Copying and Element

Question

I've created an element consisting of three paragraphs of text and animated within the element on its own timeline.  This element has been turned into a symbol.  We'll call this element "original".
I then copied original in order to make a second, similar element, and named the copy duplicate.  When I double click on duplicate in order to modify it's timeline, I keep drilling down into original.
I've tried copy/paste from inside the Elements panel on the right and I've tried copy/paste from within the main stage timeline.  In both cases, the remaned copy (duplicate) does not open and allow me to make changes without those changes being effected on the timeline of original.
I don't want a second, identical iteration of original, I want to use original as a template to build out a similar but different element/symbol called duplicate.
I am running the most current copy of EA - downloaded last night.
Thoughts?
Thank you.
Andy.

Answer 1

Version 3 of EA:
You can use the same symbol and change it's content dynamically whether it is text or images.
Give us a little more details on what you are doing.
I usually make array of text and images and then use the array to load what I want in the symbol.
I created this example for another user who wanted to change the image of a symbol. If you have text you can do the same thing. I updated for you with text for you to see how it is done:
https://app.box.com/s/3ms92f5cv0mylspsi5uo
You could also have the array made differently if you have more different elements:
example:
var info = [
{ 'title': ' A fish', 'image': 'images/fish.jpg', 'description':' A fish is an animal that lives in water.' },
{ 'title': ' A rose', 'image': 'images/rose.jpg', 'description':' A rose is a flower with many diiferent colors.' },
{ 'title': ' A dog', 'image': 'images/dog.jpg', 'description':' A dog is an animal that is well adapted to be a pet.' },
{ 'title': ' A corvette', 'image': 'images/corvette.jpg', 'description':' A covervette is a sports car.' }
Then you can use the array with:
sym.getSymbol("#newButton"+i).$('fruit').attr('src','images/'+info[i].image+'.png');
sym.getSymbol("#newButton"+i).$('title').html(info[i].title);
sym.getSymbol("#newButton"+i).$('descrition').html(info[i].description);