PageFlip FX - Parameters New Parameters Items in bold indicate default specification. Size of Book Pages: [Width, Height] No default. It must be specified by user in properties. (o sa avem si poreseturi la dimensiuni) Hardcover: [True/False] - Global XML Hardcover Spread Margin (Measurement in pixels): - Global XML Top: 5 pixel default Bottom: 5 pixel default Left and Right: 8 pixel default These defaults may need to be adjusted. We need to see what looks pleasing as a default for all these figures. Note: If Flip Direction is set to Vertical these measurement specifications are reversed. Top = Left, Bottom = Right, Left and Right becomes Top and Bottom (which is now specified as one figure). Most hardcover designs for real books are not the same size as the pages inside. Having a separate Top and Bottom specification allows the designer to adjust how the page centers vertically on the hardcover. One could imagine a navigation system at the top or bottom of the hardcover that would make this feature useful. Left and Right has to be one specification otherwise if the figures were different the book would not close correctly. By this I mean the two ends would not meet when closed. Spread Detection: [True/false] - Global XML When set to true and the image being loaded is exactly the same size as a full page spread then it assumes this is a spread. A full page spread may not be the exact size of the book page if the Frame Margin has been changed from the default value of zero pixels. Auto page spread takes this into account. The user must subtract margin pixels (when designing the spread) to obtain the right size for auto page spread to activate. This feature only works when the spread is the exact size as the image being loaded. In other words the loading dimensions are the same as the image dimensions. Auto Page Spread detection will insert a blank page if the image loading is not at the
beginning of a spread. In other words if we had two facing pages in front of us, left and right, page spread detection will insert a blank page on the right side if a spread image is trying to load on the right and it matches the size of a spread correctly. Spreads are not available for the hardcover section of the book (if activated) unless the hardcover spread margin is set to zero for Top, Bottom, Left and Right. Paper (creates a frame when used with Frame Margin): - Global XML Select JPG or SWF file for paper background. Specify file path directory. Note: The paper background is also used to create the frame when selected as an option. What happens is that a loading frame is created by selecting the margin of each side; The JPG or SWF (These files are the main pages being loaded, not to be confused with the Paper Background JPG/SWF file) then loads into the specified margins and rests on top of the paper background. The paper background creates the frame upon which image loads. Paper Opaque Value: Default Value = 255 (no translucency) - Global XML Note: We may not need this value as long as the main paper background is able to load SWF files. The transparency can be created in the SWF file that is loaded. However it might be a nice option to include this value for those loading in the JPG file format. JPG’s normally do not inherently have the ability to have a native transparency (except JPG2000). Smoothing: [True, Auto, False] - Global XML Note: When JPG images are loaded it would then apply bitmap smoothing. I think this is a really important feature. I also think it would be easy to create the auto detect feature. Essentially, it looks at the JPG Image size and compares it to the load frame size and if the two sizes are different then add bitmap smoothing. If the image is scaled (without distortion) or scaled to fit (distorted) bitmap smoothing is turned on when auto is selected. Frame Margin (measurement is in pixels): - Global XML Top: 0 default Bottom: 0 default Left: 0 default Right: 0 default
This creates load dimensions for the page loading. When these values are set above zero it creates a margin (or frame) around the page in which the main JPG or SWF file is loaded into.
Flip Direction: [Horizontal, Vertical] - Global XML A good example for using Vertical would be a Calendar; the pages flip up and down vs. right and left. Binding Mode: [Regular, Coil] - Global XML Regular mode is of course just like that standard components on the market. Coil mode is like described in the Prototype document. It should be like a spiral coil, the one you see on notebooks -not three ring binders. The amount of coils is determined by the size of the book and is auto generated. That keeps it relatively simple. The coils don’t have to be connected visually. Normally the connection is on the bottom - so you don’t see that connection anyways for the purposes of this component. Click on link below to see what I mean by coil. http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-401541.html Note: Animation is of course is different than the regular binding mode. Since there is a gap in the perforation it can move around a little. You’ll have to play around with animation to determine what’s simple but also realistic in the kind of movement that a coil bound document would have. Coil Color: [Default - Silver] - Global XML Note: If coil is selected then you must also choose the color of the coil. The other option is to have specific colors only, like: Silver, Gold, Bronze, Black, and White. There really needs to be some kind of skin here, but if not then silver works with most document layouts. Flip Behind: [false, true (Fade (False, True))] - Global XML Note: Only available in coil binding mode. If Regular Binding Mode is selected than it does not matter if Flip Behind is set as true, it reverts to false. Fade feature could also contain a numeric value indicating how fast it fades going back and behind. A zero value would then indicate no fade.
Important: When Flip Behind is turned on you will not get to see what would normally be the left page or if Flip Direction is in Vertical Mode then you would not see what would normally be the top page. Actually you do get to see it, but only briefly as it is flipping back. You are not using both sides of the page for content however, so the numbering of pages is different. Since you do get to see the back page briefly as it’s being flipped to the back it’s a good idea for the designer to take advantage of the paper background option. The Paper Background loads into the backside pages.
Edge Adjustment: [True/False] - Global XML Margin Adjustment Length: (Measurement in pixels) Top: Bottom: Left and Right: Note: If Flip Direction is set to Vertical these measurement specifications are reversed. Top = Left, Bottom = Right, Left and Right becomes Top and Bottom (which is now specified as one figure). When creating die-cut type pages using the translucent effect, this can create a problem with the page curl that is activated when moving the mouse to the edge of the paper. If not programmed correctly it will think the translucent part of the page is still the beginning of the page edge. To circumvent this problem the user can define the actual visible page edge by adjusting the top, bottom, left and right margin. This will tell the component where the page curl starts. Header Text Position Frame: - Global XML Top: (how many pixels going down) Bottom: (how many pixels going up from the bottom of the page) Left: (how many pixels going in from the left of the page) Right: (how many pixels going in from the right of the page) Raul wanted to add a header and footer text that can be specified in the XML file. This sets the frame dimensions for the Header Text.
Footer Text Position Frame: - Global XML Top: (how many pixels going down) Bottom: (how many pixels going up from the bottom of the page) Left: (how many pixels going in from the left of the page) Right: (how many pixels going in from the right of the page) Raul wanted to add a header and footer text that can be specified in the XML file. This sets the frame dimensions for the Footer Text. Header and Footer Text Font: Default Font - Global XML Header and Footer Text Size: Default Size is 10pt. - Global XML Header and Footer Color: Default is Black - Global XML Stiff Pages: [As a value list indicate which pages are stiff] Much like the value list for loading pages, this value list indicates which pages are stiff. It’s easier to this in the XML file, but if the images are being loaded internally then this makes it possible to indicate which pages are stiff.
Standard Parameters Standard Parameters from Page-Flip.com are in green (In some cases it comes from the modified CodeLoaded.com version). Items in red are additions/improvements I made relating to the standard parameters. For a thorough description of the standard parameters click here. Alin we can come up with different names for the parameters that are similar. We can also order them differently once mixed in with the new parameters. I just wanted to keep them separate so that you could see what’s new and what’s already in the standard flip components. The Blue texts, next to the name, are possible alternate names. Text in brown is literally copied from Page-Flip.com as a convenience so you don’t need to go to the site to read it. We’ll reword it for the end user manual. Book Pages (Pages to load):
This parameter is a set of paths to the component page content sources. The order of pages is determined by the order the paths are specified. The paths can be library link IDs and paths to external swf and jpg files. If a path is incorrect, an empty page will be created. Any book contains an even number of pages, therefore if you specify an odd number of
pages, an empty page will be added in the end of the book. The pages are numbered beginning from 0. Scale Page Content (Scale Page Options): [True/False] (This option is not even listed in PageFlip.com) - Global XML Instead of True/False we should expand this with the following options: No Scaling, Scale (no distortion - parts that do not fill the load space are transparent), Scale to Fit (distorts image to fill the entire load space) First Page Number (Page Start): [0] - Global XML Number of the page from which the book will be opened upon the start of playing the movie. Auto Page Numbering: [True/False] - Global XML Auto Page Numbering Position: [Top/Bottom] - Global XML
Auto Page Numbering Alignment: [left and right, Center] - Global XML The meaning of Left and Right is the outer side of the page. It depends on whether it’s the left page or right page in facing pages (Spread). On the left page it’s to the left on the right side page it’s to the right. Always Open (Keep Open): [True/False] - Global XML This parameter determines the appearance of the book. If its value is True, the book is always opened, if False, you may add the front and rear cover pages and make your book open and close. Auto Flip Area Size: - numeric value default [50] - Global XML This parameter determines the size of the area near the book edges for automatic flip starting upon bringing the mouse pointer to that area. To disable this effect, set this parameter to 0. Flip on click (Click to flip): [True/False] - Global XML This parameter determines whether flipping will be started by mouse clicking a page. If set to False, flipping will not start.
Static Shadow Depth: numeric value [1] - Global XML This parameter sets the shadows depth in pages. If set to 0, no shadows appear. Static Shadow Color: Default is Black Dynamic Shadow Depth: numeric value [1] - Global XML The Shadows that move dynamically when turning the page. Dynamic Shadow Color: Default is Black The reason for adding this ability comes from a problem I experienced. On one project my background color was black for all pages. This meant that you could not see the shadow and specular highlights. Luckily Codeloaded.com also provided the source code. So I went in and changed it to white which created the effect I wanted. Page Moving Speed: Default Value = 2 - Global XML This parameter sets the relative page moving speed during flipping. The higher its value the higher the speed and lower the page moving smoothness. The default value is 2. Page Closing Speed: Default =3 - Global XML This parameter sets the relative page moving speed during closing. Go Directly to Page: [True/False] - Global XML When using the GOTO n operation go directly to the page if set to true. If set to false it flips through each page to get to the destination page. Default is False. GOTO Page Speed: Default = 3 - Global XML This parameter sets the relative page moving speed during the GOTO Page(n) operation. Flip Sound (Page Turning Sound): Directory Path - Global XML This parameter is the path to the flip sound source file. Its value may be either an external mp3 file path or a movie clip library link ID. If the name is incorrect, the component will not work. Page Background Color (Background Color): Default = Grey (numeric value = #999999) Global XML Even though we have a new option, Paper background, this option should still be kept since it does not require a JPG to be loaded.
This parameter determines the page background color. The color will be displayed when loading pages and used as color for empty pages. The color should be set in RGB in the following format: 0xNNNNNN, where N is a hexadecimal number (0-F). Load Pages on Demand: - Global XML This parameter controls page caching. If set to True, a page will be loaded only when the user browses all the previous ones. If set to False, all the pages will be loaded upon the start of the component. Cache Pages: - Global XML This parameter determines the page caching necessity. If set to True, all the pages will be saved in the component software cache and not reloaded on next demand. If set to False, pages will be reloaded on every demand. This allows creating books with dynamic pages. The default value is True. External XML File (XML Path): Directory Path to XML File. Cache Size: numeric value 10 - Global XML Alin this value is the one listed in the component I have from CodeLoaded.com. I assume it means 10 MB? I’m not sure what the max value can be here (the limitations etc.)
Preloader Type (Preloader Selection): [Progress Bar, Round, User Defined, None) - Global XML You need to determine what you want on this list. These are the options on the component I have. User Preloader ID (User defined Preloader): - Global XML I’m not sure of the details on how this works, but it allows for a user defined preloader. This option is available on the component I bought from CodeLoaded.com. It does not appear to be an option in the Page-Flip.com Component. They do have a statement listed under “User Preloader” that says: This parameter determines the necessity of using the preloader during page loading. If set to True, the preloader will be used, otherwise it will not be used. The preloader is
only used for page loading. You may edit the preloader by customizing its appearance. To do this open the FB components\Premium Page Flip component\PagePreloader directory in the movie library, select the preloader symbol and edit it. Ensure that the scaled component has the name bar_mc. Wait for page to load before turning: [True/ False] - Global XML Something to consider - If the page that the user is going to is not completely loaded then wait for it to load before turning. The progress bar appears on the current page and then turns when the destination page is loaded. A message should be under the progress bar that say, “Please wait. Loading Destination Page.” or something similar.
Important technical notes on page transparency: When a page is designed with transparencies on it, it would be extra cool if those areas that are 100 percent transparent would allow for the flash movie to operate as if there were no page in between. To explain this better let’s say there is a button that is showing through the transparency, you would want that button to function if it’s 100 percent transparent. Make sense? This allows for all kind of cool navigation when you create Tabs. You create Tabs by creating die-cut pages using the transparency effect etc.
XML Example: All global parameters are specified at the beginning of the XML file using the same name structure as the development environment. So there are more parameters in our component of course. If the user does not specify a parameter in the XML file then it is set to its default. Global Parameters are indicated in the Parameters Document by the following indication “- Global XML” - Not all Global XML Parameters are shown in the example below, just a sample. They all use the same format.
Now what’s different then other components is that we are going to specify local page options as well. These options happen between <PageFX> and </PageFX>. In the example below all local specific page options are shown. Note: local page options will override global options for that page. If all options were indicated it would look like this:
<PageFlipFX> <width>200</width> <height>100</height> <firstPage>5</firstPage> <alwaysOpened> true </alwaysOpened> <autoFlip> 50 </autoFlip> <flipOnClick> true </flipOnClick> <shadowsDepth> 2 </shadowsDepth> <moveSpeed> 5 </moveSpeed> <closeSpeed> 3 </closeSpeed> <gotoSpeed> 3 </gotoSpeed> <flipSound> mp3/sound1.mp3 </flipSound> <loadOnDemand> true </loadOnDemand> <cachePages> true </cachePages> <usePreloader> true </usePreloader> <HardCover> true <HardCover> <HardCoverTop> 7 <HardCoveTop> <HardCoverBottom> 10 <HardCoverBottom> <HardCoverLR> 8 <HardCoverLR> <SpreadDetection> true <SpreadDetection> . . . <PageFX> <page> swf/ NameOfFile.swf/ Spread = (T/F) / Paper = (T/F) / Paper Opaque (0-255) / Smoothing (T/F) / Frame Margin (Top / Bottom / Left / Right values) / Edge Adjust (Top/ Bottom/Left and /Right) / Header Text = “Text goes here” / Footer Text = “Text goes here” / Stiff Pages (T/F) / Scale (no scale, scale, scale to fit) / Static Shadow Color (Color Value) / Dynamic Shadow Color (Value) / Auto Page Number (T/F) </PageFX> </PageFlipFX>