Flash Site Design - Menu Problem

Author

Menu Problem - PLEASE HELP

leaguer44 webforumsuser@macromedia.com

2004-02-03, 3:34 pm

I created a site entirely in a flash movie, menu included. but when i publish my site the menu actions do not work anymore...any help at all is greatly appreciated

Rob Solberg

2004-02-03, 5:35 pm

Can you provide more details about how your menu is set up? What script are
you using? Are your pages in different scenes. Externally loaded .swfs?
Etc.

Rob|e.9

"leaguer44" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bvossf$i6q$1@forums.macromedia.com...

quote:

> I created a site entirely in a flash movie, menu included. but when i

publish my site the menu actions do not work anymore...any help at all is
greatly appreciated

quote:

>
>

Edward Tilley

2004-02-03, 5:35 pm

Hi - I have the same problem and am stuck with a template that won't launch

Please let me know if you find out anything from your request... what I do
know follows...

Assigning Links

To add some interactivity to the flash animated part of your web design
template you should add some links to the flash objects. For example you'll
need to link flash buttons with pages of your website or redirect your flash
intro to homepage after it finished.

There are some kinds of links in Macromedia Flash: button symbol links,
frame links and text links. First of all you should Open Source FLA file in
Macromedia Flash editor To add links to the button symbols in your flash
movie do the following. First of all you should locate button symbol you
want links be assigned to. There are two ways of how to do that. The first
way is to access it from the timeline. After you've opened FLA file in
Macromedia Flash, move red timeline slider and watch the animation process.
When you'll see button symbol that needs to be linked, stop the timeline
slider.

Select it by single clicking it with Selection Tool. You can choose
Selection Tool from tools panel or call this tool by pressing "V" hotkey. Go
to the Properties Panel to check this symbols behavior. If you can't see
this panel for any reason you can open it by pressing "Ctrl + F3" hotkey. At
the top left corner of this panel symbols behavior dropdown is located. It
must be a "Button". If it is "Movie Clip", "Graphics" or some other that
differs from "Button" you can't assign links to it in the right way.

Don't change it to the "Button" because it will damage original rollover
structure. Double click this symbol to get inside of it, select its content
and check symbols behavior again. If you are still unable to locate
appropriate symbol, maybe some symbols are hidden or locked. To
unhide/unlock symbols do the following. Go to timeline panel, there is a
layers list at the left of it. There are three icons at the top of this
list: eye, lock and rectangle. Click eye and lock icons twice to unhide and
unlock all layers in current symbol.

Some of flash headers have complicated structure to create powerful
animation effects. So it will be hard to access button symbols from the
timeline. The easiest and most reliable way to locate elements in flash is
to use symbols library. To open symbols library you can use "Ctrl + L"
hotkey or choose Window/Library. from the top menu. Browse the symbols
library to find button symbol you want links be assigned to. You can see
symbols preview in the preview window at the top of symbols library panel.
Actually all button symbols have appropriate names such as "About Us button"
or "Search button". Double click symbols icon to edit it in the main
workspace window. Then do operations described above to locate symbol with
"Button" behavior. After you've selected button symbol press "F9" to open
Actions panel. If this button has rollover effect, you will see following
script code there:

on (rollOver) {

gotoAndPlay(2);

}

on (rollOut) {

gotoAndPlay(10);

}

Add there following getURL action script code:

on (release) {

getURL("your_url_here");

}

You should type URL button will be linked to as getURL function argument.
For example if you want to link button to your contacts page type following:

on (release) {

getURL("http://mywebsite.com/contacts.html");

}

Actually getURL function accepts three arguments: URL, window type and
variables send method. Window type argument specifies were new URL will be
opened. If this argument is blank link will be open in same window. If you
wan to open it in a new window, use "_blank" argument. Variables send method
should be used if you are parsing some variables through URL string.
Available options are "GET" and "POST". Next action script example calls
products page with "item" variable with "9" value in the same window usi ng
GET method.

on (release) {

getURL("http://mywebsite.com/products.php?item=9", "_self", "GET"); }

If you are using flash intro template, you will need to redirect visitor to
your website after intro finished playing. To do these follow next
instructions. Move red timeline slider to the end of flash intro movie.
Select the last frame by single clicking it with mouse. Press "F6" to create
keyframe in this frame. Press "F9" to open Actions panel. Type the following
code there.

getURL("your_url_here");

Replace your_url_here text with appropriate URL of your website. If you want
some portion of text to be linked to some location on web do the following.
Select text you want to link with URL using Text Tool. Go to Properties
Panel, press "Ctrl+F3" if you can't see it for some reasons. At the very
bottom of that panel you'll see URL input box. It have chain icon at the
left of it. Just fill that empty input box with appropriate URL. Now it's
time to publish your flash movie.

Hope this helps...

Ed

"leaguer44" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bvossf$i6q$1@forums.macromedia.com...

quote:

> I created a site entirely in a flash movie, menu included. but when i

publish my site the menu actions do not work anymore...any help at all is
greatly appreciated

quote:

>
>