Generator
Advanced Data Source Object
This object allows you to use any Comma Separated Value file (including Generator data sources) as a data source.
It also adds the following features and functionality:
The ability to add or replace column headers to the …
The Multi Page List objects is a list object which does advanced formatting of data and creates a multi page list of items that the user can navigate through. However, the object does not allow you to manually position the navigation buttons, thus …
You can pass an entire column data source to Generator in offline mode, in much the same way that you can do it in online mode through the URL.
For example, if we had the following data source:
value, color 1, blue 2, green 3, yellow that we wanted …
While Generator allows you to dynamically insert text, it does not allow you to directly specify the attributes of the text.
The Insert Text object allows the user to dynamically insert text into a Flash movie and dynamically set its attributes (such …
Using offline Generator, you can create more than one file type from a single template, and single command.
Just specify the file types, and the name of the file to save it as after the generate.exe command on the command line.
For example :
generate …
Most tutorials concentrate on how to use Generator in online mode. However, using Generator in offline mode is a very flexible solution for many projects.
This tip will quickly go over how to use Generator in offline mode.
First, make sure that the …
Continuing our tips on custom Generator objects that have been released, today’s tip discusses the Insert Image object.
This object is simple, but very useful.
It allows you to dynamically insert images into a Generator template regardless of …
The Flash Forward 2001 conference is being held in San Francisco from February 19 - 21. This time there are a number of session which involve discussions on Generator.
These include :
XML, Flash and Generator
Robert Reinhart …
Generator can connect to multiple sources to retrieve its data. However, if you have multi objects within your template, and each has its own data source, then Generator may have to make several requests for its data. Depending on the source and type …
There are a number of very active online Generator message boards.
The best and most active are at :
were-here.com Flashkit.com macromedia.generator (newsgroup) macromedia.generator.sdk (newsgroup) There are more message boards listed in the Forums …
The Insert Flash Variables object allows users to use Generator to dynamically insert flash 4 arrays into a Flash movie.
Users can then use this object in place of middle ware to dynamically pull data into their movies on the client side.
This has …
Generator will not allow you to dynamically specify font attributes such as Font Size, spacing, and Face. However, it is possible to to do this with a couple of workarounds.
The first is to use nested movie clips, and the insert symbol command to …
The Insert Symbol Generator object allows you to dynamically load symbols from your library and place them into you movie.
It is good practice to to create folders within your library in order to better organize your symbols, however this can make it …
The Insert Date / Time custom object (actually two separate objects) makes the server’s date or time available for use in a Generator template. This is useful for letting users know when content was last updated, or version control during …
The Insert Jpg, Insert Gif, Insert Png, and Insert image objects all give you the ability to scale the image to fit the object’s bounding box. However, this can lead to images which are out of proportion to the original image as Generator will …
Generator has a separate image object for each of the image types it supports :
Insert Gif Insert Jpeg Insert Png If you are not sure the type of image that will be inserted into the Generator template then you have to do one of two things :
Create a …
From time to time the tip of the day will highlight one of the new custom Generator objects released on the Macromedia Flash / Generator Exchange.
Today’s object is the Insert Action Object.
This objects allows the user to dynamically insert …
As discussed in the previous tip of the day, you can use Generator to dynamically set the value of Action Script variables. However, you can only set a String value with Generator.
Thus to set the value of a variable :
var varName = …
With a few exceptions you can place a Generator variables just about anywhere that you can type in text.
This can be used to dynamically set properties of Generator objects, File Properties, and Symbol properties, as well as allowing you to define …
While you cannot directly insert html marked up text into a Flash movie using Generator, you can do it using a combination of Generator and Flash 5 Action Script.
First, create a movie with a Dynamic Text field. Make sure that the field is set to …
Generator can use middle ware as a data source in the same way that it can use a text file as a data source.
If you use this technique, then you have to set the correct content type so that your middle ware returns a text file, and not an html page. …
Generator can use any data base with an ODBC or JDBC driver as a data source. This can be very useful.
However, some objects, such as the scrolling list object require that the data source contain certain columns (such as clip).
Of course one …
If you want to refresh or update your data / graphics once they have been displayed in your browser then you need to reload the Generator content.
You can do this using Flash’s Action Script LoadMovie command.
If your template was named …
You can download new Generator objects from the Macromedia Flash / Generator Exchange at :
http://www.macromedia.com/exchange/flash/
Just select Generator from the navigation select box.
In addition, most of the objects come with fully commented …
The object takes XML and makes it available to Macromedia Generator in a format that Generator can use (a result set like Column format). It utilizes the Generator SDK, the Apache Xerces XML parser, and the JDOM XML API.
Latest Updates
Fixed a few …
The Insert SlashDot News Generator object allows you to use Slashdot’s XML news feed as a datasource for a Macromedia Generator template. It utilizes the Generator SDK, the Xerces XML parser, the JDOM API, and the Insert Date / Time Generator …
The Insert Date object and Insert Time object are custom Generator objects that make the server date and / or time available for use in a Macromedia Generator template.
You can specify that the time be formatted in 1 of 5 ways :
short medium long …
