This walkthrough quickly demonstrates how to build a slideshow using SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro Director. If you are installing Director on your own web server (and are not a hosting subscriber), Director must be installed before following this walkthrough. If applicable, see “Installation” in the SlideShowPro Director User Guide for instructions, then return here.

Step One: Install and setup SlideShowPro for Flash/Lightroom

Go to the Quick Start Guide for SlideShowPro for Flash or SlideShowPro for Lightroom and complete step one, two and three. When finished, come back here and continue.

Step Two: Upload content to Director

Login to your installation of Director. You’ll land on the “Snapshot” page. Click the “Create a new album” shortcut link in the left column (see left). Give your album a title, and make sure “Edit album after it has been created” is selected. Then click “Create album.” Your album will be created, and Director will load the “Upload” page for your new album. Browse and select one or more assets on your local machine, then click “Okay.” Director will confirm your file list in the right column. Click “Upload” to confirm.

Step Three: Copy XML File Path

After uploading, click on the “Summary” sub-navigation link to go to the Summary page. Upon arrival, look for the “XML Info” box in the lower-left. Click the “Copy” button. The XML File Path for your album has been copied to your clipboard.

Step Four: Assign XML File Path to SlideShowPro

Return to Flash and select your instance of SlideShowPro for Flash on the Stage. Open the Component Inspector panel (Window > Component Inspector). Scroll to the bottom and click inside the field reading “images.xml” that’s next to the XML File Path parameter. Erase “images.xml” and paste in the URL you copied from Director. Lastly, below XML File Path, set XML File Type to “Director.”

Step Five: Publish

Select File > Publish > Test Movie in Flash. A SWF will be published, and after a short delay your images will load from Director. Director will publish optimized copies of your content to fit your instance of SlideShowPro for Flash, and cache them thereafter so they won’t require regenerating. For this reason you can expect your first Director connection to take a little longer than subsequent ones.

Feel free now to change the size of SlideShowPro, and any of its options. Any requisite content that is required (for example, using the “Thumbnails” Navigation Link Appearance instead of “Numbers”) will be auto-published by Director.