Cs3 - UILoader Component

Question

Hello,
After many different forum searches, I still can't find the
answer to my newbie problem when using Flash CS3.
I'm trying to use the UILoader component that creates an
empty container into which I want to load an external swf file.
Without using AS, in the parameter box for the "container" placed
on the stage of my main movie, I specify the name of the file I
want to load (box.swf). Upon testing the movie, two problems occur.
First, I can't figure out how to ensure that displayed
position the loaded swf is centered on the stage. I've tried moving
the container such that it's lower right corner sits on the stage's
spot where I want the UL corner of the swf to play, but no joy.
Secondly, instead of placing the external swf inside of the
container and scaling it appropriately, the loaded swf (as
mentioned previously) loads outside of the container's position,
and cuts off a portion of the swf. I've tried ensuring that the
container is the same size as the swf (or even bigger), but again
to no avail.
Can someone please point out what I must be doing wrong? The
external swf plays well on its own and simply represents a motion
tween of a box growing in size and changing shape over the course
of 20 or so frames.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
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Answer 1

Thanks for your fast response, dzedward.
Here goes...I hope you'll bear with me. Since I don't know
what type of background info you need, I'll explain in detail.
Background:
I'm creating a flash presentation that we can display on a
large monitor at a tradeshow. The presentation will simply play
from a connected laptop and loop, without the need for user
navigation (no buttons). This is my first time creating such a long
file (I anticipate that this will play for 3-4 minutes straight) so
I thought it would be best if the main timeline were to call and
load successive smaller, stand-alone swfs at selected times, based
as the playhead moves through the timeline in a single pass. I'd be
able to minimize the size of the main file in this way.
Trouble Using AS3:
As a newbie, I don't have much experience with AS3. Using an
AS3 script found online I've been able to load a single swf into
the timeline of my main movie successfully, but when I try to load
another later on in the main timeline, neither swf plays....most of
the scripts and forum answers I've come across over this past few
days deal with AS2 or earlier versions, so I can't use or learn
from them.
Using the UILoader Widget:
Thats when I saw reference to using Flash CS3's UILoader
Component for this purpose (accessed via Window>Components
menu). What it does is create an empty container into which you can
load an external swf, jpg, or png file. You first simply drag and
drop the widget onto the stage from the component window. Then,
from the container's property window, you choose its dimensions and
placement on the stage. Via the container's parameter window you
tell it whether to autoload the content, maintain aspect ratio,
and/or scale the content, as well as provide the name of the source
file you want to load. It seems pretty simple - even I can do it
and can get it to work when I load a jpg or selected swf file. Upon
testing the movie, the jpg or swf plays back INSIDE the container,
scaled down or up based on the container's size as it relates to
that of the source file. So far so good.
You'll see from this widget that you only need to specify
"true" or "false" for the autoload, maintain aspect, and scale
content questions. I've done this inside the widget as I'm not sure
how to accomplish this with the scaleContent and scaleAspectRatio
parameters you mention using actionscript.
Problem When Using UILoader Widget:
Here's the problem I'm having. As I mentioned, I've created a
short 20-frame animation output to swf showing a white box that
grows in size and changes shape against a black background, using
the same frame rate (30fps)_and dimensions as my main movie. The
animation is a simple shape tween, with no actionscript other than
a stop ( ) ; placed on the last frame of an actionscript layer to
prevent looping. It plays as desired on it's own. However, when I
load it into the UILoader container that is centered on the stage
of my main timeline and then test the movie, two problems occur.
Firstly, the animation does not play inside the container;
instead, the upper left corner of the loaded swf animation shows up
where the lower right corner of the container showed up on the
stage (hence I only see one corner of the animation). Secondly, the
animation is cropped; the visible outer edges of the morphing white
box are cut off meaning that I lose the visual effect of the shape
tween.
I saw reference online elsewhere to the possible need to
position the container on the stage such that it's lower right
corner is where you want the upper left corner of the animation to
be placed, but this doesn't make sense to me (it's likely that I
misunderstood what I read). I did try this however, and while doing
so allowed me to more correctly center the external animation
within the main movie, it's edges are still cropped. To me it
should have been placed inside of the container and scaled.
I'd love to be able to do this using actionscript 3.0, but
I'm having even more trouble with this and haven't found any
comparable tutorials or forums explaining how to load and unload
multiple swfs into a main timeline without the need to control
using buttons or a mouse. I'd like to be able to specify on the
main timeline when a particular swf is played, then do so again
later on in the same timeline with another swf file, and so on.....
I don't know if this explanation will make anymore sense. I
could send you the fla or even screenshots showing what I see
during playback of the short animation inside of my main flash file
you can provide me with your address and feel that it would help.
It looks like I can only post code from this forum.
Thanks for reading through this and for your possible help!