Summary

• If you want to make sure that your larger Flash movies don't pause during playback over the Web, you may want to make a preloader for each Flash movie you make.

• Preloaders can use three different ways to test the download progress of the Flash movie .swf file: ifFrameLoaded(), _framesloaded/_totalframes, and getBytesLoaded()/getBytesTotal(). The most accurate mechanism uses the getBytesLoaded()/getBytesTotal() methods.

• You can break up large Flash projects into several smaller Flash movie components that are loaded into a primary Flash movie when they're needed.

• The loadMovie() action enables you to download .swf files into level or Movie Clip instance locations.

• You can load most popular Web image formats, including JPEG, PNG, and GIF, with the loadMovie() action in Flash Player 8 movies.

• You can download MP3 files directly into Flash Player 6 or higher movies using the loadSound() method of the Sound class.

• The MovieClipLoader class can make the job of loading and monitoring asset loading much easier.

• You can load Flash Video files (.flv) into Flash Player 7 or higher movies, using the NetStream class. A NetStream instance is attached to a Video object to display the clip.

• You can build your own asset loader scripts that indicate the load progress of all supported asset formats in Flash Player 8. When you create your own preloader scripts, the overall .swf file size is much smaller than the size of Flash movies that use the Loader and ProgressBar components.

• The new Loader and ProgressBar components can quickly add external asset loading features to your Flash movies.

• You can share Flash assets with the shared library feature. Assets are stored in one or more Shared library .swf files and referenced by other Flash movies.