User manual MACROMEDIA FLASH 8 - FLASH TUTORIALS

Flash Tutorials Trademarks 1 Step RoboPDF, ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Authorware, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Breezo, Captivate, Central, ColdFusion, Contribute, Database Explorer, Director, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, FlashCast, FlashHelp, Flash Lite, FlashPaper, Flash Video Encoder, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JRun, MacRecorder, Macromedia, MXML, RoboEngine, RoboHelp, RoboInfo, RoboPDF, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, SoundEdit, Studio MX, UltraDev, and WebHelp are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally. Third-Party Information This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites. Speech compression and decompression technology licensed from Nellymoser, Inc. (www.nellymoser.com). SorensonTM SparkTM video compression and decompression technology licensed from Sorenson Media, Inc. Opera ® browser Copyright © 1995-2002 Opera Software ASA 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 a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Copyright © 2005 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without written approval from Macromedia, Inc. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner or authorized user of a valid copy of the software with which this manual was provided may print out one copy of this manual from an electronic version of this manual for the sole purpose of such owner or authorized user learning to use such software, provided that no part of this manual may be printed out, reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted for any other purposes, including, without limitation, commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this documentation or providing paid-for support services. Acknowledgments Project Management: Sheila McGinn Writing: Jay Armstrong, Jen deHaan Managing Editor: Rosana Francescato Lead Editor: Lisa Stanziano Editing: Evelyn Eldridge, Mark Nigara, Lisa Stanziano, Anne Szabla Production Management: Patrice O'Neill, Kristin Conradi, Yuko Yagi Media Design and Production: Adam Barnett, Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman. John Francis, Geeta Karmarkar, Masayo Noda, Paul Rangel, Arena Reed, Mario Reynoso Special thanks to Jody Bleyle, Mary Burger, Lisa Friendly, Stephanie Gowin, Bonnie Loo, Mary Ann Walsh, Erick Vera, the beta testers, and the entire Flash and Flash Player engineering and QA teams. First Edition: September 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 601 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94103 Contents Chapter 1: Basic Tasks: Create a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Take a tour of the user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Change background and Stage size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Change your view of the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 View the Library panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Add graphics to the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Add video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 View object properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Add video control behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Use the Movie Explorer to view the document structure . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Test the document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Find help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Chapter 2: Basic Tasks: Creating a banner, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Examine the completed FLA file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Creating a new document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Changing document properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Importing graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Introducing layers and the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Test the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chapter 3: Basic Tasks: Creating a banner, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . 43 Examine the completed FLA file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Adding text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Creating a symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Adding animation to a timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Creating a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Writing simple actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Test the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 3 Chapter 4: Basic Tasks: Creating a banner, Part 3 . . . . . . . . . . .63 Examine the completed FLA file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Considering your audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Checking your publish settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Inserting Flash on a Dreamweaver site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Using roundtrip editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Checking for Flash Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Test the application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Chapter 5: Basic Tasks: Create Accessible Flash Content . . . . . 79 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Make your document accessible to screen readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Provide a document title and description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Provide a title and description for instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Specify that screen readers ignore elements in your document . . . . . 83 Change static text to dynamic text for accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Control the tab order and reading order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 About testing your document with screen readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Chapter 6: Basic Tasks: Work with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Select a layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Hide and show layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Lock a layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Add and name a layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Change the order of layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Organize layers in a folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Add a mask layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Add a guide layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Delete a layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Chapter 7: Basic Tasks: Create an Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Copy input and dynamic text fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Name text fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Add and name a Button component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Declare variables and values for the prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Specify values for input text fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4 Contents Write a function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 Write an event handler for the component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104 Test your application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105 Chapter 8: Basic Tasks: Use Layout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Set up your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 Use guides to align an object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 Change the Stage size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 Resize objects to match the Stage size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Specify snap alignment settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Align an object using the alignment guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Align objects using the Align panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Snap objects to each other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Align objects using the Property inspector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Align objects using the grid and arrow keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Chapter 9: Basic Tasks: Create Symbols and Instances . . . . . . 117 Set up your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 About creating symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Create a graphic symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Duplicate and modify an instance of a symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 Modify a symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Create a movie clip symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 Assign an instance name to the movie clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 Add an effect to the movie clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Chapter 10: Basic Tasks: Add Button Animation and Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Set up your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 Create a button from grouped objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Name a button instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 View the hit area by enabling buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128 Change the hit area of a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128 Align buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 Create animation for a button state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 Add an action to a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Add navigation to a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132 Test the SWF file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Contents 5 Chapter 11: Basic Tasks: Create a Presentation with Screens (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 View the screen hierarchy and screen Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 View screen properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Add content to a presentation slide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Add screen navigation behaviors to buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Add and name a slide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141 Select and move slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141 Add content to a new slide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Add transition behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Test your presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Chapter 12: Creating Graphics: Draw in Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Select a shape tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Select options to create a polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Draw a polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Rotate the shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Use the cutout feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Transform the shape of your drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Copy strokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Draw with the Line tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Select and add a different fill color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Group the shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151 Create a logo with the Pen tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Chapter 13: Creating Graphics: Create a Timeline Animation . . 153 Create a motion tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Create a shape tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Copy and paste keyframes in an animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Change the speed of the animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Test the SWF file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Chapter 14: Creating Graphics: Making Animations with Easing (Flash Professional only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Examine the completed FLA file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Open the starter document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Test the application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 6 Contents Chapter 15: Creating Graphics: Applying Gradients . . . . . . . . . . 177 Examine the completed FLA file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Open the starter document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Apply a linear gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Create a radial gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183 Create a transform gradient with a shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186 Apply the finishing touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Test the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Chapter 16: Creating Graphics: Apply Graphic Filters and Blends (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Review your task. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194 Open the starter document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Apply filters and blends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Chapter 17: Text: Add Text to a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Set up your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Create an expanding-width text block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201 Create a fixed-width text block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Edit text and change font attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Select device fonts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Add an input text field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Copy a text field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Assign instance names to text fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Create a dynamic text field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Specify format options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 View ActionScript for the dynamic text field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Test the SWF file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Check spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Chapter 18: ActionScript: Use Script Assist mode . . . . . . . . . . 209 Examine the completed FLA file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Open the starter document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 Add a script to a button by using Script Assist mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 Add frame scripts to the Timeline by using Script Assist mode . . . . .218 Add a frame script to the Title movie clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221 Test the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Contents 7 Chapter 19: ActionScript: Write Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226 Create an instance of a symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226 Name button instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228 Initialize the document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228 Apply ActionScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229 Locate ActionScript reference documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Add comments to ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Write a function for a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Copy and modify a button function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232 Check syntax and test your application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234 Chapter 20: ActionScript: Add Interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236 Name button instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Add a scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Move between scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238 Control the document with a stop() action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238 Link a button to a scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239 Add navigation to return to Scene 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239 Play a movie clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Use a behavior to play an MP3 file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243 Test your document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Chapter 21: ActionScript: Create a Form with Conditional Logic and Send Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Set up your workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246 Add an input text field to collect form data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246 Add a Submit button to the form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247 Add an error message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248 Add a confirmation message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Add a stop() action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Add frame labels for navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Add conditional logic for the Submit button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Pass data out of a SWF file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252 Write a function for the Try Again button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253 Test your SWF file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 8 Contents Chapter 22: ActionScript: Work with Objects and Classes . . 255 Set up your workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Learn about classes and object types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Create an object from a class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Create a custom class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Create two objects from the Product class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Learn about extending existing classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Extend the MovieClip class to create a new class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Chapter 23: Data Integration: Overview (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Chapter 24: Data Integration: Using the Macromedia Tips Web Service (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Connect to a public web service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Create a user interface and bind the components with the web service 274 Chapter 25: Data Integration: Using XML for a Timesheet (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Create the user interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Edit the data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Chapter 26: Data Integration: Using XUpdate to Update the Timesheet (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Update the timesheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Contents 9 10 Contents Introduction This part of Flash Help includes several step-by-step tutorials, designed to teach you the fundamentals of Flash. Macromedia recommends that you go through the lessons using the sample files provided. The path to the sample file is provided in each lesson. By completing these hands-on lessons, you'll learn how to use Flash to add text, graphics, and animation to your Flash applications. Additionally, you'll learn how easy it is to customize your Flash application by using ActionsScript and behaviors. The lessons are targeted toward beginners to intermediate-level Flash designers and developers who want to get up to speed quickly. Each lesson focuses on a specific Flash design feature or topic and takes approximately 10­20 minutes to complete, depending on your experience. In these lessons, you learn how to create a Flash document, write ActionScript, work with video and video control behaviors, and add a Flash component. This book is not a comprehensive manual detailing all the features of Macromedia Flash. For in-depth information about using Flash, from within the Flash application, select Flash Help (Help > Flash Help). NO T E 11 12 Introduction CHAPTER 1 Basic Tasks: Create a Document You're about to experience the power of Macromedia Flash Basic 8 and Macromedia Flash Professional 8. You'll see how, in a few minutes, you can create a compelling web experience that combines video, text, graphics, and media control behaviors. You can print this tutorial by downloading a PDF version of it from the Macromedia Flash Documentation page at www.macromedia.com/go/ fl_documentation. In this tutorial, you will complete the following tasks: Take a tour of the user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Select panel sets and arrange panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Change background and Stage size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Change your view of the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 View the Library panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Add graphics to the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Add video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 View object properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Add video control behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Use the Movie Explorer to view the document structure. . . . . . . . 22 Test the document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Find help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1 Before taking this lesson, we recommend that you read Getting Started with Flash, to learn about the Flash workspace. To access this guide, select Help > Getting Started with Flash. 13 Take a tour of the user interface First, you'll open the starting FLA file that you'll use to complete this lesson. Each lesson includes one start file, and a finished file that demonstrates how the FLA file should appear upon completion of the lessons. 1. To open your start file, in Flash select File > Open and navigate to the file: In Windows, browse to boot drive\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and Tutorials\Tutorial Assets\Basic Tasks\Create a Document and double-click document_start.fla. On the Macintosh, browse to Macintosh HD/Applications/ Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Tutorial Assets/Basic Tasks/Create a Document and double-click document_start.fla. The Create a Document folder contains completed versions of the tutorial FLA files for your reference. N OT E The document opens in the Flash authoring environment. The document already includes two layers in the Timeline. To learn more about layers, select Help > Flash Tutorials > Basic Flash > Work with Layers. One of the layers is named Guides, which contains items to assist you in placing objects correctly on the Stage. The other layer is named Content. This is the layer in which to place the objects that will compose your document. 2. Select File > Save As and save the document with a new name, in the same folder, to preserve the original start file. As you complete this lesson, remember to save your work frequently. 14 Basic Tasks: Create a Document Select panel sets and arrange panels The Default Workspace Layout panel set arranges your workspace in a way that facilitates taking lessons. You'll use this layout for all lessons that you take in Flash. Select Window > Workspace Layout > Default. You can move panels around, and resize them, as follows: You can undock a panel by clicking the upper-left corner of the panel, in the title bar, and dragging the panel to another location in the workspace. If the panel snaps against a border, it is docked in a new location (or docked in the same location, if you moved it back). Otherwise, the panel is undocked. You can resize an undocked panel by dragging the lower-right edge out to enlarge the panel. Use tools to create Flash content The white rectangular Stage area is where you can arrange objects as you want them to appear in your published file. You can open several documents at once and use document tabs, above the Stage, to navigate between them. N OT E The Tools panel, next to the Stage, offers a variety of controls that let you create text and vector art. To learn more about tools in the Tools panel, select Help > Flash Tutorials > Creating Graphics: Draw in Flash and Help > Flash Tutorials > Text: Add Text to a Document. 1. 2. Click the Pencil tool in the Tools panel. Click the Stroke color box in the Tools panel colors area, and select any color except white. Drag around the Stage, without releasing the mouse, to draw a line. You've created Flash content. Your finished document will be much more impressive. Take a tour of the user interface 15 Undo changes Flash can undo a series of changes to your document. You'll undo the artwork that you just created. 1. To see the undo feature in action, first open the History panel (Window > Other Panels > History). The Pencil tool appears in the panel, because using the tool was your last action. 2. Do one of the following: Select Edit > Undo Pencil Tool. Press Control+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Macintosh). Your scribbles disappear from the Stage. The History panel now shows a dimmed Pencil tool, which indicates the undo action was executed. Flash, by default, is set to undo 100 of your changes, in reverse order of execution. You can change the default setting in Preferences. To change your preferences, see "Setting preferences in Flash" in Getting Started with Flash. 3. To close the History panel, click the pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the panel and select Close Panel. View the Timeline Just above the Stage, you see the Timeline and layers. You can create and name layers, and then add content to frames on layers to organize how your Flash content plays as the playhead moves across the frames. Move the mouse pointer over the area that separates the Stage from the Timeline. When the resizing handle appears, drag up or down slightly to resize the Timeline as necessary. Playhead Keyframe Resizing handle 16 Basic Tasks: Create a Document The playhead (the red indicator line) is on Frame 1 in the Timeline. The keyframes are designated by small circles in the frames, which are filled, indicating there's content in those frames. You can add a keyframe to a document when you want the Flash content to change in some way in that frame. Change background and Stage size The Stage provides a preview of how your Flash content will appear in your published file. You'll change the size of the Stage to accommodate artwork designed for a larger Stage, and you'll change the background color of the Stage. 1. 2. In the Tools panel, click the Selection tool. On the Stage, click anywhere in the gray workspace that surrounds the Stage, or on the background area of the Stage, so that no objects are selected. The Property inspector, under the Stage, displays properties for the document when no objects are selected. 3. To change the Stage background color, click the Background color box and select a light shade of gray, such as gray with the hexadecimal value of #CCCCCC. To change the Stage size, click Size in the Property inspector. In the Document Properties dialog box, enter 750 for the Stage width, and then click OK. The Stage resizes to 750 pixels wide. 4. Change background and Stage size 17 Change your view of the Stage You can change your view of the Stage without affecting the actual Stage size of your document. 1. In the Stage View text box, above the right side of the Stage, enter 500%. Then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh). Your view of the Stage enlarges to 500%. In the Stage View pop-up menu, which you access by clicking the control to the right of the text box, select 100% to view the Stage in dimensions that correspond to the size of the published Flash content. 2. View the Library panel Flash content that you import or that is a symbol is stored in your Library panel. To learn more about symbols and instances, select Help > Flash Tutorials > Basic Tasks: Create Symbols and Instances. To view the Library panel, select Window > Library. We've already imported library items and created symbols for objects that you'll use in this lesson. Flash also contains a library of buttons that you can use in your document. To view this library, after taking this lesson, select Window > Common Libraries and select the Buttons library. N OT E 18 Basic Tasks: Create a Document Add graphics to the Stage To add library items to your document, you verify that you're adding the object to the correct layer, and then drag the item from the Library panel to the Stage. 1. In the Timeline, click the Content layer name to select that layer. With the Selection tool selected, drag the Title movie clip, which contains a bitmap image and vector graphic, from the Library panel to the Stage and align it on top of the gray bar at the top of the Stage that contains the word Title. In Flash, you can work with bitmap images, which describe graphics using pixels, and vector art, which uses mathematical representation to describe art. For more information, see "About vector and bitmap graphics" in Using Flash. 2. With the Content layer still selected, drag the text symbol from the Library panel to Stage, and align it with the Trio ZX2004 text that's already in place as a guide. You can use your keyboard arrow keys to nudge the text into place. The title text is actually a graphic created from text. Add video The Library panel includes an imported Flash video file (FLV). You'll add the video to your document, and Flash will add the necessary frames to play the video. To learn more about using video in Flash, see "Working with Video" in Using Flash. 1. Verify that the Content layer is still selected in the Timeline. From the Library panel, drag the ggb_movie_for_trio_new video to the dark gray Video guide on the Stage. A dialog box appears that indicates Flash will add 138 frames to the Timeline for the video. Click Yes. Drag the playhead across the Timeline to view the video. 2. 3. Add video 19 View object properties When you add an object to the Stage, you can select it, and then view and change its properties in the Property inspector. The type of object selected determines which properties appear. For example, if you select a text object (not a text graphic, which you use in this lesson), the Property inspector displays settings such as font, type size, and paragraph formatting, which you can either view or change. If no object is selected, the Property inspector displays properties for the entire document. 1. On the Stage, with the Selection tool selected, click the Title graphic. The Property inspector (Window > Properties) shows specifications, such as height, width, and Stage coordinates, for the movie clip. 2. 3. On the Stage, click the bounding box for the video movie clip that you dragged to the Stage and view its attributes in the Property inspector. In the Instance Name text box of the Property inspector, enter video as the instance name. An instance is an occurance of a symbol on the Stage. Because ActionScript, the Flash scripting language, often refers to instance names in order to perform operations on instances, it is a good practice to name the instances you create. To learn more about naming instances, select Help > Flash Tutorials > ActionScript: Write Scripts. N OT E Add video control behaviors Behaviors let you add complex functionality to your document easily, without having to know ActionScript, the Flash scripting language. You'll now add behaviors for video control. 1. 2. In the Timeline, click Frame 1 of the Content layer to select it, if it's not already selected. On the Stage, click the Play movie clip instance (which looks like a play button) to select it. In the Behaviors panel (Window > Behaviors), click Add (+) and select Embedded Video > Play. To learn more about symbols and instances, select Help > Flash Tutorials > Basic Tasks: Create Symbols and Instances. 20 Basic Tasks: Create a Document