Flash Quick Tip - IE displaying different flash file then Firefox?

Are you trying to troubleshoot why you are seeing a different swf flash file in one browser vs another? This problem was brought to my attention the other day at work. A client was seeing an incorrect and different flash banner then we were seeing. No one had realized they were using IE (Internet Explorer) while we typically use Firefox or Chrome. Once I realized this difference, I new just where to look. The code that goes in the HTML and loads the flash includes and object tag which IE uses to load the flash swf file as well as an embed tag which other browsers such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari use to load the file. Both of these tags have a line containing the path to the swf file. Obviously you want these parameters to match and if they don't, you will see different things when viewed in different browsers. Look in the html for some code similar to the following and be sure both flash file names match. To make it easy you can even search for swf as that will be extention on the flash files and will take you right to the file name parameters.

Flash Quick Tip - Loading SWF movies that use components

When loading an SWF file that uses a component, such as a ComboBox component, into a serperate _level, loader coponent or slide, be sure to include the component in the library of the initial flash movie or the component may not work. If you've ever had issues with components not working in swf files that are loaded by a different swf file, this is likely your problem.

Example:
initial_flash_movie.swf ( _level0 )
loaded_flash_movie.swf ( _level1, _level2, or level3 etc...)
--Component Instance

In the above example initial_flash_movie.swf would need a the component (used in loaded_flash_movie.swf) in it’s library. To do this:

1. open the initial_flash_movie.fla file
2. drag the component from the components pannel onto the stage
3. with the component instance slected, press delete to remove it from the stage
4. if you look in the library for this fla the component should still be there
5. save and publish the fla file

Flash Quick Tip - Seamless Looping Tween

Have you ever wanted to make an object rotate continuously in Flash? It sounds simple enough:

1) Convert your object to a Symbol such as a Movie Clip
2) Create a second keyframe a ways out from your first one
3) Tween the two key frames
4) Set the rotation in the Frame Properties of the first keyframe to either Clockwise or Counterclockwise.

This does work and as long as the second keyframe is the last frame in the timeline, the animation will loop continuously when you play or preview your Flash movie. Of course there's one small problem: The animation pauses briefly every time it loops back to the beginning. This is because the first and last frames (the keyframes) are the exact same thing while the rest of the frames all show the object in a slightly different position.

To remedy this, all you have to do is add a couple extra step to the list above. After you've set the rotation (or any other property):

5) Right-Click on the frame just before the last keyframe and select "Insert Keyframe"
6) Right-Click the last keyframe and select "Clear Keyframe"

Now when you play or preview your Flash movie it will loop seamlessly. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that if you need to change the length of the tween (the amount of frames in between the keyframes) you will need to redo all the steps otherwise you'll again see a slight stutter.

Flash Quick Tip - Scale and Rotate

Here's something simple that took me a while to discover about Flash. Normally when scaling and rotating objects I would use the Free Transform tool which works similar to similar tools in other graphics programs. To get more exact I also would use the Transform Panel. Flash actually offers a third way to transform object though and using it can really speed up development time. With any object selected press the <<Ctrl>> <<Alt>> and <<S>> keys at the same time and a little box titled "Scale and Rotate" will pop up. Enter whatever values you want and press the <<Enter>> key. The time saving trick will be evident when you use this command again as it will save your last values. This means that if you have 50 objects that all need to be rotated or scaled to the same dimension, you set values to the desired number for the first object then just keep clicking objects, pressing <<Ctrl>> <<Alt>> <<S>> and then <<Enter>> and you will be through all your objects in about a minute. To do the same thing with the Transform Panel would probably take twice as long and a lot more clicks and typing.