Chapter 5: Interface Components

Overview

When Flash, originally known as FutureSplashf, was first introduced, one compelling aspect of the technology was that it was ideal for easily creating web interfaces with interactive buttons. Over the years, web interfaces created with Flash have become much more complex. Fortunately, this is one area where components come in particularly handy.

In this chapter, you will learn how to work with interface components. You will learn how to set components to perform common actions when a user clicks on a button. For example, you will learn how to set the component to load a URL, how to use basic navigational ActionScript with components, and how to use Load Movie with the component. You will also learn about using different graphic elements with the interface components.

This chapter represents a transition into more advanced components. If we've looked at similar parameters in previous chapters, we won't be spending much time with those parameters in the components featured here.

• Using basic ActionScript with components

• Editing click actions in components

• Loading URLs and movies

• Using simple scripts for basic navigation

• Using advanced scripts to call functions