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Flash CS3  |  Go to CS4 Help

Use the Movie Explorer

The Movie Explorer lets you view and organize the contents of a document and select elements in the document for modification. It contains a display list of currently used elements, arranged in a navigable hierarchical tree.

Use the Movie Explorer to perform the following actions:

  • Filter which categories of items in the document appear in the Movie Explorer.

  • Display the selected categories as scenes, symbol definitions, or both.

  • Expand and collapse the navigation tree.

  • Search for an element in a document by name.

  • Familiarize yourself with the structure of a Flash document that another developer created.

  • Find all the instances of a particular symbol or action.

  • Print the navigable display list that appears in the Movie Explorer.

The Movie Explorer has a Panel menu and a context menu with options for performing operations on selected items or modifying the Movie Explorer display. A check mark with a triangle below it in the Movie Explorer panel indicates the Panel menu.

Note: The Movie Explorer has slightly different functionality when you are working with screens.

View the Movie Explorer

 Select Window > Movie Explorer.

Filter the categories of items that appear in the Movie Explorer

  • To show text, symbols, ActionScript, imported files, or frames and layers, click one or more of the filtering buttons to the right of the Show option. To customize which items to show, click the Customize button. Select options in the Show area of the Movie Explorer Settings dialog box to view those elements.

  • To show items in scenes, select Show Movie Elements from the Movie Explorer Panel menu.

  • To show information about symbols, select Show Symbol Definitions from the Movie Explorer Panel menu.

    Note: The Movie Elements option and the Symbol Definitions option can be active at the same time.

Search for an item using the Find box

 In the Find box, enter the item name, font name, ActionScript string, or frame number. The Find feature searches all items that appear in the Movie Explorer.

Select an item in the Movie Explorer

 Click the item in the navigation tree. Shift-click to select more than one item.

The full path for the selected item appears at the bottom of the Movie Explorer. Selecting a scene in the Movie Explorer shows the first frame of that scene on the Stage. Selecting an element in the Movie Explorer selects that element on the Stage if the layer containing the element is not locked.

Use the Movie Explorer Panel menu or context menu commands

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To view the Panel menu, click the Panel menu control in the Movie Explorer panel.

    • To view the context menu, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) an item in the Movie Explorer navigation tree.

  2. Select an option from the menu:
    Go To Location
    Jumps to the selected layer, scene, or frame in the document.

    Go To Symbol Definition
    Jumps to the symbol definition for a symbol that is selected in the Movie Elements area of the Movie Explorer. The symbol definition lists all the files associated with the symbol. (The Show Symbol Definitions option must be selected. See its definition in this list.)

    Select Symbol Instances
    Jumps to the scene containing instances of a symbol that is selected in the Symbol Definitions area of the Movie Explorer. (The Show Movie Elements option must be selected.)

    Find In Library
    Highlights the selected symbol in the document’s library. (Flash opens the Library panel if it is not already visible.)

    Rename
    Lets you enter a new name for a selected element.

    Edit In Place
    Lets you edit a selected symbol on the Stage.

    Edit In New Window
    Lets you edit a selected symbol in a new window.

    Show Movie Elements
    Shows the elements in your document organized into scenes.

    Show Symbol Definitions
    Shows all the elements associated with a symbol.

    Copy All Text To Clipboard
    Copies selected text to the clipboard. For spell checking or other editing, paste the text into an external text editor.

    Cut, Copy, Paste, And Clear
    Performs these common functions on a selected element. Modifying an item in the display list modifies the corresponding item in the document.

    Expand Branch
    Expands the navigation tree at the selected element.

    Collapse Branch
    Collapses the navigation tree at the selected element.

    Collapse Others
    Collapses the branches in the navigation tree that do not contain the selected element.

    Print
    Prints the hierarchical display list that appears in the Movie Explorer.



Comments

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Comments


See4th said on Apr 18, 2007 at 7:17 PM :
The Movie Explorer in CS3 doesn't behave like Studio8. When selecting an action script node in the Movie Explorer window, it does not take you to the code in the Actions window. If you right click and select 'Go To Location' it takes you one level below the actual clip on the stage instead of inside the clip.

I want the old functionality back. Anyone know how to get the code to show in the Actions pane when an Actions node is selected in the Movie Explorer?

Thanks,

Jeff
No screen name said on Jul 17, 2007 at 4:50 PM :
Yeah, is there a button I am missing to allow the found piece of code to be shown in the actions window? This was a helpful piece of functionality lost if not.

 

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