These are the instructions for our Thirteenth module of this course:

In this module we are going to be learning a technique that allows you to put online large, media-rich projects, by dividing your project in different parts (different “swf” files),
and using a Main Movie containing the General interface as a host or home-base.
We call this: Loading an external movie (swf) into your movie.

Once you have the different external files constructed, you insert scripts that “call” the individual movies (swf) inside the Main/Interface movie “as you need them”.
(well, more accurately, as the user needs them when visiting your site).

This technique allows you to begin with a relatively small movie on your web page that loads quickly over the internet, and then load other content when the user asks for it, and only if they do it
(if they push the button that triggers the process).
This is called dynamic loading, or loading on demand.

Newly loaded movies show on your web page like any other content inside the Main movie, so the user doesn't really detect that something out of the ordinary has happened;
you are still using the same html page, and the only flash-file appearing in the html page is the name of the main swf.

The other external movies live in the server in the SAME folder where the main swf and corresponding html page are stored.
You also need to keep them all in the same local folder in your computer.

In AS2 there are 2 different ways of loading external material(swf) to a flash movie:

_Loading the external movie into a LEVEL of your "mother movie" (a level is like an imaginary layer in the Timeline of your main, or mother, movie).

_Loading the external movie into a LOCAL movie-clip symbol, and using the position of the local movie-clip symbol on the main movie's Stage as the position for the new loaded movie.

In AS3, we will use a Loader object and a URLRequest object to get the external swf file to out project. You can also import it to the main Timeline's Stage, or inside a movieclip.
We will also choose the second technique: when you import a swf inside a movie, you take the Stage coordinates of the parent movie.

Complete this week's assignment with an Interactive piece using a movieclip to organize the content.

Download the sample-files for your assignment: Open "LOAD_EXT_MOTHER.fla" to see the construction and Scripting in the Main Interface movie.
Load “Movies_individual.fla” to see the different movies constructed in a single Flash file (remember to read in your help-site how to export each scene as a single “swf” movie).

You need to send me your Main fla file (the one that contains the interface and the script that loads the external movie/s), and the external movies also.

The external movies should be sent as swf files.

Put all your content in a folder, name it 13_yourname. Zip it and send it through the submission window.

Post your comments and/or problems you think the rest of the group can share and advice or ideas on the “discussion group n 13 ”.