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Thread: Projector Application Info Sources?

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Projector Application Info Sources?

    I just started using MX 2004 about 3 weeks ago. I have to build a projector application for windows which will contain about 25 screens total. The customers will choose which of the 25 screens, depending on the particular products they sell, that they want in the version of the .exe that they get. I have a ton of questions regarding organization and the best way to link together the screens, etc, etc, etc. Basically, I have a ton of questions...

    I'm looking for recomendations on tutorials/books that really get into projector applications. Any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Banned By GMF Wannabe Gambini's Avatar
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    Actually, this board is a great help - feel free to start asking questions and I'm sure you'll get plenty of answers.

  3. #3
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    Great!

    As I said, there will be a total of about 25 screens. Customer #1 may choose screens 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 etc. Would the best way to do it be to create a main.swf and then start with a forward button and use loadMovieNum linking the chain of screens together with foreward and back buttons? It seems the most logical but I'm wondering if there is a better way.

  4. #4
    Banned By GMF Wannabe Gambini's Avatar
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    Yes, that is a logical step and also easy to manage if you have multiple developers making changes to each SWF.

    Another method could be to use "scenes" within a single Flash Movie and re-direct to a different scene based upon the users input.

  5. #5
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    After I've created a specific set of scenes for a customer, when I publish that exe, will all the swf's be contained in that exe, or will I have to load the exe and all the swf's separately? I'd like everything to be in the exe so that I only have to give them 1 file.

  6. #6
    Lifetime Friend of Site Staff Northcode's Avatar
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    If you build the screens you want as scenes then you will only have one SWF and you will just have to provide a way to navigate between the scenes. An easy solution would be to provide an array that contains a list of scene names that tells you what screens to display and in what order. You could change this array each time you build your projector to provide different navigation.

    Code:
    _global.scenelist = new Array( "one", "three", "seven", "five" );
    To find and play the first scene...

    Code:
    target = _global.scenelist.shift();
    gotoAndPlay(target); // go to the target scene
    Then at the end of each scene, delete the scene at the beginning of the list and move to the next one. IF there are no more scenes, you are done.

    Code:
    if (_global.scenelist.length > 0) 
    {
       target = _global.scenelist.shift();
       gotoAndPlay(target); 
    }
    else 
    {
       fscommand("quit");
    }
    Last edited by Northcode; 03-16-2004 at 02:58 PM.

  7. #7
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    Would this method still allow you to go back and replay a scene, like a backbutton would if they were all separate swf's?

  8. #8
    Lifetime Friend of Site Staff Northcode's Avatar
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    If you wanted to go back to an old scene you could just use unshift to add it back.

    _global.scenelist.unshift("newtarget")

    If the navigation sequence is always fixed then you could leave the array alone and just use a variable to index into the array instead, like this...

    Code:
    _global.nextscene = -1; 
    _global.scenelist = new Array( "one", "three", "seven", "five" );
    
    function OnNext()
    {
       _global.nextscene++;
    
       if (_global.nextscene > _global.scenelist.length()-1)
       {
          /// we're done
       }
       else
       {
          target = _global.scenelist[_global.nextscene];
          gotoAndPlay(target);
       }
    }
    
    function OnBack()
    {
       _global.nextscene--;
    
       if (_global.nextscene < 0)
       {
          /// we're done
       } 
       else
       {
          target = _global.scenelist[_global.nextscene];
          gotoAndPlay(target);
       }
    }

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