Flash :: Button And Movieclip Symbols..

User Input Creates MovieClip Made Of MovieClip Symbols
Hello. I need some help either with my situation or with the search terms I'm using to try to find an answer.

I am using Flash MX Pro 2004.
I have drawn letters A-Z in Flash in two different styles (for example one that is furry and another that looks like metal). I would like users to select a text style (furry or metal) and enter text via text input field. When they have pressed an Enter button I would like the word to appear made up of the drawn symbols that I created.

I don't want to make an actual font. Any ideas on search terms to find the sort of thing I am looking for? Here's some that I've tried already:

convert text to symbols -- I get tons of results talking about putting textfields in symbols.

user input to symbols -- almost same results as above

custom fonts using symbols -- I get results talking about how to embed fonts and making text bold, italic, etc. Also not what I'm after.

All help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Scott

Button Symbols Inside Button Symbols
Can someone correct me if I am wrong... but I want to confirm that button symbols cannot be placed inside the rollover frames for other button symbols(?)

I was making a button roll over effect.

Btn Symbol 1 (the primary) needed an 'over' image, so I made Btn Symbol 2 and place it on the keyframe; however, the rollover effect would only work if used the original bitmap OR a Graphic Symbol in the 'over' frame for the button.

Just wanted to make sure I was understanding this correctly - basically, that you can't place button symbols inside the rollover frames for a button symbol.

Thanks...

Movieclip Vs Graphic (SYMBOLS)
Im newbie to flash

Im having a doubt in SYMBOL
definition and difference between Movieclip and Graphics

Scroll Movieclip Symbols?
Is it possible to create buttons that will scroll a movie clip up and down under a mask? If so, what code should i use to do this? Everything i have found on this site relates to text boxes of some sort. Any info is much appreciated. Thanks.

Random Symbols In Movieclip
Hey guys,

I'm putting together a little flash movie for my company's website which will display all of our clients' logos in a sort of grid fashion. What I'd like to do is create a single symbol/movieclip which will act as a container for each logo (see image below), and each time the symbol/movieclip is on the stage, it displays a random logo (which are individual symbols) in it.

What's the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

Buttons Using MovieClip Symbols...
Hi,
I'm a Flash 8 noobie and am creating my first practice site which is at -

http://www.jimmypark.com/portfolio/cafe_esc/index.html

My question is regarding buttons in the navigation bar(it's a separate swf file loaded in externally).
The buttons were created with MovieClip symbols and not Button symbols.
I am having a hard time figuring out how I can have a button to go back to it's UP state (white text color) when I click on a different button.
I've attached the AS code below...
If anyone can help me out with this I'd really appreciate it! Thanks in advance.

Attach Code

stop();
MM_logo.enabled = false;

//----------------<re-enable menu options>-----------------\
function reActivateBtns() {
MM_logo.enabled = true;
MM_info2.enabled = true;
MM_menu2.enabled = true;
MM_events2.enabled = true;
MM_games2.enabled = true;

}
//----------------</re-enable menu options>-----------------\

//----------------<logo option>-----------------\
MM_logo.onRelease = function () {
reActivateBtns();
this.enabled = false;
_level0.myMCL.loadClip("blank.swf", 15);
}
//----------------</logo option>-----------------\

//----------------<info option>-----------------\

MM_info2.onRelease = function () {
reActivateBtns();
this.enabled = false;
_level0.myMCL.loadClip("info.swf", 15)
}
//----------------</info option>-----------------\

//----------------<menu option>-----------------\
MM_menu2.onRelease = function () {
reActivateBtns();
this.enabled = false;
_level0.myMCL.loadClip("menu.swf", 15);
}
//----------------</menu option>-----------------\

//----------------<events option>-----------------\
MM_events2.onRelease = function () {
reActivateBtns();
this.enabled = false;
_level0.myMCL.loadClip("events.swf", 15);
}
//----------------</events option>-----------------\

//----------------<games option>-----------------\
MM_games2.onRelease = function () {
reActivateBtns();
this.enabled = false;
_level0.myMCL.loadClip("games.swf", 15);
}
//----------------</games option>-----------------\

Edited: 01/11/2007 at 11:46:20 AM by JiggyxJ

Detect Overlapping MovieClip Symbols
Hi everyone. I am trying to create a simple game and want to find out the best method for going about doing this. I have two symbols, one that is controlled by the user using the keyboard (moves up, down, left right) and another one which moves back and forth across the screen. I want to be able to detect when they come in contact with each other (overlap), which would indicate that the user has hit the moving object. They are both symbols of type MovieClip. Any ideas?

Is It Possible To Convert Characters To Movieclip Symbols?
I want to do something like when ppl type in some texts, the program will convert every character of the text to a movieclip symbol, so I can animate individual characters. Is there a way to do something like that?
Thx in advance~

Load Random MovieClip Symbols Within An .swf?
I'm building a reference archive site for a documentary film (you can see a template example at www.seanmurphydesigns.com/endgame_page.html) and I am featuring on the page a scroller bar in which random quotes from the film will scroll through. If you check out the example page, you'll see the bar directly beneath the masthead graphic, there is a static quote sitting in it now.

I've looked up code that would enable me to randomly scroll .swf's referenced from outside the file, but I've yet to find anything that suggests a way to instead load random movieClip symbols from inside the same .swf. Should I necessarily be using the outside-referenced .swf method? I thought it might be simpler to just use the random symbols which would already be inside the file.

Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.

Dynamically Swapping Symbols In A Movieclip
Hey guys,

What I'm trying to do here is dynamically change a symbol displayed in a
movieclip based on the value of a registry key.

I created a movieclip called customer_logo, which has five keyframes, each
with a different image. When the registry key "LogoChoice" is valued at 1,
I'd like the first frame of the movieclip to show. When the key is valued at
2, I'd like the second frame to show, and so on. The instance name of the
movieclip on the stage is "logo."

Here's the code I put in my actions frame on the stage.

if (LogoChoice==1){
logo.gotoAndStop(1);
}

if (LogoChoice==2){
logo.gotoAndStop(2);
}

if (LogoChoice==3){
logo.gotoAndStop(3);
}

//this will continue for however many other frames there will be in the
movieclip

There are also stop commands (ie. Stop(); ) in each frame of the movieclip.

When I test this code, however, just the first slide of the movieclip
appears, no matter what the registry key is. I'm using the .swf file in
conjunction with MultiMedia Builder, and I've tested my method of calling on
the registry, and it works. It seems that my problem is with the lines
"logo.gotoAndStop();" but I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks in advance!

-Chris

Problem With Linking Classes To Movieclip Symbols
If anyone interested in checking this problem, please download the zip file and take a look at the "project": http://www.kelemenszerviz.hu/test.zip

My main problem is that I want to add the same class as a base class for two movieclip symbols, a few instances from one of them is included in one of the containers and a few instances from the other is included in the other container instance. My problem is that they have the same name in those containers and the compiler says: "Warning: All instances named 'text1' will be automatically declared as rowgreen in symbols that use Containers as their base class. In symbols that are linked to user-defined base classes, instances with the same name must be of the same type."
If I want to test the movie, it throws an exception because of the same names, if I change one of the container's row's name it won't be a problem anymore, but why? Sorry for the inability to describe the problem in depth, I'm not realy good in English, you can explore the problem by yourself if you take some time to download and take a look at the files I attached.

Dan

Help: Use Actionscript 2 To Manage On Stage Movieclip Symbols
I'm developing a site which I want to display certain number of moviclip symbols which are already in stage. Let's say they're named "holder1", "holder2",..."holder15".
As a result of a query to a database if I have 2 results I would like to display only "holder1" and "holder2".
One of the solutions I've thought is to use a switch case routine, that depending on the number of results of the query display the number of "holders", but imagine the amount of code this would require.
Is there a better way to do this ?
Thanks
lmvalenzuela

Loading Random Movieclip Symbols Inside An .swf
I'm building a reference archive site for a documentary film (you can see a template example at www.seanmurphydesigns.com/endgame_page.html) and I am featuring on the page a scroller bar in which random quotes from the film will scroll through. If you check out the example page, you'll see the bar directly beneath the masthead graphic, there is a static quote sitting in it now.

I've looked up code that would enable me to randomly scroll .swf's referenced from outside the file, but I've yet to find anything that suggests a way to instead load random movieClip symbols from inside the same .swf. Should I necessarily be using the outside-referenced .swf method? I thought it might be simpler to just use the random symbols which would already be inside the file.

P.S. - Sorry about the thread duplication, I tried to correct a spelling error in the title of my first post and ended up posting this thread twice.

Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.

Masking Inside Of Movieclip Symbols? Problem
Last edited by knar : 2004-12-19 at 18:43.

I am new to flash but have been trying to learn about masking. A problem I have run in to is making inside move clip symbols. I have a new flash doc with a movie clip symbol in the middle. I open the symbol and create some text and make some masks to have the text show up.( the text is set to dynamic to if you are woundering) when i go back to scene 1 and run a test, the movie clip does not play. The text being masked does not appear on the screen it just shows a white screen.

If there are any suggestions thow them out. I have tried using to use a little of action scripting but it still does not work.

Problem With Actionscripts In Timeline Controlling Movieclip Symbols
i have a movie (symbol name "rotate") that is just a circle that is squeezed then released - to look like it is rotating - its 15 frames total and on the last frame i have "gotoAndPlay(1);" to loop it -- now when i place it on the timeline i have a sentence appear after the "rotate" symbol appears, then i have "stop();" on the timeline and it stops the "rotate" symbol as well (it freezes on frame 4 after looping through once) - i have never encountered this problem before and its got me completely turned over -- any help would be GREAT!!

Button Symbols
Ok i made this button out of a bunch of movie clip symbols so when you put your mouse over the button it will launch the masked layers and do a small color change, which is actually a linear color block sliding upwards. My problem is if i change the text from the one i started with "home" it changes the text in all symbols. Is there a way i can change the text within the symbol and not have it change them all? The text is within a movie symbol, then another movie symbol, then on its own layer within that movie symbol as a graphic symbol, then static text on its last branch of the tree.

added: Ok i figure out if i save the swf it will save it with whatever text i had put in before i saved. so right now i have 3 buttons saying home, about me, and projects.

when i make a page should i just have these movies all import onto the page? Unless there is a way i guess this seems to be how i could do it.

Button Symbols To Disappear
How do I get a button symbol to disappear until I want it to be shown? I have a keyframe setup at frame 1 and obviously they're symbols, and i took the alpha of them all down to 0%. they're still visible! how do i make them be invisible until later? they are all part of my navigation, but they're not behaving like the good little symbols that they should

i think it's the button symbols because every other symbol in my flash site is invisible (0 alpha) until i want it to appear, but the text stays visible all the way thru

Button Symbols Not Tabable?
My custom botton symbols are not tabable and I can't figure out why. Has anyone else run into this? Is there a solution?

Moving Button Symbols
On the stage the symbols are acting as buttons too. I move the pointer over then and the Up, Over, Down states are Displayed as they would be when running the clip. If I treat them as movie clips all the AS is deleted. I've tried tracking them as Menu items and buttons but nothing is working.
I can't double click the button to edit it , I have to right click and select Edit in Place.
Assigning AS to the buttons is also proving to be a pain in the butt.

[CS3] Instances Of Button Symbols
Hello,

I'm having troubles with creating instances of a Button Symbol. I select Insert -> New Symbol, choose Button and enter a name. The Button ends up i my library, and I edit it to look like I want (using the Text Tool). After that, however, when I drag it multiple times to the stage to create multiple instances they all seem to be the same (even though I put separade instance names on them): to edit a button, i double click with the selection tool on it, and I'm able to edit the text (on it. However, the text on all the buttons change because the symbol itself changes! I only want to edit the instance of the button. How do I do that?

Thanks!

Symbols In A Button Become Instances?
I have a Movie Clip>Button>Dynamic Text.
I have also tried Movie Clip>Button>Movie Clip>Dynamic Text

The results are the same when you have a symbol whatever it might be inside a button that symbols intstance name becomes instance followed by some number.

I need to kow how I can have thats symbol instance name show I'm not sure why a button is doing this but, I need the Dynamic Text to remain in the button.

Its Possible To Get Symbols From Input Box To Push Button
Hai flash gurus,

I've created flash movie that my idea is to get input value from inputtext box and it should add in button link. For example if we enter the symbol in input text box as "ibm" then press the button it should call url as "www.mydomainname.com?sym=ibm" Its possible to call url.

What i've given in my button that
on (press) {
if (sym != "") {
getURL("www.realtimetraders.com?sym="+sym, "_blank");
}
}
opening new window but its not getting url to call.

so, what i've to do and add in script. pls give me a solution.

thx
sathish

Moving Multiple Button Symbols
I have 9 buttons placed randomly on the stage. When one of those buttons is clicked I want to take the 8 other buttons and shrink them slowly (about 20 frames or so). Then when released I want to zoom out quickly (like 5 frames).

The problem I am having is I cant seem to figure out how to do this all at one time without putting some massive AS on each button.

Anyone have a recomendation on how I could go about making this all happen without typing like 200 lines of AS?

Thx

Button That Controls 2 Symbols' Visibility?[mx]
Hey!
Alright, I am a complete beginner when it comes to ActionScript and yet I have taken it upon myself to code a dressup game for my friend. The basic set-up is you click a button and a piece of clothing appears. You can then drag that onto the doll. For the most part I've got that all figured out with no problems. The problem is when the clothing has 2 symbols to it instead of one. So my question is:

Is there a way I can make a button control the visibilty of 2 symbols?

I've tried

code:
Btn_Jkt_Prt_Grn.onRelease = function (){
if (Jkt_Prt_Grn._visible eq true) {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn", _visible, false);
} else {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn", _visible, true)
}
if (Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs._visible eq true) {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs", _visible, false);
} else {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs", _visible, true)
}
}

and I've tried connecting the visibilty of one symbol to another (is that possible?)

code:
Jkt_Prt_Grn._visible = function (){
if (Jkt_Prt_Grn._visible eq true) {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs", _visible, true);
} else {
setProperty("Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs", _visible, false)
}
}

"Btn_Jkt_Prt_Grn" is the button, "Jkt_Prt_Grn" is part 1 of the clothing and "Jkt_Prt_Grn_Slvs" is part 2 that's a bunch of layers underneath.

So that's it. Any help would be very much appreciated since I have know clue what to try next. Thanks!

Action Scripts For Button SYMBOLS
I know how to attach a script to a button INSTANCE by selecting it on teh stage and choosing actions. BUT is there a way to attach an action (i.e. gotoAndPlay) to a button SYMBOL so that I don't have to put the same action in each INSTANCE?

Thanks,

Jeff

Why Is There No Rolloff State In Button Symbols?
Here is a good Sunday morning ponder over coffee question. Why is there no rolloff state in button symbols. I know you can get rolloffs to work in Flash, but since so many people will be using rolloffs, it just seemed to make sense to make it more efficent with the built in feature of it.. They caved on the spellchecker, you never know.

Moojamboo

Duplicate A Button That Has A Symbols Inside
I am using duplicate to copy a root button that has rollover symbols inside of it and other symbols inside, but when i go to change the image in the dup it changes it in the first copy to, I need it to make no change to the first copy so I can use it as a template. Help

Editing Graphic Symbols By Copying And Pasting To Make Slightly Dif Symbols
Hi!

I am using flash to create moving people symbols. I created a "singular person" symbol and saved it, I then copyed a few to make a "bunch of people" symbol, when I go to edit these copyed and pasted symbols each saved symbol changes. Also I am saving them as graphic symbols at the moment.

thanks,

Helen

Symbols/button Question From A Flashnewbie In A Rush
Hello, i've made a flash presentation with some buttons that worked fine.

I changed the hit area on one button, still working fine.
Then i gave the buttons (instances) names, and added some color to the "Over" status of the buttons.

Now this "Over" effect works with simple buttons enabled in preview mode, but not when i export/test the movie. The buttons does not direct me to the slides i instructed them to.
Also, the hit area on one of the buttons disappeared (except for the outline)

Does anyone have the slightest idea what might have happened?
My brain doesn't work anymore, and the presentation is due tomorrow.

Help me kirupa, your my only hope.

Overlapping Symbols Inside Symbols With An Alpha Tween
Hello,

In the attached example, Is it possible to prevent the purple overlap area from showing and just be red since red's on top? I have characters that use symbols for arms, legs, etc. and I want to fade them in and out sometimes. The problem is, the areas where the limbs overlap look weird so I have to resort to converting them to shapes on one keyframe. This seems limiting and annoying. I was wondering if there's a command, extension, or property to fix this. Thanks in advance.

Is It Not Possible To Assign Instance Names To Symbols Within Symbols In Flash CS3?
Detail question on nha khoa Adobe group

OK, so I have a player object. I created a symbol that is linked to the player. Inside the symbol I have 2 symbols. 1 is the sprite that displays the player, the other is a rectangle box that is used for collision detection.

I tried giving the collision box an instance name in the property editor so I could reference the collision box from code. The Player symbol is linked to a Player class I wrote earlier so it creates an instance of the Player class. The error I get is this:

ReferenceError: Error #1056: Cannot create property myCollBox on Player.

myCollBox was the instance name I gave that collision box symbol. I thought maybe I had to make the collision box also linked to a class to be exported for action script, but that didn't seem to help.

[F8] Enabling Button Mode For Movie Clip Symbols?
Hi kids. Simple question. In flash 8, I want my movie clip to have the lil hand appear over my movie clip symbols, as they'll be my buttons (since buttons suck and dont work lol).

So, how can I make this happen? And any necessary code would be GREATLY appreciated, since I understand actionscript about as much as I understand German... maybe a bit less.

Thanks!

Keeping Graphic, Button, Symbols Clear In My Mind
Hello all,
Just learning flash and wondering if anyone has a mental way of keeping the difference between graphics, symbols, buttons clear in my mind. How they work, interact with each other, the difference of when you use them etc..,
Thanks,
Al

How Do You Scroll Multiple Button Symbols(interactive Content)?
Hi, I'm having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to make multiple buttons (my content) scroll through an invisible scroller that works on rollover. I've figured out how to make text and movie clips scroll but not buttons. Please help! Heres a site that I found that is doing something very similar to what I ultimately want to achieve: http://www.1st-ave-machine.com/ (I hope this gives a better idea of what I'm talking about)

Blurry Bitmap Text (no Anti-alias) On Button Symbols
Hello,

Can someone please explain when making a button symbol using Arial then exporting as an .swf why the font exports blurry and not sharp?

Thanks.

Edited: 03/19/2007 at 09:00:32 AM by jasonjam

Graphic Symbols And Movie Clip Symbols
what is the difference between creating a graphic symbol from an image with it's own timeline animation and creating a movie clip symbol from the same image that can be animated in the main timeline?

Or do I totally misunderstand the difference between the two?

Button Inherits Movieclip And Movieclip Button Properties
Hi,

I am working on a component to blur pictures and use it as buttons. I got it all working but found something I do not completely understand. May be somebody knows the answer. Since movieclips can also be used as buttons I started to define a new class (I show only fractions of the script):

PHP Code:

MovieClip.prototype.createBase=function(eqClip,eqClip_1,eqClip_2,tPress,tRover,tLoad){

and so on...

}
    if(tPress){
        tRover=false;
        tLoad=false;
        this.onPress=function(){
            //count will advance here.
            count++;
            //first we fade out the pic
            fadeOut();
        }
    }
    if(tRover){
        tPress=false;
        tLoad=false;
        this.onRollOver=function(){
            count++;
            fadeOut();
        }
    }
    if(tLoad){
        tRover=false;
        tLoad=false;
        this.onLoad=function(){
            count++;
            fadeOut();
        }
and so on..

Button.createBase(eqClip,eqClip_1,eqClip_2,tPress,tRover,tLoad);

Actually "button" is the name of a movieclip, which inherits the new properties. I can now put instances on stage and write something like:
button1.onRollOver=function(){
this.Button.onRollOver();
}
button1.onRelease=function(){
textField.text="This is button 1 in action.";
}
This will do all what is supposed to do.

But when I change the name of the Movieclip to "myBut", it only performs the blurring but I cannot use it as a button any more and onRelease does not work. In other words if we name a movieclip "Button" or "button" it will automatically inherit button properties. Is that the case? Anybody heard of that?

Control A Nested MovieClip From A Button Component Inside A Seperate MovieClip.
I am a beginner in using Flash and Action Scripting.

This is the Scenerio:

I want to control a movieclip that is inside of another movie clip.
I control it from a button component that is inside of a seperate movie clip.

test = button component instance name
test1 = function
test2 = Movieclip instance name
test3 = Movieclip instance name
testbutton = movieclip name where button component is located

I am able to control a movieclip on the main timeline with the following AS 3.0:

test.addEventListener (MouseEvent.CLICK, test1);
function test1(event:MouseEvent):void
{
event.target.root.test2.gotoAndPlay(2);
}

I want to control a movieclip inside MovieClip1.

I tried this:

test.addEventListener (MouseEvent.CLICK, test1);
function test1(event:MouseEvent):void
{
event.target.root.test2.test3.gotoAndPlay(2);
}

The movie loaded fine when I tested but got this error when I pressed the button:

TypeError: Error #1010: A term is undefined and has no properties.
at Untitled_fla::testbutton_26/test1().

Please help!!!!!!!!!

Loading A Movieclip On The Main Stage From A Button Within A Movieclip - Big Headache
Hi there,

i am trying to put together a portfolio site, which uses a 'floating' panel with buttons on it. In order for it to move around it has to be a movieclip. So all the buttons are stored within a single movieclip, which is giving me a headache because i want those buttons to load other movieclips from my library onto the main stage (as like a popup window within the flash)

Its all slightly confusing. i have tried using this code based within the movieclip where my button is based:

button_play.buttonMode = true;
button_play.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, OpenBox);
function OpenBox (e:MouseEvent):void{
this.addChild(new mc_box());
}

button play is within a movieclip called mcTweenMe2 (which is on the main timeline) and i want the movieclip to be loaded on the main timeline (not within in the movieclip where the button 'button_play' is based) mc_box is the movieclip i wish to load on the main timeline (in the centre) with the ability to close it also!

Bit of a headache, please help me someone i have run out of sites to look for answers!

PS: does anyone know why stop (); wont stop my timeline playing like it used to in AS2? beacause another option for making my site work is making this button target labeled frames in the main timeline, however stop (); don't seem to work now!

Thanks!

Movie Symbols Vs Graphic Symbols
to movie or to graphics?

I remmember in flash 5 movie symbols compiled smaller than gaphic symbols. is that still the case in Flash MX?

Graphic Symbols Vs Movie Symbols
to graphic or to movie?

I remmember in flash 5 movie symbols used to compile smaller than graphic symbols...is that sitll the case in flash MX?

Listeners On Symbols With Symbols Inside Of Them?
I have a symbol (a) with a symbol (b) inside. I have a rollover listener on symbol (a) however, when I roll over symbol b inside of symbol a I loose my "MOUSE_OVER".

It is as if symbol b stops its parent from being considered "rolled over"

Am I building these wrong? or mis-understanding something?

I need it so that the rollover for symbol a works no matter what is inside it.

Thanks!

[F8] Control Movieclip From Button Inside Another Movieclip
ok. I have the Main Timeline..on the stage i have "side_menu_mc" inside that i have "menu_menu_mc"."slider" is menu_menu_mc's Instance name.

Inside "menu_menu_mc" i have a button (services_btn)."button_1" is its instance name. Upon clickin on this button, i want a frame labelled "services" (frame 18) in "side_menu_mc"'s timeline to display.

i attempted this.after some googling.but it does sweet nothing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by my shizer code

menu_menu_mc.services_btn.onRelease = function() {
trace("button pressed");
_root.gotoAndStop("services");
}