Simple Question - Simple Answer FLASH MX

[harton]

hi you good people out there. hope you could help me too. using flash mx, not beyond beginner yet.
about finishing my homepage with it. one problem is there:
i have a premade flash and changed graphics, etc. all no problem, the menu is included as well - i have changed the text of the 9 menus already, works fine - only when i use the preview - the original text appears when going over with the mouse... i changed the text visible to me - but cannot locate and change the text for the mouse over.
for instance the first two of the menu named

start
gallery

i changed it to

home
pictures

in the prview it show again
start
gallery
upon mouseover.

so i need to locate where to change also that hidden text (only active upon mouseover) to the same word.

if anyone of you could help me - i would be going into learning faster and finally getting my homepage up and running. if needed please e-mail me at

harton@harton.at

thank you so much!

....................I have uploaded a screenshot of it - clearly you can see, I changed the text yet have to located the original text below of it (?) and write the same text so that it shows up correctly upon mouseover.....

[onine]

buttons have four states "up", "over", "down" and "hit".
Quite often we change the appearance of these different states to add "interactivity". Like the text changing colour when you roll over it or press it. You can change not only the colour, also size or position or even make things animate when rolled over - imagination is the limit.

To access these states you must locate the button which is showing the incorrect image on rollover. Double click on it and you'll notice that the timeline has four frames - "up", "over", "down" and "hit". Possibly you will only have changed the "up" state when you changed it before - well now you should change the "over" and "down" states also. You would only need to change the "hit" state if your content is a different size or shape to the original content (the hit state is invisible and just defines the area that the rollover code is applicable).

All this is only if the problem clip is a button, if it is a movieclip you may have to dig a bit deeper to find the problem.

[harton]

All this is only if the problem clip is a button, if it is a movieclip you may have to dig a bit deeper to find the problem.[/QUOTE]

..........Thank you very much for your kind and prompt reply, really great and appreciate your efforts. I think I did not express myself well, sorry for that.
It is not a button nor a movie clip - it is a menu made up of nice text written.
It did have text written there which I changed to mine and that works, only when I preview it and go over with the mouse - the original text does appear... I don't know where and how can I access to change that hidden text as well to match exactly the visible one?

Any help is so much appreciated!
Thank you in advance - Harton

[Mirandir]

If there's no keyframes in the layers with the text in the changes of text is most likely scripted. look for any small "a" in the timeline. Usually they are in an empty layer. Select one of the keyframes with the small "a" on it in the timeline and then open the actions panel ([F9]). In that script look for any occurencies of the original text in quotes. Most likely it's enclosed in double quotes(e.g: "string") but it might also be single quotes (e.g:'string').

/Mirandir

[onine]

Can you upload the .fla? (if its a paid-for template then dont).

[harton]

If there's no keyframes in the layers with the text in the changes of text is most likely scripted. look for any small "a" in the timeline. Usually they are in an empty layer. Select one of the keyframes with the small "a" on it in the timeline and then open the actions panel ([F9]). In that script look for any occurencies of the original text in quotes. Most likely it's enclosed in double quotes(e.g: "string") but it might also be single quotes (e.g:'string').

/Mirandir

Thank you for your answer! I will try what you wrote and hopefully find that missing text. All I know, I changed the visible text and then when testing the movie, the original text shows still up since it has to for it is a mouse over effect, so it must be written somewhere...
Have yourself the best one and take care! Harton

[harton]

Can you upload the .fla? (if its a paid-for template then dont).

I did try that but it did not allow me and said something of not allowed file format... I uploaded only the screenshot (my message edited above). If you would really be so kind and generous to helping me out here - I can send you the file (.fla only 40kb in size) by e-mail so that you could really try it out yourself - and possibly give me the missing link to change the second text (both text entry have to be the same) with Flash MX. My e-mail is harton@harton.at
Thank you for your efforts. Best regards, Harton

[harton]

I just did try again and it worked - I uploaded the .fla file which makes the problems to me not finding the second text hidden somewhere I want to change. If you mouseover you would see the original text I replaced with mine does surface again...
Please help! I would appreciate your efforts a lot and indeed, have to.
Best wishes - Harton

[onine]

ok.

It is not a button nor a movie clip

It is both - it is a button and a movie clip
On layers 4-12 you have buttons.

1. Lock all the layers.

2. Unlock layer four.

3. Select any frame after the tween stops in the timeline (on layer four this frame is any frame after number 25)

4. Double click on the word "home" on the stage (this is a button).

5. Look at the timeline - it has "up", "over", "down" and "hit" frames/states in the timeline.

6. select frame two (the "over" frame) and right click it.

7. choose "clear keyframe" from the list.

8. choose frame three (the "down" frame) and right click it.

9. choose "clear keyframe" from the list.

10. test the movie.

11. If that is what you wanted, repeat the steps for the other buttons.

dude, you have 31 layers, each called "layer 1", "layer 2" etc... and 31 symbols called symbol 1 and symbol 2 etc... I seriously recommend you rename them all after the content that is in them. Like "homeButton_btn" or "home_btn" - it makes it a hell of a lot easier for you and anyone helping you.

Well anyway, I hope that was what you wanted, good luck

[harton]

Thank you so much, I went into and yes, as if I was blind - it works! I renamed the first button 4 times and now it does show up as I want it and was asking for. I don't know how to thank you guys, you are a helping hand indeed and I figure that is not that much a matter of course these days anymore. I owe you something. But not enough with having had your generous help in solving the problem successfully - but another one was raised and I dare to ask here for your help once again (after that, there is no more bothering you, promise!): For instance I do replace the text 4 times and that's it - but it did raise a new problem for me: The text, if longer than the original that I replaced does come to close or merge with the right arrow that appears when mouse over... So, replacing the text works fine but how do I move away a little bit the arrow (right arow only visible when mouse over) from the text end? I know, I am a trouble but I am really not only into finishing the homepage with these steps but learing flash also step by step and your help advanced me a lot for which otherwise there is lots more time required and that is why I do really appreciate your kind help here. Now, can you also afford me to help me solve that problem with the arrow coming to close to the text?
All the best to you guys - Harton

[onine]

Hello again.
Ok. When you went into the button's timeline you will have noticed that there were two layers in the timeline. One layer had all the text on in and had full frames in every frame, the other layer had content only on the "over" frame.

The little moving arrow is located here - on the "over" frame, on its own layer, inside each button. Its hard to see because it is just a blue outline.

So,
1. double click on the button on the stage.

2. once inside, lock the layer with the text on so that you dont accidently move the text.

3. select the blue outline on frame 2

4. move it slightly to the right until its in the right place.

5. you may have to test the movie a few times while you are doing it to make sure you do it just right

tip: to avoid moving it up and down, select the box and then move it with the right arrow key on the keyboard instead of dragging it with the mouse.

good luck

[harton]

Hello again! I would like to express my appreciation for your help that was absolutely to the point and most especially understood by one like me who is only about going deeper into FlashMX. It was a very pleasant experience asking help here in this forum. I sure will stick around and keep reading the many posts that would help me solve the one or the other question. You have yourselves the best one and take care!
Best regards - Harton

[onine]

No problem - happy to help

[harton]

No problem - happy to help

... But I am back again asking another question of the same flash mx file...
I have done all the re-naming of the text of the buttons and all works fine indeed. But when I moved the arrows they somehow disformed, that's why I just left them now as they were. One problem is there - since I did already link most buttons - to any url, all buttons linked the mouseover arrow is gone... I did link 7 buttons so far. I did link it on 1 and 2 (or do I have to place the link on all 4?). Maybe, if you have time and it does not cause you any stress, please reply. Is there anything I could do for you? I did upload here the .fla file as it is now for you to have a look if you so require. Thanks a ton in advance. All the best - Harton

[onine]

Sure I'll take a look later when I get home

[onine]

Hi. Firstly, you are doing something that I have never done before and dont understand - and that is what is causing the problem with the little moving rollover arrows. You seem to have highlighted the text in your buttons and typed in urls for them... I dont know the reason for this.

May I ask what this flash file is for? Is it going to be a website? Is it going to be a banner on a website? Is it a navigation menu nested in a html page which will change the html content when clicked? You see, normaly I would apply actionscript to the buttons in order to call a webpage... like this:

on (release) {
	getURL(xxxxxxxxxx);
}

but you seem to have just typed the url into the properties panel - this is the bit i dont understand - why? what does this do?

Anyway, that is what is causing the distortion on the rollover animations as I removed all the urls and it worked fine - sorry I cant help more than that

[harton]

The entire piece of flash is actually the menu for a website. The menu being the top of the page and all buttons must go to its respective pages. I have included a screen shot for you to view since there is nothing yet uploaded of these. Seems the way I link the pages in the buttons is wrong but what are these in put fields for then? I thought these were the ones to type the url to go to any page upon clicking the button. See, I can make it very complicated and I am glad you still did not throw away all hope for me to reach some point somehow. Really appreciate it. I am looking forward to read you again. Best wishes - Harton
---------I think I have to go in again after this to upload the screen shot jpg.

[harton]

The screen shot. Guess I was wrong in here somehow, could not post it with my message before.

[harton]

I meanwhile learned about my latest mistake. And yes, I will remove the links I put in at the wrong place - only I will have to figure out, where to finally put in the links then if no sample is given. Still got to check that right now.
Best greetings - Harton

[onine]

Hello again.
Well I can tell you how to put code on your buttons because I guess that will remain the same whatever you are doing.

1. On the main timeline, on layer 4, select the button on the stage.

2. Find the actions panel. If it isn't already opened, go to window > actions or window > development panels > actions

3. Make sure that the title of the actions panel says: "Actions - Button". If it does, it means you have successfully selected your button (step one) and are ready to write actionscript for it (if it says "Actions - Frame" it means you havnt selected the button correctly).

4. Write your actionscript directly into the actions panel.

ok. Now comes the bit where it gets a bit hazy, because I dont know how your site will be set up. Are you using frames? If so I cant help you very much because I have never used frames.

The standard link script for buttons is this:

on (release) {
	getURL("http://www.flashkit.com", _blank);
}

This is the script that you would put on your button to launch flashkit in a new window (the bit that says "_blank" tells the browser to launch the page in a new window). If you wanted it to be lauched in the same window you would change it to this:

on (release) {
	getURL("http://www.flashkit.com", _self);
}

where "_self" tells the browser to load the new page in the currently open window. I guess that this is the bit you would change when using frames - to the name of the frame I suppose - but I dont know.

If however, you are not using frames and each html page on your site has the same .swf embedded in the top then you could successfully use the code above. Good luck, I hope that helped