Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Creating a Tabbed Window with Mouse Events

So far this chapter has covered two types of mouse events: MOUSE_OVER and MOUSE_OUT. The technique for using other events is nearly identical. The most frequently used mouse event is probably the CLICK event. If you understand the previous examples with MOUSE_OVER and MOUSE_OUT, you'll have no problem putting CLICK to work. Suppose you want to create a Flash project that's organized with tabs?. You've seen a similar system on websites and in programs including Flash. You click a tab, and it reveals different information or a panel of tools.

Figure 13-4. Using the mouse-event techniques described so far, you can create a photo gallery like this one. When the mouse is over a thumbnail, a large version of the picture is shown to the right.

Using the ActionScript programming tools introduced in this chapter and the preceding one, you can create a tabbed window like the one shown in Figure 13-5. Here are the tools you need in your Flash and ActionScript toolbox:

• Three mouse events: MOUSE_OVER, MOUSE_OUT, and CLICK.

• A few IF..ELSE conditional statements to control tab behavior.

• Four movie clips to serve as tabs.

• One movie clip that holds the "content" shown under each tab.

Setting the Stage for Tabbed Folder Display

The tabbed bar in Figure 13-5 is made up of four movie clips, one for each tab subject: dog, cat, flower, and Porsche. You can make the graphic ...