User Guide

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CHAPTER 7
Collection Properties
When you create a new custom component in Macromedia Flash, you can make property
values available for editing by the user. These properties are called collection properties. The
property values can be edited by the user in the Values dialog box (opened from a text box
within the Parameters tab for your component).
Components usually include functionality for a specific task, while remaining flexible for a
range of requirements by the component user. For a component to be flexible, the properties
within the component need to be flexible (in other words, for some components, the
properties can be changed by the component user, as well as by the property values).
Collection properties enable you to create an indeterminate number of editable properties in
an object model. Flash provides a Collection class to help you manage those properties
through the Component inspector.
Specifically, the Collection class is a helper class used to manage a group of related objects,
each called a collection item. If you define a property of your component as a collection item
and make it available to users through the Component inspector, they can add, delete, and
modify collection items in the Values dialog box while authoring.