Flash :: Hey, Catbert - Thought You'd Find This Interesting.

Catbert...I Heard You Know The Answer To This
and I've briefly searched the 5800+ posts you've made for something similar, but couldn't find it. Here's my scenario:

====

I have a movie that opens using a one MC's and a couple of external SWF's using loadMovie. Once these have loaded, the main timeline has a STOP action. This frame is labeled "open" and is the 6th frame on my main timeline.

The next four frames each have their own label. These are:

return, wrong, demo and client and are the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th frames respectively.

The frame labeled OPEN (frame 6) has two input text fields that if the correct information is entered and a submit button is clicked, the user will be taken to frame "demo" or "client" depending on the information they've entered. If they enter the wrong data, they are taken to the frame labled "wrong".

Everything works great so far.

On the frame labeled "wrong" (frame 8), there is a button that when clicked takes the user to the frame labeled "return" (frame 7). This too appears to work fine EXCEPT that all the external SWF's and MC's that should have loaded on the frame labled OPEN (frame 6) reload when I go to the frame labled RETURN (frame 7). I don't want this to happen.

To see this problem in action, go to this link:
http://www.marketthismedia.com/newdemo/test3.swf

enter any user name and password, click submit, them click on the "return" button and you'll see what I mean.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Thanks for the help

Thanks Davulf, Catbert & Iaskwhy
hey guys.

Just to say a big thanks for the help you've given me over the last couple of months! This is a really great forum!

I completed my first ever music video at 06:05 this morning, it was in flash and it was all thanks to you guys.

If you want, you can PM me your address and i can post out a cd of the final avi version all the way from sunny glasgow!

thanks again guys!

Catbert...a Little Problem With Your Slidey Puzzle File.
Well it's not actually yours it's mine. I copied the code from yours into mine and it's gone kinda wrong.
When I test the movie the blocks don't scramble and the output box pops up saying '15' nothing else.
Also it's shunted them all out of line.

The one thing that works is the 'congratulations' scne , thanks for that!

Here's the file so you can see what I'm on about:
http://aim2win.bizland.com/okideas/Kyubeez.swf

P.S, the background grid matches the grid in Flash, it's 25 by 25 if that helps.

Thanks for any help.

On Second Thought
Firthy, your post earlier seems also a good solution to me. I will try it out this weekend.

Greetings

Just When I Thought I Was Done ...
..with my first ever flash file, its only just begun. For some reason my audio gets ahead of my other stuff, even though it doesnt in the file I have here on my computer. I tried a preloader, and it might not have all gotten set up right. If someone could take a look at it and help me out I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks!

Joe

PS: yeah I'm stupid, here's the website: http://www.joeshome.net/savecanada.html
[Edited by joe71284 on 03-04-2002 at 11:51 PM]

Just Thought You Should Know.
Using Dynamic Text........(basic)

Always set your variable to _root.yourvariable

Make sure your text document reads.....

yourvariable= blah,blah,blah

.....In Conclusion...

Always set your variable at _root even if your dynamic text box is on a different timeline.

Peace.

Just A Thought ...
Hi,

I'm working in Flash 6 on a PC computer. My friend I´m working with is a designer and he is using Freehand on a Mac computer. All the graphics he creates in Freehand I receive to use in Flash.

I was thinking when I receive a pathed text, which may contain plenty of words, is there a way to tell Flash to create a Graphic instance from the same letters so I can reduce the swf file size.

Forexample if I would path the text you are currently reading in Freehand.. you may notice there are allot of "a" letters in it. Is there a way to tell Flash to create a instance of "a" and replace it with all the pathed shaped "a" in the text I imported from Freehand ?

Just a thought

Thought This Was Possible
can a loaded movie be made to affect the timeline of the original movie? if I have a button in a loaded movie, can i get that button to point to a different scene in the original (parent) movie. I was told it's not possible but I'm sur eit is, I just don't know how to do it. If anyone out there does, please hook me up.

vijn

Just A Thought
Is it possible to make your timeline go backwards?

ex: If you have a button that you want certain things to happen when you go over it, but you want it to reverse when you go off. If this is possible wouldnt it help make the file smaller isntead of adding extra frames?

Just A Thought...
can you create a notepad file with the code in the file to be loaded into the flash swf, basically an external action script. i am pretty sure you can, but i 'm not sure.
does anyone know?

Thought This Might Be Useful
here's how to make a mouse cursor without using startDrag();

make a new symbol that you want to be your cursor
put that symbol on the main stage / timeline in it's own layer on frame one ... then apply these actions to the symbol

Code:
onClipEvent (load) {
Mouse.hide();
_x = 0;
_y = 0;
speed = 1;
}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
endX = _root._xmouse;
endY = _root._ymouse;
_x += (endX-_x)/speed;
_y += (endY-_y)/speed;
}
thanks for the inspiration lostinbeta

does anyone know if there is a function to detect when a mouse is over a button so you can make your own lil hand thingy that the cursor normally shows when you're over a button?

hope this helps someone

Thought For The Day
I know how to use the 'random' function, and I know how to load text dynamically. problem arises when I try and load random variables dynamically.

What I'm trying to do is load a random quote into flash using a single text file and different variables.

text file looks like this:

Code:
one=blah blah
&two=blah etc
actionscript:

ActionScript Code:
quotes = new Array('one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five', 'six');
i = random(6);
thisOne= quotes[i];
trace (thisOne); // this trace outputs an array element

loadQuote = new LoadVars();
loadQuote.load("quotes.txt");
loadQuote.onLoad = function(success){
if (success){
_root.quote.text = this.thisOne;
trace (this.thisOne) // this trace is 'undefined'..... why??!!
} else {
_root.quote.text = "nope";
}
}

Please help. I have thought about it and realised that it's not gonna work because the loadvars looks for a variable named 'thisOne' in the file.

SO my question is, how do I force it to look for the value of thisOne?

Just A Thought
As I look around for things to do, I wonder, "Can I play a game against my brother who is at college right now?" Well, can I. If any one knows how to or can find a tutorial on how to make a live game possible. Please tell me. Also what language on the, server side of the game, do I need to learn?

Should Be Easy Or So I Thought?
I have been using this movie clip (infinite menu – referred to in a previous post)

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx/infinite.asp

and have finally got the movie clip working, but I have just tried to apply actions to my buttons that make up my movie clip and the links don’t work?!

the different stages of the buttons show (up, over, down, hit) but when I click on the button it wont go to the next page? I’m not sure why?

I have applied the actions as I would to a normal button, just selecting it, but when I test the movie, it doesn't transfer me to the next page when I click on the buttons?

The actions I am using are:
on (release) {
gotoandstop (foundation scroll 2 drawing, 1);
}

I am trying to attatch the fla, but am having problems?!

Any ideas? Help

Sadie

Not As Simple As You First Thought
Help please!

I want to create an effect where the overlaying image displays the one underneath when the mouse rolls over it. Sounds simple, however, I have the 2 images (420*290), one in colour and the other is greyscale. I want a mouse trail to reveal the colour image square by square, using a slow but lazy fade. So it looks like a ripple effect across the image. Greyscale reveals colour on the trail.

I thought about dividing the images into sections with an individual mouse over to reveal the relevant slide below, but its a bit long winded. I thought I could duplicate the same movie which fades as the mouse goes over it, but it's been a while since I have done flash.

As a 2nd pointer, I wanted the flash movie to pull different images with the same name into the movie everytime the movie loads. Keeping the images in a folder, but the image names are 'imageone_colour' and 'imageone_gscale' so it always pulls the same image.

bit long winded i know, but its hard to explain.
If someone could provide me with a soution that would be great.

Drolstrom

I Thought This Was For Newbies
I thought this site was for newbies.
Well, I guess I am a few levels below that because all I am looking for is a tutorial for Flash 5 that is more than 1 page long and that does not focus on some obscure subject whose title I don't even recognize. I have already done the tutorials in the program, but need much more. Any hand-holding beginners course out there? Thanks. I promise to grow up soon.

Simple? I Thought So Too
i have done several times before but not working today!!
very simple menu bar in left frame. then say, text in the right frame. my code for my first flash menu button(in left frame) says:

on (release) {
getURL("tContents.htm", "right");
}

what code is missing to bring this .htm page into the frame on right. i have brought the 'tContents.htm' page up in just about everything, but the dame right frame.

someone please respond, i am obviously missing something.

Just When I Thought I Was Starting To Ge It.........
Okay, what am I doing wrong!

I created a Dynamic Text Field, created a text file and through the magic of ActionScript I'm able to load the text; I've even formated some HTML to the text and it took.

I then Exported the File as an SWF, and tried it again and it still worked.

I then placed an empty MC into another MC on the main stage, the Parent MC has 5 Buttons, one of which tells the playhead that, on release go to and stop at the frame where the empty MC resides. at which point I have placed actions on that frame to load the SWF that was working fine bofore..... NOTHING HAPPENS.

the button works but that's it. Everything is in the same folder. I have used the instance name, the MC name, I have tried _root, _parent, Orphan Adny, and NOTHING.

I saw one of iaskwhy post to another member and I tried that and nothing, so I know I'm doing something wrong I just don't know what.

Please Help, I've attached a condensed ver of the file, I didn't know that You couldn't attach more than one.

This was my thinking, principleMc to test/about_Us.swf to holderMc;
Where principleMc and holderMc are the instnce names, and like I said I tried every possibility, I think, and nothing.

Something That I Thought Would Be Neat To Do
I'm just curious, if there is a way to have a dragable object that when you release the mouse it plays an animation, for this one it is a laser and it plays the animation.

But is there a way so the end of the laser projectile when it hits anywhere on the screen it will leave a burn mark that will fade away after say 1 minute or so?

The location of where it hits would be random so I dont know how to go about it.

The .fla is Flash MX format

Just When I Thought I Could Script
on a symbol on my main time line i have this...

Code:
onClipEvent (load) {
var i = 0;
}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
//to tell duplicates to move
if (this != _root.player) {
trace("moving");
this._x += random(10);
}
duplicateMovieClip(this, "player"+i, i);
}

it traces "moving" but the duplicates do not move!!!

this is realy pissing me off cuz i feel like an idiot!
thanks in advance!

[F8] I Thought It Would Be Easier...
hi again everyone.

i have a menu loading from XML, and the is a buttons for each menu item to open a XML for submeniu. All this made by duplicateMovieClip. it duplicates horizontaly.

1st meniu is loading, everithing OK, button actions also.

the each 1st menu's having a submeniu with a different number of names. one have 2 another 6 and etc.

when i press one any of 1st menu item, the submeniu is created by duplicating another MC verticaly and it puttin all the names right. when i'm pressing the another 1st menu item which submenu have a smaller number of names for expample. it rewrites how many it cans and leaves submenu names from earlier pressed 1st menu item.

I'm trying to do like this:

Code:
x.onLoad = function () {
...
_root.panel["boxx"+i].button.onRelease = function () {
if (_global.lenght > 0) {
for (var u = 0; u < _global.lenght; u++) {
_root.meniu3.removeMovieClip ("meniu"+u);//<< this line should delete all the duplicates in that MC, but it doesn't
}
}
metai = year[this._parent.i];
y.load ("xml/tattoo/metai/"+year[this._parent.i]+".xml");
}
}
}

y.onLoad = function () {
...
for (z = 0; z < infoz.length; z++) {
...
_root.meniu3.box.duplicateMovieClip("meniu"+z, z);
_root.meniu3["meniu"+z]._y = a;
_root.meniu3["meniu"+z]._x = 0;
a += 30;
...
}
}
_global.lenght = infoz.length;
}

any IDEAS?

Thought It Was Easy Enough But....
hi it's me again!

I saw an animation on 2advanced website but i have no clue how to do this..

just go to the website
Code:
www.2advanced.com
, and when it loads, go on "View Demo Real" and click launch, i want to know how they make the video player comes from the back and appear on your screen.. and when u close the player, it goes from the back again and disapear..

How to do this? any ideas?

Thought It Would Be Easier..... Anybody?
So I have my template in a folder (.FLA), and all its associated files (images, buttons, shapes, text, sound, etc..)

Now I would edit some of the text, but I am not quite sure how to do this. Last time I did this a couple years back, I remember when I opened up Flash MX 2004, I could physically see the site and make changes by just clicking on any text.

All I see now when I open up my this FLA is "loading". When I hit publish and preview flash, I see the whole site, and it works. But how can I edit the text?

Simple.....or So I Thought.
I have an animation of a graphic that slides on and off the stage 4 times - each time as a different color (blue, red, green, and yellow). I have stop actions for each time the animation comes on stage for each color and have four colored buttons on stage that I want to use to call the related colored portion of the animation. For example: the blue graphic is on stage to begin with and when the red button is clicked I want the blue 'exit' animation to play then continue with the red 'entrance' animation. I need to use an "if" statement so that if the user has the green/blue/yellow portion of the graphic on stage and clicks the red button the correct colored 'exit' animation plays before the red entrance animation plays. Currently I'm using:

on (release) {
if (_currentframe == 7) {
gotoAndPlay(8);
}
else if (_currentframe == 34) {
gotoAndPlay(35);
} else {
gotoAndPlay(15);
}

Explanation of code:
This code is on the red button. Frame 7 is where the animation is onstage as blue with a stop action. Frame 8 is the blue sliding off stage. Frame 34 is where the animation is onstage as green with a stop action. Frame 35 is the animation of green sliding off stage. Frame 15 is the animation of the graphic coming on stage as red. (I haven't coded yellow yet until I get it working).

The code works in that if blue is onstage when I click the red button it plays the blue 'exit' animation - same if green is onstage. If nothing is onstage then it just plays the red 'entrance' animation.

My problem:
How can I get from the 'exit' animation of one color to the 'entrance' animation of another? Remember that this is all one animation with stop actions for each color on and off stage that I want to call on or off with my buttons. My code above will have blue exit but how can I have it then automatically go to the entrance animation portion of red/green/yellow (depending on which color button the user clicks)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

XML & Flashvars Thought URL?
Hi again,

I have:

Code:
loaderInfo.parameters.videoXML;
xmlLoader.load(new URLRequest(loaderInfo.parameters.videoXML));
in my .as file

and

Code:
<param name="flashvars" value="videoXML=playlist.xml" />
in my html and it is working great.

My question is: can I pass the value of videoXML using an URL??
Something like this:
mypage.com/wheremyswfis.hml&videoXML=playlist.xml
How can I do that?

Thanks very much in advance!!

I Thought It Would Be Simple
Picture three buttons that over lap each other.
They have roll over images also, to highlight them.
What i would like to do is to have the button that's being highlighted on top with the other buttons behind it.
How would i do this easily?

I Thought It Would Be Simple...please Help
How do i get the objects in my swf to readjust as the window resizes...

Here is an an example of what i'm talking about:

http://www.steihlstudio.com/

You can see that the nav and main pic will readjust to their fixed positions based on the size of the window.

Is there a simple way to do this. I'm not an actionscript wizard by any means so if that's the only way to do it, i'll need very detailed instructions! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

Crazy Thought?
when video camera plug into your TV, it will preview the scene that camera see.......

is it posible to do it on computer?

and if it is posible..... is it posible to preview it somewhere on the flash movie where Action Script writen?

Thanks

Preloader, After Thought
i hope this is an easy answer.

i have created my main.fla. this fla has a single scene with several layers. everything starts on frame 1.

after developing the site i realized i would need a preoloader. i did some reasearch to find ample tutorials on how to make a preloader. what i can not figure out, how do i now [since my fla is done] add a preloader to my site?

i read 1 tutorial that said to create a new scene. if i do that it creates scene 2, and all my files are on scene 1.

i hope i am making this more difficult than needs to be. any insight greatly appreciated.

if you wish tho see the site, http://www.skurz.com/flash/022/main.html

thanks,
Kerry

When I Thought I Had Made It Right....
OMG. I had been trying to make my moveable player stop moving when it hit a squared, as if it was a solid wall... and I had a very bright idea... but not very bright at last. I achieved making my character stop by using hitTest and making its speed go to "0". But now, I can't make it get away from the wall. As the speed has gone to "0", It can't move any longer... it's stuck to the movie clip.... here is the code I'm using... can anyone help please?

Code:
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
if (_root.player.hitTest(this)) {
_root.speed=0;
} else {
_root.speed=2;
}
}
Thanks in advance.
Unchew.

XML Gallery Thought
The flash/XML galleries/slideshows... etc. Perhaps one of the most discussed topics on this forum. So here's more:

Question: Isn't there a way to build a better dynamic backend? One where we can just upload new photos and not have to edit the XML at all?

Is there no way to survery a folder's contents, build a list, then display?

I usually name the photos in numbered order. So you just have to rename all the photos to whatever order, then upload. The only time I need to edit the XML is when the total # of photos is changed (or the gallery breaks).

Is there a way to skip over/loop around these changes in the total # of photos? So if a photo is missing, flash will simply move to the next? And disregard any extra nodes that are beyond the current # of photos? If so, then you could make an XML doc with say, 01.jpg - 100.jpg, and if you could use any number of photos (up to 100) and the gallery wouldn't break.

Follow me? I'm thinking more in terms of the thumbnail grid gallery, but it would be nice for the scroller too.

bb

I Thought It Wasn't Possible...
I've written a site for a local museum... It basically displays the museums collection in images and text. (asp)

http://www.swanseaheritage.net

I would have like to write the site in flash, but I was always told that "You cannot load images on the fly!"....

Is this still true?

I've search the group and couldn't find any anything.. Maybe i'm using the wrong terminology.

Thanks for the help yesters...

Capt,

Thought I Would Share
Just thought I would share this, I made it as my intro, and although I am pleased with it as it is my first actual animation rather than website made with flash it is mainly built frame by frame and I was curious to whether this kind of thing could be done with action script.

http://www.itsmy-space.co.uk/folio/webdesignhome.htm

I Thought I Knew What I Was Doing..
Hello.. I created a 750px x 400px movie for a flash intro. I have already set it up to redirect to the interior page (index2.html) after the intro is finished.

I would like to also add the ability to click anywhere on the movie to go to index2.html (for people who have been there before and don't want to sit through the whole intro). I tried creating a 750x400 button over the top of the movie to click on, but that didn't work. Is there something I am not remembering from my flash class??

Please help. Thank you in advance!

Just When You Thought The Rules Applied...
Help me, please!

I thought everything was working, but of course it's not. If you've got access to a dial-up connection look at this page (even if you don't look at it anyway):

http://www.samuelnau.com/intromusic.swf

What you should see (I'm pretty sure of it) is a standard "percent loaded" textbox and a big "SN" filling up as the loading progresses, followed by my soundtrack playing. That seems to work fine both off and online. You'll see what I mean best if you are on a slower connection.

Now go to this address:

http://www.samuelnau.com/intro.htm

What you <should> see is the same animation from the last address, except that afterwards a bit of text fading in and out in time with the music should appear. This file loads "intromusic.swf" into it's timeline into a targeted MC called "soundtrack".

But what I get is that "intromusic.swf" is loaded into "intro.swf" into "soundtrack", but none of the nifty preloading animation ever happens. The sound plays after it loads and the animation starts when the sound plays, but "intro.swf" acts like the loading progress for "intromusic.swf" is already at 100%. Is something happening to my Actionscript's target paths in "intromusic.swf"?

The confusing part is that this only happens online. Test it in Flash, both parts work like they should.

Even more confusing would be if my target paths are modified when I load "intromusic.swf" into "intro.swf" then why does one part of "intromusic.swf's" Actionscript seem to work but not another? "Intromusic.swf" has a preloader frame loop that waits until the movie is fully loaded before the sound plays and when the sound plays it sets a varible to a certain value. Meanwhile, "intro.swf" keeps looking for this certain value and starts it's animation when it sees it. Any ideas?

Here's the script I'm using in "intromusic.swf" to get the big "SN" to act like a preloader bar:

bytesLoaded = _root.getBytesLoaded();
bytesTotal = _root.getBytesTotal();
progress = (bytesLoaded/bytesTotal)*100;
loadblock._yscale = progress;

That works when I test it in intromusic and intro. And this script is for the "percent loaded" text box:

bytesLoaded = _root.getBytesLoaded();
bytesTotal = _root.getBytesTotal();
evenprogress = Math.round((bytesLoaded/bytesTotal)*100);
percent = evenprogress+"%"+" "+"loaded";

And this is the script that preloads intromusic:

bytesLoaded = _root.getBytesLoaded();
bytesTotal = _root.getBytesTotal();
if (bytesLoaded == bytesTotal) {
gotoAndPlay ("music");
}

Those also work when I test intromusic and intro. But try it online with a dial-up connection and the only part that works is the preload script (the 3rd one I listed). It will wait until the sound is loaded set a variable to "play" and intro sees that and plays its animation. The preload animation stuff gets ignored.

I hope someone is reading this, because I really need to figure this out. I'll be your best friend if you can solve my problem!

Do I need to change my target paths to get this to work? Or do I just have some wierd problem on my hands?

Thanks to anyone who can help.

-Sam

Simple SlideShow...I Thought?
In a stand alone projector I have several pictures I want to display as a slide show. I want it to play thru automatically (No Stop Actions), but I also want to have the ability to stop it and to continue on with it & to be able to go back to the last picture and have it stop there. I have three buttons "Stop" "PLay" "Go Back" but can't figure out the code for the buttons? Any help would be appreciated..Thanks

Each pictures stays visible for 25 frames

Simple Rotation (or So I Thought
ok, heres the actionscripting i currentally have:

onClipEvent (load) {
rate = 0;
button = this._rotation;
}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
this._rotation = this._rotation+rate;
if (this._rotation != button) {
this._rotation += rate;

} else if(this._rotation = button){
rate = 0;
}
_root.text = this._rotation;
_root.text2 = rate;
}

Both Button and Rate are defined on a button click (button would be the degree of rotation and rate is how many degree it turns untill it gets there, what i cant figure out is why when i click the buttons, the MC continues spinning, or at best, if i set the rate to 1 it will stop, i put in a Dynamic text field to monitor rate, and it appears that rate is not being reset to 0. Any advice?

Hey, Catbert - Thought You'd Find This Interesting.

http://www.flashbax.com/java1.html