Flash Hyperlink--New to this...be cool!

[Vard]

Hey everyone...

I never wanted to get into web development, but I find myself more and more interested in it since I have to manage a site for my wife's espresso bar...anyway, I have a question about using Flash.

I have 'finally' made a working little Flash graphic that just fades in some text and then sends it flying away, then zooming back in. My question is this...

How do I make this a link that is clickable to another page? I'm guessing that it has something to do with how I created the Flash.

If anyone could simply tell me where to start, I should be able to track down the rest of the info. Do I need to use a button in Flash, or can I simply attach a link in DW? Which, by the way, I tried, but it doesn't let me choose "make link" from the drop menu--which is also why I suspect that this is all part of how I created the text animation.

For arguments sake, lets just say I know essentially nothing about Flash--I had to read a pile of online tutorials just to do what I have already.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Later,
Vard

 

[slo]

There are two main ways in Flash MX:

1. make the current animation a movie clip - F8 (if it isn't already**), and the open up your "actions" panel and add an onClip event. It should look like this:

onClipEvent (mouseUp) {
getURL("www.macosx.com", "_blank");
}

* you can replace _blank with _self if you want it to stay in the same browser window.

** Instead of converting it into a Movie Clip (F8) you may also have to copy all of your frames from the main time-line into a new Movie Clip that you will create by (1) highlighting the animation frames (2) Edit > Copy Frames (3) Insert > New Symbol (4) Edit > Copy Frames (5) From you Library panel drag the new Movie Clip onto your stage. Phew!!!

2. Another way to do it that adds more flexibility into your clickable area is to use "hidden buttons". Almost every Flash movie I have ever made has used "hidden buttons". It basically allows you to have an invisible button over a complex area of animation that doesn't stay consisitent, such as your animation.

(1) Use your rectangle tool to draw a square on your stage (don't worry about dimensions) (2) Select it and then.... Insert > Convert to Symbol .... and choose button. (3) double click the new button so we can now edit it. You should see a Up-Over-Down-Hit frames. (4) Highlight your square and Edit > Cut (5) Go to the "hit" frame and.... Insert > New Keyframe (6) Edit > Paste in Place - The hit frame should be the only frame with content on it! (7) Go back to your main timeline (8) The new button should have a transparent blue look now, and just resize it to your space you need it to cover. (9) Add an "onRelease" event to your button to make it go to a new URL (like above with onRelease instead)

on (release) {
getURL("macosx.com", "_self");
}

The button is only visible in the Flash Application not the swf movie. Test it out!

Hope this helps!

slo