Macromedia Flash MX Components Overview
What are Components?
Components are pre-built movie clips which simplify handling common tasks or user interface (UI) elements. Macromedia Flash MX includes seven Flash UI components: CheckBox, ComboBox, ListBox, PushButton, RadioButton, ScrollBar and ScrollPane. You can use these components separately to add simple user interaction to Flash movies, or together to create a complete user interface for Web forms or applications.
How do Components work?
Components have parameters you define when creating the movie, and a unique set of ActionScript methods that allow you to set parameters and additional options at runtime. Components replace and extend Smart Clips introduced in earlier versions of Macromedia Flash.
Components are installed in Window > Components. If additional Component sets are installed they will be available via the pop-up menu at the top of the Components panel. For complete details on using Components, see the article Creating Forms with UI components in the Macromedia Designer & Developer Center.
Where do I get more Components?
New Components are available for download from the Macromedia Exchange for Flash. This is the download site for all Macromedia Flash MX Components, both those made by Macromedia and those created by third-party developers.
Examples:
The following Macromedia Flash movies demonstrate the ComboBox component from the original Flash UI components set, and the Calendar component which can be found in the Flash UI Components Set 2, available at the Macromedia Exchange for Flash.
The ComboBox component example:
This example uses ComboBox component to pass data to a text field based on the selected item in the list. This component is pre-installed with Macromedia Flash MX and can be found in the Components panel. ActionScript methods for the ComboBox component may be found in the Actions panel.
The Calendar component example:
This example uses the Calendar component to get information about the selected date(s) and pass that information as an array into a text field. The data passed from the component can be manipulated and used in many different ways depending on what you want your calendar application to do. The methods for this component are listed in the Action panel. If you would like to use the Calendar component, you must first download and install the Macromedia Flash UI Components Set 2 from the Macromedia Exchange for Flash.
Additional Information about Flash UI Components:
The following links will provide more detailed information about using components. There is also a section in the Using Flash MX manual regarding components and how to use them.
Creating Components in Flash MX
Creating Forms with UI Components
Macromedia Flash MX Tutorials
Macromedia Exchange for Flash
Flash Remoting
Macromedia Developer Center
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