Chapter 2. Communication Components

Macromedia introduced components with the release of Flash MX. Components allow a Flash designer or developer to quickly add interface elements or interactive behaviors to a Flash movie. The default installation of Flash MX 2004 enables the UI components, which are basic GUI enhancements, such as scrollbars, list boxes, and push buttons . Macromedia has continued to release additional component packages for Flash MX 2004, especially those to complement Macromedia MX server products such as Flash Remoting MX and Flash Communication Server MX. In this chapter, you will learn about the communication components and how the essential components can be used to create basic FlashCom applications.

Before you begin this chapter, make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest communication components.

If using Flash MX, obtain the communication components here:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/download/components

If using Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Pro 2004, download the updated components here:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flashcom/downloads_updaters.html

You don't have to rely solely on Macromedia's components. You can download third-party components from the Flash Communication Server category of the Exchange (http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/) and install them with the Macromedia Extension Manager. You can also create your own custom components as described in Chapter 13.

The original communication components released for Flash MX featured the Flash MX UI Components with new skins, decorating push buttons with rounded bluish rectangles. The communication components for Flash MX 2004 still use the older Flash MX UI Components, except that these versions use the original gray themed skins. The newer v2 UI components of Flash MX 2004 are not used by either version of the communication components. While the look-and-feel of the older components is not as refreshing as the newer ones, keep in mind that the older UI components are compatible with all minor releases of Flash Player 6, while the new UI components are compatible only with the last releases of Flash Player 6 and higher.

This chapter and its figures show the look-and-feel of the communication components for Flash MX 2004.