Slices

Question

I am trying to get something to work on a prototype project I am working on.  Here is my dilemma:
I have 3 radio buttons on a master page.  The first radio button shows information regarding a loan contract directly below the radio button.  The second radio button, when clicked should show vehicle information in the same area below the radio buttons.  Then the third radio button should show dealer information in the same area.  Where I am running into issues is you cannot have multiple slices on top of each other.  Is there any way I can set this up, except different pages, so when the different radio buttons are clicked the information populates (overwrites) in the same area based upon the active radio button?  Any ideas would help.  Thanks.

Answer 1

You can do this all from a single page with just four slices and three states (or frames if you using CS3 or earlier.) Here's how to do it on a single page:
(1) Draw slices over each radio button and over the area where you want the content to swap out.
(2) On State 1, the content area should include the loan contract info.
(3) On State 2, the content area should include the vehicle info.
(4) On State 2, the content area should include the dealer info.
Select the slice over the first radio button, click on the circle with cross-hairs that appears in the middle, and drag it to the content area slice. A dialog will appear asking for the state to swap images from, so for button 1 choose State 1, then click on More Options and UNCHECK "Restore Image onMouseOut." Now open the Behaviors panel and make sure the radio button slice is selected - you'll see one event in the behaviors list for "Swap Image", but it is "onMouseOver", so click the down arrow and change that to "onClick."  (You've just added a behavior that will display the content from State 1 when you click the first radio button.)
Repeat these steps for each radio button slice, but make sure that radio button two swaps images for State 2 and radio button three swaps images for State 3.
If you want to get more involved, you can also add rollover behaviors to the radio buttons, because slices can have multiple behaviors. Copy the radio buttons from State 1, then switch to State 2 and paste them. Update each radio button on State 2 to have a rollover look. Return to State 1 and select the first radio button slice, right-click, and choose "Add Simple Rollover Behavior" - this will swap the radio button image from State 1 with State 2 when you roll your mouse over that slice area. Select a radio button slice and look in the Behaviors Panel - you'll see two events for that slice: one Swap Image (which we added first) and one Simple Rollover.
(NOTE: If you need the radio buttons to live on a Master Page, it gets more complicated, because slices on the Master Page cannot be easily connected to slices that exist only on child pages. I recommend starting with this approach first to get more familiar with creating image swapping.)
Hope this helps!
Dave