[ElliotR]

Converting Templates from Max1 to Max2

Welcome to a new chapter in creating with Max. SWiSH Max2 brings a long a whole new way of doing things, I am not going to cover features here but go over what issues and different methods you may encounter with running your Templates in SWiSH Max2.

We have updating our top sellers to work with as little problems as possible playing internally in Max2 and these are ready to download but there is still a lot of work to be done.

I will be covering:

- The new debugging system
- Targeting textfields
- Scripting changes and the "Changed script" checking feature
- New methods being sliced into Templates
- The future


Debugging system

Steps to test:

1. Check www.myswishzone.com and download the latest version of your Template.

2. Create a back up of your Template before opening in Max2.

3. Make sure your main .swi file you are testing is Exported as a SWF to the correct folder - in most Sites this is the UPLOAD folder. Please double check that this is pointing at the correct folder.

4. If you get too many debug errors. Turn off the debug scripting by selecting the "Start/stop Debug" button in the debug panel


With many Templates the debugging scripting will be reporting run time errors, undefined variables and in some cases in can stall the Template playing internally. The first thing you need to know is that your Template will still work exported as a SWF and when Tested in Player. Turn off the debug scripting by selecting the "Start/stop Debug" button in the debug panel and now trying playing the site internally.

What has happened is the player and actionscripting standard that a lot of our templates where developed at has been updated by several versions. Old methods that were tolerated by Max1 and the earlier player standards are now causing Order of Event issues with variables and objects and are causing debug error reports. In a way because Max2 is a lot more efficient so old non-efficient methods are causing issues. The developers have worked hard to automatically correct and update scripting issues with the "Changed Script" system that runs on opening your .swi - more of this soon. But old methods can and do causes issues.

Currently we have updated most of our top selling sites to be Max2 compatible, so check in http://www.myswishzone.com and download the latest version.

The great thing is the new debugging system will help the Template developers create more efficient sites and will help you debug issues with your own work. Recently we over hauled the template system and this is working very well with Max2.


Targetting textfields

Textfields in Max1 with [x] Target select will need to be treated differently with script inside Max2. We have already made these changes to the latest builds:

Note: Make sure you have 'Expose SWF6 properties' selected in the export options

Old method in Max1 with a created textfield "your_textfield" is treated in code like:

your_textfield._text.text = "Display this text";
 your_textfield._text.scroll = 2;
 your_textfield._text.maxscroll;
 your_textfield._text.htmlText ="<b>You will need to have the html option selected</b>";

Note: If your textfield has the html formatting option turned on it will need to be referred to as "htmlText" not "text".

This will make sure your Max1 textfields works in Max2.


If you are using a script created textfield class then you just refer to it without the "_text" property. As in this example:

this.createTextField("commentText", 10,100,0,100,200);
 commentText.wordWrap = true;
 commentText.multiline = true;   
 commentText.html = true;
 commentText.textColor = 0xFFFFFF;
 commentText.htmlText = "This is my <b>New textfield</b>";

Scripting Changes and the "Changed Script" checking feature

SWiSH Max1 was tolerant to non-case sensitive properties and some functions - as in _Y and _y. The new "Changed Script" does convert these to a case sensitive form "_y" as to what is recognised and is current with AS2+ (Actionscript standard) and Max2. It also corrects badly place dot notations and short cut object evaluations. In general our very smart developers have tried to convert bad habits to correct habits.

There are many changes to scripting methods as now Max2 exports to SWF9 and Actionscript2. We also have a host of new methods and more but this isn't the place to cover that.

This has helped our Templates become more compatible with future upgrades.


New methods being sliced into Templates

I have changed how the dynamic sites handle and load their content (html text, text and images). These now follow a more cascading object oriented method, rather than a root bound method. What I mean is the loading of text and images has been moved to the pagestyles, so if a pagestyle has imageholders I have added a object that loads the images. This means a whole heap of root bound conditional checking (some that caused debugging undefined errors) has been made redunant. Basically things happen as they should rather than the need to "check" whether something could of happened. It is like thinking of a chain of events happening naturally after each other.

The objects that I have dropped in were developed in the new sites and galleries. And required some dependent code to be removed and linkage between a main .swi and its pagestyles is less and any required objects or variables have been directed in a forward manner - from parent to a child. Basically some of the sites's pagestyles expected the parent to exist and vice verse, rather than working more independently. So I have made changes to the sites to reduce debug errors and increase performance - this is still an on going mission!

I have added the siteSpecs object in default form to the pagestyles so that they should be able to be checked internally and independent of the main.swf. You need to test where the main.swf is tested - UPLOAD folder.

With some sites it will be nearly impossible to remove all undefined and order of event errors. I would prefer to create new and better systems and sites. So the safest method for testing is:

Steps to test:

1. Check www.myswishzone.com and download the latest version of your Template.

2. Create a back up of your Template before opening in Max2.

3. Make sure your main .swi file you are testing is Exported as a SWF to the correct folder - in most Sites this is the UPLOAD folder. Please double check that this is pointing at the correct folder.

4. If you get too many debug errors. Turn off the debug scripting by selecting the "Start/stop Debug" button in the debug panel


The Future

We have already changed the internal system of the new sites and galleries. This change means we'll be able to export to swf8 so that FLV can be played with in them and make the most of Actionscript2+ features. The new system is stable and will allow the template developers to spend time doing more interesting things rather than spending too much time trying to make things work.

For the immediate future we will still be developing the Templates in Max1 so to allow those who haven't upgrading to still edit the .swi files. But I don't want to let the sites fall back into always being behind the current Flash player standard and current design standards. SWiSH Max2 is a way better program to use so at one stage we will only be developing Templates in SWiSH Max2 - so please update as soon as possible. The developers are so keen to develop with SWiSH Max2, it is a fantastic program so why should you be the only ones to benefit

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