TechNote (Archived)

How to troubleshoot a Macromedia Flash movie

Macromedia Flash is one of the easiest animation programs to use. It is also an extremely powerful tool. It is possible to create movies that have a high degree of complexity.

Sometimes users find themselves immersed in a project and run across an obstacle that prevents a desired behavior of their movie from functioning. Others are still in the process of learning Flash techniques and may experience situations that seem awkward or confusing. There are many things that can be done to help solve these problems. A productive strategy often involves an organized and systematic approach when troubleshooting or problem solving. This TechNote provides a checklist of areas to explore and helps develop the troubleshooting skills necessary to master Flash.

The answers to the most common questions are found:

In the Using Flash manual and Help menu.
In the Flash Support Center and within searchable TechNotes.
In the ReadMe file, located in the same folder on your hard drive as the Flash application.
In the Flash Discussion Groups.
In third-party Flash developer sites.
See Web Sites Devoted to Flash and Flash Developers (TechNote 12046).

Problems that arise can usually be categorized into three areas:

It doesn't work
System problems
Software bugs

It doesn't work

A movie does not function as intended. Frame actions are not executed correctly. Buttons don't seem to work. Playback is inconsistent.

Have you tried to recreate this in a new file
- Copy the symbol or graphic into a new document.
- Copy/paste frames from one file into a new document.
Did it ever work?
- What has been changed?
- Can you remove items one by one and get it to work without some components? Make a copy of the file and delete items until it is restored to a working movie.
Is it an issue with actions and/or scripting?
- If you have added actions to buttons or made changes to your movie after adding keyframes, check to make sure your buttons (and movie clip instance names) are the same everywhere they appear.
- Make sure you've assigned actions to your buttons correctly.
  
  Never assign actions to the button states inside the symbol. Always assign button actions to the instance of the button on the stage.
- See 'Troubleshooting ActionScript > Authoring and troubleshooting guidelines' in the ActionScript Reference Guide (Flash 5 and later, only).
Where does the playback fail?
- If you are testing playback in the editor, try Control > Test Movie instead. Some things will work fine in the editor, but the only way to truly demonstrate how the movie will look and act is when the SWF is created. This will be accomplished using Test Movie.
- If a piece has multiple scenes, and you feel the problem may have something to do with components used among different scenes, use Control > Test Scene instead. If you can isolate a problem to a particular scene, it will simplify the troubleshooting process.
- If the playback in your browser does not match what you see in Test Movie, check the version of the Flash Player installed in your browser. To do this, Right-Click (Windows) or Control-Click (Macintosh) on the movie in the browser window. The item listed at the bottom of the context menu will indicate which player is installed.
Can you make this scenario work in a brand new file?
- Sometimes the best way to test a certain technique or method is to recreate it in a "dummy" file. If it can be accomplished in a new file - other than your project - then it is possible to recreate the functionality in your file. An existing project can have lots of other schemes present that can make a problem less obvious.
Is it an issue with scripting and variables?
- See 'Troubleshooting ActionScript > Authoring and troubleshooting guidelines' in the ActionScript Reference Guide (Flash 5 and later, only).
- Use the Debugger feature, available in Flash 5 or later (see the ActionScript Reference Guide for details on using the Debugger).
- Use Control > List Objects and Control > List Variables to see an inventory of symbols and variable values in your movie during Test Movie playback.
- Use the Debugger feature, available in Flash 5 and later.
- Using the Trace action will help you determine when an event has happened, in Test Movie mode.
- Are your expressions in fields that have been set to "Expression" rather than "String Literal"?
- Are variable names consistent throughout your movie?
  
  Examples:
  - A variable is called dog_1 anddog1 in a different part of the script.
  - A variable is called counter in one place and countdown in another.
  - A variable has been spelled wrong in one location.
- Make sure you are using the appropriate operators for string and numeric values.
  
  Example: The expression If animal = "dog" is incorrect. The "=" operator is used for comparing numeric data. Use "EQ" instead.
  
  Consult the ActionScript Reference Guide for a list of string and numeric operators.
  
  Note: In Flash 5 and later the equality operator, "==", is used for comparing all data types.

Please refer to another relevant troubleshooting TechNote, Troubleshooting and Developing Your Logic (TechNote 3508).

System problems

Some users have problems related to crashes or configuration issues with their computer and operating system.

If a particular file is crashing, try playing it on another computer.
Did this file ever behave correctly? Did Flash operate normally up until a point? What has changed?
Have you restarted the Flash program? Have you restarted your computer?
Have you tried playing it with extensions off (Macintosh) or in Safe Mode/VGA Mode (Windows 98/NT)?

In addition to the steps outlined above, General Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000 Troubleshooting (TechNote 14476) and General Macintosh Troubleshooting (TechNote 3500) contain more detailed steps for troubleshooting system level problems.

Software bugs

Sometimes users may feel that a feature is not working due to a software bug. While this is entirely possible, it's relatively rare. Still, if this problem is caused by a bug, and that bug seems to be confined to Flash, there are ways to document the issue.

An anomaly in one file and/or on one machine does not make a problem a software bug. If it is indeed a bug, it should be reproducible. If you have gone through this procedure, and feel that you have discovered something worth investigating, it's helpful to outline the situation as follows:

Issue: What is going wrong?
Expected behavior: What does the documentation say about this?
Steps: How can anyone reproduce this behavior in a new document? List the procedure required for someone else to recreate this problem.

Example:

1. Open a new file.
2. Do this.
3. Do this.
How likely is anyone else going to encounter this?

To report a bug or feature request please submit the information at the: Feature Request and Bug Report Submission Form. We normally do not send personal replies to feature requests or bug reports. We do, however, read each and every message. We use the information to improve our products and services. Your comments, suggestions, and ideas for improvements are very important to us. We appreciate you taking the time to send us this information.

If you are still running into problems after reading this page, please refer to If you think you need Technical Support (TechNote 3507).