Using Components > Adding components to Flash documents |  |

Adding components to Flash documents

You can add components to Flash documents using the Components panel, or using the `MovieClip.attachMovie` ActionScript method.

| Beginning Flash users can use the Components panel to add components to Flash documents, specify basic parameters using the Property inspector or the Component Parameters panel, and then use the Actions panel to write ActionScript to control the component.
| Intermediate Flash users can use the Components panel to add components to Flash documents and then use the Property inspector, ActionScript methods, or a combination of the two to specify the parameters.
| Advanced Flash programmers can use a combination of the Components panel and ActionScript to add components and specify properties, or choose to completely implement component instances at runtime using ActionScript.

If you edit the skins of a component and then add another version of the component, or a component that shares the same skins, you can choose to use the edited skins or replace the edited skins with a new set of default skins. If you replace the edited skins, all components using those skins are updated with default versions of the skins. For more information on how to edit skins, see Customizing component skins.

The following topic outlines the general steps for adding Flash UI components to your Flash document. These instructions may also apply to custom components that you create or acquire, depending on how the component is authored. For detailed instructions on adding components in the authoring environment, refer to the individual component sections in this chapter. For additional information on using the component ActionScript methods, refer to the component entries in the online ActionScript Dictionary in the Help menu.