| It's easy to reuse symbols. You can transfer symbols via the Clipboard, copying or cutting symbols from one Flash document and using one of the paste commands to place them in another. You can also view the libraries of other Flash documents (whether open or closed) and drag their symbols to the Stage of the currently active Flash document. To transfer symbols between open documents 1. | Open the source document (the one containing symbols that you want to reuse).
| 2. | Open or create the destination document (the one in which you would like to reuse existing symbols).
| 3. | Open the Library panel.
The panel contains the libraries of both open documents. By default, it displays the library of the document that you're currently viewingin this case, the destination document that you just opened.
| 4. | To see the assets of the source document, choose its name from the menu of open documents in the Library panel (Figure 7.39).
Figure 7.39. The Library panel displays the assets of the currently active open document. To view the library of an inactive but open document, choose the document from the menu of open documents. 
| 5. | In the Library panel, select a symbol and drag it to the Stage of the destination document (Figure 7.40).
Figure 7.40. You can drag a symbol from a source library by its preview image or by its name. Placing a symbol on the Stage of your destination document adds the symbol to that document's library. 
Flash places the symbol at the root level of the destination document's library.
|
 Tips
You may want to copy items from one library to several documents, but each time you change documents, the Library panel changes too. To make the desired source library hold still, make it active in the Library panel and click the pin icon to the right of the menu of open documents (Figure 7.41). Now you can view any open document, and the Library panel doesn't change. Figure 7.41. To keep the Library panel from updating to display the assets of the currently active document, click the horizontal pin icon (top). The pinned library remains visible in the panel no matter what other documents you bring forward to look at. To allow the library to change again, click the upright-pin icon (bottom).  Another option is to open the source library in a separate panel. With the source library active in the Library panel window, click the New Library Panel button (the double-document-arrow icon to the right of the pin icon). Flash opens the library in a new panel. You can drag assets from the source-document's Library panel to the Stage of a destination document or to the Library panel of the destination document. If you're viewing documents in separate windows, instead of tabbed in a single window, you can drag symbols directly from one document to another. Flash adds the new symbols at the root level of the destination document's library. If you drag a symbol to the Stage, and a symbol with that name already exists in the root level of the destination file's library (or if you try to place that duplicate symbol in a folder containing a symbol with that name), Flash displays a warning dialog (Figure 7.42). You can cancel the transfer, replace the existing symbol with the one you're transferring, or choose not to replace the existing symbol. When you choose the last option, be forewarned that Flash places a new instance of the existing symbol on the Stage where you placed the one you were dragging; the new symbol isn't added to the destination library. If you cancel the operation, you can rename one of the conflicting symbols and repeat the operation of dragging in the source symbol. Figure 7.42. Flash allows you to resolve symbol conflicts when you attempt to import or drag in a symbol with the same name as an existing symbol.  You don't have to open a source document to drag symbols from its library. Choose File > Import > Open External Library to open just the Library panel for that document. Select a symbol, and drag it to the destination Stage or to the destination Library panel. You can use the File > Import > Import to Library command to bring other individual asset filessuch as video clips, sounds, and bitmapsinto your movie as well. (You'll learn more about importing non-Flash graphics in Chapter 14; Chapter 15 covers importing sounds.)
The Mystery of Object-Level Undo Every computer user gets familiar with the Undo command. Ctrl-z (Windows) or  -z (Mac) becomes an automatic "oops" response to fix mistakes. Flash 8 provides two types of undo: Document-level Undo and Object-level Undo. In Document-level Undo, Flash tracks every undoable step you take. Open the History panel (choose Window > Other Panels > History); you'll see them listed in order. In Object-level Undo, Flash also tracks every undoable step but makes a distinction between steps that pertain to working in the main document and steps that pertain to working on master symbols. Object-level Undo tracks the steps for each master symbol separately; each time you create a master symbol, Object-level Undo starts a separate History-panel list for that symbol. Within one work session (provided you haven't made changes in the History panel yourself), whenever you edit that master symbol, the History panel loads the steps for that symbol; any edits you make are added to the list. If you edit a different symbol, the panel loads the steps for that symbol. When you leave symbol-editing mode and return to document-editing mode, the History panel displays only the steps you've used in the main document. Note that modifications you make to an instance of a symbol on the Stage are part of the history of the document, not of the master symbol. To change from one type of undo to the other, from the Edit menu (Windows) or the Flash application menu (Mac), choose Preferences. In the General category, from the Undo menu, choose the style you want. To track the history of master symbols separately, choose Object-level Undo; to track all your steps in one integrated list, choose Document-level Undo. It's best to choose your undo style at the beginning of a work session. If you switch in the middle, Flash wipes the current History panel clean. |
|
