Using rich symbols in Fireworks
Table of Contents
Your first rich symbol!
After clearing your document of the old symbol, and placing a new instance from the Common Library, select the symbol and open the Symbol Properties panel (Window > Symbol Properties). You can now make multiple sized instances of your rich symbol, each with a unique face color, label, and active state!
Figure 17: Easily make unique instances of your rich symbol!
There are a few tips and tricks when using rich symbols that you should become familiar with. One is the new Swap Symbol command. This command can be accessed by right-clicking the symbol on the canvas, and choosing Swap Symbol from the pop-up menu. The command will preserve as many properties as possible, while swapping the instance with another symbol. It can be very useful when you have several graphic styles for a single component, and would like to change the style without having to reset the attributes, such as size or text label. Another useful tool is the Remove Transform command (Modify > Transform > Remove Transform), which returns a symbol to its default size, but preserves any attributes you might have set.
As you continue to work on a rich symbol, adding and editing properties, and changing the symbol graphics, it is important to have a strong understanding of the necessary workflow steps:
Resave your symbol to the Common Library. If you make changes to the symbol graphics, you need to resave it to the Common Library by using the document Library (Window > Library); otherwise, the copy in the Common Library won’t reflect your changes.
Reload the Common Library. The Common Library automatically reloads itself whenever you save from within Fireworks, but it is a good habit to click the reload button on the panel just to be sure. If you are making changes to the .jsf file by hand, for instance, you need to manually reload the Common Library before the .jsf file will be registered with the symbol.
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Delete the current Symbol from the document Library. Currently, a rich symbol cannot be fully updated with a copy from the Common Library. Although you can update a symbol's graphics, the .jsf file is permanent once imported into a document. Therefore, to register a new .jsf file, be sure to delete the old symbol from your document Library (Window > Library) before testing changes made to the script.
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Drag a new instance from the Common Library. Once the above three steps are done, you can create a new instance of your symbol from the Common Library, and test away.
Where to go from here
Obviously, this simple two-state colored button is only scratching the surface. You can add a great deal of editable properties to symbols, and do even crazier things if you are willing to dive into the .jsf and write a little code by hand. For more information on Fireworks CS3, including how to create rich symbol property scripts, go to the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop and select Fireworks from the Products menu.
