Hard Cider: Little Things That
Might Trip You Up - Troubleshooting Flash Button Problems
The Trouble with Buttons
By Jeff Peterson
Level - Beginner [assuming some familiarity with basic Flash
features]
Buttons not working? There may be an easy solution.
Often in creating and previewing Flash documents, the buttons
you have created work just fine, but when you publish them
to the web, you find all sorts of troubles. You can’t
select the button, or you can select it and press it, but
the actions you expected don’t work. Try selecting
the button on the left: you must get it exactly centered.
Press the Working Button to See Underlying
Problems
Background:
Buttons are Symbols. They should look like squares with pointing
fingers in your library:
<-- See
the Icon?
If your "button" does not have this
icon, then it is not a button symbol. If your object does
not appear in the library at all, then you have not turned
it into a symbol. Select the object and use the Convert to
Symbol [F8] from the Insert Menu. Once the dialog box
is opened, select "button" as type:
When you want to open a Button Symbol to edit it, there are
several ways. You can select Options>Edit in the Library[above], double-click on the symbol on your movie layout,
select the individual symbol from the upper right icon on
the timeline, or you can control-click on the symbol for editing
options.
When a button is ready to edit, you should
see a timeline with 4 frames - Up, Over, Down, and Hit:
Before proceeding, make sure you have assigned an "Action"
to the button instance, or the button will not do anything
anyway. Did you double click on the button symbol and use
the Action Tab [Flash 4], or Actions Panel [Flash 5], and
assign an action for the button? {Note: you cannot click
on the frame actions to assign an action to your button symbol.
You must assign the action to the symbol instance itself.}
If you have followed all the procedures above and things
are not working as expected, here are a couple of easy things
to check.
Trouble 1: Button works fine in the Flash test area
when you "enable" buttons on the timeline, but when
you publish the Flash move to the web page, it is difficult
to select the button.
Symptom: Mousing over the button causes brief flashes of
a rollover effect, but it is almost impossible to actually
select the button or click at the right time to get it to
work.
Cause: "Hit Area" is too small — Enlarge
it. (See first graphic)
Solution: Open up your library (command-L)
and select your Button Symbol. Then from the Options menu
in the Library, select Edit. Make sure that the "Hit"
area in frame number 4 is large enough to cover the entire
button area. I usually use a solid square and draw it over
the entire visible area of the button to make sure it is covered.
You can make it larger than the button, but then you may get
an overlapping problem [see next problem]. It doesn’t
make any difference what shape or color or text you use in
frame 4, since the hit area is not visible. However, I usually
use a solid, grouped object with no text.
Trouble 2: Buttons work in preview and on the timeline,
but upon publish odd behaviors occur on mouse over, like one
button rolling over when another button is pressed; or button
selects with a mouse click but the action does not take place.
Cause:Overlapping hit areas in buttons. The invisible
"hit" areas are larger than the visible buttons
on the main timeline, and they overlap causing all sorts of
odd behaviors, misfiring and non-working buttons.
Solution: Separate the buttons on the timeline or
reduce the size of the hidden hit area. If the hit area is
just a little larger than the visible button on the stage,
separate the buttons a little more physically. If the hit
area is too large for the button, edit the Button Symbol as
above, but in reverse. Go to frame 4 and reduce the hit area
to fit the visible button.
There are other problems with buttons, but
often these problems are related to Action Scripting, a more
advanced topic. If you select a button and use, for example,
the "GoTo: URL" but select a non-existing web page,
the button will not work. The problems here are so varied
that you must know and be able to examine your specific action
script to discover the problem.
Next: Sound Output Quality and Oddities in Flash
Publish.
Jeff Peterson is a Macintosh pioneer,
acquiring his first 128k Mac in 1984. In 1993, he started
work on the Internet, producing an early e-magazine, O
Theophilus, and educational courses for the web.
He started his own web design company in 1999, www.PetersonSales.net
and is still acquiring new clients. Jeff is also a part-time
theologian,The
Scholar's Corner, and he loves to play Flight Sims
when he gets a chance, being part of the notoriousShadow
Riders, call sign Padre
=<SR>=.
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<-- See
the Icon? 
