About This Tutorial - MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING COMPONENTS Use Manual

You can modify the appearance and behavior of components by setting component parameters in
the authoring environment, using the Parameters tab in either the Property inspector or the
Component inspector. You can also control components during runtime using ActionScript. All
components have ActionScript methods, properties, and events. For more information on
authoring parameters, see
After you build an application using components, you can update or repurpose it simply by
resetting component parameters, without having to rewrite code. An application built with
components can even be updated by someone who doesn't know all the code used to create it.
The components included with Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 are SWC files
(the Macromedia file format for components). A SWC file contains a compiled clip of the
component, as well as an icon that appears in the Components panel, and other assets to create
component functionality.
Compiled clips are complex symbols that are precompiled so that they are easier to work with in a
Flash document. For example, both the Test Movie and the Publish procedures run faster with
compiled clips, because the clips don't need to compile when the SWF file is generated.
Because components are precompiled, you cannot edit them as you would uncompiled movie
clips (FLA files). You modify components by setting their parameters or by using their
ActionScript methods, properties, and events.
For more general information about components, see the following topics:
•
Chapter 1, "About Components"
•
Chapter 3, "Working with Components"
•
Chapter 6, "Components Dictionary"

About this tutorial

This tutorial is intended for intermediate Flash users who are familiar with the Flash authoring
environment and have some experience with ActionScript. In the authoring environment, you
should have some experience using panels, tools, the Timeline, and the library. In ActionScript,
you should be familiar with writing functions, adding event listeners, and using class files.
•
Build the application architecture
application interface. This section covers adding UI and data components and setting their
parameters while authoring.
•
Bind components to display product information from an external
to one another to distribute and display data from an external XML file. This section covers
using the data integration features in the Flash authoring environment to bind data and UI
components together.
•
Add ActionScript to the main
functionality. This section includes importing the classes for the components used in the
application. Most of the code places event listeners on components to process data in response
to user input.
20 Chapter 2: Creating an Application with Components (Flash Professional Only)
"Setting component parameters" on page
: Add component instances and movie clips to build the
Timeline: Add ActionScript code to create interactive
47.
source: Bind components