RE: FLASH: OT : 10 new Generator Objects atFlash Exchange

[Paul Willoughby]

Hi Mike,


I've been looking at possibilities of generator recently, but I'm still

not sure what it's most useful for. For example, the  Insert Tween

object looks really cool, but the example seems odd to me. I've just

made a similar scrolling menu with all the URL's in a seperate text

file. The FLA could be extended to build it's own menus based purely on

the contents of this text file, without Generator or ASP, so under what

circumstances would it be useful to use Generator for this (esp.

considering the cost for the enterprise edition)? 


I know it's just a demo of the possibilities, but this is what I'm still

having problems getting my head round. Say, for example, I had 20 SWF's

and 100 text files of supporting data for each SWF. The text is updated

weekly, but the SWF's might only change once a month. Would there be any

point putting this kind of structure into Generator?


Here's what I really want to know...Can you explain in 15 words or less

;-) the point of Generator? 


Cheers!


paul


Mike Chambers wrote on 29 November 2000:


> 10 new Generator objects have been released on the Flash Exchange. You

> may view and download them at :

> 

> http://dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/exchange/flash/main.jsp

> 

> Below is a description of the objects which have been released.

> 

> Insert Actions - This objects allows the user to dynamically insert

> certain Action Script commands into a Flash movie.

> 

> Insert Date / Time - Makes the server's date or time available for use

> in a Generator template. Useful, for letting users know when content

> was last updated, or version control during development. See

> http://www.markme.com/~mesh/insertTime_demo.jsp for a demo.

> 

> Insert Flash Variables - This object allows users to use Generator to

> dynamically insert flash 4 arrays into a Flash movie. Users can then

> use this object in place of middle ware to dynamically pull data into

> their movies on the client side. This has the benefits of not

> requiring the user to have to know a middle ware language, providing

> the ability to completely work within the Flash / Generator authoring

> environment, and the ease of loading and working with Flash data

> structures (Flash 4 arrays).

> 

> Insert Image - This allows users to dynamically insert images into a

> Flash movie regardless of the file type (png, jpg, or gif). Currently,

> you have to use a separate Generator object for each image type. Now

> you only have to use one.

> 

> Insert Text - This allows the user to dynamically insert text into a

> Flash movie and dynamically set its attributes (such as font type,

> size, color, etc...).

> 

> Insert Tweens - This object dynamically inserts multiple symbols into

> a Flash movie and allows you to dynamically place motion, scale and

> rotation tweens on those symbols. It can be used in a similar way to

> the Plot object, but with multiple symbols. See

> http://www.markme.com/~mesh/InsertTween.jsp for a demo..

> 

> Select Box - This object dynamically creates html like select boxes.

> 

> Tree Menu - This object creates expandable, very complex tree /

> hierarchical menus.

> 

> XML Column Data Source - This object allows the user to use certain

> formats of XML as a data source for Generator objects. (does not

> currently work on the Mac) See :

> http://www.markme.com/~mesh/XMLColumn.jsp

> 

> Insert Slashdot News - This object allows the user to use an XML news

> feed from Slashdot.org (a technology news site), as a data source for

> Generator. (does not currently work on the Mac) See :

> http://www.markme.com/~mesh/slashdot.jsp

> 

> 

> Have fun...

> 

> Mike Chambers

> 

>

meshmacromedia [dot] com

> 


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