Creating Icons

1. Since all icons created for use with the iconbarMenu should be the same dimensions, it is best to start with a template symbol to base all icons off of. Insert a new movie clip symbol (Insert > New Symbol) named "templateIcon". This does not need to be exported.



2. The iconbarMenu scales its icons to be of equal width and height, so it's necessary that you construct the icons on a square. This does not mean that the icons themselves need to be square, however. For an irregular icon to work, you need to construct its graphic over an invisible square. Do this by drawing a perfect square onto the stage (holding SHIFT) and setting its fill alpha to 0% in the Color Mixer panel. Also, make sure the square has no outline. The size of the square itself can vary, as long as its height and width are equal.



3. Center this invisible square on the stage using the Align panel. In order to use this to place your icon graphic, lock the layer containing the invisible square and set the layer to outline mode in the Timeline.



4. Now that the icon template has been created, duplicate it in the library whenever you need to create a new icon. You can do this in the library's drop-down menu or by right-clicking the templateIcon and selecting "duplicate". Rename the duplicate to match whatever icon you are creating, and be sure to export the duplicate with a unique identifier. You will need to provide the iconbarMenu instance with this identifier in the Properties panel or through code.



5. The graphics for the icons may be anything that Flash can create or import, whether vector or bitmap, static or animated. All you need to ensure is that whatever graphic you choose remains inside the template square and that each icon is exported from the library.