My Button Won't Activate...

[tomyknoker]

Hi all,

I know it's something simple but could someone please take a look at the attached file and tell me what I am doing wrong! There is an MC on the rollOver state of my button but it won't play, it starts to play and then stops... Any help would be much appreciated!

[BLiZZaRD]

Here is a solution. I didn't take a very close look at yours, but you need to ensure that you know the difference of when/how to use MCs and buttons.

With Flash 8 I have made a TON of buttons, and not once have I had to use the Button declaration. Using MCs to do the job makes it a whole lot easier. Also, make sure you give instance names and click the "export for Action Script" linkage options.

[tomyknoker]

Hey Blizzard... That's actually an awsome explanation in it's self of how buttons shoud work! Thanks again!

[BLiZZaRD]

Welcome.

Remember with this one though... this was just an example, and you can actually get REALLY wild if you want. Just follow the example(s) and you can add other effects, sparkles, attachSound("soundname"); whatever.

Get wild, test it out, try different things. It's how we learn

[tomyknoker]

Hey Blizz! I tried to animate some MC's into Buttons but I couldn't get the attached to work... I'm sure it's something to do with the way I am targeting it... Could you take a look if poss and see if you can see what i am doing wrong? The 'CREATIVE' button has the actions...

[BLiZZaRD]

Okay, you are going to be mad at me

AS and instance names and linkage and MC names are ALWAYS CaSE SenSItIvE!

on your "menu" btn you had:

on(rollOver){
	_root.btnWhole.gotoAndPlay("labelStormCreative");
}
on(rollOut){
	_root.btnWhole.gotoAndStop("44");
}

notice the name is btnWhole... yet the MC is NAMED BtnWhole.

Changing it to:

on(rollOver){
	_root.BtnWhole.gotoAndPlay("labelStormCreative");
}
on(rollOut){
	_root.BtnWhole.gotoAndStop("44");
}

it works perfectly.

Now for a few tidbits of advice:

1) look at the LAST frames of the BtnWhole MC.. they are just frames.. you will see your blue tween line is dotted. highlight all the final frames (frame 80) and convert them to keyframes. this will end and complete your tweens.

2) you are using text as buttons... this is fine, but if you notice you have to rollOver the letters, if you rollOver inbetween the letters it acts as rollOut. To fix this, just make all your text into MCs, and add a black background. this way no matter where onthe text I rollOver I am still "on" the button.

Hope it helps.

It looks good too. Might be able to be cleaned up and use less frames, less plain items and more MCs and AS, but that is up to you.

[tomyknoker]

Ahhhhh jeex I knew it was something simple! Thanks for the advice Blizzard... Was wondering what you thought could be cleaned up and in what part could I use AS for? Only if you have time maybe you could give me some more advice!

[BLiZZaRD]

I will be more than happy to offer up some advice. Please allow me time to finish up some of these smaller projects I am working on at the moment and I will use your old file to show you some things to do, as well as a few little "tricks" to help everything work a little smoother.

[tomyknoker]

Thanks Blizzard look forward to it!

[BLiZZaRD]

Okay, had a wee bit of time so I tweaked on your thingy here.

Not everything I wanted to show you is in here, because not all the opportunities presented themselves. However I will be going over some of the other things in future tutorials I post here so keep an eye out

Mainly the important things are to remember the following:

try and make EVERYTHING a movie clip. It makes editing, tweening, tweaking, moving, etc easier.

Except for buttons, click the option for "linkage" on every MC you make. Even if you don't plan to use AS 2.0 linkage, it helps when you need it and don't realize it. Just make it a habit that when you make or convert to a movie clip you check the export for linkage option.

tween when you can, as opposed to line by line animation. Also, try and make it so you can reuse MCs (like your drawing of the line around the sub menu parts) Making one circle animation is easier to drag on stage and rename or give instance names too, and is less CPU intensive than making whole new circles.

Give backgrounds to text, especially those that will be clicked on or interactive.

Take a look at the little changes I have made here, and see what you can take and learn from. Same results, a little smaller and faster movie.