Macromedia Flash MX Unleashed [Paperback]

Matthew Pizzi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672324016 | ISBN-13: 978-0672324017 | Publication Date: July 17, 2002 | Edition: 1

Macromedia Flash MXis the premier software for creating rich content for the Web and other media. Whether you're interested in developing complex Web applications, learning ActionScript, or mastering the new video capabilities in Flash MX, this book is filled with real-world insights and tutorials on every major Flash concept.

Flash MX Unleashedis the ultimate resource for anyone trying to take their Flash skills to the next level. It combines the knowledge and experience of some of the top Web developers in the market, providing countless examples and explanations of the powerful tools and topics within Flash such as XML integration, components, and ColdFusion integration.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Macromedia Flash MXis the premier software for creating rich content for the Web and other media. Whether you're interested in developing complex Web applications, learning ActionScript, or mastering the new video capabilities in Flash MX, this book is filled with real-world insights and tutorials on every major Flash concept.

Flash MX Unleashedis the ultimate resource for anyone trying to take their Flash skills to the next level. It combines the knowledge and experience of some of the top Web developers in the market, providing countless examples and explanations of the powerful tools and topics within Flash such as XML integration, components, and ColdFusion integration.

About the Author

Matt Pizzi is the training director at Train Simple (www.trainsimple.com), a software training company specializing in new media products, located in Santa Monica, CA. Matthew has been teaching full-time for five years and holds several teaching and developer certifications from Macromedia. He is also the author of multiple training CDs, including his "Up to Speed" and "Proline" series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1024 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (July 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672324016
• ISBN-13: 978-0672324017
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,346,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Letter to Sams Publishing, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Macromedia Flash MX Unleashed (Paperback)

This is to inform you that I will never buy another book from Sams! You really should be ashamed of yourselves for releasing such a poorly edited piece of garbage with your name attached. This is particularly unfortunate because the authors have presented a fairly comprehensive review of the capabilities of Flash Mx and Flash Actionscripting. However, because of the outrageous number of errors, both in the book and on the accompanying web site, it it difficult to follow and complete far too many of the exercises. I wish I had a dollar for every hour I have wasted because of this book - going down blind alleys, barking up the wrong tree, chasing ghosts, etc. Lord, how frustrating!

Thank you,

A former customer

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horible! The Autor recomeds returing it, no lie., June 16, 2003

By 

Jason J McCabe (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Macromedia Flash MX Unleashed (Paperback)

The multitude of errors in this book have coused me countless hours of wasted time. I was so frustrated trying to make the most simple action work that I contacted the makers of the book who apologiezed and blamed the technical editors then recomended returning the book and getting Action Scripting in Flash by Philip Kerman. There are several corrections on the website but this represents only a fraction of the errors in the book that range from bad code, files in exercizes misnamed to the wrong images used in examples and that can all be found in one exercize!
Do NOT BUY THIS BOOK !!!!!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good potential but numerous, inexcusable errors, October 1, 2002

By 

Robert Bastian (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Macromedia Flash MX Unleashed (Paperback)

I am a web developer with some experience in Flash 5. I bought this book on the strength of its reviews here. At first it seemed like what I needed--a review of techniques and lots of scripting to get me jump-started in MX. As I was browsing the first few chapters I started to notice some crucial omissions in the exercises. Key steps like creating symbols and adding keyframes without which the exercise would fail. I figured them out and moved on.

I downloaded the tutorial files from the site and decided to try an exercise in Ch 7 (starting on page 167). It instructs you to create a 500x300 movie to match the one you're working in--ok except that the one you're working in is 425x325! You then are asked to place a bitmap graphic into that file. Diagram 7.17 on pg 171 shows that it's supposed to measure 450x285 so it can fit nicely into the rest of the layout--it actually measures 450x303 which causes it to overlap the navigation! So I resized it and forged on. Next you're supposed to add an action to the "About Us" button--there is no such button. OK moving along. The hit state of the next button is the text itself--very hard to click on and exactly what the author warns against on pg 109. The next exercise (pg 174) asks you to select a movieclip called slide-show from the provided unleashed.fla library--the movie clip isn't there.

I could go on but I think I've made my point. Those reviewers who gave this book a high rating obviously did not try this exercise and are willing to excuse other myriad errors. Perhaps things improve in the later chapters but the authors have been extremely careless and I am going to return this book before it wastes any more of my time.