Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Killer Tips

Let's make a scrollable text field in about one minute, whaddya say? First, create a dynamic text field by using the Text Tool to click and drag a rectangular field. Now, hold SHIFT while you double-click the white square handle on the text field (this quickly sets the field to scrollabledoing it again would turn scrollable off). Give your text field an instance name (I'm using scrollText). Now place any two buttons to represent the up and down scroll arrows. Select the up button, go to the Actions panel, and place the following code there....

on (release) { scrollText.scroll -= 1; }

Do the same for the down button, but change the -= to +=. True, it seems like it would be the opposite, but the += will move the text up, which makes the text appear to be scrolling down. Now, just enter a lot of text in the field, and you're done. You could also set the text dynamically using ActionScript if you're so inclined. A quick, dirty, and lovely little tool to add to your belt.