Working with projects



    About projects

    You can use Flash projects to manage multiple document files in a single project. Flash projects allow you to group multiple, related files together when creating complex applications.

    A Flash project can contain any Flash file or other file type, including previous versions of FLA and SWF files.

    An updated version of the Flash CS4 Project panel is available from Grant Skinner's blog. You can install the updated version with Adobe® Extension Manager CS4. To download Extension Manager, visit the Extension Manager download page at www.adobe.com/go/extension_manager_dl_en. For information about installing extensions with Adobe® Extension Manager, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_extension_manager_en.

    Create and manage projects

    You use the Project panel (Window > Other Panels > Project) to create and manage projects. The panel displays the contents of a Flash project in a collapsible tree structure. The panel title bar displays the project name.

    If certain types of project files are missing (not in the specified location), a dialog specifying which items are missing will alert you to the missing files, and give you an opportunity to browse for their locations. Missing files are most commonly external folders not inside the root project folder. All other files are automatically updated based on the root project folder location.

    When you publish a project, each FLA file in the Publish List (denoted by a check mark next to the FLA name) is published with the publish profile specified for that file.

    Only one project can be open at one time. If a project is open and you open or create another project, Flash automatically saves and closes the first project.

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    The Project panel

    A.
    Project menu

    B.
    Options menu

    C.
    Pin

    D.
    New folder

    E.
    New file

    F.
    Create class

    Create a project

    1. From the Project menu select New Project.
    2. Browse for a folder.
    3. Choose a name for your project. The Project panel uses the name of the folder containing the project by default.
    4. From the ActionScript Version menu, choose the type of project you would like to create: ActionScript 3.0 or ActionScript 2.0.

      Flash adds the project to the Project menu, and the Project Panel displays the contents of the directory that contains the selected folder.

    Flash reads the directory of the initial folder you choose. To change directories, create another project.

    Create a Quick Project

    The Project panel allows you to quickly create a project based on the currently open FLA file. A Quick Project is identical to any other project.

     Select Quick Project from the Project menu.

    Flash creates a project using the front most FLA file as the default document. The Quick Project will be named after the FLA file.

    To remove the Quick Project, delete it from the Project menu.

    Multiple Quick Projects are allowed.

    Note: Creating a Quick Project from a FLA file that resides in the root of another project changes the name of the other project to the name of the FLA file, and sets the default document to the FLA file.

    Open an existing project

    1. Select Window > Other Panels > Project to open the Project panel.
    2. Select Open Project from the Project pop-up menu in the Project panel.
    3. Using the Browse For Folder dialog box, navigate into the folder containing the project and click OK.
    Note: You cannot open Dreamweaver projects in the Flash Project panel.

    Close a project

     Select Close Project from the Options pop-up menu.

    Delete a project

    1. Open the Project you want to delete.
    2. From the Options pop-up menu select Delete Project.
    3. Select how to delete the project:

      • Delete the currently active project from the Project Panel.

      • Delete the currently active project from the Project Panel and all of the files stored in the project directory. This deletes all of the selected files from the file system.

    Flash removes the selected project from the Project panel.

    Convert previous projects to the new project format

    In versions of Flash prior to CS4, projects used an XML file with the filename extension .flp—for example, myProject.flp. To use projects created in previous versions of Flash, you must convert the old project to the new format.

    1. Select Window > Other Panels > Project to open the Project panel.
    2. Select Open Project from the Project pop-up menu in the Project panel.
    3. Using the Browse For Folder dialog box, navigate to the folder containing the FLP file, and click OK, specifying that folder as the converted project’s root folder.

    The contents of the specified folder will be displayed in the Project panel.

    Add a new file or folder to a project

    The Project panel allows you to open, create, and remove files and folders.

    The Project panel filters files by filename extension. However, you can manually hide files by preceding the filename with a special character, such as an underscore. To enable this feature, enter the special characters to filter in the “Hide files or folders beginning with” section of the Panel Preferences (Options > Panel Preferences).

    By default, the Project panel only shows Flash document types (FLA, SWF, SWC, AS, JSFL, ASC, MXML, TXT, XML), but you can add custom types in the Settings tab of the Panel Preferences (Options > Panel Preferences).

    The Project panel shows all files opened recently in the panel in the Recent Files folder at the top of the project tree.

    Recent Files are sorted in the order they were opened. Only files opened with the Project panel appear in this list. To disable/enable the recent files folder, toggle the Show Recent Files checkbox in the Settings Tab of the Panel Preferences. You can also specify how many files are shown in the list.

    To clear the Recent Files list, select Clear Recent Files from the Options menu, or right-click the Recent Files folder, and select Clear Recent Files from the context menu. Clearing the recent files list does not remove the files from your computer.

    1. Select the folder in which you want to create the file or folder. If there is no selection, Flash creates the file or folder in the project root folder.
    2. Click the New File or New Folder button at the bottom of the panel.
    3. Choose a name and a file type (files only). Select the Open File After Creation checkbox to open the new file in Flash. Then click Create File.
    Note: If a file or folder with the name you’ve specified already exists, a dialog alerts you about the existing file or folder.

    The new file appears in the file list.

    Rename a project

    1. Select the project name in the Project panel.
    2. Select Rename Project from the Options pop-up menu.
    3. Enter a new name and click OK.

    Open a file from the Project panel in Flash

     Double-click the filename in the Project panel.

    If the file is of a native file type (a type supported by the Flash authoring tool), the file opens in Flash. If the file is a non-native file type, the file opens in the application used to create it.

    Remove a file or folder from a project

    1. Select the file or folder you want to remove from the file list.
    2. Click the Delete icon in the far right of the icon tray, or press the Delete key.

      You can also right-click on the file or folder and choose Delete from the context menu.

    3. In the dialog box that appears, confirm your selection.

      Flash deletes the file from your hard drive completely. Deleting a file or directory cannot be undone. Deleting a folder also removes its files and subdirectories.

    Add an external folder to a project

    The Project panel allows for the addition of folders external to the project root folder, referred to as locations. Folder paths can be added (and shown or hidden) on a global basis, or per project. Locations act as any other folder, and have all the same functionality as folders in the project root folder.

    1. Open the Panel or Project Preferences.
    2. Select the Locations tab.
    3. To make locations visible in the project file list, select the “Specify additional source folders outside of the root project folder” checkbox.
    4. Click the “+” button.
    5. Browse to the external folder you want to add.
    6. Give the location a name.

      Location names can be changed at any time in the Project or Panel preferences by selecting the desired location and clicking on the Rename Location button.

    7. When you are finished adding locations, click OK to close the dialog. Location folders appear above all other folders in the file list.

    You cannot delete or remove a location in the operating system file browser. Remove them using the Locations tab in the Project or Panel preferences.

    Create ActionScript classes

    The Project panel supports creating template-based ActionScript classes within an ActionScript package structure. Use the Create Class button to add class files to specified packages. ActionScript 3.0 and ActionScript 2.0 templates are supported.

    Use the panel preferences to specify options for classes. If you specify a folder in the Save Classes In text box in the Classes tab of the Panel preferences, the Project panel shows that folder in the project directory with a <> symbol to indicate that it is the default location for new classes. Flash adds this folder to the class path when publishing via the Project panel.

    This class path folder can reside in a subdirectory of your project folder, in a directory relative to your project folder, or anywhere on your computer. You can set the class path globally in the Panel preferences, or per project in the Project preferences. By default, all class packages are stored in the root of your project.

    The classes’ folder visibility can be toggled in the Project panel preferences Settings tab.

    1. Click the Create Class button at the bottom of the Project panel.
    2. Enter the package path of your class.
    3. Select Bind Class to Library Symbol to create a movie clip in your library (in the same folder structure as your package path). To bind to an existing movie clip, select a movie clip in the library, and select Use Selected Library Symbol in the Create Class dialog box. Flash moves the movie clip to the appropriate location in the library, and updates the symbol linkage to reflect the new class.
    4. Select Declare Stage Instances to add variable declarations and import statements to the new class file to account for all of the named instances on the timeline of the selected movie clip.
    5. Select Open File After Creation to open your class file for editing after it is created.
    6. Click Create Class.

      The Project panel creates the class file based on the class template, and places it in the appropriate package directory, creating directories if necessary.

    Clicking the Create Class button does not overwrite class files. If the file exists, it does not create a new file. This can be useful if you would like to bind an existing class to a movie clip, move the movie clip into the appropriate library folder, and set the appropriate linkages.

    Create class templates

    The Project panel supports a simple template structure, used when creating class files. This system is composed of four files. All the base files are located in the Flash Configuration folder, in the /Project/templates/ subdirectory.

    The four files are:

    1. boundClass_as2.as

    2. boundClass_as3.as

    3. standardClass_as2.as

    4. standardClass_as3.as

    Each of these template files has custom template tags that are replaced with dynamic data when a new class is created. You can place these tags anywhere in your class template file.

    The following are the tags included in each file:

    • All classes:

      %PACKAGE_NAME%

      %CLASS_NAME%

      %BASE_CLASS_NAME% (AS3 only)

    • Bound class only:

      %LINKAGE_ID%

      %AUTO_IMPORTS%

      %AUTO_ELEMENTS%

    To create a template file, you can either modify the template files, or create your own class template. To change the default class templates, open the Panel Preferences and browse to the correct template file. Flash then uses this file for all your projects.

    The Project preferences dialog contains a similar tab that allows you to set template files on a per-project basis.

    The templates set in the Panel preferences is only used when creating new projects. To change a template path for a project, set it in the Project preferences. Template paths in the Project and Panel preferences must be absolute. Relative paths are not supported.

    Pin a directory

    When dealing with large projects, you can reduce clutter by only showing files in a specific directory.

    1. Select the directory you would like to pin.
    2. Click the Pin Directory button.

      The Pin Directory button changes to the Unpin Directory button, and the selected directory appears at the root of the project listing.

    To pin a different directory, un-pin the current pinned directory first.

    Locations and the classes folder (and their subdirectories) can also be pinned. When a location or the classes folder (or subfolder) is pinned, the classes folder is not visible.

    Compiling FLA files

    • To test, publish or export a FLA file, right-click (Windows) or command-click (Macintosh) on any FLA file in the project tree and select the appropriate action from the context menu.

    • To test a project, click the Test Project button.

      Flash compiles the movie specified as the default document and opens the resulting SWF file. You can change the default document at any time by right-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh) on any FLA file and choosing Make Default Document from the context menu.

    The Project panel allows you to create a publish list. This is a list of FLA files that can be batch-compiled at any time.

    • To add or remove files from the publish list, select the checkbox to the right of each FLA file in the project list.

    • To publish the files in the publish list, click Publish List in the Project panel Options menu.

      If one of the FLA files has errors when compiling, the Project panel stops compiling the list and displays the error in the Output panel.

    Create Flash projects for use with Flex class files

    Flash lets you create skins and other visual elements for use in Flex, as well as allowing you to create ActionScript code in Flex but publish the resulting SWF file using Flash. To support the use Flex class files in Flash, the Project panel provides support for identifying the Flex SDK.

    To use Flex classes in Flash, you must specify the location of the Flex SDK.

    1. Create a project.
    2. Select Project Properties from the Options pop-up menu.
    3. Select the Paths tab, and enter the directory path or browse to the Flex SDK. For example: C:\Program Files\Adobe FlexBuilder 3\sdks\3.0.0
    4. From the Paths tab, select the Source tab and add the path to any folders containing ActionScript class files.

      Click the Plus (+) button to enter a path, or the Browse button to select a folder containing class files. To delete a path, select it and click the Minus (-) button.

    5. Select the Library tab, and enter the path to SWC (Flash component) files or folders containing SWC files.

      Click the Plus (+) button to enter a path, or the Browse button to select a folder containing SWC files. To delete an SWC file or folder, select it and click the Minus (-) button.

    6. Select the External Library tab, and enter the path to SWC (Flash component) files or folders containing SWC files loaded as runtime shared libraries.

      Click the Plus (+) button to enter a path or the Browse button to select a folder containing SWC files. To delete an SWC file or folder, select it and click the Minus (-) button.

    7. Click OK.

    Additional resources

    The following resources provide additional detailed information about working with projects.