Flash 8 Cookbook

This practical, nuts-and-bolts toolkit puts theory into practice with ready-made answers to common Flash development questions. It's the perfect resource for Flash developers, as well as designers who are ready to start doing development work. Using O'Reilly's popular Problem/Solution/Discussion Cookbook format, this book offers 280 standalone recipes that include a brief explanation of how and why the solution works, so you can adapt it to similar situations you may run across in the future.

 

This practical, nuts-and-bolts toolkit puts theory into practice with ready-made answers to common Flash development questions. It's the perfect resource for Flash developers, as well as designers who are ready to start doing development work.

Flash 8 Cookbook offers quick look-up (and cross-referenced) recipes in four main categories:

• Creating Flash Content
  
• Building Interactive Flash Interfaces
  
• Adding Multimedia and Data
  
• Planning Flash Projects
  

Using O'Reilly's popular Problem/Solution/Discussion Cookbook format, this book offers 280 standalone recipes that include a brief explanation of how and why the solution works, so you can adapt it to similar situations you may run across in the future. For people who say, "I understand everything in theory, but I don't know where to start in practice," this book offers ready-to-use answers to real-world problems.

Joey Lott is the author of ActionScript Cookbook (O'Reilly) and co-author of Flash MX 2004 ActionScript Bible (Wiley). He's a leading speaker and consultant in the Flash development community.

 

Preface

1. Drawing in Flash

      1.1 Drawing Straight Lines  

      1.2 Drawing Curved Lines  

      1.3 Modifying Curves  

      1.4 Selecting a Line  

      1.5 Applying Line Styles  

      1.6 Controlling How Lines Scale  

      1.7 Customizing Line Caps  

      1.8 Customizing Join Styles Between Line Segments  

      1.9 Creating Effects with Strokes  

      1.10 Drawing Primitive Shapes  

      1.11 Drawing Regular Polygons  

      1.12 Drawing Stars  

      1.13 Drawing Other Assorted Shapes  

      1.14 Building Complex Shapes from Simple Shapes  

      1.15 Drawing Complex Lines and Shapes  

      1.16 Repositioning Points on Paths  

      1.17 Freehand Drawing  

      1.18 Smoothing and Straightening Lines  

      1.19 Painting Shapes  

      1.20 Tapered Painting Using a Pressure-Sensitive Graphics Tablet  

      1.21 Selecting a Shape and Changing Its Attributes  

      1.22 Applying a Stroke to a Fill  

      1.23 Applying a Fill to a Closed Path  

      1.24 Filling in Paths with Gaps  

      1.25 Mixing Custom Colors  

      1.26 Saving and Reusing Custom Colors  

      1.27 Applying Preset and Custom Gradients  

      1.28 Applying a Fill Across Multiple Elements  

      1.29 Stretching, Rotating, and Repositioning Fills  

      1.30 Scaling Elements  

      1.31 Distorting and Reshaping Elements  

      1.32 Rotating Elements  

      1.33 Creating Mirror Images  

      1.34 Positioning Elements Precisely  

      1.35 Erasing Content  

2. Importing and Exporting Artwork

      2.1 Importing Assets from Fireworks  

      2.2 Importing Content from Freehand MX  

      2.3 Importing Simulated 3D Shapes from Freehand MX  

      2.4 Importing Acrobat PDF Content  

      2.5 Importing Illustrator AI and EPS Content  

      2.6 Exporting Single-Frame Images  

      2.7 Exporting Animated GIF Files  

      2.8 Exporting Image Maps (HTML Images with Clickable Regions)  

3. Structuring Movies and Laying Out Content

      3.1 Setting the Background Color  

      3.2 Setting Stage Dimensions  

      3.3 Setting the Frame Rate  

      3.4 Applying New Default Document Settings  

      3.5 Creating Document Templates  

      3.6 Lengthening the Duration of the Movie  

      3.7 Changing Contents on Stage  

      3.8 Managing Content with Layers  

      3.9 Hiding, Locking, and Customizing the Display of Layer Content
      3.10 Customizing the Display of Layers and Frames  

      3.11 Using Guide Layers  

      3.12 Managing Complex Content with Layer Folders  

      3.13 Laying Out Page Elements Proportionately  

      3.14 Aligning, Distributing, Resizing, and Spacing Elements  

      3.15 Nudging Elements with the Keyboard  

      3.16 Grouping Elements  

      3.17 Reusing Elements: Creating Symbols  

4. Creating Animation

      4.1 Animating Changes in Location or Appearance  

      4.2 Animating Along Curved Paths  

      4.3 Applying Acceleration and Deceleration with Easing  

      4.4 Applying Advanced Tweening Effects  

      4.5 Animating Rotation  

      4.6 Looping Animations  

      4.7 Previewing Playback  

      4.8 Viewing Multiple Frames Simultaneously  

      4.9 Editing Many Frames Simultaneously  

      4.10 Morphing Graphics with Shape Tweens  

      4.11 Controlling Morphing  

      4.12 Creating Nested Animations  

      4.13 Copying Animations  

      4.14 Changing a Movie Clip's Location at Runtime with ActionScript
      4.15 Animating Runtime Location Changes with ActionScript  

5. Simulating 3D in Flash

      5.1 Solutions for Integrating 3D with Flash Projects  

      5.2 Creating 3D Objects  

      5.3 Adding Simple 3D Animation to Flash  

      5.4 Animating a 3D Shape Morph  

      5.5 Vector-Based 3D Graphics  

      5.6 Realistic Raster-Based 3D Graphics  

      5.7 Creating 3D Buttons  

      5.8 Using 3D Models in Flash Not Originally Created in Swift 3D  

      5.9 Creating a 3D Product View from Multiple Angles  

      5.10 Rendering Swift 3D Animations as Flash Video  

      5.11 Adding 3D Graphics Without Leaving Flash  

6. Composing Images with Bitmaps and Masks

      6.1 Importing Bitmaps  

      6.2 Editing Bitmaps  

      6.3 Fitting Bitmaps Inside Shapes  

      6.4  Converting Bitmaps to Vector Art  

      6.5 Animating Bitmaps  

      6.6 Optimizing Bitmaps for Export  

      6.7 Using Bitmaps with Transparency  

      6.8 Masking Page Elements  

      6.9 Animating Masks  

7. Working with Text Basics

      7.1 Adding Static Text to the Stage  

      7.2 Changing the Appearance of Text  

      7.3 Making Text Follow a Curve  

      7.4 Adding Drop Shadows to Text  

      7.5 Changing the Width of Static Text Fields (WithoutStretching the Text)  

      7.6 Resizing Text Fields (Stretching the Text)  

      7.7 Setting Margins, Indentation, and Leading  

      7.8 Setting Space Between Characters  

      7.9 Optimizing Static Text for Minimum File Size  

      7.10 Superscripting and Subscripting Characters  

      7.11 Making Text Nonselectable  

      7.12 Creating Text Hyperlinks  

      7.13 Adding an Email Link to Static Text  

      7.14

       Using Static Text  

      7.15 Calling ActionScript Functions from Static Text  

      7.16 Making Small Fonts Readable  

      7.17 Checking Spelling  

8. Working with Dynamic Text

      8.1 Creating Text that You Can Modify at Runtime  

      8.2 Changing Text at Runtime  

      8.3 Accepting User Input  

      8.4 Accepting Password Input  

      8.5 Limiting the Length of User Input  

      8.6 Setting Allowable Characters for Input  

      8.7 Retrieving User Input  

      8.8 Resizing Dynamic or Input Text Fields  

      8.9 Creating Multiline Text  

      8.10 Creating Scrolling Text  

      8.11 Specifying Wrapping of Multiline Fields  

      8.12 Using HTML Tags in Text  

      8.13 Entering International and Nonstandard Characters  

      8.14 Ensuring that Text Displays in the Original Font  

      8.15 Applying CSS  

9. Adding Interactivity

      9.1 Creating Buttons from Scratch  

      9.2 Creating Buttons that Animate  

      9.3 Defining the Area that Activates the Button  

      9.4 Creating Hotspots with Invisible Buttons  

      9.5 Making Buttons Respond to Clicks  

      9.6 Making Buttons Respond to Mouse Rollovers  

      9.7

       Off the Instance  

      9.8 Building Menus with Buttons  

      9.9 Using Slider Controls  

      9.10 Using a Dial Control  

      9.11 Creating Custom Cursors  

      9.12 Creating Animated Cursors  

      9.13 Creating Interactive Custom Cursors  

      9.14 Hiding the Hand Cursor  

      9.15 Detecting Keystrokes  

10. Managing Playback

      10.1 Pausing a Movie After It Loads  

      10.2 Preventing the Movie from Looping  

      10.3 Dividing the Timeline into Segments  

      10.4 Skipping the Playhead to a Different Frame of the Timeline  

      10.5 Creating a Basic Interface to Control Timeline Playback  

      10.6 Playing the Timeline Backward  

      10.7 Creating Seek Buttons  

11. Managing Movie Clips

      11.1 Performing Actions Repeatedly Over Time  

      11.2 Applying Transparency to Movie Clips  

      11.3 Fading Movie Clip Instances In and Out  

      11.4 Adjusting Movie Clip Instance Color  

      11.5 Animating Color Changes  

      11.6 Brightening Movie Clip Instances  

      11.7 Transforming Movie Clips (Rotation, Scaling, and Skewing)  

      11.8

       Movie Clip (or a Button or Text Field)  

      11.9 Creating New Movie Clips Based on Existing Movie Clips  

      11.10 Generating Unique Depths  

      11.11 Controlling Movie Clip Playback from Different Timelines  

      11.12 Creating Simple Drag-and-Drop Functionality  

      11.13 Constraining Drag-and-Drop Areas  

      11.14 Changing Movie Clip Visibility  

      11.15 Relocating or Moving Movie Clips  

      11.16 Detecting Collisions (or Overlaps) Between Two Movie Clips  

      11.17 Adding Movie Clips at Runtime  

12. Creating Presentations and Slideshows

      12.1 Building a Presentation Using the Built-in Template  

      12.2 Building a Presentation Using a Slide Presentation  

      12.3 Adding Back and Forward Buttons to a Slide Presentation  

      12.4 Adding Transitions to Slide Presentations  

      12.5 Building a Presentation Using the Flash 8 Cookbook Components  

      12.6

       Components  

      12.7

       Flash 8 Cookbook Components  

      12.8 Building an Image Slideshow Using a Flash Template  

      12.9

       Components  

      12.10

       Flash 8 Cookbook Components  

13. Building Flash Forms

      13.1 Adding a Form Control for Gathering Text Information  

      13.2 Adding a Password Form Control  

      13.3 Adding a Menu Form Control  

      13.4 Adding a Checkbox Form Control  

      13.5 Adding a Radio Button Form Control  

      13.6 Adding a Form Control for Gathering Numeric Input  

      13.7 Adding a Clickable Button  

      13.8 Adding a Button that Can Toggle  

      13.9 Adding a Form Control for Collecting Date Information  

      13.10 Performing Actions When the User Clicks a Button  

      13.11 Retrieving Text Field, Text Input, and Text Area Values  

      13.12

       Numeric Stepper Values  

      13.13 Retrieving Values from Multiselect Lists  

      13.14 Retrieving Values from Checkboxes and Toggle Buttons  

      13.15 Retrieving Values from Radio Button Groups  

      13.16 Retrieving Date Values  

      13.17 Submitting Form Data to the Server  

      13.18 A Feedback Form  

14. Building Advanced Flash Forms

      14.1

       or Radio Button  

      14.2 Performing Actions When the User Makes a Date Selection  

      14.3 Creating a Jump Menu  

      14.4 Preselecting Date Control Values  

      14.5 Preselecting Menu Control Values  

      14.6 Validating Form Data  

15. Customizing UI Components

      15.1 Applying Individual Component Styles  

      15.2 Applying Styles to Component Groups  

      15.3 Applying Styles to Component Types  

      15.4 Applying Styles Globally  

      15.5 Working with Color Styles  

      15.6 Working with Font and Text Styles  

      15.7 Working with Border and Background Styles  

      15.8 Working with Button and Scrollbar Styles  

      15.9 Working with List Styles  

      15.10 Working with Combo Box Styles  

      15.11 Working with Radio Button, Checkbox, and Arrow Styles  

      15.12 Using Different Artwork Themes  

16. Loading Images and Flash Content

      16.1 Loading External SWF/Image Content  

      16.2 Loading External SWF/JPEG Content into a Draggable Window  

      16.3 Loading External SWF/JPEG Content into a Scroll Pane  

      16.4 Determining Load Progress  

      16.5 Hiding a Progress Bar When Content Has Loaded  

      16.6 Optimizing Download Time by Sharing Content Among Movies  

17. Working with Sound

      17.1 Importing Sounds  

      17.2

       Has Been Modified)  

      17.3 Adding a Sound to a Timeline for Playback  

      17.4 Synchronizing Sounds to Animation  

      17.5 Playing a Sound with a Button  

      17.6 Applying Effects to Sounds  

      17.7 Changing the In and Out Points of a Sound  

      17.8 Looping Sounds  

      17.9

       Quality and File Size)  

      17.10 Starting and Stopping Sounds with Buttons  

      17.11 Stopping All Sounds  

      17.12 Manually Synchronizing Sounds and Visuals  

18. Working with Video

      18.1 Encoding Video  

      18.2 Deploying Video  

      18.3 Playing Flash Video  

      18.4 Customizing the FLVPlayback Component  

      18.5 Adding Cue Points/Captions  

      18.6 Detecting Bandwidth  

      18.7 Optimizing Video Playback  

19. Using Data

      19.1 Loading Variables  

      19.2 Sending Variables  

      19.3 Loading Text  

      19.4 Loading XML Data with Components  

      19.5 Calling Web Service Methods with Components  

      19.6 Calling Flash Remoting Methods with Components  

      19.7 Displaying Data with Components  

      19.8 Formatting Data with Data Binding  

      19.9 Sending Data Using Data Binding  

20. Building Preloaders

      20.1 Determining How a Movie Will Download  

      20.2 Building a Simple Preloader  

      20.3 Building a Preloader that Displays Load Percentage  

      20.4 Using a Progress Bar to Create a Graphical Preloader  

      20.5 Creating Preloaders for Files with Exported Symbols  

      20.6 Creating Preloaders for Files with Components  

21. Publishing Flash

      21.1 Publishing Flash to the Browser  

      21.2 Making Flash Content that Works with DHTML Menus  

      21.3 Detecting Flash Player Version  

      21.4 Passing Parameters to Flash from HTML  

      21.5 Communicating Between Flash and JavaScript  

      21.6 Integrating Flash with the Browser Back Button  

      21.7 Publishing Projectors  

      21.8 Making Fullscreen Flash Projectors  

      21.9 Printing Flash Content  

      21.10 Hiding the Context Menus  

22. Deploying Flash on Mobile Devices

      22.1 Creating a Flash Lite Movie  

      22.2 Using the Mobile Emulator  

      22.3 Finding Supported Devices  

      22.4 Playing a Flash Lite Movie on a Device  

      22.5 User Navigation for Flash Lite  

      22.6 Overriding the Default Active Button State  

      22.7 Applying Custom Labels to the Soft Keys  

      22.8 Responding to the Soft Keys  

      22.9 Accessing External Data  

      22.10 ActionScript for Flash Lite  

      22.11 Using Sound in Flash Lite  

      22.12 The Flash Lite Development Community  

23. Making Movies Accessible

      23.1 Detecting and Redirecting Users with Assistive Devices  

      23.2 Making Content Accessible  

      23.3 Making Animated, Interactive, and Visually ComplexMovies Accessible  

      23.4 Creating Accessible Buttons  

      23.5 Making Keyboard-Navigable Movies  

      23.6 Providing Captions  

Index