Flash Panels - MACROMEDIA FIREWORKS MX 2004-EXTENDING FIREWORKS Manual

Flash panels

Fireworks contains Macromedia Flash Player, which plays Shockwave files as panels and
commands in the Fireworks interface. You can also add a Macromedia API wrapper extension to
Macromedia Flash for creating Shockwave files that communicate with the Fireworks API. By
leveraging the new API communication between Macromedia Flash and Fireworks, Fireworks
extension developers can create command interfaces and dialog boxes that go beyond the
and
alert() prompt()
panels to Fireworks for image enhancements, object manipulation, or other custom functionality.
How Flash panels and commands work
Macromedia Flash developers can create interactive movies that contain a combination of
ActionScript and calls to the Fireworks API for two types of deployment: interactive panels or
modal commands. Basically, while writing ActionScript, you can embed commands for the
Fireworks API in the
extension for Macromedia Flash (download the API wrapper from the Macromedia website at
www.macromedia.com/support/fireworks/documentation.html). You can construct these
Macromedia Flash animations as interactive panels that work just as the Layers panel, the Frames
panel, and other built-in panels do.
Shockwave files that are published to the Fireworks MX installation directory,
Configuration\Command Panels subfolder, act as panels in the Fireworks interface at runtime
and are available through the Window menu.
Shockwave files that are published to the Configuration\Commands subfolder act as modal
commands and are available through the Commands menu in the Fireworks interface.
Note: On multiuser systems, Fireworks supports a Command Panels folder inside of each user's
Configuration folder, so users can save favorite panels.
At runtime, Fireworks starts Flash Player, which either plays Shockwave animations or runs
commands (if the user selects the custom command options). The Align panel (Window > Align
menu option) is an example of how Flash panels work in the Fireworks interface.
Embedding API commands
You can call any part of the Fireworks API by embedding the API commands in the following
functions. These functions communicate directly with Macromedia Flash Player, which is
distributed with Fireworks MX 2004.
MMExecute()
Usage
MMExecute(jsToPass)
Arguments
A string of JavaScript for Fireworks to execute.
jsToPass
Returns
Nothing.
90 Chapter 3: Cross-Product Extensions
dialog boxes supported in previous versions. You can add command
function, or you can embed them using the API wrapper
MMExecute()