Distributed Multimedia Programming Week – 4A Buttons Movie Clips

Buttons Button States and Types Rollover Buttons and Text Duplicating and Aligning Buttons Adding Sound to Buttons Invisible Buttons

To create a button: Select Edit > Deselect All to ensure that nothing is selected on the Stage. Select Insert > New Symbol, or press Control+F8 (Windows). To create the button, you convert the button frames to keyframes. To create the button, you convert the button frames to keyframes. In the Create New Symbol dialog box, enter a name for the new button symbol, and for Behavior select Button. Flash switches to symbol-editing mode. The Timeline header changes to display four consecutive frames labeled Up, Over, Down, and Hit. The first frame, Up, is a blank keyframe.

To create the Up state button image, use the drawing tools, import a graphic, or place an instance of another symbol on the Stage. You can use a graphic or movie clip symbol in a button, but you cannot use another button in a button. Use a movie clip symbol if you want the button to be animated. Click the second frame, labeled Over, and select Timeline > Keyframe. Flash inserts a keyframe that duplicates the contents of the Up frame.

Change the button image for the Over state. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the Down frame and the Hit frame. You can create a disjoint rollover, in which moving the pointer over a button causes another graphic on the Stage to change. To do this, you place the Hit frame in a different location than the other button frames. To assign a sound to a state of the button, select that state's frame in the Timeline, select Window > Properties, and then select a sound from the Sound menu in the Property inspector. When you finish, select Edit > Edit Document. Drag the button symbol from the Library panel to create an instance of it in the document.

Movie Clips What is a Movie Clip? Creating a Movie Clip Animated Rollover Button