Explain how to test movies in Flash. Include in your response a discussion of whether or not publishing is an effective testing method.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The process of generating a Web version of a Flash file for use on a Web site is called publishing. Viewing a Flash project in Flash is not the same as viewing the published movie in a Web browser or mobile device. As you work on your movie, you will need to test it along the way to ensure that it works as you intend. Publishing a movie simply to test it is not efficient because you have to configure the publish settings, publish the movie, browse on your hard drive to the published files, open the published files, and then close the published files to return to Flash. It is more efficient to simply test the movie from within Flash.

The Test Movie command, available from the Control menu on the Application bar, displays the movie in a Flash player window, allowing you to see a preview of how your movie will look and act when published. This command also creates a SWF file with the same name as the Flash movie in the same file storage location as the Flash movie. Every time you issue the Test Movie command, that SWF file is overwritten with a fresh copy. Flash then displays the current SWF file in the Flash player window. If your Flash movie includes text, Flash also creates a text layout file in the same storage location, which helps Flash load the movie faster. Because Flash re-creates the SWF and text layout files as necessary each time you run the Test Movie command, you safely can delete either of the two files at any time. When you are done testing your movie, you can close the player window to return to Flash.