Topic: flash5..actionscript or not???

hey peeps,

I'm creating a photogallery using flash5 where the user will click on a forward button to advance the pictures.

My question is do i have to use action script to do this? or can it be done without actionscript?


how would yall approach this project? and if i have to use action script can anyone help me with the coding?

thanks alot.

Brad

Hey Brad...
Welcome to the Asylum...

Just so you know... we have a multimedia forum further down the page...
that's the place to ask Flash questins...

However,
to answer your question...
Yep... you have4 to use actionscript.
If I'm understanding you...
all you should have to do is make a movie clip with each pic sliding into the screen, stopping.... and then moving out.
Then make a button that tells the clip to continue to play.
It's a bit more in depth than that... and I'm not sure what sort of background you have in Flash...

I'm sure you'll have more questions....
but ask'em down in the Multimedia section plz...

...can a mod move this down there plz?

*sprinkles fairy dust* flash (cuse pun) and the thread magically moved to the multimedia forum

~Vp~

Jeeze you mad scientists are fast. Or I'm slow. In the time it took me to write an answer the question had poofed here! Oh well, here's what I wrote:

This thread will probably get moved to the animation section, but ....

Yeah, you'll need ActionScript. [b]BUT[/], if all you are trying to do is move the playhead one frame at a time to reveal the next picture, it'll be real simple ActionScript. Here's one possible way. Create a keyframe for each image you want to have in the show. I'd give each frame a label that represents the image so you don't have to refer to the frames by number. Each keyframe has one simple bit of code: stop(); . That will keep the movie from charging ahead automatically. Then the arrows in each frame have the equally simple bit of ActionScript code: gotoAndStop("frameLabel"); . I don't know how complicated you plan to make this. Do you want a "go to the beginning" arrow? Do you want thumbnails of all the images showing all the time? Whatever, it's pretty simple if all you are doing is bopping the playhead to specific frames. There's also a next(); and previous(); option I think, but if you want any degree of random access by the viewer, calling frame labels is more flexible.

Note that Flash loses it's vector image advantage when you pack it full of raster images. If you have a movie with, let's say, 8 moderately large images, it's going to take a good length of time to crawl over the 'net, suggesting a preloader might be called for. Also a suggestion: import the images into Flash as png files. Flash will compress them to jpegs when you publish the movie, and it has worked better for me to start with uncompressed data rather than jpeg the files twice. Write again if you still have questions, but I think the animation area is more appropriate.

thanks for the info...

hmm...well maybe i shouldnt be using flash for the gallery. I want the pictures to be about 500x400 pixels and very clear. i have about 8 -12 of them to use. Does this sound like too much for flash? what else would you suggest using? java? dhtml? somthing else?

thanks for the help guys. This place is GREAT

A given amount of data is going to take a given amount of time to crawl across the 'net regardless of what software you use. Images that size take up space. No magic. Only problem with planting them in a Flash movies is that they essentially all have to load at once. If you had a convetinal, let's say JavaScript, gallery, you would have to wait to see each image, so the wait is spread out in little chunks. If you putt them all into a Flash movie, the wait is all up front.

The solution if you want to stay in Flash is loadMovie(). A little more complicated but not a whole lot. Each image becomes a separate movie, loaded into the main movie thru a button action or something. Keeps the main movie lean.