Preloading Learning Interactions

[Jackred22]

Okay guys, (Jesse), I am trying to preload a quiz template that I have adapted for an online assessment....I have tried using normal preloaders with no luck. Or the extra frame interfers with the quiz, making it un-usable or if I put it on the stage on the first frame I can't figure out how to make _root remove the movie clip after it has finished loading the movie....I hope that I have explained the situation....I really need some help here...I'm not a programmer... :confused:

I am including an example of the preloader that I am trying to use.

Thanks!

[Wino]

Congrats, Jackred... You've got your own folder on my HD now. If someone else doesn't get to this in the next day or two, I'll see if I can take a whack at it.


Wino

[Jackred22]

Thanks Wino! I hope that I am not taking up too much room. I've just woken up and I am going to take another crack at it!

All the best!

[Jackred22]

Got it!
I placed the preloader from the "Smoothe Preloader MX" tutorial on the first frame with my welcome page and just changes the preloader to goto frame two where I altered some of the graphics to hide the button untill all frames were loaded....

If anyone needs some advice with a similar problem please contact me by personal message!!!

Thanks Wino!!!!!!

[Wino]

Got any fla's for us?

Glad you're getting the hang of this stuff. I wish I was!

[Jackred22]

I have been looking at the syicky thread from the Flash Mx forum about preloaders....really good stuff there "http://www.actionscript.org/forums/showthread.php3?t=32234"

Have a look and I am still playing with loading external swf's and I will let you know....

Thanks for the response!!!!!

All the best Wino and all everyone else who is searching for reason....

[Jackred22]

hhhmmmm.....

Thought I was sligh.....clever....

thought I could beat the machine, well it hasn't been a total success so far. What I am trying is attached. Of course my movie is much too big, but this is the preloader. If anyone wants to try this on a quiz template, components being stronzi come sono! Turds as ther are! (translated)

It preloads about 300kb then goes right to the first page and continues loading....it's late, I've had some wine, the wine is good in Italy, and I will tackle this tomorrow afternoon.....any suggestions?

Wino are you out there?

[Wino]

You're using components, and I don't have Moock's Essential AS2 with me, but he has a pretty good explanation of how to load components in there. Somewhere around page 210, but I'm in Dubai, and there's no way that I could look it up from here.

IIRC, the components should be put on a non-used frame late in the movie, to insure they are loaded, and told to NOT export on Frame 1. Then you put your preloader on frame one. Otherwise, the components load before your preloader.

I'm about to head to work, so I haven't had time to look at your FLA, but if you still haven't solved this when I get "home" to my room, I'll have a look.

Yeah.. I used to be able to get Santa Margherita in Naples for 2000 Lire a bottle. That's the wine that eventually evolved into my nick here.

[Jackred22]

God bless the grape!

Thanks for the tip and I will try it as soon as I can. I bet Dubai is quite interesting. Are you American? Isn't that a little risky....?

Take care and I will let you know how it turns out!

[Wino]

I got a chance to look at your FLA. The problem is definitely pre-loading components.

Take all of your code, and "shift it" up a few frames. Tell all components not to load on frame one. Make sure you have at least one "hard" (timeline) instance of each component somewhere on the stage farther down the timeline.

Now, your preloader goes on frames one and/or two (I didn't notice if you have a single or two line preloader).

You have to import each component to load the movie, but now your preloader loads and runs before the components. Without this, the components will load first, then the preloader. In your case, that's 95% loaded, then preloader, then you're done so quick, you never see the preloader.

Hope this helps,
Grapester

(I'm doing Stolichnaya tonight... I guess I should be "grainster.")

[Jackred22]

Morning...and thanks for your continued support!

The thing is that I'm working with actual components on stage....not yet a programmer....

And the extra frames disturb the dynamics of the quiz template....if I could, if I had more time to learn, I would really like to put everything on stage with script.....

Do you have any examples floating around in hyperspace of using mixed components with a score tally at the end like the quiz templates....all in code?

Last night it was Bulgarian Rakia, "Burgas 63".....

Nastravia!

[Wino]

Let me see what I can do for you. I think we can load the score keeper code into a separate movieclip, and use MovieClipLoader to load it. That way, we only need code for the main movieclip preloader, then use it to preload everything else. You'll still need to tell your components NOT to load on Frame one, or else they'll load before informing the preloader.

At least, that's the way I understand it.

I do projectors, not web stuff (and darned few projectors, as this isn't my "real" job.), so I never bother with preloaders. I've read about them, and have a pretty good handle on them, so I'll see about adapting the quiz template I gave you into a sub-clip, loaded by a main clip. Problem is, I have a function tonight, so I won't get to it until at least tomorrow evening, at the earliest.

The only reason you have to have the "hard" components later is if you only place them dynamically. As long as even one of them exists on the timeline, it'll be pre-loaded.

Are you using the template (or some variation thereof), or should I just use raw components and write my own scoring code?

I'm having a "Red Bull 2005" right now. I don't seem to sleep enough.

[Jackred22]

Thanks ever so much for your help!

I am using a variation of the quiz template. The version I am using didn't have the errors that you spoke of so I didn't change it, but it is still a quiz template base.

Redbull.....breakfast of champions!