Rollover button to be triggered by area smaller than button

[susancvineyard]

I'm pretty new at Flash. I am creating a flash file to insert into a
PowerPoint, since PP has no way to really use mouseovers. This is my first
project, but I'm going to want to do a lot with this technique in the future.

I have an image of the toolbar of our software and images (transparent pngs)
of the tooltips with arrows that will point to the icon.

I can make a roll-over button that only appears when the user rolls over the
icon, but the tooltip text is wider than the icon that triggers it, so the
buttons I'm creating overlap.

So I want the area that triggers the roll-over effect to be smaller than the
button. Or is there a better way to accomplish this task?

Thanks for any advice!

[clbeech]

in your button (double click the button instance in the library panel) you will
see a 'hit' frame - draw anything you would like at any size within that frame
and it will act as the 'hitArea' for the button.

another way to do this, in the case that the 'button' is a MC, is to 'assign'
the hitArea property of the MC to any other MC you wish and have drawn.

[lenrique21]

Great templates and many other cool flash applications at:
http://flashden.net?ref=luke

[clbeech]

@lenrique21 - thanks a bunch for that SPAM post ...
____________________________

susancvineyard - you're very welcome :) so, in re-reading your initial post i
noticed that you say the 'some' of the buttons 'overlap' - this could be part
of the problem, since the event handlers will often only read the uppermost
depth. placing them on independent 'layers' wont really help you I'm afraid,
you just need to make sure that the hit areas (that you have now defined) do
not overlap one another. there are a few other tricks but it would require much
more in the structuring and coding of your document.

[susancvineyard]

OK. The "HIT" areas do not overlap, but the "buttons" they trigger do.

Question: What happens to the "HIT" areas when you redo them? Do the
originals go away? I've messed with this file quite a bit, and it just seems
to get worse. I'm wondering if it's now got some trash code in it and I just
need to start from scratch, now that I know (somewhat) what I'm doing . . .

[clbeech]

not exactly no - when you change the hit area it will simply use that shape or
object as the area that triggers the button - if you remove everything from the
frame it will use the 'overall' area of the button's bounding box as the
'trigger'. perhaps you have the 'other' elements 'extending' into the hit
frame? remember 'anything' that's in the frame will be used.

It's hard to tell just what's going on without seeing the document set up - if
you could post the fla that would be helpful and we could take a look.

[susancvineyard]

OK. You can download it here:

http://vineyardcommunication.com/hold/toolbar.fla

Thanks. If I can figure out how to do this, I can do a lot more that I need to do . . .

[Zatechz]

Hey, just popped my head in here and had the time to work on your file for a
sec, so I thought I'd post up what your looking for. I also added a little fade
effect you can hopefully look at and learn fairly easily how it was done.

If you have any questions though, ask here!

http://www.joeltinley.com/toolbarNew.fla

[susancvineyard]

unfortunatley, I can't open it. Is that because I only have Flash MX?

(Maybe if I get good enough at this, they'll buy me a newer version.)

I want to see it! What did I wrong?

[Zatechz]

Hmm I saved it to Flash 8 format.

In flash go to Help, then at the bottom of the pulldown it'll say "About *your
flash version*".

If yours is Flash 2004 MX or MX Professional, I guess you won't be able to
open up my example >_<

[clbeech]

looks good Zatechz - what was the issue?

@susancvineyard - nice looking toolbar - good job :)

[susancvineyard]

Thanks, clbeech and zatechz. I do have Flash mx. Can you tell me what I did wrong, so I can fix it in my version, please?

[clbeech]

I had not yet DLed your original and only looked at the one Z had provided - it
appears as though the 'hit' frames have not been changed in your original (at
least for the set of buttons on the left) - and indeed they were overlapping
which was the cause of the problem (as i had speculated) so to remedy - Z
created a small solid 'box' directly over the position of the button to act as
the hit area (in the hit frame of the button only) ... and then he added a nice
simple little fade in transition for the tooltip mc (a simple 5 frame motion
tween)

when he has a new version for you, it will be apparent what was changed :)

[susancvineyard]

Is there a way you can SEE where your hits are placed?

[clbeech]

yes - whatever you draw in the hit frame will be where it is placed. perhaps
your trying to do this by double clicking the symbol in the library? double
click the button while it's on the stage, and then you can 'see through' the
actual button to the stage, in this way you can then position the hit area just
where you need in relation to the registration point of the button.

[Zatechz]

Sorry, because I edited your file with Flash CS3, I cannot revert it back to
Flash MX 2004, it only goes back to Flash 8. So I made a screenshot to
hopefully explain what I did to make your buttons work. The link is below:

http://www.joeltinley.com/images/helpGraphic_01.jpg

[clbeech]

I have a version of Flash8 and converted Zatechz's file for you to MX http://www.beechstudios.com/toolbarNew_MX.zip

[susancvineyard]

Thank you guys so much! I tried to re-do the bar yesterday and it worked fine
when I did the first half, but quit working after I did the last 1/2 of the
buttons--again!

Maybe I can figure out what I'm doing wrong by studying the bar you fixed for
me.

Unfortunately, I'm in class all day today, and unfortunately, it's not Flash
class, so I may have more questions next week.

Thanks again for your time and help.

[susancvineyard]

Thanks for all of your help.

I found that what I was doing wrong was not inserting a keyframe before I created the hit area. Everything works great now!