# \[Pro\] Links under transparent Flash?

**URL:** <https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527>\
**Category:** Freeway\
**Created:** [April 9, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527 "2010-04-09T21:21:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tychain1](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Tychain1](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/Tychain1)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/1 "2010-04-09T21:21:22Z")

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Hi All… first post!

This forum is amazingly useful and has answered many of questions just from searches… but I am stumped here. I have a full page Flash movie that fades to transparent at the end. I want to play it over my Freeway site once then be completely transparent so users can see and click links etc “underneath” the flash.

I have already used the "extended wmode etc. and i can see my page under the Flash when the movie ends but no links work.

Am I trying to do the impossible here? Any other ways of doing this?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/2 "2010-04-09T21:28:19Z")

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> Am I trying to do the impossible here?

Yes I think you are - just because it is transparent doesn’t mean that you can click through it. Think of it like a sheet of glass. You cant touch what is behind it.

Why not embed a link/links into the flash file.

David

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**Author:** ![waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/user_avatar/discourse.softpress.com/waltd/32/2720_2.png) [@waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/waltd)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/3 "2010-04-09T21:39:10Z")

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Or make the entire flash go away at the end by triggering a JavaScript  
function from the last frame of the movie. The actual URL would be this:

javascript:document  
.getElementById(‘idOfHtmlBoxWithYourMovie’).style.display=‘none’;

display:none objects are removed entirely from the page, they no  
longer interact with other elements in any way. If they took up space  
in the layout previously, then they no longer do, and the page  
collapses around them to close up the space they left behind.

If this is a normal Freeway layout, then your Flash element is in a  
layered DIV with an ID. Figure out what that is (click on it, look in  
the Inspector) and substitute my made-up ID above for what you find. I  
believe you can get a Flash movie to issue a request, kind of like  
what happens when you set a Flash movie to redirect the browser to  
another page. Just use this code, suitably edited, as the URL of that  
Flash function.

Walter

On Apr 9, 2010, at 5:28 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

> > Am I trying to do the impossible here?
> 
> Yes I think you are - just because it is transparent doesn’t mean  
> that you can click through it. Think of it like a sheet of glass.  
> You cant touch what is behind it.
> 
> Why not embed a link/links into the flash file.
> 
> David
> 
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**Author:** ![Tychain1](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Tychain1](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/Tychain1)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/4 "2010-04-09T21:43:09Z")

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That sounds perfect Walter… That is what I ideally wanted to do but didnt think it was possible. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks so much!!!

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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/5 "2010-04-09T21:58:44Z")

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Walter was there not an action where you could change the link(s) in a flash file.

D

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**Author:** ![waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/user_avatar/discourse.softpress.com/waltd/32/2720_2.png) [@waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/waltd)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/6 "2010-04-09T22:05:32Z")

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Yes, but you have to put them in there first. It’s called Flash  
Extras, and it’s a core Action (built into Freeway).

What you do in short is put some “stub” links into a Flash movie –  
they can point anywhere you like, doesn’t matter. Then you select the  
movie and apply Flash Extras to it. There’s a part of the Actions  
palette that you can then open and it will list all of the links in  
the movie.

What’s really cool is that then you can re-target these links to point  
anywhere you like, to individual pages in your site, or to external  
links. If these links are internal, then even if you rename the page  
and break the URL, it will be updated and fixed magically in Freeway  
the next time you publish. The Flash movie is actually rewritten on  
the fly by Freeway during the publish cycle.

Walter

On Apr 9, 2010, at 5:58 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

> Walter was there not an action where you could change the link(s) in  
> a flash file.
> 
> D
> 
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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/7 "2010-04-09T22:10:04Z")

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> It’s called Flash Extras

Yes I thought it was but I just tried it on a swf that I created with Easy Web Animator and I didn’t get the option to change the links. Thats why I was thinking there was maybe another.

Odd!

D

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**Author:** ![waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/user_avatar/discourse.softpress.com/waltd/32/2720_2.png) [@waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/waltd)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/8 "2010-04-09T22:17:27Z")

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The links have to be made as Buttons in Flash. I don’t really use  
Flash except once or twice a year, then I remember why I ignore it the  
rest of the year. Some people drink too much and have a hangover. I  
use Flash and I have a hangover, sometimes for a month or more…

Walter

On Apr 9, 2010, at 6:10 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

> > It’s called Flash Extras
> 
> Yes I thought it was but I just tried it on a swf that I created  
> with Easy Web Animator and I didn’t get the option to change the  
> links. Thats why I was thinking there was maybe another.
> 
> Odd!
> 
> D
> 
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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/9 "2010-04-09T22:24:25Z")

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Well these were done as buttons in EWA - go figure.

Anybody else want to have a go?

D

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**Author:** ![Keith\_Martin](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/7c8e57/32.png) [@Keith\_Martin](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/Keith_Martin)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/10 "2010-04-10T10:01:01Z")

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> these were done as buttons in EWA

The term ‘buttons’ may not mean precisely the same thing in both apps.

k

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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/11 "2010-04-10T17:14:36Z")

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No Keith you may be right - but what would the correct way be?

I have only really had a quick dabble in EWA but enough to be able to attach a link to an object and have it work on a web page. But there is no saying that it is the right way for the Flash Extras action to do its thing.

D

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**Author:** ![waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/user_avatar/discourse.softpress.com/waltd/32/2720_2.png) [@waltd](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/waltd)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/12 "2010-04-10T18:10:17Z")

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You might want to raise a feature request with Softpress about this. If they took a look at it (since they know exactly how their Action locates the links inside a SWF) they might be able to relax the conditions such that the EWA-generated SWF would also work.

Walter

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**Author:** ![David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@David\_McCallum](https://discourse.softpress.com/u/David_McCallum)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://discourse.softpress.com/t/pro-links-under-transparent-flash/7527/13 "2010-04-10T19:21:37Z")

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Yes - Good call Walter - will do.

D

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