Flash CS3 (AS3) is giving my graphics (buttons and movieclips) outlines - actionscript-3

So, I'm pretty much a beginner in Flash and Actionscript (using AS3, as I said in the title), and I'm trying to make a basic escape the room game. I haven't gotten far, and right now that's because every time I test my game (or publish preview it) the graphics get this annoying outline. Here it is when tested: http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/chokingondrama/flash.png
Every outline corresponds to some object present in the game, most of which have an alpha component of 0 since they're on different sides of the room. This didn't happen before, but once I added the code that allowed the player to change their view with the arrow (each viewpoint/wall is a different frame) these appeared.
It's a little different when published to HTML, basically it just gives each image a white background: http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/chokingondrama/html.png
Also, it would be nice if somebody could give me advice on how to make sure importing to flash won't result in lower quality.
Thanks in advance. If needed, I'll post any part of the code.

Some tips:
Don't set alpha to 0, instead use the visible property, setting movieclip.visible = false will make it a lot more efficient.
As for the importing and quality, after you import to stage or library, bring up the library (ctrl + l), and right click on the file you imported, go to properties. If it's an image, set compression to lossless, and allow smoothing.
For audio, go to file-> publish settings, and change audio stream and audio event (whichever you might use) to 128kbps.
As for your main question, I need more info, if you want you can post your source. It might be because of how you are placing your graphics on the stage.

For each of your MovieClips in question:
Try disabling button mode and see if the rectangles go away.
movieClipName.buttonMode = false;
If that doesn't help, or you really want button mode, try setting
movieClipName.tabEnabled = false;
There's a chance that since you added keyboard interaction each of your MovieClips are now expecting to be selected by the user when they press the tab key, much like any normal web form.
tabEnabled in the docs
You could also try
movieClipName.focusRect = false;
focusRect in the docs

Related

Save picture of current screen to disk AS3

I want to add a button to my flash game (AS3) and on click it saves a picture of the current users whole screen and saves it to pictures/disk automatically, but I don't know how to do that, I know how to add the button to the UI and add a click event and all that, just need to know how to make it save a picture of the current screen to disk (doesn't have to be just the flash screen, can be the WHOLE screen of the users pc, either way works!)
I was on my way writing you the answer but I found this post have a better explaination: Is it possible to capture the screen and save the image in actionscript 3?
"Yes, it's possible.
Draw some display object to a BitmapData (the stage, for example) and crop it if neccesary (the second param of BitmapData::draw will help you out here).
Then, convert the raw pixel data to JPEG or PNG using some encoder. I'm sure up to this point, this is what those tutorials will explain you how to do.
Now, the third step is different but simple enough. Instead of sending the image data to a server side script, use a FileReference object. Since Flash Player 10, it has a method called save, that prompts the user to save a file locally.
Since this is a desktop app, you could also make it an AIR app. This will give more direct access to the file system and other features, in case you need them."

Flash Object to small for Security "Window"

I have made a flash as3 project in adobe flash pro with the dimensions 20px x 150px.
i would like to ceep it this size, but the problem is that my application needs to ask for the MICROPHONE premissions
( like in the image )
but this only happens if the flash object is big enough.
are there any workarounds with maybe the "overflow = visible" method or something ?
thx for any help
Here are a couple of options:
Temporarily increase the dimensions of the SWF in HTML. I've never done this, but I imagine it would work and is the most simplest solution.
Use wmode="transparent" or wmode="opaque" in your embed code. In both of these modes you can layer HTML on top of or underneath the Flash object. The SWF should be sized so that it is big enough to display the dialog. When the dialog is not visible, you can hide portions of the Flash app by covering them with HTML.
I've used the 2nd option successfully, not for this purpose, but for showing some HTML elements (arrow images and text) to guide the user through these "allow" camera/microphone dialogs.
For both of these options to work, you need to be able to detect when the user has closed the dialog. Though there is no official Flash API for doing this, however, there are some good work arounds for doing that.

How to ENTIRELY remove an flvplayback from stage when going to another flvplayback on another frame?

I'm trying to create an EXE projector using flash 5.5 AS3 where I have a few videos (FLVs) to show (their location is right next to the exe file in the same directory) - each load in a different frame, and all of those videos should also have a full screen option to them. Those are original videos that people WILL want to watch in full screen. It's essential for the experience...
The problem(s) I currently have (after fixing the sound that didn't stop after going to a different video) are hard to describe, but I'll try really hard.
Ok, so when I click the full screen button on a video and watch it in full screen, I will eventually want to exit the full screen, so I click on the same icon at the bottom to exit full screen (or ESC button, it's the same) and then click the navigation button to go to the SECOND FLV's frame to watch the other video. After watching the second video in full screen and then exiting full screen, flash takes me to the FIRST video's frame and that is a big problem. Also, now the button that takes me BACK to the second video's frame won't work. It's like flash is stuck.
I use the Components --> FLVPlayback 2.5 from the componant menu (I don't really know AS3 programming) and I fix its properties in the component parameters.
Also, I don't think that any of the followings are the reason for the bug, but I use these 3 scripts to stop all sound when navigating away from one frame (with an FLVplayback) to
another frame with another FLVplayback:
MyFLV.stop();
SoundMixer.stopAll();
MyFLV.addEventListener(Event.REMOVED_FROM_STAGE,xyz);
function xyz(e:Event):void{
MyFLV.stop();
}
I've found these online where people asked help for the sound bug I described.
The third script was suppose to remove the FLVplayback from the stage before going to another frame, but it works only when NOT GETTING INTO FULL SCREEN. I need something that will COMPLETELY remove the previous video from the stage so after exiting the SECOND viewed video, flash won't take me to a video that from some reason is still in its memory. I have something like 30 videos in my project and I need to remove each and every one of them off of the stage before navigating to the next frame to open a new FLVPlayback.
I tried to add a link to a demo I made with the problem so you can look at it, but it triggered a "oops, something went wrong" error, probably anti spam mechanism...
I would recommend using only one frame and only one flvplayback instance. Otherwise you have to deal with weird bugs like the one you are getting (usually caused by misplaced or forgotten code). Of course, using only one frame requires using more code, but with the number of hard-fixes it looks like you were making for the bugs, you may end up with less code.
Don't worry, I'll walk you through everything!
Reasons to use code (as opposed to multiple frames):
Easier to keep track of:
Know where all your code is so you can easily find and fix any problems.
Make changes more easily
You want to switch an existing video? edit a file reference and you are done.
Want to add a video? no more dragging a new flvplayback instance onto a new frame just add some very simple code and a button and you're done.
More customization
Reasons to use multiple frames (and multiple flvplayback instances):
easier to place visually
Some people find it easier when they have an actual movieclip that they can visually place on the stage
Less code
Here we go:
//import flv library
import fl.video.*;
This allows you to use ActionScript to manipulate the flv player
//video playback code-----------------------//
var myVideo:FLVPlayback = new FLVPlayback();
this creates an instance of FLVPlayback called myVideo (referenced from now on in the code as myVideo)
this next chunk shows many of the customizable features of the flv player. It is not necessary to include them.
//places the video player on stage at x,y
myVideo.x = 115;
myVideo.y = -10;
//uses SkinOverPlayFullscreen.swf for controls
myVideo.skin = "SkinOverPlayFullscreen.swf";
//color of controls
myVideo.skinBackgroundColor = 0x333333;
//hide controls and time it takes controls to fade and reappear (milliseconds)
myVideo.skinAutoHide=true;
myVideo.skinFadeTime=300;
//add the player to the stage
addChild(myVideo);
And now comes the important part. I have made buttons and added them to the stage. I gave each of the buttons a different instance name (box1_btn, box2_btn, and box3_btn). When someone clicks on a button, an "event" will occur.
//button listener code-------------------------//
//when button 1 is clicked throw button 1 event
box1_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked1);
//when button 2 is clicked throw button 2 event
box2_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked2);
//when button 3 is clicked throw button 3 event
box3_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked3);
//play different videos for different buttons---------//
//when button 1 event is thrown
function clicked1($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 1.flv
myVideo.source = "1.flv";
}
//when button 2 event is thrown
function clicked2($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 2.flv
myVideo.source = "2.flv";
}
//when button 3 event is thrown
function clicked3($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 3.flv
myVideo.source = "3.flv";
}
This code will not have any sounds that keep playing because two videos cannot play at the same time in one instance of the player. Nor will it have any mess-ups when you come out of fullscreen because there is only one frame for the video to go back to.
Some possible problems you may run into:
It doesn't work at all:
Make sure you have added an instance of FLVPlayback to the library by adding an instance to the stage from the components menu (window>>components or ctrl+F7) and then deleting it from the stage (it should still appear in the library).
The playback buttons I want aren't showing up:
There is a great explanation of how to use As3 to manipulate FLVPlayback here:
http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/as3flvplayback/
find the section about "Applying a Skin to the FLVPlayback Component" and follow it to use an adobe playback skin. If you want to make your own unique skin I would recommend opening and editing one of the pre-made skins. I found mine in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS6\Common\Configuration\FLVPlayback Skins\FLA\ActionScript 3.0
I hope this helps!
Below would be simplest way to unload the FLVPlayback
removeChild(MyFLV);
it works fine for me
flvPlayBack.stop();
removeChild(flvPlayBack);
stops the sound and removes the playback.

Why would a keyframe in Flash fail to update an object's position as defined in the keyframe when the play head is sent to that frame?

I have a background MovieClip in a custom button class, which moves the play head to a different frame (via gotoAndStop("framename")) depending on which mouse events it receives.
When the mouse up event is received, it sends the play head back to the "release" frame, where the background should shift back to its original location, but instead nothing happens and the background remains where it was. It's as though Flash is not honoring the background's position defined by the key frame it enters.
The only workaround is to add a frame script to each frame which manually sets the x and y position to what it should be, but this defeats the purpose of using keyframes for the position.
What is going on?
Try calling event.updateAfterEvent(), it's supposed to
Instructs Flash Player or Adobe AIR to render after processing of this event completes, if the display list has been modified.
from here: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/events/MouseEvent.html#updateAfterEvent%28%29
This appears to have been a bug in the Flash IDE, specifically some kind of corruption in a timeline layer.
The corruption originated in Flash CS4, but persisted when opened and compiled in Flash CS5, which is why I suspect it was some kind of content-generation bug, rather than something specific to either IDE version. The IDE probably gets confused when you construct the timeline out of order or drag things around, rename things, copy things in from other files, etc. I think, specifically... it was the fact that I copied this particular object in from another file. And it wasn't even a complex object, it was just a MovieClip that contained a rounded rectangle and had a drop shadow applied, seriously.
Steps I took to resolve the issue were to remove any classes associated with the library item, reverting it back to a standard MovieClip. I then completely removed the problematic layer. I then reassigned the class to the library object and exported it for ActionScript. Finally, I rebuilt the layer from the first frame, adding subsequent keyframes as necessary. I reapplied filters, and adjusted the clips location on each frame.
Now, everything is functioning as expected. The clip's position, filters, etc. are all updated as expected when the playhead moves to any frame. It's working now as expected, so I wasn't doing anything wrong or not possible. It simply must have been some kind of incrementally constructed key framing confusion within the data structures of the IDE. Glad it's working now.

Unknown error AS3

Well, it's not an error, actually. I have wrote a game. There is only one keyframe on the main timeline (I don't mean one layer, there are lots of them, just like different MovieClips). Currently, I'm not using TextField anywhere, but I want to, because I need to display score on the screen. When adding TextField through Flash CS5 and naming it, when compiling, unknown window appears, you can see it on the picture. Not quite sure what it means. When clicking OK, window disappears but instead of my program there are three dots on the screen, you can see them also. I have no idea, neither of what is this, or how to fix it. Any hints? Thank you in advance :)
By the way, on one of the pictures, you can see what the game should look like. And as I said, it does, until I add some TextField to it.
it seems that you're using the TLF (text-layout-framework) in your textfield by accident.
this is a RSL (runtime shared library) that the flashplayer has to load before it can show your content. (and i think the dots are some kind of preloader that adobe puts in there ...!?)
but you don't need the TLF, you can just use a simple TextField.
select your score-textfield and choose "classic-text" in the properties window ... think that'll remove the TLF from your project. (if you have more than one TextField, check every one of them for "TLF text" and change it to classic).