One of the publication types you can create with Creator is Opus Flex. This allows you to create a publication that will be published as an Adobe Flash SWF file and then played in the Adobe Flash Player or over the web without using the Plexus Plug-in.
Flash publications can be playted on any hardware with the Flash player installed which means it is useful for supporting Mac and Android.
To create an Opus Flex publication, simply select the Opus Flex option in the Startup Wizard that appears whenever you want to create a new publication.
When you decide to create an Opus Flex publication, certain functions and features in the Creator environment are disabled or hidden. That means they are greyed-out on the screen or do not appear as options that you can normally select from the Triggers or Actions tabs in the Actions dialog. For example, the DocView tool is greyed-out on the Tools toolbar and the right-mouse click triggers are hidden in the Triggers tab of the Actions dialog.
You can convert current publications to Opus Flex publications although some features may not work so we always recommend you begin working in the Flex publication type.
When you want to publish the Opus Flex publication, the settings in the Publish Wizard are different and allow you to set a preloader for example or specify the version of Flash to be supported including those used on mobile phones.
Note
The Publish Settings are also provided on the Publication menu.
Flash has several different "types" of text depending on the use of the text. The most important distinction is between static and dynamic text. The former will not be changed at runtime so if you want to display variables or the results of calculations you must ensure that dynamic text is used.
Creator has an option on the text properties tab for you to change these settings if the Auto setting does not work.
Flex only supports SWF or FLV movies for video playback so other formats will need to be converted. There are a number of utilities available via the internet which can do this.
Youtube is also supported in Flash though the player Opus uses is being retired so support may not be consistent across all browsers. If you want to use YouTube we recommend publishing to HTML5.
You can use variables in an Opus Flex publication but you need to use Dynamic text mode for any text object which displays variables.
As with any multimedia publications you create, you should plan your project before you start. This is particularly important when creating an Opus Flex publication. If a feature is key to your publication always creatre a prototype to test that feature works as required.
Note
The Opus Preview is only an approximation of the end result when previewing Flash and HTML5. Amongst other things bandwidth issues.and different versions fo browsers and different versions of Flash can have an impact. Regularly test your published version in the environment you intend to use it in.
Flash does not allow local storage of data. If you wish to keep information between sessions you will need to link the Flash file to some php or javascript in the HTML file manually. Alternatively use the HTML5 publication type.
Note:
The HTML5 publication type will allow you to store bookmakrs between sessions. This useful for getting a reader back to the point where they left the site – ideal for HTML books or information manuals.
The print action in Flash has fewer additional options than Opus and can only print the current page. If you want to print an individual object then create a special page which has only that object on with an On Show action to print it and then return to the page which has just linked to it.
The standard HTML protocol for email is to use mailto: and you can still use this in Flash by simply putting the mailto: details in the Launch Web Page action.
However, mailto relies on the user having a mail program installed on their computer and set up to accept mailto. It will not work with online email programs and therefore can be unreliable unless being used in controlled circumstances.
Many visitors to your site will be using online email services and you cannot acces these via mailto. Again, if working in a controlled corporate environment where, for example, everyone uses Google Mail it is possible to use the Launch Web Page action with a URL to access the mail as you would use in the URL bar of a browser.
Planning an Opus Flex Publication
List of Features not Supported in Flash
Converting an Existing Publication to Flash
the General tab - Opus Flex Settings