It would help a great deal if your component users could see approximately
what the triangle will look like on the stage while they are setting the triangle
properties. This will help them design more efficiently because they will not
have to waste time in the cycle of adjusting values, testing the movie, adjusting
values, testing the movie, etc.
Flash MX introduces the Live Preview feature, which does exactly that. Essentially,
you create a separate swf (like the custom UI), and you tell Flash to use that
swf to display your component when it is placed on the stage (during authoring).
You would typically make the swf to appear exactly like the component, based
on the property values.
The triangle on the stage is a Live Preview movie we made.
Jonathan Kaye, PhD, is the President and CTO of Amethyst Research LLC, an award-winning interactive design and engineering firm specializing in the creation of online device simulations. He and David Castillo are the authors of "Flash for Interactive Simulation: How to Construct and Use Device Simulations", to be published by Delmar Thomson Learning in November, 2002 (the accompanying web site will be www.FlashSim.com).