A description of the item you selected appears in the status bar of the application window, next to the Blast button:
The selected information is sent to the selected application or to all running applications.
| Contents > Using Macromedia Central > Working with applications | ||
The following sections discuss the tasks you can perform while working with applications:
My Applications is an application that shows a list of all the Central applications you have installed and shows details about these applications. My Applications lets you start applications, update applications, or uninstall them.
To start My Applications, do one of the following:
My Applications starts in the application window.
The following sections discuss the tasks you can perform using My Applications:
Start My Applications by clicking the white "C" icon in the toolbar. A list appears of all the products that are installed in Central and some basic information about those products. To sort the list by a particular column heading (Application, Product Info, Category, or Author), click the desired heading label. You can resize the columns by dragging the edges with your mouse.
Select a product from the table to see more information about it in the Product Details pane.
Note: If you haven't installed any applications or you uninstalled applications that came with Central, the only application listed in My Applications is the Application Finder. Use the Application Finder to get more applications.
Start My Applications by clicking the white "C" icon in the toolbar. To see details about a product, select that product in the list of installed applications. The details appear in the lower pane.
You can see details such as a description of the product, its price, the number of days left in its trial, the product's author, and what applications are included in a product (many products contain more than one application).
You can start an application by clicking its icon in the Central toolbar, double-clicking the application icon in the Application Drawer, selecting the application from the View menu, or using My Applications.
To start an application using My Applications:
The product details appear in the lower pane.
The selected application appears in the window where My Applications was.
Tip: Control-click the Start button in the lower pane to open the selected application in a new window.
You can share application information in My Applications with other applications. For example, using the Blast feature, you can share application details with a web logging (blogging) application and write a review about the application. Or you can send application details to your address book so you can later contact the author of the application. For more information, see Sharing information between applications.
You can use My Applications to update an installed application when a new version is available.
To update applications in My Applications:
The application's details appear in the lower pane.
If an update is available, you see a dialog box that asks if you want to install it now.
Central installs the update to the application.
Tip: To update Macromedia Central, from the menu bar, select Edit > Preferences, select General, and click Check Now.
Use My Applications to review the applications that you have installed and to uninstall any products that you don't use.
Tip: Some applications are part of a larger product. When you uninstall an application that is part of a larger product, you are uninstalling the entire product. Before uninstalling an application, Central prompts you to be sure that you don't need any of the other applications that are part of the product.
To uninstall a product in My Applications:
The application's details appear in the lower pane.
A message appears that lists the applications that are included in the product you are going to uninstall.
The application and all its associated files are uninstalled.
For information on removing Macromedia Central, see How do I remove Central or Central applications?.
Finding and installing applications is easy using Central's Application Finder. To use the Application Finder, be sure that you're connected to the Internet and that the lightning bolt icon in the toolbar is blue.
To install applications using the Application Finder:
Look for the Central logo on your favorite websites. If you see the Central logo on a website, you can download a Central application directly from the website, usually by clicking a Download or Install button.
Tip: If you know the URL or address of an application on the Internet, you can install the application by selecting the File > Install Application from URL command. For more information, see How do I install more applications?.
You can switch between applications in the same window, or you can open multiple windows to run multiple applications simultaneously. To switch to a different application in the same window, click the desired application icon in the toolbar. To start an application in a new window, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) the application icon in the toolbar.
If you want general information about an installed application, start the application by clicking its icon. When the application is running, select Application Name > About from the menu bar. A window opens with information about the application.
If you want information about a downloadable application that you haven't installed yet, select View > Application Finder from the menu bar, and click the name of the application. For more information, see Support Information in the lower pane, or the author's website.
Some applications have help systems that explain their features. To access an application's help, select Help > Application Help from the menu bar.
For help with the Console or with using the application window, select Help > Macromedia Central Help from the menu bar.
Context menus throughout Macromedia Central and Central applications give you a quick way to access context-specific options and preferences. To display a context menu, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) anywhere in Central or a Central application. For instance, to hide the Central toolbar in Windows, right-click the Central toolbar to display the toolbar context menu, and then select Hide Toolbar.
Note: Context menus for text entry areas or forms include editing options (cut, copy, paste, delete). Context menus accessed in other areas of Central of Central applications do not include editing options.
Periodically, Macromedia Central or a Central application is updated with new features, and you are automatically notified that an update is available. It is a good idea to update to a new version, when one is available, to ensure that your applications work properly.
If you decide not to update when requested to do so, you won't be prompted to update to that version again.
To update applications or Central to a newer version:
Tip: You can also update individual applications using My Applications. For more information, see Updating applications in My Applications.
Note: After updating Central, Macintosh OS 10.2 users must empty the Trash folder and restart Central so the alias will point to the correct application file.
Using the Blast feature, you can share information between different Central applications. Like copying text from one application and pasting it into another, you can select data in a Central application and share it with other applications, which can intelligently use and apply that data.
For example, assume you have an activity planner application set to receive data from another calendar application. You can select an event in the calendar application, and click the Blast button to send the event details to your Central activity planner application, without having to retype the information.
To share information with another Central application:
A description of the item you selected appears in the status bar of the application window, next to the Blast button:
The selected information is sent to the selected application or to all running applications.
Note: If an application isn't listed in the Blast pop-up menu, it can't read the selected information. The pop-up menu shows only those applications that can use the selected information. Also, the Blast button only appears in applications that are Blast-enabled, and if no other installed application can receive the Blast data, the Blast button will appear disabled.
Using the Blast feature, you can also automatically send information from the current application to all running applications, so you don't have to click Blast each time. To send information automatically, select an item and Control-click Blast (Windows) or Command-click Blast (Macintosh). Any data you select is now automatically sent to all running applications. To turn off Auto Blast, Control-click or Command-click the Blast button again.
Central automatically detects whether an Internet connection exists, but you can work in most Central applications even if you're not connected to the Internet. Central saves information you viewed the last time you were connected so you can also view it offline. When you reconnect, information is automatically updated. For more information, see How do I save information to my computer so that I can look at it offline?.
A blue lightning bolt indicates online status; a dimmed lightning bolt indicates no network detected status. When you need to work offline, click the lightning bolt icon in the left corner of the Central toolbar, or select File > Work Offline from the menu bar. When Central is set to work offline, a red slash appears over the lightning bolt. For more information about working offline, see About your Internet connection.
| Contents > Using Macromedia Central > Working with applications | ||