How to use Flash to create an interactive diagram

Question

Hi all.
I am an extreme newbie. I would like to create an interactive diagram and somebody said I should use Flash to do it.
The idea is to create an organisational chart (like the ones you can produce in MS Word 2010). Each position will have its own box or button. When a user clicks on that box or button, a Word document or internet link will be activated and take the user to this other resource.
Is it possible to do this in Flash?
The reason why I am choosing Flash is because I would like to make alot of these diagrams and they have to go into Moodle. Apparently Flash is the only program I should use to import the diagram into Moodle.
Can anybody please help me with some advice on how to do this?
Thanks
Sharyn

Answer 1

For the diagram end of things... start by creating the diagram in Flash.  Whatever you intend to use as clickable items, create them as movieclip symbols so that you will be able to assign instance names to them.  You assign instance names by selecting the object on the stage and entering a unique name in the Properties panel where it says <Instance Name>.  That name will be used in the code you will use to create the clicking/linking functionality.
The the linking end of things, start simple... create a diagram that has just one item to click and get that one item working.  What you learn from that can be applied to the larger version.  The same as stated in the first paragraph applies.  The only additional info you need is creating the actual code.  To help with that you need to decide which version of Actionscript you will be using, which might depend on which version of Flash you are using.  AS3 is the most recent version of Actionscript, and it first came into being back with Flash CS3.
The first thing you need to do to make a movieclip useful code-wise is to assign it a unique instance name.  So you drag a copy of it out to the stage from the library, and while it's still selected, you enter that unique instance name for it in the Properties panel... let's say you name it "btn1"
In AS3, to make a movieclip work with code, you need to add an event listener and event handler function for it.  You might need to add a few (for different events, like rollover, rollout, clicking it, but for now we'll just say you want to be able to click it to get a web page to open.  In the timeline that holds that button, in a separate actions layer that you create, in a frame numbered the same as where that button exists, you would add the event listener:
btn1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn1Click);
The name of the unique function for processing the clicking of that button is specified at the end of the event listener assignment, so now you just have to write that function out:
function btn1Click(evt:MouseEvent):void {
   var url:String = "http://www.awebsite.com/awebpage.html";
   var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest(url);
   navigateToURL(req);