Flash problem. Help for a BL?

[melaniejk]

Hi.
I purchased a template that has a flash menu. It looks perfect for my free gravestone photo project. So, I downloaded the Flash MX free trial.

I was able to edit the text on the menu buttons.
But, I haven't been able to get the links to work.
I read the Help section on Macromedia and did as suggested.
I went to Properties and typed in the url in the box.
The text in the box now looks underlined when viewed in the program, so I thought I did it correctly. But, it still doesn't work. The Flash trial is running out (only about 15 days left).

Is anyone here familiar with Flash that would be willing to help? I would be willing to give a backlink to your web site in exchange for fixing the menu links. The site does come with a non flash version, but the Flash part is so cool.

It has flying hawks and great sound effects (bells and hawks). Which on a personal note is very fitting. I live near Hawk Mt. and when I visit local cemeteries it's exactly what I see and hear.

Currently, the pages are password protected because they aren't ready for the public yet. So, if you are interested please send me a message and I'll send you the username and password.

Thank you.

[GByte]

Hi Melanie

To assign a url to a button in flash you will need to do the following:

Right click on one of your buttons and click actions -> the actions window will appear -> now click the + (plus) button and point to -> actions -> browser/network -> click 'getUrl'

some code will be filled in for you like this :

on (release) {
getURL("");
}

click on the line "getURL("");" and you will see at the top of the actions window a field for the url, just enter whats needed for the url in there.

Hope this makes sense and helps - if you cant figure it out let me know and I will happily edit the flash file for you.

[melaniejk]

Hello GByte.
Thank you for your help. I guess I was trying to make the text a link instead of the buttons to link.

So, I followed your directions and got as far as the last part.
I clicked on the line "getURL("");"
but I don't see any place to put the url.

There are some buttons above. Should I use the "Insert a Target Path" ? If so, relative or absolute?

This program sure is complicated. Thank you for your help.

Melaniejk

[GByte]

Hi Melanie,

I think from what you have said that you are viewing the actions window in expert mode. You need to change the view to normal mode and then my explanation of where to put the link should be clearer.

To change to normal mode, if you click the icon on the far right (in the actions window to the right of the buttons you mentioned) its a blue square with an arrow in it, then select normal mode. You should then see field where you will add the url. Let me know how you get on.

[melaniejk]

Ok.
I found the area to put the url in.
But, when I test the movie I get an error message.
Guess, I'm doing something wrong.

*Error** Symbol=OBITUARIES, layer=Layer 2, frame=1:Line 1: Wrong number of parameters; getURL requires between 1 and 3.
getURL();

**Error** Symbol=OBITUARIES, layer=Layer 2, frame=1:Line 7: Wrong number of parameters; getURL requires between 1 and 3.
getURL();

Total ActionScript Errors: 2 Reported Errors: 2

[GByte]

Ok I see. Because you started in expert mode some of the required parameters are now missing.

If you go back into the actions window, change back to expert mode and remove the getURL("");" then change back to normal mode, add it back in following my first instructions and you will see that it will add three lines of code like this:

on (release) {
getURL("");
}

Then enter thr url and test and it should be ok then.

[melaniejk]

Hi.
Well, I'm having trouble getting it into Normal mode.
I click on that blue arrow and it has three choices, but none for Normal Mode.
Is there another way?
I'm using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 perhaps we've got different versions?

[melaniejk]

I'm sorry to be so much trouble. Usually, I can pick up how to use a software program quickly.
Perhaps, I can send you the files?
:)

[GByte]

ok - now I have flash mx 2004 I am surprised you got at all what I was saying because they have changed alot around from the previous version of flash.

ok, if you click on the button you want to put the link, expand the actions panel and paste this code replacing the url with yours:

on (release) {
getURL("http://www.yoururl.com/", "_self");
}

To be quite honest with you this new version is quite different in the way that you use the menus to add the actionscript, and the only way I could find to add links using the menus was quite long winded so easier just to paste the actionscipt for you to enter.

If you add that to your buttons at least they will be working.

Its getting late now but I will look at mx 2004 tomorrow and pm you the way to add links using the actionscript menus.

wow! I dont know if I have made this worse for you or not, or just the fact that its getting late and have'nt been able to explain myself properly - hope you get it working ok

[flash-seo]

If you haven't done it yet I can help you. Oh, and don't forget to optimize your Flash file for Google while it is open (only half joking).

[melaniejk]

Flash-Seo,
With the help of GByte I was able to figure how to get the Flash links to work.
Thanks again GByte for your help!

Should I have done something to the Flash files to optimize them for Google? Yikes, I didn't even think that could be done! You said you are half-kidding, so maybe there isn't a way to optimize it for Google?

I just went on a pc with a 56k modem and saw how long it takes my new flash menu pages to load. Hmm, perhaps I'll make the home page of that site non-flash so people will read the page and then be patient when they have to wait for the other pages to load (if they want the free pictures, I think they will wait). And, perhaps making the home page with no flash will help with the search engines also.

Have a wonderful day!

[flash-seo]

Yes, you can optimize for Google. I wouldn't say it is the most important thing to do ever, but I'm seeing more Flash sites indexed all the time -- there are a few things that should be done no matter what, just knowing that someone may find you through a Google search with your swf menu being the listed result, not the page it was embedded in. In other words, Google treats a swf as if it were an html page, searchwise.

If nothing else make sure there is a link to your main site in the swf. Plus, putting a redirect into the Flash swf with something like ....

if (! ifembedded){
getURL("yoursite.com","_self");
}

.... and then set the FlashVars attribute in the Embed Tag in the page that usually loads the swf to "ifembedded=true".

That sort of code will cause a redirection to the proper page that you would have wanted the swf to appear in. Of course, depending on what one wants to accomplish. I've been checking out swf searches a lot lately and I like this car, the Lotus Elise, so I did the search and I wasn't that displeased with the results. Note the titles though, half of them are "Loading .... loading ...", there is no reason for that sort of thing.

http://www.google.com/search?q=lotus+elise+filetype%3Aswf&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8

Also, if you do a search for "skip intro filetype:swf" http://www.google.com/search?q=skip+intro+filetype%3Aswf&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8 you'll notice one of the first few results will have <font size=12 .....>skip intro</font> sort of stuff. You might not want to have that happen, but notice a few of them are text links, bringing up the question of how you want to have those treated.

So, basically, I wouldn't really worry about optimizing your flash menu, but you can if you want. I'd also be interested to know how many people do searches for swf files - I'm probably one of the more likely people who would know people who do that, if people did and I don't so I figure "filetype:swf" is hardly ever used in a search. None-the-less, by now most of us know that searching for "kingdom ceramics please" finds a Flash file at the very top. Not very many results altogether but perhaps with a little optimization more swf files, the ones that are on the fringes, may start showing up more often among the leaders.

[kirwa]

If still need assistant on this, we will be glad to assist you

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