Flash Elements

[ LiB ]

New to Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash Elements are Flash page components (SWF files) that Dreamweaver creates for you, and that are highly customizable through the Tag Inspector. You can find Flash Elements in the Flash Elements Insert bar (see Figure 16.27).

Figure 16.27. The Flash Elements Insert bar, showing the Flash Image Viewer object

Currently, Dreamweaver ships with just one Flash Element: the Flash Image Viewer. This slick little item creates a display interface for a slide show of your images, complete with captions, clickable links, back and forward links, and so on. To insert and work with a Flash Image Viewer, do this:

1. Collect the series of images you'd like to show in the image viewer, and place them within your site (unless you're working without a site).
   
   
2. Open a document and place the insertion point where you want the image viewer to appear.
   
   
3. From the Flash Elements Insert bar, choose the Flash Image Viewer object. A dialog box will appear asking you to name the SWF file Dreamweaver is about to create. Choose a name and location, and click OK to close the dialog box.
   
   In your Document window, a new Flash movie is in place. The Property Inspector tells you it's a Flash movie with a few special parameters set (see Figure 16.28).
   
   

   Figure 16.28. An image viewer SWF built with the Flash Image Viewer element, along with its Property Inspector and Tag Inspector.

   

   
   
4. To customize the movie, use the Tag Inspector. Here, you can specify the names of the images to display, captions to display with them, and much more (see Figure 16.28). Sample entries are in place to show you the proper syntax for your entries.
   
   

Flash Elements allow Flash developers to create components that can be used from within Dreamweaver. Look for additional Flash Elements to appear on the Dreamweaver Exchange before too long.

[ LiB ]