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DUPLICATE SYMBOL is a FLASH window swf extension for rapid renaming and navigation. Designed to work with graphic symbols, this free download can speed up your workflow when animating for TV production. The renaming and copy function does not work with symbols placed inside folders. (sorry, I'll have to fix that...)
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When graphic symbols are reused they must be renamed to keep their characteristics unique. The native method for renaming in Flash takes several steps and the text box is limited to 22 characters. In our show we prefer to have the episode, scene number, and the artist's initials added to each symbol. The DUPLICATE SYMBOL panel allows you to reuse this text with fewer steps. And after renaming, the EDIT IN PLACE button automatically takes you into the symbol at the designated first frame. |
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SELECT a graphic symbol on the stage and rollover the NAME button to get the library name. You can edit the name in the long blue box. Store additional text in the smaller blue box opposite the M button. |
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Press NAME to add this to the original name. |
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When you press NAME the "add text" field is stored. When you rollover the M this text is recalled. |
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PRESS COPY TO DUPLICATE AND RENAME the symbol. |
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Press RENAME to change the name without making a copy. This can save you trouble in case you start working inside a symbol and then remember that you forgot to copy it. In that case the original item must be renamed without copying. This is also an easy way to rename a library item by selecting the symbol on the stage. |
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fine print: |
Pressing NAME will select the item in the library, making it easy find if there are many items. Only graphic symbols can be renamed. Movieclips usually don't require constant renaming (but we will make you one that does if you ask). Conditions have been written into the code to prevent mistakes such as accidentally reverting to the original item. It has been extensively field tested and is safe. The "Add Text" text is stored in the current document whenever NAME is Released. All of the buttons activate on RollOut, so if you press a button and change your mind, you can roll off before releasing and nothing will happen. If you make a mistake a message will tell you. If you have a special requirement or suggestion please send me an e-mail through the link above. |
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Because audio tracks can't be edited in Flash, scenes must be cued to begin at the desired in-point at what is called the FIRST FRAME. This is set in the property inspector and may be many frames into the scene symbol. |
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The numbers in the upper right of the Duplicate Symbol panel show first frame and total frames inside the selection whenever you rollover NAME. |
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You can jump to the FIRST FRAME by pressing the EDIT IN PLACE button. When you press GO BACK another EDIT button appears in the middle, giving you the option to toggle back and forth between previously selected frames in parent and child symbols. You will find that being able to toggle in and out of symbols makes it much easier and faster to make critical adjustments. |
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Use the Flash EXTENSION MANAGER to install MXP files. |
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http://www.macromedia.com/exchange/em_download/ |
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Download the Duplicate Symbol extension through the link at the top of this page. Unzip it with Stuffit. Open the duplicateSymbol.mxp file by double clicking on it. This will launch Extension Manager and install the swf in Flash. |
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RESTART FLASH to initialize your new extension in the Other Panels menu. |
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You can open the panel by going to the drop-down menu under Window / Other Panels. Once a panel has opened it will be available on the stage whenever you launch Flash. If you collect other extensions from the internet (google "flash extension") you may find them easier to manage with keyboard shortcuts. It is good to remember that a Flash panel is no longer active when it has been minimized. So for example, Auto Save will only work when it is open. |
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return to the top |
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If you are interested in creating window swf panels for Flash you will find documentation a little scarce. The only book which instructionally covers the subject is "Extending Flash MX 2004" by Keith Peters and Todd Yard (ISBN 1-59059-304-9 pub in 2004). Before Macromedia became Adobe there was a free download " fl8_extending.pdf" on their site. The text of this PDF is avaliable in print as "Developing Extensions for Macromedia Flash 8" by Barbara Snyder (ISBN 0-321-39416-X). Since the PDF is apparantly no longer available, and since it is the most essential document in understanding the Flash DOM, in the interest of science you can download it here. (1.4mb file: fl8_extending.zip) |
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Below is a code snippet from the renaming and duplicating part of the duplicateSymbol3.2 panel which shows the syntax used in jsfl. Everything within the jsfl statement is a string. So in order to refer to variables, etc. outside the statement, you must escape the quotes and then enter the variable name as a string, using the + operator to join the strings. As you can imagine, you could tear all your hair out trying to debug this statement if you didn't understand how this works. When Flash is unhappy and can't give a value to your statements it will send up error messages which you can't ignore. A large part of the code in this panel uses conditional statements to prevent error messages. For example to get the library name the item must first be in the library, which eliminates text fields, and bitmaps. There can only be one selection at a time, so this must be checked also. With careful analysis you can discover the value of each statement and devise a conditon to screen out unwanted behavior. For example, the popular "Nested Timeline" panel (available elsewhere) gets the first timeline layer --layer[0]-- inside the symbol. If there are longer layers below that one, you will get an error message informing you that 'the timeline has no value' as soon as you try to pass beyond the shorter layer. The solution might be to first get the layers and then go to the longest layer. When duplicating a symbol, "swapElement" works with whatever element is selected on the stage, so you can imagine the havoc if the user were to change the selection before pressing the copy button. This is where library.findItemIndex is useful to make sure the selection is still the same. Also, if someone were to rename and copy a symbol and then try to rename it again with the original name, Flash would make a copy, but revert the identity of the current symbol to the original name. This is prevented by querying whether the item exists, and if it does the user is prompted to use a different name. By breadboarding each statement on a test panel you can work backwards to discover how Flash uses jsfl code. |
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You can e-mail me, John Conning, if you have questions. |
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return to the top |
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copyright © 2012 by John Conning ~~
You are visitor no. 9573. |
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