Using the Undo, Redo, and Repeat menu commands. 34 Using the History panel. 35 Saving documents when you undo steps. 37 Automating tasks with the Commands menu. 37 About customizing context menus in Flash documents. 39 About the links menu in Flash Player. 39 Speeding up document display. 40 Optimizing Flash documents. 40 Testing document download performance. 41 Printing from the Flash authoring tool. 43
Creating or opening a document and setting properties
You can create a new document or open a previously saved document as you work in Flash. In Windows, you can use the New File button to open a document of the same type as the last document created. To set the size, frame rate, background color, and other properties of a new or existing document, you use the Document Properties dialog box. You can 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 information on the Property inspector, see Using panels and the Property inspector in Getting Started with Flash. You can open a Flash template as a new document. You can select from standard templates that come with Flash or open a template you have already saved. For information on saving a document file as a template, see Saving Flash documents on page 14. In the On Launch section of the Preferences dialog box, you can select an option to specify what document Flash opens when you start the application: You select New Document to open a new, blank document, Last Documents Open to open the documents that were open when you last quit Flash, or No Document to start Flash without opening a document. For more information, see Setting preferences in Flash in Getting Started with Flash. For information on creating a new document using the Start page, see Using the Start page in Getting Started with Flash. You can open a new window as you work.
To create a new document:
1. Select File > New. 2. On the General tab, select Flash Document.
To create a new document with the New File button (Windows only):
Click the New File button in the main toolbar to create a new document of the same type as
the last document created.
Chapter 1: Working with Flash Documents
To open an existing document:
1. Select File > Open. 2. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the file or enter the path to the file in the Go To text box. 3. Click Open.
To set properties for a new or existing document in the Document Properties dialog box:
1. With the document open, select Modify > Document.
The Document Properties dialog box appears.
2. For Frame Rate, enter the number of animation frames to appear every second. For most
computer-displayed animations, especially those playing from a website, 8 frames per second (fps) to 12 fps is sufficient (12 fps is the default frame rate).

Creating font symbols

To use a font as a shared library item, you can create a font symbol in the Library panel. You then assign the symbol an identifier string and a URL where the document containing the font symbol will be posted. In this way, you can link to the font and use it in a Flash application.
Note: When using font symbols for dynamic or input text, you must also embed the font outline information. See Setting dynamic and input text options on page 115.
For information on linking to a shared font symbol from other documents, see Using shared library assets on page 69.

To create a font symbol:

1. Open the library to which you want to add a font symbol. 2. Select New Font from the options menu in the upper right corner of the Library panel. 3. In the Font Symbol Properties dialog box, enter a name for the font symbol in the Name

text box.

4. Select a font from the Font menu or enter the name of a font in the Font text box. 5. If you want to apply a style to the font, select Bold or Italic. 6. Click OK.
To assign an identifier string to a font symbol:
1. Select the font symbol in the Library panel. 2. Do one of the following:
Select Linkage from the options menu in the upper right corner of the Library panel. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the font symbol name in the Library panel, and select Linkage from the context menu.
3. Under Linkage in the Linkage Properties dialog box, select Export for Runtime Sharing. 4. In the Identifier text box, enter a string to identify the font symbol.
5. In the URL text box, enter the URL where the SWF file that contains the font symbol will be

posted.

6. Click OK.
To use the font in a Flash application, copy the font symbol into the destination FLA file. For more information, see Copying library assets between documents on page 68.

Editing text

You can use most common word-processing techniques to edit text in Flash. You use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands to move text in a Flash file as well as between Flash and other applications. When editing text or changing text attributes, you must first select the characters you want to change.
To select characters in a text 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 the selection. Press Control+A (Windows) or Command+A (Macintosh) to select all the text in the block.

In complex shape tweening, create intermediate shapes and tween them instead of just defining
a starting and ending shape.
Make sure that shape hints are logical. For example, if youre 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 acb in the second.
Shape hints work best if you place them in counterclockwise order beginning at the top left

corner of the shape.

To use shape hints:
1. Select the first keyframe in a shape-tweened sequence. 2. Select Modify > Shape > Add Shape Hint.
The beginning shape hint appears as a red circle with the letter a somewhere on the shape.
3. Move the shape hint to a point that you want to mark. 4. Select the last keyframe in the tweening sequence.
The ending shape hint appears somewhere on the shape as a green circle with the letter a.
5. Move the shape hint to the point in the ending shape that should correspond to the first point

you marked.

6. Play the animation again to see how the shape hints change the shape tweening. Move the shape
hints to fine-tune the tweening.
7. Repeat this process to add additional shape hints. New hints appear with the letters that follow
(b, c, and so on). You can choose to view all shape hints, and you can remove shape hints.

To see all shape hints:

Select View > Show Shape Hints. The layer and keyframe that contain shape hints must be
active for Show Shape Hints to be available.

To remove a shape hint:

Drag it off the Stage.
To remove all shape hints:
Select Modify > Shape > Remove All Hints. Creating frame-by-frame animations
To create a frame-by-frame animation, you define each frame as a keyframe and create a different image for each frame. Each new keyframe initially contains the same contents as the keyframe preceding it, so you can modify the frames in the animation incrementally.
To create a frame-by-frame animation:
1. Click a layer name to make it the active layer, and select a frame in the layer where you want the

animation to start.

2. If the frame isnt already a keyframe, select Insert > Timeline > Keyframe to make it one. 3. Create the artwork for the first frame of the sequence.
You can use the drawing tools, paste graphics from the Clipboard, or import a file.
4. Click the next frame to the right in the same row and select Insert > Timeline > Keyframe, or
right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and select Insert Keyframe from the context menu. This adds a new keyframe whose contents are the same as those of the first keyframe.

Remove noise and interlace
After you capture your video content, you might need to remove

noise and interlace.

Follow the same guidelines for audio The same considerations exist for audio production as for video production. To achieve good audio compression, you must begin with clean audio. If you are encoding material from a CD, try to record the file using direct digital transfer instead of through the analog input of your sound card. The sound card introduces an unnecessary digitalto-analog and analog-to-digital conversion that can create noise in your source audio. Direct digital transfer tools are available for Windows and Macintosh platforms. If you must record from an analog source, you should use the highest quality sound card available.
Using the Video Import wizard
The Video Import wizard provides a streamlined interface for importing video into a Flash document. The wizard lets you select whether to import a video clip as an embedded or a linked file. When you import a video clip as an embedded file, you select options in the wizard for encoding and editing the video. Click the Next button to advance through panes in the wizard, and click the Back button to return to previous panes. You can import video clips as embedded files in several file formats, depending on your system. For information on supported file formats, see About file formats for imported video on page 178. You can preview frames of an imported video by dragging the playhead along the Timeline. However, the sound does not play back. To preview the video with sound, use the Test Movie command. For more information, see Testing document download performance on page 41 When you import a video as an embedded file, you have the option to edit the video before importing it. You can also apply customized compression settings, including bandwidth or quality settings, as well as advanced settings for color correction, cropping, and other options. You select editing and encoding options in the Video Import wizard. After a video clip is imported, it cannot be edited. Embedded video is encoded using the Sorenson Spark codec. For more information, see About the Sorenson Spark codec on page 179. Using the Property inspector, you can give an embedded clip an instance name; change its width, height, and position on the Stage; and swap the embedded clip with another video clip. You can use the Embedded Video Properties dialog box to rename a video clip, update an imported video clip that you have edited in an external application, or import another video to replace the selected clip. For more information, see Changing the properties of a video clip on page 190.

You can add multiple screens to a document, and you can nest screens within other screens, in as many levels as you want. A screen that is inside another screen is the child of that screen. A screen that contains another screen is 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 another screen are its descendants. A child screen contains all the content of its ancestor screens.
Top-level slide has three children, Slide 1, Slide 2, and Slide 3. Slide 1 has one child and one grandchild. Slide 4 is a child of Slide 1. Slide 5 is a child of Slide 4.
The Screen Outline pane for a Flash Slide Presentation containing screens nested three levels deep. About using preloaders with screen-based documents If you want to include a preloader with your screen-based document, one way to do this is to create the preloader as a separate SWF file (non-screen-based), and load the SWF file for the screen-based document from within the preloader SWF. You cannot create a preloader within a screen-based document, because all screens in a document are located on the first frame of the root Timeline, so you cannot call or load other frames. Slide screens and form screens (Flash Professional only) You can create two types of screens in a document: slide screens and form screens. A Flash Slide Presentation uses the slide screen as the default screen type. A Flash Form Application uses the form screen as the default screen type. However, you can mix slide screens and form screens in any screen-based document to take advantage of the functionality of each type of screen and create more complex structure in a presentation or application.
You can set parameters for slide or form screens in the Property inspector. For more information, see Setting parameters for a screen (Flash Professional only) on page 225. You can also use ActionScript to control screens. For more information, see Screen class (Flash Professional only), Form class (Flash Professional only), and Slide class (Flash Professional only), in Using Components. Slide screens let you create Flash documents with sequential content, such as a slide show. The default runtime behavior lets users navigate sequentially through slide screens, using the left and right arrow keys. Sequential screens can overlay one another so that the previous screen remains visible when the next slide is viewed. Screens can continue playing after they are hidden. Use slide screens when you want the visibility of each screen to be managed automatically. Form screens let you create structured form-based applications, such as online registration or e-commerce forms. Form screens are simple containers that you use to structure a form-based application. By default, to create the navigation structure with form screens, you must write ActionScript. Use form screens when you want to manage the visibility of individual screens yourself.

In general, follow these steps to add a binding:
1. Select the component on the Stage for which you want a binding. 2. In the Component inspector, click the Bindings tab. 3. Click the Add Binding button. The Add Binding dialog box opens. 4. Select the property for which you want to add a binding. 5. In the bottom pane of the Bindings tab, click Bound To. The value field becomes editable. 6. Click the magnifying glass icon in the field and select the component path and schema location
to bind to. See Defining what to bind to on page 269.
7. In the bottom pane of the Bindings tab, click Direction and select the appropriate value from
the pop-up menu. See Configuring bindings on page 268.
8. Repeat the steps for additional components.
The schema for a component defines which schema items are bindable. However, you might need add a binding for a schema item that is not identified in the data sources schema. You can do this by selecting the Use path expression option. See Adding bindings using path expressions.
Configuring bindings When a property is selected on the Bindings tab, you can further define it using the options located in the bottom pane of the Bindings tab. You can specify information such as Direction and Bound To, which youll commonly need to specify, as well more complex properties such as Formatter and Formatter Options:

Direction

Shows a list of directions that can be set for a binding. You need to select a value from the list: other end of the binding changes. On the Schema tab, in is represented by a left-pointing arrow:
In: The selected schema item is the destination of a binding. It receives a new value when the
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 tab, out is represented by a right-pointing arrow:
In/Out: New data values are copied when either end of the binding changes value. On the
schema tab, in/out is represented by a two-headed arrow:
Bound To Identifies the destination schema item (another components property) to which this schema item is bound. You need to specify this value. See Defining what to bind to on page 269. Formatter Shows a list of available formatters that determine how to display this binding. For more information, see Schema formatters on page 297. Formatter Options Shows the Formatting Options dialog box. The settings in this dialog box are used at runtime to control formatting of data assigned from this schema item to the destination schema item that is defined in the Bound To property. These settings override the default formatting settings for the source schema item. See Schema formatters on page 297. Index For If you create a binding for a schema item that is defined as a field of an object contained within an array, you must specify an index for the array. See Creating an indexed binding on page 270.

To use the WebServiceConnector component, you need to load the web services schema into the WebServiceConnector component. A web services schema is defined by a Web Service Description Language (WSDL) file. The WSDL file, which is accessible through a URL, specifies a list of operations, parameters, and results that are exposed by the web service. Once the schema is loaded, you can proceed to add data bindings. 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 the schema for a web service that provides helpful tips for different products. You add a WebServiceConnector component instance on the Stage, specify the web service to use, and view the web services schema on the Schema tab of the Component inspector.
Note: This example requires an active Internet connection because it uses a public web service. If you use a web service in your application, the web service must be located in the same domain as the SWF file for your application so the application can work in a web browser. For more information, see About data connectivity and security in Flash Player on page 279.
1. Drag a WebServiceConnector component to the Stage and name it tipsWSC. 2. In the Component inspector, click the Parameters tab, if not already selected. 3. Select the WSDLURL parameter, and type the following URL:
http://www.flash-mx.com/mm/tips/tips.cfc?WSDL
When you specify a web service for a WebServiceConnector component in this way, it is automatically added to the Web Services panel and is available to any application you create.
4. Select Operation, and select the getTipByProduct method. 5. Click the Schema tab and view the auto-generated schema for the web service:
The Schema tab displays a schematic representation of the service that you are calling. The parameters and results structure are defined within the schema. The Tips schema states that the service expects one String parameter, product, when it is called; this is the write-only input, as indicated by the right-pointing arrow. The service returns a string as the result of the call; this is the read-only output, as indicated by the left-pointing arrow. Once the web services schema is brought into the Schema tab, the items identified within the schema can now be bound, using the Bindings tab, to a variety 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 Samples/HelpExamples/tips folder. For information on data binding, see Data binding (Flash Professional only) on page 259 and Working with bindings in the Bindings tab (Flash Professional only) on page 265. For a common workflow and information on the properties, methods, and events of the WebServiceConnector component, see WebServiceConnector component (Flash Professional only) and Using the WebServiceConnector component (Flash Professional only) in Using Components. Using the Web Services panel You can view a list of web services, refresh web services, and add or remove web services in the Web Services panel (Window > Development Panels > Web Services). When you add a web service to the Web Services panel, the web service is then available to any application you create. When you drag a WebServiceConnector component onto the Stage and specify a value for the WSDLURL parameter, that web service is automatically added to the Web Services panel. You can use the Web Services panel to refresh all your web services at once by clicking the Refresh Web Services button. If you are not using the Stage but instead are writing ActionScript code for 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 been added. A web service is represented by the planet icon, and its operations appear in the tree.

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 needed. TL
and TR align the application to the top left and top right corner, respectively, of the browser window and crop the bottom and remaining right or left side as needed.
BL and BR align the application to the bottom left and bottom right corner, respectively, of the browser window and crop the top and remaining right or left side as needed.
If this attribute is omitted, the Flash content is centered in the browser window. base attribute

base directory or URL

(Optional) Specifies the base directory or URL used to resolve all relative path statements in the Flash SWF file. This attribute is helpful when your SWF files are kept in a different folder from your other files. menu attribute/parameter

Template variable: $ME

(Optional) Specifies what type of menu appears when the viewer right-clicks (Windows) or Command-clicks (Macintosh) the application area in the browser.
shows the full menu, which gives the user several options to enhance or control playback.
false shows a menu that contains only the About Macromedia Flash Player 6 option and the Settings option.
The default value is true if this attribute is omitted. wmode attribute/parameter
Value Window | Opaque | Transparent

Template variable: $WM

(Optional) Lets you use the transparent Flash content, absolute positioning, and layering capabilities available in Internet 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 Flash application has no interaction with HTML layers and is always the topmost item. makes the application hide everything behind it on the page. makes the background of the HTML page show through all the transparent portions of the application and can slow animation performance.

Opaque windowless

and Transparent windowless both interact with HTML layers, letting layers above the SWF file block out the application. The difference between the two is that Transparent allows transparency so that HTML layers below the SWF file might show through if a section of the SWF file has transparency. The default value is Window if this attribute is omitted. Applies to object only.
allowscriptaccess attribute/parameter

is used to describe keyboard shortcuts to the user. The text entered in this text box is read by the screen reader. Entering keyboard shortcut text here does not create a keyboard shortcut for the selected object. You must provide ActionScript keyboard handlers in order to create shortcut keys. For more information, see Creating a keyboard shortcut on page 364.
Tab Index (Flash Professional only) creates a tab order in which objects are accessed when the user presses the tab key. The tab index feature works for keyboard navigation through a page, but not for screen reader reading order. For information on how to use this field, see Creating a tab order index for keyboard navigation in the Accessibility panel (Flash Professional only) on page 367.
For more information, see the Macromedia Flash Accessibility web page at www.macromedia.com/software/Flash/productinfo/accessibility/. Selecting names for buttons, text fields, and entire Flash 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 the auto label feature to assign text adjacent or within the object as a label. Enter a specific label in the Accessibility panel name field.
Using automatic labeling Flash automatically gives an appropriate name to a button or input text field in your document, as a text label that you have placed on top of, inside, or near a button or another text field. Labels for buttons must appear within the bounding shape of the button. For the button in the following illustration, most screen readers would first read the word button, then read the text label Home. The user can press Return or Enter to activate the button.
A form might include an input text field where users enter their names. A static text field, with the text Name appears next to the input text field. When Flash Player discovers such an arrangement, it assumes that the static text object is a serving as a label for the input text field. For example, when the following part of a form is encountered, a screen reader reads Enter your name here.

Static text

Input text field
In the Accessibility panel, you can turn off automatic labeling if it is not appropriate for your document. You can also turn off automatic labeling for specific objects within your document. See Turning off automatic labeling for an object and specifying a name on page 363. Providing a name for an object If you do not want to use automatic labeling for the entire application, you can turn it off and provide names for the objects in the Accessibility panel. If you have automatic labeling turned on, you can also select specific objects and provide names for the objects in the Name text box in the Accessibility panel so that the name is used instead of the object text label. When a button or input text field doesnt have a text label, or when the label is in a location that Flash Player cant 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 dont want that text to be used as that objects name.

Creating a tab order index for keyboard navigation in the Accessibility panel (Flash Professional only)
You can create a tab order index in the Accessibility panel for keyboard navigation. You can create a custom tab order for the following objects:
Dynamic text Input text Buttons Movie clips, including compiled movie clips Components Screens
Note: You can also use ActionScript to create a keyboard navigation tab order index. See Using ActionScript to create a tab order for accessible objects on page 371.
Tab focus occurs in numerical order, starting from the lowest index number. Once tab focus reaches the highest tab index, focus returns to the lowest index number. When you move user-set tab indexed objects around in your document, or to another document, Flash retains the index attributes. You should then check for and resolve index conflicts (for example, two different objects on the Stage that have the same tab index number).
Caution: If two or more objects have the same tab index in any given frame, Flash follows the order in which the objects were placed on the Stage. Therefore, you should resolve all tab index conflicts to be sure the desired tab order index is achieved. To create a tab order index:
1. Select the object in which to assign a tab order and do one of the following:
2. If youre providing an index for the selected object only, in the Tab Index text box, enter a
positive integer (up to 65535) that reflects the order in which the selected object should receive focus.
Note: For information about creating a tab order using ActionScript, see Using ActionScript to create a tab order for accessible objects on page 371. Tab indexes created in ActionScript do not appear on Stage when the Show Tab Order option is enabled.

To view a tab order:

Select View > Show Tab Order.
Tab index numbers for individual objects appear in the upper left corner of the object.
Note: Tab order created with ActionScript code, rather than the Accessibility panel, does not appear when you enable the Show Tab Order option.
About animation and accessibility for the visually impaired
In some situations, you might want to change the property of an accessible object during movie playback. For example, you might want to indicate changes that take place on a keyframe in an animation.
To update properties for an accessible object:
1. Display the frame in which you want to change the properties. 2. Do one of the following:
3. In the Accessibility panel, change the properties for the object as needed.

want to add the interaction. For example, if you want to add an interaction to Frame 8, select Frame 7.
2. Shift-click the same frame number on the other layers to also select those frames. 3. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) a selected frame and select Insert Frames
to extend the Timeline evenly across all layers.
4. On the Interactions layer, select the frame you added and select Insert > Timeline >

Blank Keyframe.

5. To add an interaction, do one of the following:
To copy and paste an interaction that already exists on the Timeline, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the keyframe with the interaction and select Copy Frames. Paste the frame in the blank keyframe that you inserted in step 4. In this copy of the interaction, modify objects on the Stage 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 > Other Panels > Common Libraries > Learning Interactions) to the blank keyframe. Break the interaction apart (select the interaction and select Modify > Break Apart), and edit the assets and parameters.
Adding learning interactions to a document that doesnt use a quiz template If you are adding learning interactions to a Flash document that does not use a quiz template, you can place stand-alone learning interactions on the Timeline in a single frame, sequential frames (for example, 10 questions in 10 sequential frames), or labeled frames.
To add a stand-alone learning interaction to the Timeline when not using a quiz template:
1. If you are adding interactions to a document that does not use the quiz template, select the
appropriate layer, and then select Insert > Timeline > Blank Keyframe.
2. Select Window > Other Panels > Common Libraries > Learning Interactions.
The Learning Interactions library appears.
The library includes six types of learning interaction movie clips: Drag and Drop, Fill in the Blank, Hot Object, Hot Spot, Multiple Choice, and 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 399.
3. Select the new keyframe you created, and then drag one of the Learning Interaction movie clips
from the Library panel to the Stage.
4. Reposition the interaction by dragging it to where you want it to appear on the Stage. 5. Configure the learning interaction. See Configuring a Learning Interaction component

on page 393.

Note: Watch the frame count across layers as you add and remove keyframes. Make sure that all layers end at the same frame number along the Timeline so that the frame count is the same in all layers.

To create a slide:

1. Create a new file using one of the screen presentation templates. 2. To add new slides to the presentation, do one of the following actions:
Select Insert > Screen. Press Enter. Click the Plus (+) button in the header of the Screen Outline pane. Right-click to open the context menu, and select Insert Screen.
3. You can create slides that share graphical content such as logos by inserting nesting slides and
placing the shared content on the parent slide. For example, the content that appears on the slide labeled Presentation appears on all the slides in the presentation. Insert nested screens by right-clicking in the Screen Outline pane and selecting Insert Nested Screen. For more information on using slides and the outline pane, see Chapter 12, Working with Screens (Flash Professional Only), on page 215.
Adding transitions to the screen presentation templates (Flash Professional only) After youve customized the content of your presentation, you can add animated transitions that help illustrate your points. Use the Behaviors panel to add transitions to your presentations.
To add transitions to a screen presentation:
1. Select the screen for which youd like to add a transition. 2. If the Behaviors panel isnt visible, select Window > Development Panels > Behaviors. 3. Click the Add button (+) in the Behaviors panel, and select Screen > Set Transition. 4. Customize your transition in the dialog box. For information about each available transition
style, see Creating controls and transitions for screens with behaviors (Flash Professional only) on page 228.
5. Click OK after you finish designing your transition. 6. Select the event on which youd like your transition to start. The most common events for slide
transitions are onShow, when the slide becomes visible, or onHide, when the slide is hidden. For more information on behaviors, see Controlling instances with behaviors on page 65. Using the mobile device templates Flash content is viewable across multiple browsers, platforms, and mobile phones. You can author the following:

// Create an XML to UI dialog box using the XML definition // in the button.xml file var buttonDlg = fl.getDocumentDOM().xmlPanel( fl.configURI + "Commands/ button.xml" );
Second, create a file named button.xml and place it in your Commands folder. Place the following 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 buttons will send text to the Output Panel"/> </row> <row> <button id="helloBtn" label="Hello" oncommand="fl.trace('Hello')"/> </row> <row> <button id="worldBtn" label="world" oncommand="fl.trace('world')"/> </row> </rows>
</grid> </dialog>
The button command now appears on the Commands menu. If you have a Flash document open, you can select the button command from the Commands menu and the dialog box defined by button.xml appears.

<checkbox>

Usage <checkbox id=myID label=myLabel tabindex=myIdx checked=true|false accesskey=myChar/> 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. label
String; text that appears next to the check box.

checked

Boolean value; set the default value. If true, the box is checked when the dialog box first appears; false otherwise.
accesskey String; a character to be used for the keyboard shortcut for this control (available only on Windows). Child tags
Control tag; creates a check box control.
The following example is excerpted from the Labeled Frame CuePoint Navigation behavior definition file:
<dialog id="NamedFrameCuePointDialog" title="Labeled Frame CuePoint Navigation" buttons="accept, cancel"> <vbox> <hbox>

MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004 BIT102 SUBJECT GUIDE
Course Aim This course provides a comprehensive introduction to Macromedia Flash MX 2004. By the end of the course, the student should be able to easily understand all the major aspects of Flash MX and use it to produce their own Flash applications. Prerequisites This course assumes the student has no knowledge of Macromedia Flash at all. However, students must have access to a computer with a CD-ROM drive and Macromedia Flash MX installed. As with all our computer courses, they enable the student to purchase the software required (Flash MX) at a heavily discounted price (academic pricing). More information can be obtained about this from the school.
Download Course Files You need to download some course file materials for some of the assignments. In addition, some examples are also provided which are covered in parts of the lessons. To download the files, you simply need to follow these steps: 1. Go to www.acsedu.com, then click on Students Resources and choose Online Library from the menu. Alternatively, you can go to http://www.acsedu.com/Library/ directly. 2. Read the Library Copyright Warning and the click on I Agree to continue. 3. Select the IT link from the home page and then type Flash MX 2004 in the search box. 4. Click on Flash MX 2004 Course Files" from the list to access the files. This will provide you with a list of folders relevant to different areas in the course (e.g. assignments, example etc.). To download the files simply drag and drop the required files to your file explorer. Make sure you refer to the above location whenever you are asked to download files in the lessons. Disclaimer This institution accepts no responsibility for the attitudes or actions of our graduates. The education you receive through this course in no way guarantees your actions in the future will always be as they should be. Your actions in your profession, or in any other situation where you apply what you have learnt here, will be affected by many things other than just the learning from this course. The success or failure of a graduate is dependant upon not only what they learn in this course, but also, what they learn in studies elsewhere (formal and informal), as well as personal qualities and attitudes.
NOTE: WHERE POSSIBLE PLEASE KEEP A PHOTOCOPY OR COMPUTER BACKUP OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT IN CASE IT GETS LOST (It does happen occasionally).
Lesson 1 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH 8 Aim This lesson provides a brief description of Flash and how it fits into the Internet website development industry.
INTRODUCTION In the 1990s, most websites were simply made up of static graphics, text and sometimes simple animations (called animated Gifs) which made many sites nothing more than glorified brochures and text heavy resources. With the birth of the New Media industry, new tools were developed to make the internet a much more interactive and entertaining medium one of these tools was Macromedia Flash. Flash enabled website designers and developers to create complex animations, incorporate decent quality sound and develop unique and experimental interfaces for their online projects. Using vector graphics and special compression techniques, Flash allows websites to show high quality graphics, play great sound and add extra dimensions of interactivity without choking up bandwidth. This has made Flash one of todays most popular website development and design tools.

VECTOR GRAPHICS In the past, the web was restricted to display bitmap graphics. Bitmap graphics (such as jpeg, gif and bmp files) display graphics by storing information on every single pixel (or dot) that makes up the picture. This can lead to very high quality graphics such as photos but has the disadvantage of having large file sizes, which leads to slow downloading times on the internet. Flash uses vector graphics which are a different type of graphic. The information stored in the graphic file is less specific in respect to how the image is made up. For instance, say you had a simple graphic that was a line 20 pixels long and coloured red. A bitmap version of this image would have the following data: pixel #1, colour red, pixel #2, colour red, pixel #3, colour red, pixel #4, colour red. etc. all the way to pixel #20, colour red. A vector image, on the other hand, would have the following data for the same image: draw line from location 1 to location 20, colour red. As you can imagine, a complex graphic would have a lot less data in vector format than a bitmap graphic, this gives vector graphics a great advantage when using them on the internet as they load much faster. Another benefit of vector graphics is that they are scaleable which means they can be shrunk or magnified without losing any detail at all.
WHY USE BITMAP GRAPHICS? Although there are many advantages with vector graphics, bitmap graphics have their advantages too. The main advantage is that bitmap graphics handle gradients and other detailed information much better than vector graphics. This means that high detail graphics such as photos will display much more reliably in bitmap format.
STREAMING Flash uses another internet friendly technology called streaming. Streaming enables information to be displayed as it is downloading, rather than only displaying once downloading has completed. This enables a well designed Flash project to seem to load instantly or very quickly while in fact it is downloading information as the user views it. A good example of this technology is streaming audio where you can listen to music while it is downloading across the internet instead of waiting for it to completely download.
HOW FLASH WORKS For Flash to work on a website, the person visiting the website needs to have a plug-in installed. This plug-in enables the browser to identify and then display Flash content. Although the plug-in is a separate program, recent statistics show that around 95% of internet users already have the Flash plug-in installed. Flash is heavily supported by the I.T. industry and therefore comes installed with most windows based PCs and some Mac computers. In later lessons, we will show you how to make your website detect if the visitor has the plug-in installed and if they dont, how to direct them to the macromedia site to install it.

WHATS NEW IN FLASH MX 2004 There are two versions of Macromedia Flash MX 2004. Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. These different versions are aimed at different groups. Flash MX 2004 is aimed at web designers; people who develop interactive media with flash and consider themselves Flash animators. Flash MX Professional 2004 is aimed at web developers. This version includes all of the features of Flash MX 2004 with added features specifically aimed at web developers and large project teams. New features in both versions: Accessibility Flash MX 2004 provides much improvement in the way of accessibility to all visitors. For e.g. there is now much better support for screen readers.
Behaviours With behaviours, you can add interactivity to Flash content without writing a line of code. For example, you can use behaviours to include functionality that links to a website, loads sounds and graphics, controls playback of embedded videos, plays movie clips, and triggers data sources.
Updated Templates Updated templates for creating presentations, e-learning applications, advertisements, mobile device applications, and other commonly used types of Flash documents.
ActionScript 2 Flash MX 2004 now supports an updated version of the ActionScript language called ActionScript 2. This new version more closely adheres to the standards of object-oriented programming models.
Help System Help system can now be accessed through a help panel. This integration can make it easier to access the help content that you need. It also incorporates an update button you can click to download the latest updates to the help system.
Timeline Effects You can apply Timeline effects to any object on the Stage to quickly add transitions and animations such as fade-ins, fly-ins, blurs, and spins. By using these effects, you can avoid figuring out which type of tween to use etc.
Video Import Wizard The Video Import Wizard makes it easier to import video content in your Flash movies. You can also do some editing as you import.
SET READING Although there is no set book for this course, it is recommended to do some additional readings in relation to the topics discussed in this course. Provided below, are some useful online materials relevant to this lesson. If you prefer to use printed materials, then it is recommended to acquire a copy of The Complete Reference: Macromedia Flash MX 2004, second edition, McGrawHill Osborne. For online materials, go to http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/mx2004/ and read Getting Started and Installing Flash sections under the main heading Getting Started with Flash. For printed materials, refer to Macromedia Flash MX 2004 book indicated above and read the following chapters: Part 1: Chapter 1 Part 1: Chapter 2
SELF ASSESSMENT Perform the self assessment test titled ' Test 1.1 If you answer incorrectly, review the notes and try the test again.
ASSIGNMENT Download and do the assignment called Lesson 1 Assignment.