ptg 516 Chapter 21 In Flash, you can manage multiple document files within a Flash Project. A Flash Projects lets you group multiple, and related files together to help you keep track of complex applications. Flash lets you apply version-control to ensure that the correct file versions are used during editing and to prevent accidental overwriting. A Flash Project is essentially a collection of any Flash or other file types, including Flash SWF and FLA files and even other Flash projects. When you open an existing project, the Project panel gives you instant access to all the various parts of the project. The Flash Project panel is used to create and manage projects. The Project panel displays the contents of a Flash Project using a collapsible tree structure. Flash limits you to opening or creating one project at a time. Any changes made to the project are automatically saved to the project file, so it’s not necessary to perform a Save operation. Creating and Managing a Project Create and Manage a Project Click the Window menu, point to Other Panels, and then click Project to open the Project panel. ◆ Quick Project. You can create a quick project. A quick project is based on the currently open FLA file. Click the Projects list arrow in the Project panel, and then click Quick Project. Click the Projects list arrow, and then click New Project. Name the new project, locate and select a root folder location for the project file, and then click OK. Any folders in the selected root folder appear in the Project panel. Click the ActionScript version list arrow, and then click ActionScript 3.0 or ActionScript 2.0. Click Create Project. 5 4 3 2 1 5 Did You Know? You can open a project. Click the Projects list arrow in the Project panel, and then click Open Project, browse to the project folder, and then click OK. 1 2 3 4 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 21 Working with Projects and Other Programs 517 Manage a project using any of the following options: ◆ Add Folder. Click the New Folder button, type the folder name, and then click Create Folder. ◆ Delete Folder. Select the folder, click the Delete button to delete a selected project asset. ◆ Close Project. Click the Options menu, and then click Close Project. ◆ Delete Project. Open the project, click the Options menu, and then click Delete Project. Select a delete content option, and then click Yes. ◆ Rename Project. Click the Options menu, click Rename Project, type a name, and then click OK. ◆ Switch Open Projects. Click the Project list arrow, and then click the open project name. ◆ Project Properties. Click the Options menu, click Project Properties, specify options on the different tabs (Classes, Locations, and Paths), and then click OK. Click the Close button on the Project panel. 7 6 Did You Know? You can convert previous projects to the new project format. In previous versions of Flash, projects used an XML file with a .FLP extension. To con- vert it, simply open it in Flash CS4. Open the Project panel, click the Project list arrow, click Open Project, navigate to the folder with the project, and then click OK. Delete button Options menu Project name Create Class button New File button New Folder button Create a new folder 7 Project files New folder From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 518 Chapter 21 A project is a collection of files that you can manage directly from Flash. The Project panel displays files by filename extension. By default, the Project panel only shows Flash documents type (FLA, SWF, SWC, AS, JSFL, ASC, MXML). If you want to display other types, you can change settings in Panel Preferences. You can also hide files or folder by pre- ceding the file or folder name with a special character, such as an underscore, and enabling the option in Panel Preferences. When you work with the same project, the Project Panel shows all recently opened files in the Recent Files folder for easy access. You can create files, including Flash and ActionScript, from the Project panel. Managing Project Files Manage Project Files Click the Window menu, point to Other Panels, and then click Project to open the Project panel. Manage files using any of the following options: ◆ Create File. Select the folder where you want the file (no selection is the root), click the New File button, enter a name, select a file type, and then click Create File. ◆ Open File. Double-click the file in the Project panel. ◆ Delete File. Select the file, click the Delete button, and then click Yes to delete a selected project asset. ◆ Publish. Select or clear the file check box on the right to add or remove the file to/from the publishing list. ◆ Pin a Directory. Select a folder, and then click the Pin Directory button; click again to unpin. Click the Close button on the Project panel. 3 2 1 Did You Know? You can clear the Recent Files list. In the Project panel, click the Options menu, and then click Clear Recent Files. 1 Delete button Options menu New File button 3 Options menu Panel Preferences From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 21 Working with Projects and Other Programs 519 Change Project Properties In the Project panel, click the Options menu, and then click Project Properties. Click any of the following tabs: ◆ Classes. Specify the ActionScript version, and class file folder locations. ◆ Locations. Specify additional source folder locations. ◆ Paths. Specify the location Flex SDK files for use in Flash to create skins and other visual elements in Flex. Click OK. Change Panel Preferences In the Project panel, click the Options menu, and then click Panel Preferences. Click any of the following tabs: ◆ Classes. Specify the ActionScript version, and class file folder locations. ◆ Settings. Change defaults filters, hide files or folders based on the name, and show or hide classes folder, hidden files, or recent files. ◆ Locations. Specify additional source folder locations. Click OK. 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 1 2 3 1 2 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 520 Chapter 21 Project comes up to test. 6 A project is a collection of files that constitute a complex project. For example, you can create a Flash project that contains 5 Flash docu- ments, with interactive buttons on the pages to call the other pages. If all of the FLA files are located within the same project, it's an easy mat- ter to test the entire project. You must first select one of the files as the main file, and then simply click the Test Project button. Flash will auto- matically publish all of the Flash documents in the project, display the main file, and then allow you to test its operation. It's that simple. Testing a Project Test a Project Click the Window menu, point to Other Panels, and then click Project to open the Project panel. If the project you want to test is not open, click the Project list arrow, click Open Project in the Project panel, and then select the appropriate file. Click Open. IMPORTANT Since testing a project involves moving among different Flash movies, your published documents will have to have interactive buttons linked to all the other pages within the project, or the test will not work. Right-click (Win) or Control-click (Mac) one of the FLA or HTML files in the project. Click Make Default Document from the available options. Click Test Project. 6 5 4 3 2 1 See Also See Chapter 17, “Debugging a Movie” on page 409 for more information on how to perform debugging operations on a running Flash movie. 5 1 4 2 From the Library of Wow! eBook . ptg 516 Chapter 21 In Flash, you can manage multiple document files within a Flash Project. A Flash Projects lets you group multiple,. Project is essentially a collection of any Flash or other file types, including Flash SWF and FLA files and even other Flash projects. When you open an existing