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REAL professional About boxes

A little use of inspiration for a magnificent effect...

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(3(3 Vote))

Say, you got tired of the simple About boxes which you try time and again to improve by using text orientation effects and images but still can't get what you want - the ultimate About box ?.. Well, here's an idea how to obtain it with a little.. push.

Ever heard of Macromedia Flash ? :) Of course you did ! Thought it is most useful on web pages presentations ? Wrong ! Why not use it outside them, say, in an About box ?? With just a little effort in learning Flash movie-making, you'll have the About box you ever wanted, and who knows - maybe more !

Again, ever heard of custom resources ? Again, of course you did. Let's combine these two areas of.. computer science and get a LIVING About box.

First of all, and most important, you do not have to distribute the movie separately from the program itself; that's why you'll use it as a resource. Steps to do it ? Here's some steps for you:

1. Make the About movie (the hardest part of all, I agree... :) )

2. Insert the .swf file as Custom resource, putting it in the category, say "AboutMovies", and giving it the ID "TheAboutMovie"

3. Put a WebBrowser control on the form, dimensioning it to fit the size of the movie you made.

4. Use it !


Private Sub Form_Load()

Dim moviebits() As Byte

moviebits=LoadResData ("AboutMovies", "TheAboutMovie")

Open App.Path & "\aboutmov.swf" For Binary Access Write As #1

Put #1, , moviebits

Close

Erase moviebits

WebBrowser1.Navigate2 App.Path & "\aboutmov.swf"

End Sub


Private Sub Form_Unload(..

...

Kill App.Path & "\aboutmov.swf"

...

End Sub


End of HowTo.

Try this at home. Regards.