Flash 8 Cookbook

3.9. Hiding, Locking, and Customizing the Display of Layer Content

Problem

You need to customize the look or behavior of one or more layers, including hiding or locking the contents of a layer, displaying layer graphics as low-resolution outline graphics, and/or changing the height or width of the display of frames.

Solution

Toggle the visibility, editability, outline view on or off; use the Timeline Header Options menu or the Layer Properties dialog box to modify frame display.

Discussion

When editing Flash documents crowded with art, text, and other visual assets, it becomes increasingly difficult to select and work with only the elements you want. Accidental selections and deletions, as well as inadvertent placement of content in the wrong layer, become more likely as your movie grows. Flash offers a handful of tools that can be used to prevent this confusion.

Beside the stack of layer names are three controls available to each layer: layer visibility (Eye column), editability (Lock column), and outline display (Outline column). These elements control whether contents in that layer are editable and how they are displayed:

Eye column

Controls a layer’s visibility in the authoring environment. When toggled off, all the contents of the layer are hidden. In addition, you cannot edit the contents of a hidden layer or add new content. Hidden contents are exported and visible in the SWF upon export.

Lock column

Locks or unlocks all the contents of a layer. When locked, the contents are still ...