User manual MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-GETTING STARTED WITH FLASH

[. . . ] Getting Started with Flash Trademarks Add Life to the Web, Afterburner, Aftershock, Andromedia, Allaire, Animation PowerPack, Aria, Attain, Authorware, Authorware Star, Backstage, Bright Tiger, Clustercats, ColdFusion, Contribute, Design In Motion, Director, Dream Templates, Dreamweaver, Drumbeat 2000, EDJE, EJIPT, Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash, Flash Lite, Flex, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JFusion, JRun, Kawa, Know Your Site, Knowledge Objects, Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, LikeMinds, Lingo, Live Effects, MacRecorder Logo and Design, Macromedia, Macromedia Action!, Macromedia Breeze, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia M Logo and Design, Macromedia Spectra, Macromedia xRes Logo and Design, MacroModel, Made with Macromedia, Made with Macromedia Logo and Design, MAGIC Logo and Design, Mediamaker, Movie Critic, Open Sesame!, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, Sitespring, SoundEdit, Titlemaker, UltraDev, Web Design 101, what the web can be, and Xtra are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally. [. . . ] The options area displays modifiers for the selected tool, which affect the tool's painting or editing operations. Using the Customize Tools panel dialog box, you can specify which tools to display in the Flash authoring environment. For information on using the drawing and painting tools, see "Flash drawing and painting tools" in Using Flash. For information on using the selection tools, see "Selecting objects" in Using Flash. For information on using the view modification tools, see "Moving the view of the Stage" on page 23. To show or hide the Tools panel: · Select Window > Tools. Selecting tools You can select tools by clicking in the Tools panel, or by using a keyboard shortcut. To select a tool, do one of the following: · Click the tool you want to use. Depending on the tool you select, a set of modifiers may be displayed in the options area at the bottom of the Tools panel. · Press the tool's keyboard shortcut. · To select a tool located in the pop-up menu behind a visible tool, press the icon of the visible tool and select another tool from the pop-up menu. Using the Tools panel 33 Customizing the Tools panel You can customize the Tools panel to specify which tools appear in the authoring environment. You use the Customize Tools panel dialog box to add or remove tools from the Tools panel. When more than one tool is displayed in a location, the top tool in the group (the most recently used) is displayed with an arrow in the lower right corner of its icon. When you press and hold the mouse button on the icon, the other tools in the group appear in a pop-up menu. You can drag to select a tool from the menu. To customize the Tools panel: 1. To display the Customize Tools panel dialog box, do one of the following: In Windows, select Edit > Customize Tools panel. The Available Tools menu indicates the tools that are currently available in the Flash. The Current Selection menu indicates the tool (or tools) currently assigned to the selected location in the Tools panel. Note: If more than one tool is assigned to one location in the Tools panel, the additional tools appear in a pop-up menu located behind the top tool in the group. A small arrow in the lower right corner of the top tool indicates that additional tools are present. The same keyboard shortcut functions for all tools in the group. 2. Click a tool in the Tools panel graphic or use the arrows to cycle through the tools, to specify the location to which you want to assign another tool. 3. To add a tool to the selected location, select the tool in the Available Tools list and click the Add button. To remove a tool from the selected location, select the tool in the Current Selection scroll list and click the Remove button. 5. Click OK to apply your changes and close the Customize Tools panel dialog box. To restore the default Tools panel layout: · Click Restore Default in the Customize Tools panel dialog box. Using the grid, guides, and rulers Flash comes with rulers and guides that help you draw and lay out objects precisely. You can place guides in a document and snap objects to those guides, or turn on the grid and snap objects to it. Note: You can also snap objects to other objects or to pixels, or align objects using specified snap tolerance boundaries. See "Snapping" in Using Flash. Using the grid When the grid is displayed in a document, it appears as a set of lines behind the artwork in all scenes. You can snap objects to the grid, and you can modify the grid size and grid line color. To display or hide the drawing grid: · Select View > Grid > Show Grid. 34 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Workspace To turn snapping to grid lines on or off: · Select View > Snapping > Snap to Grid. To set grid preferences: 1. [. . . ] In your browser, use a command such as View > Page Source or View > Source to view the HTML. The object and embed tags ensure that the SWF application is displayed within the browser. The next steps By completing this tutorial, you've learned much about creating Flash applications, including how to accomplish the following tasks: · · · · · · Create a new document Add media content Add navigation controls Add a behavior Add motion and basic interactivity Test the application There are many valuable resources you can use to help you as you continue working with Flash. For more information, see the next section. 60 Chapter 4: Building Your First Application Resources Macromedia has excellent resources to help you discover more about Flash, get support, and send feedback to the company. Registration Register to receive up-to-the-minute notices about upgrades and new products, technical support, and more. [. . . ]