Can't open your slideshow example

[SarasotaSam]

I would love to look at your slideshow example, but I can not open it. When I try to open the slideshow.fla file I get this "Failed to Open Document". I am using Flash CS3 on a mac.

 

I can open the swf file, but I would like to see what is under the hood with the fla file.

 

Thanks - Sam

[GreenSock]

Yeah, I'm working in CS5 which doesn't allow me to save as CS3 (only CS4). I just cracked open CS4, though, and saved it backwards to CS3 so it should work for you now.

[SarasotaSam]

Thanks so much. You are awesome. I will take a look at it tomorrow.

 

Sam

[SarasotaSam]

I had a chance to look at your slideshow example and it is quite a piece of work.

 

For me though it is much more complicated than I need and also a bit dense for a beginner like me. I was hoping to find a simple smlloader slideshow and I have not had much luck. Generally, I take an example and examine it by breaking it apart so I can learn how it all works. Your slideshow is much more than my poor brain can comprehend.

 

Maybe you can direct me to a xmlloader slideshow example where the slides are loaded with a set time and fade with pause and resume. If you don't know of one, could you just reply with some code so us beginners can get started.

 

Thanks for such a great service - Sam

[GreenSock]

Well, the challenge is that the really simple slideshow stuff out there is kinda crappy in terms of functionality. For example, many slideshows just load an image and display it...wait a certain amount of time...then load another image and show it. The problem is that there's a lot of time wasted when the next image starts to load - it should really be loading in the background while the user is looking at the current image. And most slideshows must accommodate thumbnail images to give the user a sense of what's available. And the user should be able to skip to another image (out of sequence) and have the system intelligently prioritize that request in the loading queue. And there should be a preloader to give the user a sense of how long they'll be waiting. And the user should be able to click the "next" or "back" button as quickly (and often) as they want without the system choking.

 

I'm a huge fan of "simple" but not at the cost of important functionality. Like I said, there are simple slideshows out there...they just kinda suck from the user's perspective. Since I'm trying to show how LoaderMax can really help the overall workflow of something like this, it was important to show the prioritization, the loading in the background, etc.

 

In other words, if I simplify it much more, I believe I'm doing you (and the users of your slideshow) a disservice. See what I mean? I'd rather answer questions about how I built the slideshow rather than dumb it down so much that there's not much code (or functionality).

 

Feel free to hit me up with specific questions about how/why I built the Slideshow the way I did.

[SarasotaSam]

Well, you kind of shamed me into working a little harder

 

I really appreciate you well thought out and concise reply. Unusual in this day.

 

I am taking another look at your slide show and have run in to a problem playing it (you converted your CS5 version to CS3)

When I have "Automatically declare stage instances" turned on I get this error:

1151: A conflict exists with definition progress_mc in namespace internal.

[GreenSock]

Ha ha. Well, I didn't mean to shame you. Just push you a little because I think it's what's best. I've been where you are (confused by what looks like a mess of ActionScript code that's hard to follow). I'd recommend just trying to build a separate FLA piece by piece and use my example as a reference. Forget about the sliding thumbnail stuff at the bottom at first. Get the LoaderMax queue going. See if you can get the full-size images to display one-after-the-other. Then get them to crossfade. Then integrate a progress bar or load the thumbnails. Don't try to understand the entire file at once. I tried to label things (variables, methods, classes) intuitively so you can pick through it and get what you need.

 

As far as the error goes, I'm not sure what's up with your Flash install - it publishes perfectly for me in CS4 and CS5 when "Automatically declare stage instances" is turned on. Are you on Windows or Mac?

[SarasotaSam]

I am on a Mac. Had the same problem with some of your other demos.

 

Sam

[GreenSock]

Yeah, I believe it's a bug in Flash on the Mac. I'm on a PC (obviously). I don't have time at the moment to research the bug for you, but maybe try some Googling and let us know if you find anything helpful.