Macromedia MX 2004 Bugs/"Issues"

programming flash
1

For Flash updates, be sure you have downloaded the Flash Updater (correcting many of the problems listed below):
[color=red]http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/updates/[/color]

**This thread will pose as a springboard for bugs and ‘issues’ experienced with Flash MX 2004. you can report bugs to Macromedia directly through the following link.
**[color=blue]http://www.macromedia.com/go/flash_requests[/color]

Note: Macromedia recognizes some ‘emerging’ Flash MX 2004 issues here:
[color=blue]http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/mx_04_emerging_issues.htm[/color]

  • MovieClip.onLoad - will still work if you have code on a movieclip (ie some onClipEvent or even just //) but wont work if assigned in the timeline. Granted, if you’re assigning it in the timeline, you might as well not have it in an onLoad at all, but none the less, it happens with the code on the movieclip so thats just odd (relic of FMX).

  • Making a straight line a curve then undoing the action and then trying to move an end point of that line will result in the line curving. The undo does not return the line to be striaghtened, just puts it back in its original place before curved. You’ll need to use strighten to make it straight again (relic of FMX)

  • Attempting a transition timeline effect with no line color or no fill color selected (where you have a white box with a red line through it representing the ‘color’ of the tools) will result in an unsightly error. I’m sure other timeline effects could react similarly given the appropriate circumstances - negligence in MM’s coding of the effects.

  • Selecting the line or fill color with a line or shape tool selected and then making it have no color with the small no color icon below will make it have no associated color. In doing so it will also inset that no color icon. If you have one of either the line or fill colors set in this way and then select the other color which still has color, then select the arrow tool (which will actually show both colors to then have color) then again go back to a line or shape tool … if you then attempt to give the remaining color that still has color, either the pen color or the fill color - which ever was left still having color, the no color icon will not set that color to no color on first press since its still inset from the time you set the other color to have no color. You would have to press it twice to unset and reset to set the remaining color to no color. The swap colors icon can produce similar results. In essence, the no color icon is bugged.

  • The magic wand properties icon remains inset after setting. Unsets after rolling over it again.

  • Library icons (new symbol, new folder, transhcan, though not info) all remain inset after pressed.

  • The polystar tool icon in the properties panel, unlike any of the other tools, has a white box background (even though the icon itself is a png with alpha channel). Though minor and only slightly annoying, I attribute this to a limitation of custom tools icons as the polystar tool is a custom tool which in itself is a little depressing. (Update: seems to only have the background in windows 2k, seems fine in windows xp)

  • There are shadow and division issues with the new panels interface. Panels have their blue titlebar and there are a few draggable dividers and then within those dividers and bettween panels and the work area etc there are subtle shadows in that dark gray area. These shadows can be off when the sliders are put to their extremes, especially above or covering the documents tabs/timeline area. Also, with two dividers in the main area (one on top and one on the bottom, collapsing one, then dragging the other up to that position and then uncollapsing the first will put the first division below the second second creating an awkward cropping of the interface and the inability to reach the first divider without drasticly moving the second to reveal it. Along the same lines, a collapsed panel against the docked toolbar can make for a funky double divider line thing (which is ok if both are collapsable which you can do) - and othertimes it corrects for that though at the same time you lose the dividing area to the tools bar which makes things weird. It seems to do this on unfocus and focus of the application.

  • There are other related things like half of the new layer icon will pop through on a collapsed timeline below the work area, the properties panel can be stretched beyond its size, sometimes panels can remain and retain their functionality even in testing a swf (others not?), doubleclicking on dividers can make things crazy etc… - the interface seems to have problems on the whole, though many are pretty negligible.

  • The Tools toolbar is now its own oddity as it decides not to play well with other toolbars like main and controller. I usually have main over the tools toolbar vertically but that cant be done in FMX04 - main just goes off to the side as Tools hogs up the whole column - thereby meaning I will no longer have my main toolbar and will just have to use the file menu instead DOH!

  • View > Work Area still wont remove the work area if unchecked though I guess it could be argued that it would be difficult to handle… then why offer it at all? (relic of FMX).

I think there were some other things I came across yesterday. Ill update as they are reported or as I am annoyed by new ones :wink:

Note: these were found on the windows version of Flash MX 2004.

2

I’m wondering if anyone else has run into this problem in MX 2004 professional:
I create a new class in an external AS file, and use it without any problems for a couple of hours, make changes to it, add new methods etc. But at one point Flash will stop checking the class file for updates. For example, I add a new method, and Flash will say that it doesn’t exist when I call it from a script in my FLA. I can even delete or otherwise mangle the entire contents of the class file, save it, and Flash will still run the script without any problems! If I move the class file outside of its classpath directory, Flash will give me an error, which I’m guessing means that the only thing it does is check for the file’s existance. It’s almost like it suddenly decides to “cache” the entire class and never check the original file for changes.

The only thing that helps is renaming the class along with the file it’s stored in, or completely re-installing MX in which the case the original class file works fine. Neither of these are satisfactory, obviously.

Am I just missing some quirky rule of object-oriented programming, or is this indeed a bug?

3

I can’t say I’ve run into that myself in working with AS 2 classes, jplectrum. I HAVE heard of other people complaining about something similar to that, if not that. I don’t know if they had just forgotten to save or what. If its something you can reliably reproduce, write Macromedia using the link on page 1 of this thread. It could be an issue that needs to be addressed. An odd one at that.

4

o, close your all your ie browsers and reload.

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senocular, any chance you could point me to those other forum threads dealing with a similar issue? It would be great if I could see how others are solving/getting around the problem.

I’ve just submitted a bug report to Macromedia like you suggested, and if this problem is rare or unique I’ll just have to wait and pray for a fix in an upcoming MX 2004 update :confused:

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*Originally posted by jplectrum *
senocular, any chance you could point me to those other forum threads dealing with a similar issue? It would be great if I could see how others are solving/getting around the problem.

ooo, I wouldnt know specifically. The forums I frequent that would have had that would probably be either…

http://forums.ultrashock.com/forums/

or here

a good bet would be FlashKit. I think Ive seen most complaints there (pretty confined to the Flash MX board).

7

MENNNNNnnn… How can you let out one of Bill stabelest releases???

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haha!

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I’ve got a cute little problem with Flash MX 2004 Pro, it crashes each time I click at the side of the toolbar, i don’t why I call it cute, prolly I kinda got sick of it :hangover: anyone here got the same problem as me? I feel like switching back to the old Flash MX

10

I did have something happen when I clicked on the edge of a docked panel where the interface got all wonky… I think I mentioned that in a previous post.

If you can recreate the crash consistently, Id tell MM through the link in the first post of this thread. An updater is coming this month so hopefully it can be addressed

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  • In selecting unused items from the library menu, library folder icons remain closed (a closed folder) though they are open (and remain open for a while depending on library interaction) showing those items. Double-clicking to close the folder will close it and the icon will remain a closed folder. Double-clicking again will open it with the correct open folder icon (relic of MX).
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wow so… whats better MX or mx 2004?

13

well… it depends. If you haven’t used Flash before, Id suggest MX. MX 2004 is like MX on steroids. You get some strength from using the drugs but at the same time your family jewels shrivel and you start experiencing other health issues. MX 2004 not only adds to MX, but it also takes away something very useful to beginners. One being ease of use (theres less complexity to the program) and “Normal Mode” for actionscripting. MX has a normal mode though it was carelessly removed in MX 2004. Beginner scripters or people just not intent on getting to know AS too terribly well found normal mode scripting very easy.

However, there will be an updater for MX 2004 which will allow patching/fixing of many of these issues. So all is not lost with MX 2004, however, it really doesn’t provide that much of a leap from normal MX - nothing like 5 was from 4 or MX was from 5.

14

*Originally posted by jplectrum *
**I’m wondering if anyone else has run into this problem in MX 2004 professional:
I create a new class in an external AS file, and use it without any problems for a couple of hours, make changes to it, add new methods etc. But at one point Flash will stop checking the class file for updates. For example, I add a new method, and Flash will say that it doesn’t exist when I call it from a script in my FLA. I can even delete or otherwise mangle the entire contents of the class file, save it, and Flash will still run the script without any problems! If I move the class file outside of its classpath directory, Flash will give me an error, which I’m guessing means that the only thing it does is check for the file’s existance. It’s almost like it suddenly decides to “cache” the entire class and never check the original file for changes.

The only thing that helps is renaming the class along with the file it’s stored in, or completely re-installing MX in which the case the original class file works fine. Neither of these are satisfactory, obviously.

Am I just missing some quirky rule of object-oriented programming, or is this indeed a bug? **

Hello…

Here is the long answer:

When package .as files are compiled, either by being explicitly imported using the “import” keyword, or by being referenced using the fully qualified class name, the compiler creates corresponding .aso files for each class and interface defined in the .as file. The .aso files share the class or interface name, and are stored in the aso/ directory in the packages directory in which the .as file is located. They contain the syntax trees and other binary data about the structures they represent, and are meant merely as temporary object files that make compilation time faster.

The problem arrives in that Flash uses the Timestamps of the ASO file to determine if the file needs to be recompiled. Hence if the AS file, for any reason, shows a date of creation behind the ASO file creation of the same name then Flash assumes no changes have been made to the file.

This generally happens if you are working with the same files on more then one machine.
You may also easily arrive at this issue if workstation clock is set 5 minutes faster then your server’s clock, and you save and edit your AS files on your server. Your ASO files will have a later timestamp then the AS file and it will not be compiled.

The simplest work around to fix this, when you run into the problem, is to just to delete the related ASO files or just delete the entire ASO directory to force Flash to recompile the class files.

It is not elegant but it is effective.

Hope that helps,

-Ken

15

Updated the first post with a link to the Flash updater (or the general MM updates page)

16

Just a note about the “work area” thing… It’s not really a bug. It does remove the work area when you uncheck it. If you’re a windows user, whatever space is showing is not actually a work area. A good way of seeing the difference is to make a decent sized symbol, and dragging it off of the edge of your stage while the work area is visible, and then doing it while the work area is not. You’ll see that the work area is actually not there. Also, when the work area is turned off, there is a black border around your stage, while there isn’t with the work area enabled…

But then, I only read the first few posts in here, so I guess I could’ve just been redundant. Sorry =\

17

The problem arrives in that Flash uses the Timestamps of the ASO file to determine if the file needs to be recompiled. Hence if the AS file, for any reason, shows a date of creation behind the ASO file creation of the same name then Flash assumes no changes have been made to the file.

The simplest work around to fix this, when you run into the problem, is to just to delete the related ASO files or just delete the entire ASO directory to force Flash to recompile the class files.

nice one…:hr:

ciao
francesca

18

hiya peeps, i just wanted to mention i experienced some strange behaviors too in fmx2004.

when i sometimes cut and paste a some flash mx code in fmx2004, flash doesn’t do anything. when i then save the file as flash mx , the effect shows up. when i then again save as flash mx 2004, It does work , very strange.

and i gotta say i love the OOP in AS 2 but i really hate the panel layout.

anywayz , good info here :smiley:

19

After reading most of the posts here. I think I won’t upgrade to Studio MX 2004. Apart from FMX2004 being buggy and annoying, I’ve heard some negative things about DWMX2004 too.

Besides, I’m quite happy with DWMX and FMX. So I’ll stick to that untill MM makes a worthwhile update (probably next year with Studio MX05) haha.

Disappointing…

20

*Originally posted by IMJ *
**After reading most of the posts here. I think I won’t upgrade to Studio MX 2004. Apart from FMX2004 being buggy and annoying, I’ve heard some negative things about DWMX2004 too.

Besides, I’m quite happy with DWMX and FMX. So I’ll stick to that untill MM makes a worthwhile update (probably next year with Studio MX05) haha.

Disappointing… **

:-\

Macromedia has released updates to the MX 2004 products Flash and Dreamweaver and the updates work on the downloadable trails.
http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/
Also if you already have the 30 day trial and chose to update, Macromedia will extend your trial for 30 additional days.