User Guide
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CHAPTER 3
Working with Components
In this chapter, you’ll use several Macromedia Flash (FLA) files and ActionScript class files to
learn how to add components to a document and set their properties. This chapter also
explains a few advanced topics such as using code hints, creating custom focus navigation,
managing component depth, and upgrading version 1 components to version 2 of the
Macromedia Component Architecture.
The files used in this chapter are TipCalulator.fla and TipCalculator.swf. The files are
installed in the following locations on your hard disk:
■ (Windows) Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and
Tutorials\Samples\Components\TipCalculator
■ (Macintosh) Applications/Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Samples/
Components/TipCalculator
This chapter covers the following topics:
The Components panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Adding components to Flash documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Components in the Library panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Setting component parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Sizing components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Deleting components from Flash documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Using code hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Creating custom focus navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Managing component depth in a document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Components in Live Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Using a preloader with components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
About loading components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Upgrading version 1 components to version 2 architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62