Flash 8 - Need Flash Template Assistance

right I dunno how much sense this is going to make... sorry :/

i had a flash site all done from a template (please see my site) underachiever.org.uk

I had all the main thumbnail galleries set up etc and I wanted to have a link at the bottom called new photos that went to a page (i know technically they're not pages) just like the other thumbnails galleries. Couldnt do it so I got a company to help me out and I have no idea what they've done. Basically when u click the new photos link at the bottom it goes to a page that looks like the 'people' thumbnail gallery. But it turns out it is actually the same page, so when I edit it... it changes both, which is not what I wanted. I've since learnt how to make buttons etc but I cant find the frame number to link it to... if thats what I want?

Sorry im not much help.. the point of a template was so i didnt have to learn too much bout flash hehe. Any ideas would b greatly appreciated

Thanks

Penny

any1? please? im desperate

best way to get help and help fast "usually (forum disclaimer )" is to either post your fla or sample of your code as to what you may think the culprit is.
because with your url alone, it's tough to determine exactly the problem you're experiencing.

sorry for looking completely stupid how do i post my fla on this site? i cant find like an upload box or anything

thanks

Sticky :¬)

30 posts???? i hardly know anything about flash... what can I possibly post about?

does any1 know anywhere else I can get help? stupid company i paid to do this messed me about, its been going on since last year

The button is loading the same instance of the gallery clip. You can change that by finding the gallery in the library, right click it and choose Duplicate. Give it a new name that you can recognise it by.

This is a bit of a guess but do the menu buttons jump to different main timeline frames for each pages content? For example you have 5 keyframes on the main timeline, each of those shows a single page.

If that is the case and there are two seperate keyframes for the two galleries then all you have to do now is go to the keyframe for the second gallery, single left click the gallery MovieClip and then on the properties panel press the "Swap" button. This will let you pick a new MovieClip from the library, at this point pick the one you created at the start of this post.

If the system works as I described but you only see one page for the gallery then you have to create a new keyframe for the new gallery, drop an instance of the new clone you made in the library onto that keyframe and more than likely give that keyframe an instance name.

I've worked with a few templates before for various clients and my guess is there is probably more work you'll have to do before everything runs smoothly. See where you get with what I detailed so far and post back :¬)

The forum posting rules are there primarily to stop human spammers of which we get quite a few. The rules can be inconvenient for new users but they are better for our longer term users since it saves them from endless spam posts.

Thanks, I will try that. I kinda understand buttons and keyframes. The thing is (hopefully this will make sense) I only have one timeline, of the main page. So I get that the button would need to link to a keyframe, thing is I dont have one?cant find it? I dont have the gallery 'page' that it links to, theres just a load of sperate images and when I change them it just appears on the gallery 'page'.
So... "For example you have 5 keyframes on the main timeline, each of those shows a single page." I dont think I have that.

Im so sorry, there was a reason I paid some1 else to do this hehe

Open up the library: Main Menu->Window->Library and scroll through it looking for a symbol that looks like your gallery. Once you've found that symbol make a note of its name. Now find where that MovieClip is used: Main Menu->Edit->Find and Replace. Set the For dropdown box to Symbol and then pick the name you noted down from the drop down under the first one. Tap "Find All". Now you will hopefully have at least one result that if you double click will take you to the location that instance is placed.

If that worked then you have the two things I mentioned in my last post; the item in the library that you need to duplicate and the location it is placed at. Hopefully you will find two instances of it with the Find tool, one being the original gallery and the other being the new one.

Right I did what you said and found where it is linking to. thing is it only links to one picture not a whole gallery. So i made a copy of that 1st picture in the gallery and changed the name. I did the find all thing using the new name...and it cant find anything :/ i knew i should of stuck to html, pages are so much easier heh

It really depends on how the person has put things together which is the same as if it where a HTML page or a page generated in any language. If the person who put the page together did it in a sloppy manner then your up shat creek either way. I've edited some attrocious HTML page, one of them had malformed HTML written on a single line since they thought deleting all the newlines would help save space!

It sounds more like you found a single image in the gallery, not the actual gallery clip. You should try following the path. Find the main menu, see what the buttons do. If they gotoAndStop/gotoAndPlay a particular frame then head to that frame and see what's there. If they loadMovie an external clip then open that clips source file.

i followed all the paths there is nothing on there that looks like the gallery page... theres a movie of the big photos and how they change and then theres seperate pictures for each other thumbnails, but nothing of them actually laid out in the same place at the same time...i dont understand it i cant even find another company that'll help me out for money

Try the Hire a Programmer or Project Help Wanted sub forums.

I could change the thread title and move it to one of those forums if you want. The link to it will remain in the Flash forum as well so you can get help at both places. Want me to do that?

yes please, im all out of ideas heh