How can I create a Flash Movie Loader

[JohnMitch]

Hello there. I am wondering how to create a Flash movie loader where the Bar loads. I want the bar to do two things, one I want it to go in a circle for one loader, the other I want it to display an image as it loads it displays more of the image. I don't know where to begin or anything, so all tips/suggestions or weblinks is MUCH appreciated. Thanks Again.

[Webforumz Staff]

You want this really old thread!
http://www.webforumz.com/viewtopic.php?t=2918
One of our first...!

[JohnMitch]

Wow, nice thread. So all I have to do is play an animation in my existing pre-loader and that should work? How do I go about doing this? Checking my percentage loaged with the frame number in my animation?

Basically If I have an image like this:

111111
222222
333333
444444 I want it to load like this:

111111
222222 222222
333333 333333 333333
444444 444444 444444 444444

Any Idea on how to check the percentages?

[Webforumz Staff]

Code: Select all

bytesloaded = Number(getBytesLoaded());
bytestotal = Number(getBytesTotal());
per = bytesloaded/bytestotal*100;

is what you want...

[JohnMitch]

Ok, I got that now, and I thank you for that. But here's my next problem, when I use the code I made for the image pieces it doesn't work. Grrr. I can't figure out why. Can you please show me the error in my code? (according to Flash's help files this code is right).

Code: Select all

set (per,0);
p1._alpha= 0;

if (per >= 9); { 
	p1._alpha = 100;
}

For some reason when I use this code it leaves the alpha set at 100% . Can't figure out why the if statement isn't working.

[Webforumz Staff]

You have a semicolon after if (per >= 9).

That should not be there! Effectively it is ending your if statement and p1._alpha = 100 is being interpreted as an entirely serperate statement outside of your if.

[JohnMitch]

Wow.... Such a simple thing as a misplaced semicolon. lol, thanks a lot Sirkent.

[JohnMitch]

Ok, I have been playing around with this coding all day and still can't figure this thing out.

1) how do I make per = getbytesloaded()/getbytestotal() * 100

2) how do I check per every 10 percentages and make the alpha change on these?

FE- I have 10 pics, p1 - p10. and every 10 percent I want another image to show up, so I turn the alpha to 100.

Thanks again Sirkent.

[Webforumz Staff]

You may need to use: Number(getBytesTotal()

As for making 10 movieclips visible, I can't think of a nice way to do that in coding other than a load of if statements....

[JohnMitch]

I was doing if statements but for some reason it isn't working. Do I need to put End If after every statement?

[Webforumz Staff]

No, you need:

Code: Select all

if (condition) {
  do this;
}
else if (condition) }
  do this;
}
else {
  do something else;
}

[Rob]

obviously the 'else if' is optional

[JohnMitch]

hrmm.. all I am getting is a blank screen.

set (per,20);

if (per < 11) {
p1._alpha = 0;
p2._alpha = 0;
p3._alpha = 0;
p4._alpha = 0;
p5._alpha = 0;
p6._alpha = 0;
p7._alpha = 0;
p8._alpha = 0;
p9._alpha = 0;
p10._alpha = 0;
}
else if (per < 21){
p1._alpha = 100;
p2._alpha = 0;
p3._alpha = 0;
p4._alpha = 0;
p5._alpha = 0;
p6._alpha = 0;
p7._alpha = 0;
p8._alpha = 0;
p9._alpha = 0;
p10._alpha = 0;
}

This leaves me with nothing visible on my screen. Is it REALLY this hard?

[Webforumz Staff]

Ok, I don't see immediately why that shouldn't work, but there's no need to set the alphas for all the movieclips at every step.

Code: Select all

set(per, 20);

for (i=1; i < 11; i++) {
	_root["p"+i]._alpha = 0;	
}

if (per<21) {
	p1._alpha = 100;
}

This uses a for loop to set all of the movieclips to alpha 0 to begin with.

Next, you only need to ensure ensure that you make the alpha of each new movieclip (i.e. one you haven't changed yet) 100.

The above code works for me in Flash MX.

[Webforumz Staff]

Originally Posted by Rob

obviously the 'else if' is optional

Technically, so is the else!

[JohnMitch]

This isn't working... I am just going to give up on this... The code will work fine, but It needs to check Less than Blah, and Greater than Blah, so as not to just accept all answers...

Anyhow, How do I set p1._alpha = per ? I keep trying to do this but not luck so far.

[Webforumz Staff]

p1._alpha = per;
should work...??

[JohnMitch]

Sirkent, your funny man... p1._alpha = per; doesn't work. It makes it show at 100% the entire time. Any way you could build a sample of one of the two for me so that we can figure this out?

[Webforumz Staff]

Ok, I've tested this out.

Make sure that what you're loading is AFTER this code, otherwise it simply won't work!

You should always ensure your loader is before what you're loading anyway. This is because Flash will load an entire frame, often top down or bottom up. Until that frame is loaded, Flash won't move on. So if you put a 50k image and your code in the first frame, Flash won't run that code until it's loaded the image (or it'll run before when nothing has loaded).

When Flash jumps onto Frame 2, let's assume that there's nothing else in your movie. You then send it to run the code again but now it's 100% so the movieclip is 100% visible - There was no inbetween.

Have a look here for a working example

[JohnMitch]

wow. thanks a lot Sirkent. I really appreciate this. This is going to look great and people won't even realize they are Loading something. I see where I was going wrong, I was setting the p1._1alpha = per in the same layer as the movie clip itself and not with the getbytes code.