User Guide

Controlling the appearance of a MIAW 415
Window appearance methods
There are several new window appearance methods in Director MX 2004 that apply to MIAWs.
For more information about these methods, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director
Help Panel.
The following are three of these methods:
• minimize() lets you minimize your windows. You can call this function when they make
custom title bars. Here is an example:
window ("miaw").minimize()
• maximize() lets you maximize windows. You can call this function when you make custom
title bars. Here is an example:
window ("miaw").maximize()
• restore() lets you restore a window after it has been maximized. You can call this function
when you set custom title bars. Here is an example:
window ("miaw").restore()
• notifyUser() allows developers to notify the user that the application needs the user's
attention. On Windows, the window's task bar entry will blink. On Macintosh, the projector's
icon will bounce in the dock. The method arguments are flash count and rate. Setting the flash
count to -1 causes the flash or bounce to continue indefinitely until the user responds. Here is
an example:
window("miaw").notifyUser(-1, 10000)
• displaySystemTrayMessage() (Windows only) This method allows users to pop up a
message over their system tray icon. The message will appear in a balloon tooltip. This is
enabled only if the Window's
systemTrayTooltip property is set to true. The method
arguments are Message Title, Message Content, and display duration. Here is an example:
window("miaw").displaySystemTrayMessage("Message Title", "Message....",
1000);
Setting default MIAW properties using the Display Template
A movie can define the default properties of its window by using the Display Template. When a
MIAW is created, it will use its movie's Display Template properties to determine the initial state
and appearance of its window. You can set the Display Template properties through the Property
Inspector when authoring a movie. For more information about the different properties, see
“Controlling the appearance of a MIAW” on page 413.
To set the Display Template:
1 With a movie open in the Stage, select Window > Property inspector.
2 Click the Display Template tab. A list of MIAW properties appears.
3 Set the General properties:
4 Set the Titlebar options.
5 Set the Appearance options.