Cannot add link to menu in Flash 8

[gibsongk55]

Hi Everyone,

I am soooo frustrated and found this forum. Four hours messing with this simple thing. I am using Flash 8 with a bought template. I want to add links to the menu buttons. I assume there are none there.

Under "library" i found 6 graphic files named Symbol9 through Symbol14 which are the menu words. I have 6 button files named Symbol3 through Symbol8. I don't know what they are but i am assuming they are the hit area as i see it opened in the timeline.

Now i cannot add the link code to the button as i get this error: "Current selection can't have actions applied to it.".

No matter what i do i can't get the code there. I have searched all over the web and found many forums. Nothing makes this thing work. The menu files for the text are not buttons so i cannot put code there. Can someone please help me?

Thanks,

Gibs

[hyk]

Hi gibsongk55, if you don`t mind could you post your sourcefile etc here? Its very hard for the others to help you without seeing the source. :)

[gibsongk55]

Don't know where or how to upload the .fla file here. I can email it to you.

Thanks,

Gibs

[hyk]

lol, I still a noobie in flash So i don`t suppose i can be of much help to you. either you can zip it up here .if the file to be big to be zip up here. you can upload it at mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com). After uploading it, copy & paste the link here. The experts can take a look & hopefully help you solve your problems & answer your questions.

That is what i did at the beginning :)

[gibsongk55]

Hi,

Ok i zipped it and you can get the source file here;

http://www.gibsongk55.com

Thanks for your help,

Gibs

[hyk]

Hi again,could you post your .fla instead of your .swf file. They need to look at your code to get a better understanding of the problem. :)

[gibsongk55]

Okay.. sorry about that... stupid of me.

Same link it's there.


Gibs

[gibsongk55]

Okay i finally figured out how to get the link in there after about 8 hours.

I had to drag the button which is actually the hit area to the stage over the menu text.

Centered it. Right clicked on it, left clicked on actions and pasted the url code in the script area. Then i had to go back and double click on that little blue line which is the button which is the hit area. Go to the scene on top and drag the read play line to "Hit"

It works but the menu area of the button shows a thin white line where the hit area is dragged over the text. I tried to the hit line or button or whatever all the names of one item is called to clear but no success.

Thanks,

Gibs

oh and i am re-ftp'ing what i have so far to that link.

[Medyman]

Hmm...
boy, I hate these stupid Flash tempaltes.

A workaround to your problem is this:
highlight the button
go to the properties panel (at the bottom of your screen)
there will be a dropdown labelled "Color;"
select Alpha from that drop down
set the 2nd dropdown that will appear to 0%

This entire thing could be made 100% simpler. I don't know why the people that make templates (thing which are meant and expected to be edited by people who don't know Flash and ActionScript) are made to be so complicated.

[hyk]

I don't know why the people that make templates (thing which are meant and expected to be edited by people who don't know Flash and ActionScript) are made to be so complicated.

For a start,no offence Medyman. I think the answer to it is that you guys who are seasoned professionals assume* us newbies to understand since some of the codes look simple to you guys but it is a whole new thing for people who do not know the language or has just starting learning.But a newbie view (my view), if given a template i would copy & paste the whole thing in & assume it will be free from errors. I would not bother to check what this & that code means at the beginning. I would only find out what it means when i run into errors :p oh shyt, i said out my bad habits.

[gibsongk55]

Hi Medyman,

Thanks for the help. That seemed to fix it. Terrible 8 hours to figure out how to put a link in. Online tutorials suck for sure.

I figured out the problem now with this. When i added or dragged the button (or hit area same thing) to the stage area, then right clicked for action, the button reverted to the menu text under it and displayed the same little cross site symbol which made me believe it was the button still. Since it was now the menu text area the action command was greyed out.

Hope that helps others in the future searching for an answer.

I have the template online now. Is there any simple way to make my guitar spin clockwise a few times and then stop in the position it is now?

Thanks,

Gibs

[Medyman]

Is there any simple way to make my guitar spin clockwise a few times and then stop in the position it is now?

Motion tweens. (http://www.entheosweb.com/Flash/motion_tween.asp) It's not the way I would do it but it's the easiest way w/o having to code.

[gibsongk55]

Hi,

Thanks for the link. It helped me 0%. Didn't even work. But i don't want the image to move across the screen. I want it to spin clockwise. Guess there is no easy way.

Gibs

[hyk]

Motion tweens. It's not the way I would do it but it's the easiest way w/o having to code.

I think medyman is teaching you step-by step. 1st you need to learn how to move across the stage. 2nd, after that creating the spinning effect

I found something on the web which is near to what you are looking for here (http://www.flashvault.net/tutorial.asp?ID=73) perhaps you might want to take a look. Its a logo of BMW spinning


my guitar spin clockwise a few times and then stop in the position it is now?

Its related to the timeline i suppose. (medyman pls correct me if i`m wrong:p)


hope that helps :D

[Medyman]

gibsongk55,

The process is the same from what i linked to. Everyone things there are going to be tutorials tailored to their exact case. That won't happen. What I linked to are the steps to do it.

Instead of moving the guitar from point A to point B, just rotate it with the free transform tool. That's the only difference in what you're trying to do and what I linked to.



For a start,no offence Medyman. I think the answer to it is that you guys who are seasoned professionals assume* us newbies to understand since some of the codes look simple to you guys but it is a whole new thing for people who do not know the language or has just starting learning.But a newbie view (my view), if given a template i would copy & paste the whole thing in & assume it will be free from errors. I would not bother to check what this & that code means at the beginning. I would only find out what it means when i run into errors oh shyt, i said out my bad habits.

That's exactly my point. How can template makers expect people not familiar with Flash to edit these things. They're entirely too complicated (and horrendously coded). The thing is that Flash usually falls under the domain of frontend designers -- not the most capable programmers as a whole (there are some exceptions). If I were making a template for sale, I'd include something easy to edit -- step-by-step instructions, easy-to-edit XML, something! Instead, gibsongk55 has to hack his way around the .fla. In fact the one Flash template that I do sell, is made just this way. It even comes with a CMS, if you have a server with PHP available.

[hyk]

That's exactly my point. How can template makers expect people not familiar with Flash to edit these things. They're entirely too complicated (and horrendously coded). The thing is that Flash usually falls under the domain of frontend designers -- not the most capable programmers as a whole (there are some exceptions)

i get it medyman. :p, cool down. don`t get overexcited. Hey since we are in this topic, would you mind showing me what is a simple as like. For example, a piece of maybe your work & a piece of what others do. If that is legal of course.

If I were making a template for sale, I'd include something easy to edit -- step-by-step instructions, easy-to-edit XML, something!

lol,medyman not everyone is like you. some people well you know. Its a hello & bye theory. :D, not sure if you get what i meant

[Medyman]

I'm not overexcited. You're just reading my post with too much emphasis :p Well, you can google around for other templates (templatemonster.com is a site). You can see some examples of the one templates that we do provide, here (http://www.djashish.net)and here (http://kingbenjamin.us). It's the same exact .fla in play here. All customization is done through an easy form tied to a backend. The user just has upload the files to his/her server, open up the install file that comes with it in the browser and they're given step-by-step options -- colors, content, images, videos, etc...