[mx] any idea how to design a menu like on paul smith?

programming flash
1

hey everyone,

I am looking to build a menu like the one on www.paulsmith.co.uk

I am really unsure about how to begin. i need the menu to be easily updatable. How do i go about doing this? do i have to mask everything?

i looked at this tut on actionscript.org

http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/intermediate/Dynamic_menu_with_submenus/index.shtml

does anyone know any other good tuts or any tips on how to get started?

thanks!

2

simple! just use mcs’ with a little masking!

3

here U R

4

http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13697&postid=100154#post100154

5

thanks for your replies guys,

kax - this is way out of my league, dunno squat about xml!!!

fluid - thanks for the fla, it’s a bit too simplictic for what i’m looking for.

i found this great fla on flashkit (attached).

Only problem is i can’t figure out how to debug it!!!
there’s an array called links, and this is where i’m stuck.
i need set variables when the user clicks the buttons, not launch new urls.

have a look and see if you guys can find a way to simplify it a little.

p.s. i am useless with arrays:hair: maybe it’s time to learn!!!

thanks guys,

kam

6

Then read the whole thread, senocular did a great job explaining XML… :wink:
As for Arrays, read this: http://www.actionscript-toolbox.com/arrayobject.php

I’ll take a look at the FLA.

7

cheers man,

i will!(just gotta find some time)

8

hey Kax,

Did you get a chance to look over that fla?

I need all the help i can get on this one!

cheers,

kd

9

What didnt you understand?

10

ok. well maybe it’s better if i tell you what i want.

I want a hierarchical menu (i think that’s the name) where your have 5 top menus. now for 3 of those top menus, i want sub menus (which can be change easily i.e. if i need to add extra items).

So for the parts of the menu where there is now sub, when you click that button, any other open sub menus close and i can manipulate what child movie is loaded in (or set a variable to define some action).

when there is a sub-menu, i want this to expand when that top button is pressed, and again when the sub is pressed, i want to load a movie etc.

that’s basically it, but i’m getting really lost in the code for that fla i posted, and i want a system that is easy to design and maintain, and woun’t leave me with no hair!

any ideas?

11

I dont get it… thats exactly what that file does. Its easy to customize, easy to change the links and number of sub movies, you just need to change the arrays and youll have as many sub menus as you want. If you want to load an swf instead of launching a HTML page, change the links array and set a swf for each submenu button. The action on the sub menu button is probably a getURL action. Replace for a loadMovie and you should get it working.

12

ok, that’s what i thought as well. And there is a get url inside the sub menu mc. But what if just want to define a varialbe?

like when u click submenu 3, _root.Loaditup =3;

I did some tests with this and got nowhere. It’s frustrating because i almost get it, but i’m just not proficient enough to figure it quite out!

If you can help, please do!

when the user clicks the buttons, i want to do some kinda of transition over the current content, then load the new movie, then set some transition to reveal the new content.

cheers,

13

Heres an example

14

I assume you want an honest answer, so… :stuck_out_tongue:

If I were in your shoes, I’d learn how to get the menu working and make my own. It’s way easier to edit something you made than customizing someone elses work. Just my two cents. =)

By the way, this is what I did while I was testing the FLA:
[AS]// LABEL OF SECTION
titoli = new Array();
titoli[0] = “TALK”;
titoli[1] = “HELP”;
titoli[2] = “DESIGN”;
titoli[3] = “FORUM INFORMATION”;
// NUMBER OF FIELDS FOR EACH SECTION
n = new Array();
n[0] = 4;
n[1] = 8;
n[2] = 3;
n[3] = 1;
// LABEL OF FIELDS
fields = new Array();
fields[0] = “RANDOM”;
fields[1] = “ORDERED”;
fields[2] = “FOOTER CONTEST”;
fields[3] = “BATTLE”;
fields[4] = “FLASH MX”;
fields[5] = “FLASH 5”;
fields[6] = “FLASH ACTIONSCRIPT”;
fields[7] = “DRAWING AND DESIGN”;
fields[8****] = “SERVER-SIDE/SCRIPTING”;
fields[9] = “DREAMWEAVER/FRONTPAGE”;
fields[10] = “OTHER”;
fields[11] = “BEST OF KIRUPA.COM”;
fields[12] = “SITE CHECK”;
fields[13] = “SITE OF THE WEEK”;
fields[14] = “TEST FORUM”;
fields[15] = “FORUM HELP”;
// LINKS FOR EACH FIELD
links = new Array();
links[0] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=4”;
links[1] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=32”;
links[2] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=28”;
links[3] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=29”;
links[4] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=7”;
links[5] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8”;
links[6] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9”;
links[7] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=27”;
links[8****] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=11”;
links[9] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=19”;
links[10] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=15”;
links[11] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=12”;
links[12] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22”;
links[13] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=23”;
links[14] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=24”;
links[15] = “http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=26”;[/AS]
:stuck_out_tongue:

15

I was too lazy to write that here… thx Kax :stuck_out_tongue:

16

cool, now i’m getting somewhere! that fla helps.

i actually just figured out how to define a variable.

in the links array i just added a number=

links[0] = “1”;

and i replaced the get url with=

_root.Loaditup = links;

that seems to work.

but now the next problem, how do i define a variable number when a button has now sub-menu?

so if i click the Homepage button at the top of my nav, there is no sub-menu, but i still need to define a var to re-load the homepage content.

i am really appreciating your help, if i can crack this, i’ll be a happy man!

thanks

17

kax, just read your post. i agree, once i get the principles, i will design my own and comment it properly. But as always i have a tight deadline and little time to develop my own code. So i gotta get this to work asap or scrap it and do something else. If only clients gave you time to develop your work rather than demanding something NOW!!!

guys, thanks for helping me, this forum is really good, and i promise to continue helping others when i can.

18

Why are you defining those variables? Dont you just want to load a new movie when clicking a sub menu item? If so, fill the links array with whichever movie you want each button to load.

19

no well the whole thing is that i don’t just want to load in different movies. I want to execute a variable so that i can design a transition before loading in another movie. I don’t just want to replace the current loaded movie straight with another one.

This way the site looks more slick, and the design is very minimalist, so this kinda thing helps to assert the quality of the site.

Anyways that doesn’t answer my previous question, how to define a variable when there is no sub-menu?

20

it would help if that function names weren’t in italian. Oh well.

p.s. are you into drum n bass? that movement logo looks really familiar!