Last December, Macromedia acquired eHelp Corporation, a San Diego-based software company offering an impressive set of tools that complements Macromedia products in very powerful ways. For MX developers, one of the most exciting additions is RoboDemo, an innovative tool with a surprising variety of uses.

Simply put, RoboDemo lets you easily create interactive demonstrations and software simulations in the Macromedia Flash format. You can use RoboDemo to record a series of actions on your computer screen as a compact Flash movie (SWF), then easily publish the movie online or send it in an e-mail.

As you can imagine, being able to quickly save and share anything you do on your screen creates tremendous potential for improving communication with both your customers and colleagues. With RoboDemo, you can demonstrate an on-screen activity to anyone, regardless of whether it is a customer visiting your Web site or a colleague down the hall.

RoboDemo is a powerful tool for enhancing user experiences you're already creating with Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX 2004, and other Macromedia MX products.

If you're an MX developer working with marketing or sales to showcase your company's software or Web site, RoboDemo can be a powerful vehicle for conveying your product message. By recording a simulation of your software or Web site, you can express its value to potential customers quickly and effectively. It's always easier to show a product than to explain it, and since RoboDemo supports interactivity, you can even create a simulation that actively engages your potential customers. There is no better way to help your customers "get it."

E-learning developers already using Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, Breeze, Authorware, or any combination of these products will welcome RoboDemo as a powerful addition to their toolboxes.

RoboDemo simulations can include sophisticated interactivity, such as click boxes, buttons, text-entry boxes, and multiple-choice quizzes. RoboDemo includes branching and scoring capabilities that developers can use within stand-alone RoboDemo simulations or integrate into a larger e-learning course.

Since RoboDemo simulations are SCORM 1.2-certified and AICC-compliant, e-learning developers can effortlessly integrate their RoboDemo projects into Learning Management Systems (LMS), Macromedia Authorware, or other e-learning applications.

Regardless of the type of application you create, your users can benefit from a brief, animated tutorial that introduces them to your application and helps them get started. Use RoboDemo to create a tutorial that calls their attention to the major features of your application and simulates common tasks.

If your application is fairly sophisticated, you can use RoboHelp, RoboDemo's sister software, to create a comprehensive Help system that explains your application's features in complete detail. You can further enhance your Help system with individual RoboDemo tutorials.

Developers who provide technical support can use RoboDemo to create a knowledge base of tutorials for common topics or FAQs. Instead of having to read and follow difficult instructions, users simply view your demonstration and complete the task in question. And since the tutorials are compact SWF files, you can easily e-mail or publish them online to answer questions before an issue escalates to phone support.

Internal Uses
By communicating visually instead of wasting time explaining things in words or e-mail, RoboDemo helps you cut through the confusion that hinders many internal processes.

The less glamorous side of Flash development is the repetitive work that can burn up a lot of development time. Many developers wish they could skip the routine stuff and focus on more-creative pursuits. You can use RoboDemo as a companion to Flash to automate many of these tedious tasks, such as taking screen shots, creating mouse tweens, and animating text captions. With the RoboDemo FLA Module (sold separately), you can import your RoboDemo simulation into Flash and save it as an editable Flash file (FLA) that you can further enhance or integrate into a larger project.

Fixing bugs is a common task among developers and QA personnel, but these groups often waste time just trying to describe or replicate the bugs before they can fix them. Inaccuracies and misunderstandings throughout the process inevitably lead to unnecessary delays and frustration. With RoboDemo, you can capture bug behavior instantly, accurately, and permanently. Once a bug is discovered, you simply start recording and repeat your actions to recreate it. RoboDemo saves the steps you took and the resulting error in a Flash movie that you can easily e-mail from within RoboDemo to appropriate colleagues.

We all know it's important for developers to understand the "big picture" of their applications, but who has time to learn? Hiring a new developer to help you reach your deadline can exacerbate this problem. How do you get the new guy up to speed on the app so he can get to work as soon as possible?

The answer is RoboDemo. Create a simple movie of your application that demonstrates the basic features, functionality, and purpose. You can make the movie in minutes, it only takes minutes to watch, and it will show your teammate how his or her work will integrate into the overall application.

It's a classic catch-22: you don't want to spend time building a feature that you won't include in an application, but you can't share your idea without spending the time to build it. RoboDemo breaks this cycle because you can use it to quickly mock up a feature. You can record the existing application interface and easily overlay small images in a series of frames to quickly simulate your idea - without coding a single line.

As you learn more about RoboDemo, imagine how you can apply it in your own work. Many customers have already let us know their innovative uses for this tool - uses they hadn't even anticipated. These comments are inspiring development on the next RoboDemo version release, so please continue to share them with us in the RoboDemo Community at www.helpcommunity.ehelp.com/robodemo. If you haven't tried RoboDemo yet, visit www.macromedia.com/software/robodemo and see what it can do for you.