash Player ignores all tab in...

Page 527: ...Index text box enter a positive integer up to 65535 that reflects the order in which the selected object should receive focus To view a tab order Select View Show Tab Order Tab index numbers for indi...

Page 528: ...layer can t determine the actual text content of that text Also be aware of information carrying graphics such as icons and gestural animations Screen readers can only provide accurate accessibility t...

Page 529: ...n readers see the Macromedia Flash Accessibility web page at www macromedia com go flash_accessibility For general information about components see Chapter 1 About Components in Using Components For e...

Page 530: ...hod causes Flash Player to re examine all accessibility properties update property descriptions for the screen reader and if necessary send events to the screen reader that indicate changes have occur...

Page 531: ...Reference For example you could use the Accessibility isActive method to decide whether to include unsolicited animation Unsolicited animation happens without the screen reader doing anything which ca...

Page 532: ...l objects assigned to a tab order except frames must have an instance name specified in the Instance Name text box of the Property inspector Even items that are not tab stops such as text need to be i...

Page 533: ...cessibility whitepapers For more information on Hi Caption SE see the link on the Macromedia Accessibility Captioning page at www macromedia com macromedia accessibility tools caption html Testing acc...

Page 534: ...534 Creating Accessible Content...

Page 535: ...dvantages including the following Users can print all frames or certain frames that you ve labeled as printable from Flash Player Additionally you can set the print area of a frame You can specify tha...

Page 536: ...and text fields Levels in a SWF file are not composited on print output The Flash Player printer driver uses the HTML settings for dimension scale and alignment in the Publish Settings dialog box Use...

Page 537: ...your document can access your user s printer settings such as page height width and orientation and you can configure your document to dynamically format Flash content that is appropriate for the pri...

Page 538: ...rint job on page 543 The following example shows ActionScript that creates a print job for a button myButton onRelease function var my_pj new PrintJob var myResult my_pj start if myResult myResult my_...

Page 539: ...sends the print job to the printer Flash Player effectively calls PrintJob send causing any pages that are added using PrintJob addPage to be printed and spooling to stop When a new print job is const...

Page 540: ...ters without affecting previously set parameters For example you can specify that one page print as a bitmap image and another page print as a vector graphic You can add as many new pages to your prin...

Page 541: ...ts to the Stage area of the root document About scaling A print job using the PrintJob class prints Flash content by default without scaling it For example an object that is 144 pixels wide on screen...

Page 542: ...ethod method of the printjob function in the ActionScript 2 0 Language Reference Specifying printing as a vector image or bitmap graphic The options parameter lets you specify whether to print as a ve...

Page 543: ...int targeting Flash Player 6 and earlier versions back to Flash Player 4 0 25 Windows and 4 0 20 Macintosh you can use print and printAsBitmap functions and frame labels classic functionality that rem...

Page 544: ...h Settings dialog box Use these settings to control the print layout The selected frames print as they appear in the movie clip symbol You can let users print a movie clip that is not visible in a bro...

Page 545: ...meter as shown in the following example print myMovie bmax With the print function you can change the print area for each frame scaling objects to fit the print area for example to have objects of dif...

Page 546: ...r trigger in your document to activate printing is shown as follows print target Bounding box The target parameter specifies the location of the frames that print and the bounding box parameter specif...

Page 547: ...background make sure that the frame in which you placed the shape is designated to print For instructions see Specifying a frame to print on page 542 or Using the print function when not using the Pr...

Page 548: ...hat you want to publish 2 Select File Publish Settings 3 Select the HTML tab and deselect Display Menu 4 Click OK For more information on publishing options see Publishing Flash documents on page 459...

Page 549: ...layer context menu 4 Select Print from the Flash Player context menu to display the Print dialog box 5 In Windows select the print range to select which frames to print Select All to print all frames...

Page 550: ...lates For more information see Publishing Flash documents on page 459 Users must have Flash Player 4 0 25 Windows or 4 0 20 Macintosh or later to take advantage of any print functionality you have add...

Page 551: ...h learning interaction can send tracking information to a server side learning management system LMS that complies with the Aviation Industry CBT Committee AICC protocol or Shareable Content Object Re...

Page 552: ...r interacts with the application to provide a response A typical response might be answering a question selecting from the answers True or False or clicking an area of the screen You can use the six l...

Page 553: ...em to an AICC compatible LMS See Adding learning interactions to a quiz template on page 560 To initialize SCORM tracking you must use a quiz template Using the quiz templates Each of the three quiz t...

Page 554: ...mplates column select one of the quiz styles Setting the quiz parameters After you create a new file and select one of the quiz templates the next step is to set the quiz parameters These parameters c...

Page 555: ...u set the parameters for the quiz 2 Do one of the following to open the Component inspector Select Window Component Inspector In the Property inspector click Launch Component Inspector N O TE These in...

Page 556: ...er This feature is especially helpful when used with the Randomize feature to create quizzes with unexpected questions in an unexpected order 5 Enter the URL to redirect the user When an AICC complian...

Page 557: ...z template 1 Select the first frame in the Interactions layer and make any modifications you want to the text of the Welcome page Make sure you include text to indicate that the user must click the Ne...

Page 558: ...edit the individual objects To configure a Learning Interaction component 1 With the entire learning interaction selected select Modify Break Apart This breaks the interaction into individual objects...

Page 559: ...om the library or you are not using the quiz template make sure to uniquely name each interaction in your file 6 In the Question text box type the text you want the user to see This text can be a ques...

Page 560: ...you add learning interactions to the Interactions layer To add an interaction to the Timeline when using a quiz template 1 In the first layer of the Timeline select the frame that precedes the frame...

Page 561: ...e or the settings in the Component inspector as desired To use an interaction from the library drag the desired interaction movie clip type from the Learning Interactions library Window Common Librari...

Page 562: ...True or False In addition there are folders called Assets Graphics and UIComponents These are used for customizing learning interactions See Changing buttons check boxes and radio buttons on page 565...

Page 563: ...ls in the following illustration become part of the document library If you re using a quiz template the learning interaction symbols are already included in your document library To manage library as...

Page 564: ...object is selected the interaction is not broken apart If you can select a single text field or another element then the interaction has been broken apart and you can proceed with editing Changing the...

Page 565: ...as DragA of the movie clip in the appropriate Name text box The Component inspector should include only the unique instance names of the movie clips that you re using for the current interaction 6 Re...

Page 566: ...on labels for a learning interaction on page 585 See also Chapter 5 Customizing Components in Using Components About using components within a learning interaction To use Flash UI components with a le...

Page 567: ...g and Drop interaction You can use as many as eight Drag objects and eight Target objects in each Drag and Drop interaction Each Drag object can snap to any target named in the Drag and Drop component...

Page 568: ...Target object on the Stage Use the Property inspector to give each instance the same instance name that you specified in the Component inspector Adding and removing Drag objects and Target objects Yo...

Page 569: ...a Fill in the Blank interaction The Fill in the Blank interaction uses a question text field a user entry text field a control button and a feedback text field To set up a Fill in the Blank interactio...

Page 570: ...l other responses are correct 4 Specify whether the matching responses are valid only if they match the case of the text you entered by selecting Case Sensitive or if they are valid regardless of the...

Page 571: ...Break the movie clip apart Modify Break Apart display the Component inspector and then type the interaction ID and the question See Configuring a Learning Interaction component on page 558 3 For each...

Page 572: ...t in the library 2 Select the Hot Object component on the Stage and then drag the symbol from the Library panel to the Stage 3 In the Property inspector name the instance See Naming and registering gr...

Page 573: ...e Hot Spot interaction Frame 5 if you have not added or removed keyframes 2 Break the movie clip apart Modify Break Apart display the Component inspector and then type the interaction ID and the quest...

Page 574: ...s and you want to add a seventh choice create a movie clip of the seventh graphic and place it in the library 2 Select the Hot Spot component on the Stage and then drag the symbol from the Library pan...

Page 575: ...more distractors or deleting existing distractors To add a multiple choice distractor 1 Select the frame with the Multiple Choice learning interaction in the Timeline 2 Open the Flash UI Components f...

Page 576: ...False is the correct response for the interaction If you want you can change these responses to Correct or Incorrect by changing the text of the distractors For example you could type A Correct and B...

Page 577: ...s important to register those names in the Component inspector for the learning interaction so that the scripts can control the assets About naming Learning Interaction component instances Every inter...

Page 578: ...me in the Instance Name text box 3 Register the name in the Component inspector see the next section Registering dynamic text fields and UI components After you enter the instance name for a dynamic t...

Page 579: ...e Property inspector type a name in the Instance Name text box 4 Repeat steps 1 3 for each object on the Stage 5 Register the names see the following procedure To register a distractor instance name 1...

Page 580: ...Target1 Target8 Asset Description Object type Instance name Question text field Holds question text Dynamic text field Template_Question Feedback text field Holds feedback text Dynamic text field Temp...

Page 581: ...ol HotSpot1 8 Asset Description Object type Instance name Question text field Holds question text Dynamic text field Template_Question Feedback text field Holds feedback text Dynamic text field Templa...

Page 582: ...enter the number of tries that a user is given to provide a correct response For Initial Feedback enter the feedback that appears before the user has interacted with the quiz for example Click an obj...

Page 583: ...o an HTML page and select the HTML template in publish settings for either Flash with AICC Tracking or Flash with SCORM Tracking To support an AICC compliant LMS the HTML that embeds the SWF file need...

Page 584: ...raction The quiz templates use this parameter to calculate the score in the Results page The default value is 1 Weighting indicates the relative importance of a question You can enter any numeric valu...

Page 585: ...ts a response If Feedback is deselected and Knowledge Track is selected the Auto GoTo Next Frame feature can be enabled This feature submits a score after evaluation and immediately navigates to the n...

Page 586: ...e file is loaded It also sends a finish communication to the LMS when the file is unloaded if the finish command wasn t explicitly sent previously The files created using both the Flash learning inter...

Page 587: ...ta to the LMS through the HTML JavaScript tracking files The tracking data is sent when the student answers a question or progresses to the next page SCORM communication overview When a student takes...

Page 588: ...an AICC compliant file for web hosting 1 Open the document in Flash 2 Select File Publish Settings 3 In the Publish Settings dialog box that appears make sure that at least both Flash SWF and HTML fil...

Page 589: ...em or create the AICC Course Descriptor Files that references the frameset htm file Preparing a SCORM compliant learning interaction for web hosting To send tracking data to a SCORM compliant LMS you...

Page 590: ...roperty names on page 591 When the Timeline moves to the second interaction that interaction s component creates an instance of LToolBox global class in index1 of the SessionArray When the Timeline mo...

Page 591: ...ined property names The following table describes the predefined property names All the methods and properties of the LToolBox global class are available within each SessionArray index Property name D...

Page 592: ...cripts are built on the component level they are initialized on the same level as the interaction assets and submit data to the SessionArray on the interaction assets level To explore the scripts or a...

Page 593: ...598 Using the screen presentation templates Flash Professional only on page 599 Using the mobile device templates on page 601 Using quiz templates on page 601 Using form application templates Flash Pr...

Page 594: ...s in which their technologies are stable Examples are available at the IAB Rich Media testing site at www iab net standards guidelines asp In addition there might be additional requirements on size an...

Page 595: ...ndle the selection of radio buttons is included within the Timeline of this screen To change the option labels or the number of options that users is presented you can add remove or edit the component...

Page 596: ...rd coded paths Setting cue points with the video templates Flash Professional only Cue points are also set as properties of the media display component in the Parameters tab in the Component Inspector...

Page 597: ...yer of photos included in the example called Old Photos and click the trash can icon to delete it 2 Create a new layer by clicking the Insert Layer button and name this new layer My Photos Make sure t...

Page 598: ...eate customize and publish your presentations Creating a slide presentation Creating a slide presentation is as easy as adding new keyframes Flash provides three slide layouts to get you started To cr...

Page 599: ...lect something bright and eye catching to capture your audience s attention Using the screen presentation templates Flash Professional only The screen presentation templates included with Flash Profes...

Page 600: ...transitions to the screen presentation templates Flash Professional only After you ve customized the content of your presentation you can add animated transitions that help illustrate your points Use...

Page 601: ...many mobile devices Use the device skins in the templates to preview your content as it will look on the device For more information on authoring Flash files for mobile devices see the Macromedia Mob...

Page 602: ...e Components panel If you select your own connector you can delete the web service component but you must edit the actions in Frame 1 of the Application form to replace wsc with the instance name of t...

Page 603: ...showError function result res Handle result message for errors If error showError 2 You can replace the bodies of these functions with your own code to interpret the status and result messages and do...

Page 604: ...more information about data connectors see Chapter 1 About Components in Using Components 2 After altering the contents of a form make sure that the window component that will load the form is sized...

Page 605: ...s or accepts parameters XML to UI uses a subset of the XML User Interface Language XUL along with some tags created for Flash These tags define a dialog box exclusively with XML The XML to UI renderin...

Page 606: ...g for the entire dialog box grid Creates a container for tabular layout using rows and columns hbox Creates a container for items laid out horizontally row Creates one row in a tabular grid layout row...

Page 607: ...to contain listitem tags listitem Creates an individual item in a list box control menulist Creates a pop up menu control that contains menupop and menuitem tags menupop Creates the pop up menu in a...

Page 608: ...d tags Control tags Parent tag columns Description Layout tag creates one column in a tabular grid layout The column tag must be within a columns tag which must be within a grid tag Example See the ex...

Page 609: ...ags dialog Attributes id String represents a unique identification string that is used by the extensibility features to identify the dialog box and access the values it returns title String text that...

Page 610: ...in hbox and vbox For an example that uses the dialog tag with the grid tag see the example in grid grid Availability Flash MX 2004 Usage grid child tags grid Attributes None Child tags columns rows P...

Page 611: ...alog id scale dialog title Scale Selection buttons accept cancel grid columns column column columns rows row align center label value Scale x control xScale textbox id xScale row row align center labe...

Page 612: ...a textbox control and a drop down menu control dialog id GotoWebPage dialog title Go to URL buttons accept cancel vbox hbox label value URL control URL textbox literal true required true width 40 id...

Page 613: ...lash MX 2004 Usage row child tags row Attributes None Child tags Control tags Parent tag rows Description Layout tag creates one row in a tabular grid layout The row tag must be within a rows tag whic...

Page 614: ...t dialog id scale dialog title Scale Selection buttons accept cancel grid columns column column columns rows row align center label value Scale x control xScale textbox id xScale row row align center...

Page 615: ...ialog box works with a JavaScript API command see the example for menulist dialog id scale dialog title Scale Selection buttons accept cancel grid columns column column columns rows row align center l...

Page 616: ...ent dialog box which comes with Flash MX 2004 is defined in the file CuePointNamedFrame xml dialog id NamedFrameCuePointDialog title Labeled Frame CuePoint Navigation buttons accept cancel vbox hbox l...

Page 617: ...n buttons accept cancel vbox label value Select clip with labeled frames control target required true targetlist id target class movieclip separator checkbox id stop label gotoAndStop vs gotoAndPlay c...

Page 618: ...igURI Commands Trace Selections xml if traceSelectionsDlg dismiss accept fl trace Checkbox 1 traceSelectionsDlg checkbox1 fl trace Checkbox 2 traceSelectionsDlg checkbox2 fl trace Checkbox 3 traceSele...

Page 619: ...acer tag to the Trace Selections xml file dialog id traceSelections title Trace Selections buttons accept cancel vbox hbox checkbox id checkbox1 label checkbox1 checkbox id checkbox2 label checkbox2 c...

Page 620: ...L to UI vbox Availability Flash MX 2004 Usage vbox child tags vbox Attributes None Child tags hbox vbox control tags Parent tag grid Description Layout tag creates a container for items laid out verti...

Page 621: ...ntrol ySkew align left popupslider id ySkew minvalue 180 maxvalue 180 hbox hbox label value Edge control edge align left menulist id edge menupop menuitem label top center menuitem label right center...

Page 622: ...Windows accesskey String a character to be used for the keyboard shortcut for this control available only on Windows oncommand A JavaScript command that executes when the button is clicked Child tags...

Page 623: ...llowing code into the file and save the file xml version 1 0 dialog id button dialog title Button Example buttons accept cancel grid columns column columns rows row label width 150 value The following...

Page 624: ...turns label String text that appears next to the check box tabindex Number an integer used to set the control s position in the tab order available only on Windows checked Boolean value set the defaul...

Page 625: ...lse pathtype relative absolute required true false size mySize tabindex myIdx type open save value myValue width myWidth Attributes id String represents a unique identification string that is used by...

Page 626: ...the operating system s file selection dialog box Example The following example uses the JavaScript API to create a new command that appears in Commands menu Create two files as described in this sect...

Page 627: ...mand now appears on the Commands menu If you have a Flash document open you can select the choosefile command from the Commands menu and the dialog box defined by choosefile xml appears as shown in th...

Page 628: ...to the file and save the file Create an XML to UI dialog box using the XML definition in the setcolor xml file var setcolorDlg fl getDocumentDOM xmlPanel fl configURI Commands setcolor xml if setcolor...

Page 629: ...2004 Usage flash id myID width x height y src SWF file child tags flash Attributes id String represents a unique identification string that is used by the extensibility features to identify the contro...

Page 630: ...property id first property id dur property id hor property id vert property id regPoint property id blur_amount property id baseScale flash dialog label Availability Flash MX 2004 Usage label control...

Page 631: ...ng example is excerpted from the HideScreen xml file which defines the Hide Screen Behavior dialog id SelectScreenDialog title Select Screen buttons accept cancel vbox hbox label value Select Screen c...

Page 632: ...ow vbox Description Control tag creates a listbox control to contain listitem tags Example The following example modifies the skew command example from popupslider so that it uses a listbox control in...

Page 633: ...ySkew Number skewlistDlg ySkew var edge skewlistDlg edge if skewlistDlg dismiss accept Place the values of xSkew and ySkew from the dialog box into local variables The code casts converts the values...

Page 634: ...gn left label value Skew y control ySkew align left popupslider id ySkew minvalue 180 maxvalue 180 row row align left label value Edge control edge align left listbox id edge rows 5 listitem label top...

Page 635: ...in the listbox for that item value String text that is returned if the user selects the item If not set the value of the label attribute is returned Child tags None Parent tag listbox Description Cont...

Page 636: ...uitem menupop menulist Attributes id String represents a unique identification string that is used by the extensibility features to identify the control and access the value it returns tabindex Number...

Page 637: ...n your user level configuration folder For more information see Configuration folders installed with Flash in Getting Started with Flash First create a file named Convert to Symbol jsfl and place it i...

Page 638: ...ymbol 1 row row spacer row row align right label value Behavior control type align right radiogroup id type radio label Movie clip radio label Button radio label Graphic radiogroup row row align right...

Page 639: ...pointer tool If you then select the Convert to Symbol command from the Commands menu the dialog box defined by Convert to Symbol xml appears as shown in the following figure menupop Availability Flas...

Page 640: ...the example for menulist menulist id registration menupop menuitem label top left menuitem label top center menuitem label top right menuitem label center left menuitem label center menuitem label ce...

Page 641: ...p up menu control and must contain at least one menuitem tag Example The following example creates a drop down menu with eight elements To see the XML definition of the entire dialog box see the examp...

Page 642: ...Number an integer that represents the minimum value maxvalue Number an integer that represents the maximum value Child tags None Parent tag dialog hbox row vbox Description Control tag creates a pop u...

Page 643: ...var ySkew Number skewDlg ySkew var edge skewDlg edge if skewDlg dismiss accept Place the values of xSkew and ySkew from the dialog box into local variables The code casts converts the values from the...

Page 644: ...label value Skew y control ySkew align left popupslider id ySkew minvalue 180 maxvalue 180 row row align left label value Edge control edge align left menulist id edge menupop menuitem label top cent...

Page 645: ...value it returns Child tags None Parent tag flash Description Control tag creates a custom property in an embedded SWF file used with the flash tag This tag is used to declare properties that are spec...

Page 646: ...ild tags radio Parent tag dialog hbox row vbox Description Control tag Creates a container for a group of radio button controls This tag allows grouping of radio buttons and must contain at least one...

Page 647: ...tag radiogroup Description Control tag creates a single radio button control This tag must be used within a radiogroup tag Example The following example defines a group of radio controls that are inc...

Page 648: ...nd absolute Child tags None Description Control tag creates a control that lists all instances of a class and lets the user select an instance Example The following example is excepted from the Load G...

Page 649: ...default setting the returned value does not have quotation marks maxlength Number sets the maximum number of characters that can be entered multiline Boolean value if true more than one line of input...

Page 650: ...d yScale from the dialog box into local variables The code casts converts the values from the dialog box to a number before assigning them to the local variables because the scaleSelection method take...

Page 651: ...or extend Flash 8 you modify these files or add your source files to one or more of these folders By familiarizing yourself with these folders you can learn about the interface for extensibility provi...

Page 652: ...ents and Settings All Users Local Settings Application Data Macromedia Flash 8 Mac OS Mac OS X Hard Disk Users Shared Library Application Support Macromedia Flash 8 Application Level Configuration Dir...

Page 653: ...lbox AsCodeHints xml configuration XML for Code Hinting AsColorSyntax xml configuration XML for Color Syntax highlighting Custom Actions Files used to add custom actions to the toolbox Behaviors XML f...

Page 654: ...ets available within Flash MX Publish Profiles Location of XML files that store profiles available in the File Publish Settings dialog Screen Types Data files that define the Slide and Form screens fo...

Page 655: ...14 testing content 533 titles and descriptions for Flash applications 525 turning off button and text field labels for 521 turning off for selected objects 521 Accessibility button in Property inspect...

Page 656: ...ding background images in several frames 251 frame rates 251 frame by frame 264 frames in Timeline 250 graphics compared to movie clips 93 inserting frames 265 linking layers to a motion path 258 modi...

Page 657: ...t 205 compared to vector graphics 130 compressing as JPEG or PNG files 202 converting to vector graphics 206 editing 204 importing 200 importing with the Clipboard 214 modifying filled areas 205 prese...

Page 658: ...panel Add Colors option 127 Clear Colors option 125 loading default palette 126 modifying color palettes and 125 Replace Colors option 127 Save as Default option 126 Save Colors option 127 sorting 12...

Page 659: ...eens 352 Create Copy button in Transform panel 214 createTextField method 185 cumulative tracking data accessing in learning interactions 590 curves adjusting points and tangent handles 144 adjusting...

Page 660: ...or modifying in 24 quitting saving when 27 removing deleted items and saving 58 ruler units setting 24 saving as template 26 saving Flash 25 saving in Flash MX format 26 saving when quitting 27 screen...

Page 661: ...ion tweening 254 256 for shape tweening 262 Edit Envelope for sounds 317 units in 317 Edit in New Window command 90 Edit in Place command 90 Edit Multiple Frames button 267 Edit Selected command 211 E...

Page 662: ...ing 234 gradient bevel filter applying 237 gradient glow filter applying 236 saving preset settings 231 Find and Replace overview 48 screens 356 finding and replacing bitmaps 53 colors 51 fonts 50 sou...

Page 663: ...65 editing multiple 267 exporting as static images 501 images registering in 266 inserting 265 keyframes converting into 266 multiple editing 267 onion skinning 266 pasting 265 printing 548 registerin...

Page 664: ...L formatting for text fields 178 option for dynamic text fields 183 publish settings 464 publishing templates 481 tag reference 488 templates 482 HTML Alignment publish setting 467 hyperlinks viewing...

Page 665: ...erting 265 motion tweening 257 removing 265 selecting everything between two 209 shape tweening 261 sounds associating with 320 tweened frame sequences dragging in 266 tweening 248 kinds creating cust...

Page 666: ...oad External Movie Clip behavior 95 Load Graphic behavior 95 Load Order option 461 loaded documents controlling 41 loadMovie action and levels 37 Lock command 209 Lock Fill modifier 124 logging data o...

Page 667: ...357 selecting items in 47 movie parameter 490 moving entire animation 267 objects 212 MP3 compression for sound 323 sounds importing 312 MSAA Microsoft Active Accessibility 514 multilanguage text cre...

Page 668: ...ttons 87 overlayChildren parameter 350 Override Sound Settings option 463 P Page Setup command Windows only 68 Paint Bucket tool applying fills with 120 Gap Size modifier 121 Lock Fill modifier 124 pa...

Page 669: ...Macintosh only 68 printers supported 537 printing from authoring environment 68 FLA files 68 Flash Player context menu 548 printing actions 331 PrintJob addPage method 540 object and class 535 orienta...

Page 670: ...ference 154 Recognize Shapes preference 154 Rectangle tool about 137 Round Rectangle modifier 137 Redo command 53 redoing steps with the History panel 55 registering images from frame to frame 266 reg...

Page 671: ...ORM communication overview 587 preparing compliant learning interactions for web hosting 589 tracking quiz results 583 tracking to a compliant LMS 586 Screen Outline pane about 342 expanding and colla...

Page 672: ...Envelope 317 security Flash Player 458 Select Screen dialog box 354 Selectable option for dynamic text 183 for text 172 selectable text 172 selecting adding to a selection 209 connected lines 208 dese...

Page 673: ...nd pixels 151 snippets adding keyboard shortcuts for 60 Soften Fill Edges command 151 Sound Designer II files importing 312 Sound object using a sound with 203 316 Sound Properties dialog box 322 soun...

Page 674: ...e style selecting 115 Selection tool selecting with 208 swapping color with fill color 115 transparent applying 115 weight selecting 116 width of 116 Subselection tool adjusting line segments 143 show...

Page 675: ...ptions 168 Clipboard importing with 213 color choosing 167 creating 162 device fonts 160 device fonts selecting 172 dynamic text options 183 dynamically formatting 186 editing 174 embedded fonts 160 f...

Page 676: ...onion skinning frames 266 parent alias 40 for screens 357 target paths 39 target paths absolute 39 target paths relative 40 Timeline effects adding 244 deleting 248 description and settings 245 editi...

Page 677: ...importing with Clipboard 213 version control best practices 27 defining site for 74 editing sites 75 opening a file 75 troubleshooting remote folder setup 75 vertical text creating 162 flow 165 prefer...

Page 678: ...new 24 Windows Metafile files exporting 509 importing 194 wmode attribute parameter 496 497 WSDL file 413 X XLIFF 377 XML data sources schemas for 416 XML files format in Strings panel 377 importing...

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