Getting to Know Flash Pro - Dynamic Text Fields and Video
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Dynamic text fields are the "data output" fields of Flash. Everything from database data to simple calculation output can be placed in dynamic text fields. Used with Flash Communication Server, for example, dynamic text fields can display chat room outputs.
See Chapter 6 for detailed information on using dynamic text fields. Especially important is the section on using CSS in text fields.
Input Text Fields User-entered text is placed into input text fields. As part of rich Internet applications, the input text field is the most interactive element in Flash because it allows the developer and designer to create environments that change with the needs of the users who visit the site. Everything from usernames and passwords to large descriptive blocks of text can be entered here. Again, see Chapter 6 for detailed information on using input text fields.
Video One of the key new features in Flash MX Professional 2004 is the enhanced use of video. Including video in a Flash movie is nothing new, but the ability to progressively download video from an FLV file is very new. Until now, short of using Flash Communication Server, the ability to display a video required the entire video to be included in the Flash movie. Not only does this take a huge amount of memory, but loading the SWF file tries users' patience.
Flash Pro not only provides the ability for progressive downloads but also provides three different components that help designers and developers to easily include videos from FLV files. Likewise, new Flash classes such as NetConnection and NetStream give flexibility to development using an FLV-based video component.
See Chapter 10 for detailed information on loading FLV files into Flash.
What's Next? This chapter has put a lot of information into a very small space. For professionals new to Flash, it has provided an overview of the different parts of Flash Pro. At the same time, it was a quick review of features for Flash veterans, with an eye to what's new in Flash MX Professional 2004. The next chapter provides a quick overview of the workflow in Flash.
In Brief Flash development primarily occurs on a "Stage" and in a code-writing panel.
Flash is modeled on a film analogy that includes a Timeline, frames, scenes, layers, a playhead, and a process called tweening.
Symbols allow Flash to use a single drawing in multiple instances but add only the size of the single drawing to the overall file size.
Movie clips are movies that can be added to a main movie for multiple animation.
Text fields in Flash allow dynamic, static, and input text in a Flash document.
 This chapter is from Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004, by Bill Sanders (Sams, 2004, ISBN: 0672326051). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today.
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