Making buttons in menu to go to pages

[FlashmanSK]

Hello, I am attempting to make a flash website, and have 5 buttons on my menu. I made 5 pages in a movieclip called "content". I want to know how I can link those buttons to go to those pages (actionscript and where to put it).

I have seen flash website templates, and see only ONE button, but when I looked at it in an .swf, it shows all buttons with their specific text label.

Any other actionscripting that i might need or would be useful for my website, please let me know.

Also, if anyone can help me making a basic preloader, that will be a great help!

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but i'm still learning!


Thanks in advance,
SK

[Robb@exo]

It would mean the button was designed dynamically, one button designed but used multiple times. To link your buttons, try researching getURL Request, http://snipplr.com/view/9312/as3-get...-links-in-as3/

For the preloader, view this tutorial by Lee Brimelow, it's a good one. http://www.gotoandlearn.com/play?id=85

HTH, cheers!

[FlashmanSK]

Thanks for the preloader tutorial!

The button tutorial didn't fix my problem though. I was looking for a way to make my MovieClip buttons link to my pages (the pages are on individual frames in a movieclip called "content"

[Robb@exo]

Then try something like,

button.onRelease = function() [
    content.gotoAndPlay(frame#);
} 

[FlashmanSK]

this is really weird. why does my stop(); command not work? haha

[Robb@exo]

Could be any number of reasons for that... try looking at this post and see if it helps http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=686333

[FlashmanSK]

try my file.

if you can fix these problems and try to link my button MCs to the pages, that would be GREAT!

[Robb@exo]

OK, had a look at your files and I'm not seeing any code? Might explain why nothing works.

[FlashmanSK]

yes i know. i purposely didnt put any code in because it didnt work when i put it in.
I wanted to see if you could help put in the code.

Hope this isnt too much trouble,
Thanks so much,
SK

[Robb@exo]

Well, can't say that I'll do it for you, but I will try to guide you through. First off, give the content symbol of the content layer an instance name (I used "content"). Next, add a stop(); action to the last frame of the main timeline. Next give the buttons on the main timeline instant names as well. I used the typical naming convention of "btn1", "btn2" etc.

Next go into your content mc clip and add a stop(); action to each frame (to prohibit the mc from looping, or advancing to some other frame). After that, go back to the main timeline and next add some code for the buttons. So underneath the stop action add this code.

btn1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDown, false, 0, true);
btn2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDown, false, 0, true);
// add for each button


function mouseDown(e:MouseEvent):void {
    var numFrame:int = e.currentTarget.name.substr(3); //this takes the instance name of the button selected and isolates the the 4 character, ie on btn1 - isolates the 1, then goes to the corresponding frame of the content mc
    content.gotoAndStop(numFrame);
} 

[FlashmanSK]

It looks great! Just one problem,
in the complier errors it says:
Access of undefined property btn1
Access of undefined property btn2
Access of undefined property btn3
Access of undefined property btn4
Access of undefined property btn5

also, The stop(); command doesnt work for some reason. it doesnt stop when i look at it through Ctrl+Enter (exported), but it stops if I look at it in the main timeline when I just press Enter.

Thanks so much for your time and help,
SK

[Robb@exo]

Not sure what's wrong, I didn't receive any errors when I did it. Do the buttons work? And if the stop(); does not seem to be working what is actually looping, the main timeline or the content mc?

[FlashmanSK]

the main timeline
it works when i dont put that script for the buttons in. once i put it in, the stop doesnt work.

Where exactly do you want me to put the script?


Thanks,
SK

[Robb@exo]

Place the stop(); action plus all the code for the buttons on the last frame of the main timeline.

[FlashmanSK]

Description: 1021: Duplicate function definition. Source: function mouseDown(e:MouseEvent):void {


This is the only complier error shown.

Do you have any idea what I should do?
Take a look at my file, please.

[Robb@exo]

Hmmm, I didn't get that error. I did however notice a few things. Put your actions on its' own layer, much easier to edit when it doesn't reside on the same layer as objects/artwork. I didn't see any code for the buttons, and I noticed that your content symbol on the stage did not have an instance name associated with it.

[Robb@exo]

Have a look at this.

[FlashmanSK]

it works perfect on yours, but even when i define everything and put it on a different layer, the same error comes up! This is very strange.

Try this file please and tell me what you get.

Sorry and thanks so much,
SK

[Robb@exo]

Yeah, I get an error (1009) which to say the least is quite ambiguous. Even googling the error doesn't give one much to go on. And I noticed as well that there is something very suspicious with the contact button. Once pressed, disables buttons 1, 2 and 3... leaving only button 4 as operational. However, press button 4 and the remaining buttons become active again. If it were me I'd probably start over... creating something functional before creating something graphical. But hey, that's just my approach.