Flash :: Couple Of Things.

Please Help With A Couple Things
HELLO,

Need Help on a couple of simple issues, and I know one of you geniuses can be my Hero...

Issue 1: Preloaders
I have made my preloader based on a couple web tutorials, but none of them tell me exactly how to then put it in my movie...

Issue 2ownloading
How do I make a button that allows users to download a file? If there is any HTML involved, please keep in mind that I am an idiot, and, if possible, please include it.

Issue 3:Preloaders (again)
Once I finally get my preloader for the whole movie to work, how can I put it on other stuff? an MP3 player for example?

Issue 4: .swf's vs. mc's vs.scenes
If I wanted to put a slideshow on one page of my movie and a mp3 player on another page, would it be better to create a new file, export it as a .swf, and then load it into my movie, or create it as a mc in my existing movie? Or to make a new scene? Or does it matter?

Issue 5:Uploading
When I upload, how much of the original files do I have to upload with it. Do I need to include all the bitmaps and stuff?

Thanks for any help on any one of 'em, or for just taking the time to read my ramblins....

Couple Things..
First you guys check this out for me www.ktlp.com
and tell me what ya think..Colors they choose and content, well it's content..

Debug this for me and tell me what ya think..Also I am having this problem..

Say I am in the producktion link and I view klub performances photos right..I have them in a pop up at 400 / 400..Now say if they want to book a klub performance they click that link and it opens a form page in a pop up (600 / 400)..All is fine if they close the previous 400 / 400 first..But if they click on the BOOKKLUBPERFORMANCE link before closing the previous 400 / 400 the 600 / 400 opens up in the 400 / 400 area and everything shrinks and is not legible..

How do I fix this? How do I make the 600 / 400 open in its own window even if the previous 400 / 400 is still open?

carlsatterwhite@orlandomediasolutions.com

A Couple Of Things I Am Sure Plague Many Users...
Ok 2 things.

File can be found at:
http://www.egoweb.com.au/test/default.html

and the source file can be found at:
http://www.egoweb.com.au/test/flashface.fla.

1) I am having problems to get the buttons to MouseOut correctly. If you quickly run left to right over the buttons it seems only every second one will set off the "slidein" actionscript. Is there any way to force flash to run actionscript on mouseout when it is supposed to.

2) I am having problems with changing the text in the slide in area by the buttons.I for the life of me cannot figure out why the variables are not being set from the buttons. I have checked it a 100 times over and can see no logical reason for the variables not to be passed into the slidein areas correctly. All MC's have been given names and I have checked and checked and checked. It works if I put a dynamic text box closer down the hierachy to the buttons MC. but as soon as it gets buried in deeper (which i have to do to add other things i want down the track) the variable fails to be passed from the buttons.

Would love to get some help on this topic. i have milled over it for a number of hours, and have encountered similar problems as the first point in other projects with no real solution. Thanx in advance guys.

Im Not Onderstanding A Couple Simple Things
Ok.. i have read tutorials.. i need a explenation.. then i will zip by and master this quickly

anyone have msn.. or remote assistance or something...

these are so basic... I will be like OOOOOOooooooo i see now... thanks

i would type them all in here.. but there are so many..
please help me.

Does It Make Things Easier To Plan Things Out Before Programming?
I know this may seem like a stupid question, but as a Actionscript beginner i'd like to know if its easier to plan things out before hand. Basically i've got to make a Class that does the following:

- Creates a shape with a size and colour defined by values passed through the constructor
- the initial position of the shape should be passed to the constructor
- the horizontal vertical speed should be passed to the constructor
- the initial direction (up or down) should be passed through to the constructor
- the shape should reverse direction on "impact" with the stage top and bottom.

Now i want to make the thing itself, but i think im going to struggle. unless i make a really decent plan of the class. so can anybody recommend what the best way to plan out this is?

if anyone can help, i'd appreciate it - if not, no worries.

[F8] How Do I Get Things To Follow Things?
I'm trying to get the enemy follow what you control in an overhead game and my current actionscirpt is...

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
function locate(uuuxe) { //function name is locate()
xd=this._x-_root.uuuxe._x //the difference in-between this symbol's x and the other symbol's
yd=this._y-_root.uuuxe._y
npx=(xd+yd)/Math.pow(2,1/2)
npy=(yd-xd)/Math.pow(2,1/2)
if(npx>=0 && npy>=0) {
this._rotation=0
this._y-=2.5
return 1
} else if(npx>=0 && npy<=0) {
this._rotation=270
this._x-=2.5
return 2
} else if(npx<=0 && npy>=0) {
this._rotation=90
this._x+=2.5
return 4
} else {
this._y+=2.5
this._rotation=180
return 3
}
}
}

What am I doing wrong? Thanks!!

FlashNoobXanthus

Couple Of Q's
Hi - I have a few questions that are probably easily answered:

It seems as though when I draw a detailed image using the pencil tool (& tablet), using a lot of curved lines - I'm finding that, in order to test the movie, it takes forever to load. In some cases, I bail and force quit. Is it true then, that even though we're talking vector-based art, the file size will increase dramatically by creating detailed illustrations?

Would it help to convert to a movie clip or graphic?

Also, with regards to Actionscripting & shortcuts: it's awesome that one can often find the most useful tutorials & actionscripts that can be simply applied to a movie clip or button - but it doesn't seem like the actionscript window allows a cut & paste option. Do you really need to rewrite each line into the window? Or is there a way to copy & paste right into that window?

Thanks for your help! Much appreciated!

Couple Someone Please....?
Could someone please write a quick and very straighforward, no fancy stuff required, program that uses a loop to trace a conversion table from Fahrenheit to Celsius. You can use this conversion code:

Deg.Celsius=(Deg.Fahrenheit-32)*5/9

Basically just a quick program that you could input a number in celsius or fahrenheit, and then it outputs it converted to the the corresponding celsius or fahrenheit number.

Thanks in advance, and your help is highly appreciated, I realize this is alot to ask. Although, flashkit boards seem very reliable for any type of actionscipt help/template. You guys rock

Merci,

Kelly M.

p.s. I am using Flash 7 Pro. Just attach the fla to your message Thanks!

Couple Q's...
1.) Why in the world do those "green box borders" get left behind when I convert something into a symbol?

2.) Is there another version of Flash out there now because I feel like the version I'm using (6 I believe) is very user UNFRIENDLY...? I love what Flash can do though, so I'm still going to try and get better at using this...

Just A Couple Of Question
Okay, I have a few questions. I put up a flash intro on a web page; however, it is really screwed up. I put the basic preloader on it, but it's not working. You have to uncheck "Play" before you see the preloader, then it doesn't even load. Any ideas how to remedy this? You can view it at http://www.altaregomusic.com. Also, how do I change the size of the flash file from pixels to a percentage, so that it will work on different resolutions? Thanks for any help you people have to offer.

A Couple Of Questions ...
Okay ... I am currently working on an iResume of some of my work. I have a couple of quick questions to see if anyone may know an answer:
1) Is there a relative path that would be equivalent to the %SYSTEMROOT% (C:windows on 9x & C:winnt on NT or even whatever the user chose to name it). I want to store some variables (nothin' big a couple of true/false switches so you see something different all the time) on the local machine because I'm shipping a CD, I can't store them on the CD (hence read-only memory).
2) I also want to add a little remote control style panel that will always float at the top right (or top left whichever is easier) of the screen (I'm using the FullScreen FSCommand) no matter what the resolution is. Anybody know how to do this.

Also, I'm almost positive there is no way to do this, but I'll ask. Is there any way to get rid of the right click menu. I want to use keyboard navigation (mouse.hide) and if they accidently right click even though there's no mouse they'll get a little popup menu. Not to worry I'm giving Macromedia credit and everything, I just want to remove that if I can.
Thanks for any answer's I can get.

Just A Couple Of Questions......
ok...

1) so i've been checking out some flash sites, and noticed that when you go to enter some, a pop up window opens, that fills the whole screen, and acts as a browser for the site you are entering...
I was wondering how you create this?
(if you know what i'm on about!)
I mean, how do you create the pop-up browser, that will fill the whole screen, that will display the contents of your site?

2) is there an action script that detects the size of the screen of the viewer, so that whatever resolution they have it set at, my pop-up browser window will fill their screen?

3) i'm thinking of trying to create a game as the intro for my site, or as the preloader for the intro...
any links to tutorials, as a starting point for getting into game design using flash???
i know this is the wrong forum for that but...

cheers guys and gals....

Couple Questions
hiya, i figured out my other problems but i still cant get a preloader to work

Ive looked all over for a tutorial on makign a preloader in FlashMX all ive found is one on this site but its for Flash4 and FlashMX doesnt accept the code in that one. could someone tell me were i could find a tutorial on it or maybe just tell me

Thanks
[Edited by Jamoan on 06-08-2002 at 08:36 PM]

Couple Of Doubts
Hi flashers, I´ve been making a couple of flash games, and I´d like them to work fine, so there it goes...
The first one is a puzzle, so simple, you drag a movieclip and when rising other, droptarget, but how can I make a mc that it´s already place not to appear above the one you´re dragging?
Hope u can help me...if can I´d send .fla, thank you all.

Couple Of Questions...
Okay, I have a couple of questions because I'm making a site for company, but some things don't work
- I want to create the site for people with a 800x600 or a 1024x768 resolution. I created the site with a stage of 800x600. When I publish the site, in 1024x768 the icons will get out of shape and when I view it in 800x600 some text aren't readable. I'm publishing the site with a component which removes the border around the Flash movie.
- When I work in Photoshop I can add a vector-mask to a layer, then take the gradient tool and make a sort of 'fade-in'effect (the picture becomes more visible through the stage). The problem is; when I use a .esp in Photoshop and then add this effect; I can't copy->paste in into Flash. Is there a way to export this vector shape (with the effect) to Flash? Or a way to do this effect in Flash?
- Last question; I also want to have a news-section on the website. So I decided to load a textfile in, because this is easy to eadit by the company. Everything works fine when I look at it in the .swf, but when the .swf gets loaded into the main-movie; I only give me this: "_level0.LoadMC.text.text" What does this mean, and how can I solve it?

I hope I can get a anser to all these question... I posted here because my experience with Flashkit is that you get a really quick (and usefull) anser
Greets,
Maarten de Groot

A Couple Of Quirks I'm Having ...
1.) If I use the Scrollpane UI Component, for some reason, I could be crazy, but it feels like my .swf files become "chunky" so to say. It seems to slow down and keep my preloaders from showing right away ...

2.) ... which brings me to my next question. I have a .swf and it's 250kb. The preloader won't show up right away and sometimes never. It's not just with a specific movie though; I find it happening all the time. There's no funny stuff going on with my movies, it's straight up flash animation, they are straight up vector so there's no gigantic images. Does anyone know or have a clue to what the deal might be with this?

Thanks for all of your help.

Selfminded

A Couple Of Questions
Music ???
i need to know a way how to play music in flash mx
the thing is if i load my mp3 into the library and it is about 3.5mb
i wont be able to upload the swf later will i ? and i want to have about 5 songs in my movie ?
load swf ???
can anyone explain this in a nutshell please ?

A Couple Of Questions
ok Q1:
a sound/loop problem, ok, i have my sound loop, i want it to play smoothly but instead i get thise 1 or 2 second gap as it goes from end of loop to begginning then it plays over again..
how do i stop this?

Q2:
a button effect question, iv done my button roll over effect, its a nice fad in block kinda thing.. how do i make a roll off effect so the block fades off again after i move my mouse off it?

any help would be great,
cheers

Have A Couple Of Questions.
Sorry I am sorta a newbie at this but I have a couple of questions about the script.

1. Can I return a string value to _currentframe, like instead fo saying if _currentframe is equal to frame 9, say if _currentframe is equal to "framelabel"

2. Is there any way I can set a timer on the script? Is there such a thing as delay in actionscript, so that I can do one funtion, have a delay for it to be finished and then do the next function. I'm sorta looking for something simple, in theory i could do a loop for it to create soem sort of count delay but I am not really sure as to how to go about doing it.

ANy help would be much appreciated

thanks in advance.

BTW this is for flash 5
thx

Looking For A Couple Of Tutorials?
I need a couple of tutorials. First one,
how to send only certian variables to my cgi script. Other words lets say I have 10 input text boxes and for this example we will name them I1 - I10. On one button I would like to send lets say I1-I5 and on another button I would like to send I6-I10. Can someone point me in the right direction for this. Number 2 questions issssss. Is there a way and a turorial on how to set up dynamicaly on a button a url. Other words I have a bunch of buttons that I have in a interface and I would like to have a input txt box by each one and when you enter the url and hit the save button it will save the url in a perl script so that the next time you hit that button it goes to the url you typed in before. Hope that makes some sence. Thanks for any help anyone can give me on this.

Couple Of Questions
Im creating a login movie clip for a site. And a couple things i need some help on. 1. I have a user name and password input text. i have instance names for them both, and when u click submit it checks
if(username=="dweiss" && pw =="trythis")
{
tf = 1;
}
else
{
tf = 2;
}

(tf is true false just for me to track to see what they entered)

so how do i make what they entered not case sensitive. so say they could enter DWeiss or dweiss and it wouldnt matter. because im getting 2 which is false even when i enter the correct information ;[
doh. If you can help thanks!

A Couple Of Questions....
hey...
i have 2 questions that i need help with...

1)...i wondered if theres a way to create a counter for my websites html index page, within a flash movie...
ie: can i use flash to create a hit counter that i'll then place on a html page...?

2)....i want to create s form, or a survey within flash,for my site visitors to post feedback, tkae a survey, etc...

how do i do this...i dont know much about creating forms...or about the 'post' actions, etc...

oh, and can i somehow create pie charts and bar graphs within flash that will show instantly the results of the survey so far...
(you know, like the mini polls have in the bravenet webservices...)

cheers....

Couple Of Questions
Hello,
I have been away from Flash for a couple of years and need some
help. I am using Flash4. I am combining a interactive story and
flash. The user will be on a quest. He/She gets a box, but can only
open it at a certain time (certain scene) If he tries to open it
before this time, he is taken to a scene that says "It can be
dangerous to open this box before the right time." Is there a way
when the player tries to open the box the third time that the game
is ended? I am not that familiar with how you would do this with
changing scenes/frames and all.
Second question: In this story, the player will opening things,
pulling things, etc. Is it possible that the cursor can be a
hand?
Thanks for any help.
If there are any questions to clarify my question, it may be awhile
before I get back. I seem to be at work more than at home.
Bill

Couple Effects
Hello.

I was browsing through some of the web forums and found this link :
http://home.halden.net/sigma/ .

Now there are a few things this site does that I'd like to know how to do.
So here we go :
1.) If you click on the "profile" button, on the left a lne drawing of a jet appears then fills then becomes an image. How was the line drawing achieved? How was it filled?

2.) When you click on various links, the contents that load sort of sweep in, for instance the links button, it loads a page and a series of buttons sweep in, how was this done?

3.) lastly, When I load my site that I'm working on, It will contain blocks that will contain text or menu buttons and so on. I want each blocks shape to be "drawn" then filled, then fade to its final look. (If that makes sense), how is this done.

Sorry bout all the questions guys, even if you could refer me to a tutorial or something I'll be well happy.

Cheers!

A Couple Of Questions...
question 1: how do i go about making a "loader"?

question 2: i would like to learn to program action script, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Couple Of Questions....
I'm reading a book on AS and have come across a couple of questions. One is, that when do you use "var" and when don't you? I've seen variables introduced like....

onClipEvent(load) {
var myTotal = _root.getBytesTotal();
}

But I've also seen...

onClipEvent(load) {
currentTime = new Date();
myHour = currentTime.getHours();
myMin = currentTime.getMinutes();
mySec = currentTime.getSeconds();
}

In both cases, the variables myTotal, currentTime, myHour, myMin, and mySec are being introduced for the first time. So why don't they all start off using "var"?

The next question is prolly a VERY minor one. Usually the first line of the script starts off with something using parentheses and then a curly bracket. Like this....

onClipEvent(enterFrame) {

But I've also seen the same thing written as....

onClipEvent(enterFrame){

The first has a space between the end parentheses and beginning curly bracket, the second doesn't. Does it matter? When do you and when don't you? Thanks in advance for any help!

A Couple Of Questions
I have just started to use FlashMX 2004, i am trying to do two things, however i just can't seem to get it too work, the first being that i would like a symbol to follow my mouse cursor, secondly, i would like to know how to get symbols to randomly move acroos the screen and bump into each other? any ideas, links to help sites etc.

A Couple Problems I Have
ok guys.. this is the deal.. so i made my first flash movie
first off let me tell you i did the whole movie in swish max(flash for newbies) and i have the whole movie going to music and everything is set up perfectly ok so now.. i have some problems.. the movie runs different on other peoples computers.. so i tried to set a constant frame rate with swish and that just made my movie all jerky and it didint even fix the problem so what i did is i imported it into the flash mx and i set up the music and everything (set it to stream and set the fps so its just right)

now there are a couple of problems though when i imported it

1.all my animated gifs that i had in the thing.. well... the dont play anymore its just the first frame of the animation
2. it dosent play to the end of the movie.. it just kinda cuts off with about 2-3 seconds left
3. everything kinda got shifted over to the right a little is there like some sorta move all in everyfram command lol (dont think so but worth a shot)

yeah so can you guys help me with that?!? either just post here or if you want i can send you the file and you can fix it w/e works AIM Sms4001 email Sms4001@aol.com thanks in advance!

A Couple Of Quickies
Hi,

I was wondering if there's anyway to highlight an item in a combo box, if so how would I do this (preferably using Actionscript).

I have some text (set as dynamic) that I change using Actionscript .text property. But this means that the text can be selected with the mouse, I would rather have it like static text that cannot be selected, is this possible? I have set the text type to static, but this of course means I can't change the text...

Thanks
Alex

Couple Of Questions
Here's what I'm trying to do:

I want to use the file below and place it inside a movie clip I created. I went through the code but can't seem to make it work properly. It works fine on the main stage but not inside the movie clip. Why is that?

http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Anima...-402/index.php

Also, when I try to implement a text scroller found from this site and use a pixel font set on dynamic text, why does the text disappear when I publish the swf file? Is there a way to fix this?

Thanks.

Couple Of Questions
1. Is it possible to make a transparent gradient? for example if I have a red/blue gradient I can choose to make the red transparent.

2. I've had a look around but found nothing but is it possible to do scalable flash? for example depending on the browser size of the user the flash will scale to fit.

thks
z3ph.

Couple Of Print ?s
Happy Holidays to all - gotta love the work wind down til January 1!

Can you have a print button, created as a movieclip, not show up on the page that is printed?

With the help of this forum, thank goodness, I have created a small project that allows a user to "rollover" to see if they want to select the item.

Then, once they select the item it turns a different color ("active").

All this is done with MovieClips.

Question: Can you print only the "active" selection, since they are done only in the MovieClip?

I have attached a sample.

be careful driving around today!

A Couple Of Questions
1) How do I make Dynamic Text...More Static-looking...and less ugly.

2) How do I make it so a movie clip can only move over only another movie clip.
Example: I am making a movie with a stick figure...I want him to ONLY be able to move over the grass, not trees or buildings or anything...Is there anyway to do this without going through all the other movie clips and manually making them Un-walk-through-able.

Answer one or both...Or whatever. I just need help.

A Couple Of Big Questions.
I'm building my first game right now, sorta based off of the Dave Doull arcade game tutorial but trying to use that as a base and go a little crazy. At the end of the game I want to have a continue selection screen. I have an arrow that I want to move between two bitmaps "Yes" and "No". I tried this AS but I couldn't get it to work. Any ideas?

This code is a restartArrow MC in a layer name "restart". After hit collision is detected therefore killing blowing up the ship the actionscript in the HitTest if loop is this:

if (this.hitTest( _root.spaceship ) ){
_root.gotoAndStop ( "restart" );

onClipEvent(load){
arrowPos=1;
upperLimit=2;
lowerLimit=1;
jumpingSize=30;
}

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
if (Key.isDown(Key.DOWN) and (arrowPos<upperLimit)){
this._y-=jumpingSize;
arrowPos++;
}
if (Key.isDown(Key.UP) and (arrowPos<upperLimit)){
this._y-=jumpingSize;
arrowPos++;
}
if (Key.isDown(Key.DOWN) and (arrowPos>lowerLimit)){
this._y+=jumpingSize;
arrowPos--;
}
if (Key.isDown(Key.UP) and (arrowPos>lowerLimit)){
this._y+=jumpingSize;
arrowPos--;
}
if (Key.isDown(Key.ENTER) and (arrowPos<upperLimit)){
gotoAndPlay(1);
}
if (Key.isDown(Key.ENTER) and (arrowPos>lowerLimit)){
stop();
}
}

Let me know why the arrow will not move when i hit up or down. Nor can I hit enter and restart. Should I make the second Key.ENTER if statement point to another frame instead of saying stop(); ?

Last question, the game works on scrolling horizontally, however right now the ground image i have right now just loops endlessy. I want the background to change after a certain amount of time (or distance traveled) how can I approach this?

Thanks for any help guys.

EDIT: I forgot something else I've been struggling to make work. I wanted the ship to look like it was rotating up to climb and rotate down to decend. I got it to do it but I want the animation to look smoother rather than snap back. I have a bunch of sprties for the motion but it seems like only one frame is playing here is the code:

if (Key.isDown(Key.DOWN)) {
gotoAndPlay(3);
this._y+=moveSpeed;

} else if (Key.isDown(Key.UP)) {
gotoAndPlay(5);
this._y-=moveSpeed;

}

}

onClipEvent (keyUp) {
if (Key.getCode() == Key.RIGHT) {
scrollStart=false;
}
if (Key.getCode() == Key.UP) {
gotoAndPlay(6);}
if (Key.getCode() == Key.DOWN) {
gotoAndPlay(8);}

}

So for these things to work what I did is have 3 sprites for the directional movement (UP & DOWN) to make it a gradual turn rather than snap and I thought that by putting code in I.E. frame 5 of the spaceship MC to tell it to stop after playing 3 and 4. Is this right? or is it only playing the final frame.

Thanks again

Couple Questions
Im looking to create a couple of things.

I want to create a easter egg type thing. Kind of like whats on a dvd. If you press a certain type of button combination it would make a button appear.

for example if you pressed the up arrow 2 times and the right arrow 1 time a button named secret would appear.

Does anyone know of a tutorial on how to do this or if this can be done.

I also want to create a flash version check movie. I want it to check the version of the flash player thats installed on the users machine and display it in a movie.

I appreciate any and all help that you can give me.

TIA

Sn4p
http://sn4p2k.net

A Couple Of Questions
1) I was wondering what was the easiest way to make a loader aka easy script example might help O.o

2) Ive been trying to get a movie clip to play when a button is pressed.. i asked earlier and solved the error i was getting but when i press the button nothing happens. The script is:

MB_But.onPress = function () {
MB_TinClip.gotoAndPlay(1);
}

A Couple Of Quickies
I need to know a couple of bits of HTML code.

1. What is the code to make the background image on a page hold. i.e, does not scroll with the page content.

2. What is the code needed to make a "Bookmark" button/link.

Probably really obvious, but I'm having one of those days.

Leroy

Couple Of Questions
Doubt #1

I got a flash file attatched. What i would want is that when I click on button 2 I want to play the window 1 exit animation and only then play the window 2 enter animation. similarly for the button 2 animation too. The thing is that I have succeeded in doing this after a bit of tweaking with the action script.

Actually I am a bit confused as to how action script gets executed! In my file you will see that I have included the following AS for button 2.

on (release)
{
_root.gotoAndPlay("x"+_root.link);
_root.link = 2;
}

Assuming initial state to be in 1, would the above code first goto and play the label x1(the window 1 exit animation) before it changes _root.link to 2 ?

Or does it first change _root.link to 2 and then go to label x1. If it isin't the latter I am still very much confused!!! (note that i have included gotoAndPlay("s"+_root.link); at the last frame of the exit animation)

Doubt #2

Well, I am doing a portfolio website and I got a lot of thumbnails. I am planning to have mouse over animation for all of them. Is there any way of doing them all togethor ? I am really tired of creating individual tweens for the mouse over state of each thumbnail. Any batch processing or nifty actionscript tricks..?

Thanx 4 reading..

A Couple Of Questions
i have a few questions:

1. how would you make it so when the user moves the mouse something follows, or something moves (like a bee floating around or an arm moving around that's still on the body)

2. how would you make it so if you click, the gun will shoot and whatever you're shooting at would have a hole and some blood (if it's a human)?

sorry they're so hard q's!

im using flash 8

A Couple Of Actionscript Q's - Please Help
Hi,

i don't know much about actionscript and was wondering if anyone can help with one of the following problems:

I was given this script to get a background to show day and night:
Code:
var my_date:Date = new Date ();
if (my_date.getHours () <20 )
{
trace("day");
}

else
{
trace ("night");
}
Now i want this to load 2 different background movieclips and also want to specify that day is between 6am and 8pm and any other time is night.

How would i go about this?

Also,

I want to create a cartoony cloud effect (i have made the image already) and i want it to be randomly sized at random levels on a vertical axis and moving horizontally at random speeds - kind of like the bubble /snowflake effects you see but not moving in vertical curves, only i want them to be moving straight horziontally

If anyone could help, i would greatly apprieciate it, Thank you

A Couple Of Questions
Hi, I've got a few questions:

1. A have a flash movie that I move away from and come back to at a later time. When I come back the 2nd time, I would like the movie to start on a frame other than 0. Is there a way to do this or do I simply need to have two separate flash movies?

2. I have a text field that is loading text dynamically. I would like the text to fade in, rather than just come on. Alpha does not seem to work, and I've also tried masking with no luck. Is there any way to fade the textfield in?

Thanks!