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Flash Article

 

Skinning the Flash MX 2004 Components


Chafic Kazoun

Chafic Kazoun

http://www.atellis.com
http://www.rewindlife.com

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Benefits of the New Skinning Architecture
  3. Understanding the New Skinning Architecture
  4. Skinning Without Code
  5. Skinning with Code
  6. More Advanced Skinning
Created:
19 July 2004
User Level:
Intermediate, Advanced

The Macromedia Flash MX 2004 components have come a long way in functionality from previous versions. One of the areas that have been completely re-thought is the possible skinning mechanisms. Although the new components offer many options and are more flexible than in previous versions, it hasn’t been easy to realize the benefits.

In this article I explore skinning components using the many skinning options available. I cover skinning using the library and themes, and through code I explore skinning using the prototype method, subclassing a component class, and the initObject method. Armed with this, you will be able to take better control of your application's look and feel and have a good understanding of how flexible the new skinning architecture is in Flash MX 2004.

Requirements

To make the most of this article, you need the following:

Macromedia Flash MX 2004

Flash MX 2004 7.2 Updater (Ellipsis)

  • Download the 7.2 Updater for Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004

Sample files

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About the author

Chafic Kazoun is the Founder and CTO of Atellis, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that specializes in developing Rich Internet Applications and Product. At Atellis Chafic manages, architects, and develops applications and components. Chafic has been actively involved in the Flash community, has delivered presentations at numerous conferences, and has contributed to published works. He is also a Team Macromedia Volunteer and maintains a weblogs at www.rewindlife.com.