Sothink SWF Easy - Use UI Components

Components enable you to build complex Flash applications, even if you don't have an advanced understanding of ActionScript. Rather than creating custom buttons, combo boxes, and lists, you can drag these components from the Components panel to add functionality to your applications. You can also easily customize the look and feel of components to suit your design needs.

Each component has predefined parameters that you can set while authoring in Flash. Each component also has a unique set of ActionScript methods, properties, and events, also called an API (application programming interface), that allows you to set parameters and additional options at runtime.

UI Component class

The UIComponent class does not represent a visual component; it contains methods, properties, and events that allow components to share some common behavior. The UIComponent class lets you do the following:

• Receive focus and keyboard input
• Enable and disable components
• Resize by layout

Parameters

Each component has parameters that you can set to change its appearance and behavior. A parameter is a property that appears in the Property inspector and Component inspector. The most commonly used properties appear as authoring parameters; others must be set with ActionScript. All parameters that can be set during authoring can also be set with ActionScript. Setting a parameter with ActionScript overrides any value set during authoring.

All User Interface (UI) components inherit properties and methods from the UIObject and UIComponent classes; these are the properties and methods that all components use, like UIObject.setSize() and UIObject.setStyle(). Each component also has unique properties and methods, some of which are available as authoring parameters.

In Sothink SWF Easy, component is set in its Properties panel. Once you add a component by dragging it from Component panel to the canvas or double clicking it, the Properties panel will turn to be the one for Component. You can set parameters and properties under tab Parameter and set methods and events under tab Action.

For more details, you may link to learn Properties setting for component.