Flash trouble

Question

Here is what I need to do:
I am trying to program next and a back buttons to navigate
through a slide show. I have done this many times in older Flash
versions but in the new cs3 Flash I am unable to do what I usually
did. Can someone please give me the proper actions to apply to a
back button and a next button? I know, it's probably simple. :)
Thanks.
Also, my old preloader doesn't work so if I could get help on
the programming for that it would be a bonus!
Here is what I got:
WARNING: Text field variable names are not supported in
ActionScript 3.0. The variable 'percentageOutput' used for an
unnamed text field will not be exported.
WARNING: Actions on button or MovieClip instances are not
supported in ActionScript 3.0. All scripts on object instances will
be ignored.

Answer 1

tjc yeah,
> I have done this many times in older Flash versions but
> in the new cs3 Flash I am unable to do what I usually
did.
By default, Flash CS3 creates FLAs based on ActionScript
3.0, and it's
the language (not Flash CS3 itself) that is (probably)
causing your
headaches. Configure your Publish Settings for ActionScript
2.0, and you'll
be back in familiar territory.
> WARNING: Text field variable names are not supported
> in ActionScript 3.0.
Bingo! You might just want to switch back to ActionScript
2.0 for the
time being. That will keep you productive while you find
spare time to
learn ActionScript 3.0.
That said, text field variable names are a very old way --
Flash 4 era,
I think -- of displaying text in text fields. Even in
ActionScript 2.0, you
can forego the the var field of the Property inspector and,
instead, give
the text field an instace name, then refer to that instance
name in your
code. The instance name is what allows ActionScript to speak
directly to
your text field (or any object, really, including movie
clips).
Now that you can address your object -- in this case, a text
field --
how do you know what to tell it? What language does it speak?
Fortunately,
everything is laid out for you in the ActionScript 2.0 (or
3.0) Language
Reference. Since you're dealing with a text field, you'll
want to look up
the TextField class. Classes define objects, so they're
effectively mini
Owner's Manuals for the object at hand.
You'll generally fine one or more of the following three
categories in
class entries: properties (characteristics), methods (things
the object can
do), and events (things the object can react to). In the case
of TextField,
you'll find the TextField.text property. That allows you to
set the textual
content of a given text field. To use this feature, you'll
refer to a
particular TextField instance -- meaning, whatever instance
name you chose,
such as myTextField -- then put a dot, then the desired
property:
myTextField.text = "Here's my message.";
That's instead of setting a string variable and associating
that
variable with a text field. Just a different approach.
ActionScript 2.0
lets you do it either way, which makes AS2 a nice transition
ground toward
the new language.
> WARNING: Actions on button or MovieClip instances
> are not supported in ActionScript 3.0.
Bingo again. :) Maybe change your publish settings for now,
then make
time to get used to the new paradigm. Here a a few articles
that may get
you started:
http://www.quip.net/blog/2006/flash/museum-pieces-on-and-onclipevent
http://www.quip.net/blog/2007/flash/making-buttons-work-in-flash-cs3
David Stiller
Co-author, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers
http://tinyurl.com/2k29mj
"Luck is the residue of good design."