adobe flash cs5 on demand part 60 pdf

Start to type the code you want, and then press Control+Spacebar Win or A+Spacebar Mac or click the Show Code Hint button on the toolbar to manually display the code hints popup menu..

ActionScript 3.0 has undergone significant

changes This does not mean that if you have

worked with Flash ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0 that

you will be completely lost, but it will require

that you learn new ways to use your code

Understanding ActionScript 3.0

ActionScript 3.0 is a robust programming

model (completely up-to-date with the latest

release of the ECMAScript standard) familiar

to developers with a basic knowledge of

object-oriented programming If you have

developed for other programming languages,

such as Java, C++ or C#, then you have heard

of this term Object-oriented programming

allows you break your code into objects that

can be easily re-used With object-oriented

programming, it’s easier to manage an

appli-cation that has a collection of smaller files

than one large file

There are number of changes that will take

a while to get used The main changes are:

◆ ActionScript is located in Class files or in

the Timeline

◆ Code design is truly object oriented

◆ You cannot add ActionScript directly to

movie clips or buttons instances

◆ Triggering events has changed

◆ Loading data has changed

◆ XML is managed differently

Some other enhancements include more

run-time exceptions for common error

condi-tions, added use of run-time type information,

improved use of properties and classes with

sealed classes, added use of method closures

for event handling, added use of industry

standard ECMAScript for XML, more support

for regular expressions, and added primitive

types (int and uint)

There are a score of smaller changes As you dive directly into ActionScript 3.0 you will find a learning curve as you move from ActionScript 2.0 Is it all worthwhile to go through the pain? Absolutely ActionScript 3.0

is simply so much faster and more powerful that it is worth the undertaking

Working with ActionScript 3.0

There are two ways in which you can work with ActionScript The first method is to add ActionScript to the Timeline This will be famil-iar to earlier Flash developers A good prac-tice to get into is to have a layer in that Timeline that is dedicated to just working with ActionScript Adobe recommends that you label the ActionScript label “Actions.” Locking the “Actions” layer will prevent you from acci-dentally adding movie clips into it

The second method is to insert ActionScript into Flash files with a Class file

Class files have a long history in the develop-ment world With a Class file you can now specify both Public and Private Classes Using the Private keyword restricts the use of the attribute defined in just that class and not shared with other classes This is useful as you develop instruction that needs to be exe-cuted privately in a closed environment

Other major changes include:

◆ Developing Solutions Built with the DOM3 event model

◆ Using Namespaces in your projects

◆ Controlling Data

◆ Controlling Text

◆ Drawing with the Shape Class

◆ Ability to easily work with external ActionScript Libraries

Using ActionScript 3.0

ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0 Similarities

With all of the changes between ActionScript

3.0 and 2.0 it’s important to remember that

there is a lot of functionality that is the same

between them For instance you still use the

following in the same way:

◆ Variables

◆ Math object

◆ If/Else Statements

◆ Switch Statements

◆ String

◆ Date to control the use of date and time

◆ Array to build a structured collection of

data

◆ Boolean to specify a true or false

The following works in ActionScript 2.0

and ActionScript 3.0:

var str:String = new String("Hello, ");

var str2:String = new String("World");

trace (str + str2);

You can see that the overall syntax

struc-ture is the same between both versions of

ActionScript You still end your code with

curly brackets, your variable names are still

case sensitive, your variable names cannot

start with a number and you still use number

class objects the same way

For specific details about using an

ActionScript language, click the Help menu,

click Flash Help, and then look in the

Programming ActionScript 2.0 or 3.0 or the

ActionScript 2.0 or 3.0 Language and

Components Reference online chapter

Extending ActionScript with Open Source Libraries

The core to ActionScript 3.0 is that it can be easily extended To this end, you can use dozens of great Open Source Libraries that can be used to extend the functionality of Flash Great examples are:

◆ Box2D Physics Engine (http://box2dflash.sourceforge.net/)

◆ CoreLib (http://code.google.com/p/as3corelib/) a collection of basic utilities such as MD5 hashing, JSON serialization and advanced data parsing

◆ Syndication Library (http://code.google.com/p/as3syndication lib/) a library that allows you to parse all ATOM and RSS feeds easily

◆ AlivePDF (http://www.fpdf.org/) a library that allows you to convert your Flash screen content to PDF

These are some of the best Libraries you can use Each comes with its own level of documentation

Extending ActionScript with C/C++

ActionScript can be extended using C/C++

The Open Source project Brajeshwar.com (http://brajeshwar.com/2008/cc-to-action-script-compiler/) is a project that allows you

to take C++ programs and compile them to run in Flash As an Example, they were able

to take the C++ version of Quake, convert it and run it in Flash That is darn impressive and could not be done with ActionScript 2.0

To take advantage of the new powerful AVM 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0 you must be publishing your Flash movies to target Flash Player 9 or later Adobe has done a great job of ensuring that the latest release of the Flash Player is installed on your computer For instance, with the release of Flash Player 9, Adobe installed a feature that automatically updates your Player on your PC, Mac users receive updates through the Mac OS update tool and—as part of Flash Player 10.1—will now receive automatic updates as soon as new releases are available Flash Player 10.1 will help your Flash movies to play back more efficiently on Mac based computers, especially for mobile devices, such as an Android, Palm Pre or BlackBerry phones Flash Player 10.1 dramatically optimized code for the Cocoa Framework, it uses Apple’s Core Animation to render animation) Mobile users simply have not been able to view Flash Now they can To change which Flash Player you are targeting you need to open the Publish Settings and modify the Flash Player settings

Changing ActionScript

3.0 Settings

Change Publishing Setting for

ActionScript 3.0

Click File, and then click Publish

Settings.

The default settings on the

Formats tab include Flash and

HTML

Click the Flash tab.

Click the Player list arrow, and

then click Flash Player 9 or Flash

Player 10.

Click the Script list arrow, and

then click ActionScript 3.0.

Click the HTML tab.

To publish settings for a specific

subversion (an update to a main

release) of the selected Flash

Player, select the Detect Flash

Version check box, and then enter

the Flash Player subversion you

want For example, 10.1.52 This

uses SWObject2 for version

detection and embedding SWF

into Web pages (New !)

Click OK.

You are ready to start developing a

ActionScript 3.0 Flash movie that

uses AVM 2.0

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Change ActionScript 3.0 Settings

Click File, and then click

ActionScript Settings.

To create a document class, enter

the filename of the ActionScript

file without the as extension

Specify the frame where the class

definition resides

Specify any of the following

options:

◆ Strict Mode Select to to report

compiler warnings as errors

◆ Warnings Mode Select to

report warnings for issues

when updating ActionScript 2.0

to ActionScript 3.0

◆ Automatically declare state

instances Select to

automatically declare instances

on the Stage

◆ Dialect Select ECMAScript or

ActionScript 3.0

(Recommended)

Click any of the following tabs:

◆ Source path Specify the

location of the external

ActionScript files that contain

the class definition

◆ Library path Specify the

location of pre-compiled

ActionScript code, which

resides in the SWC files

◆ Config constants Specify any

configuration constants for use

with conditional compilation

Click OK.

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See Also

See “Creating a New Document” on

page 12 for more information on

creat-ing an ActionScript 3.0 FLA document

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Code hints makes it easy to insert and edit code accurately With Code hints, you don’t have to remember all of the objects, methods, and prop-erties used in ActionScript As you enter to type code, you can display the Code Hints popup menu to help you enter it correctly (New!) Code hints can appear after the dot (.) following a statement or command, where a property or method needs to appear next, or between paren-theses [()] in a method name The Code Hints popup menu displays appropriate code options based on the currently entered code When you enter code that refers to a custom ActionScript 3.0 class, you can also display the Code Hints popup menu to help you access the appro-priate code options (New!) When you use a custom class in a script, Flash automatically imports the related code for its use Code hinting also works for nested class references, and all classes included in a SWC file

Inserting Code with

Code Hints

Use Code Hints

Create or open a Flash document

Open the Actions panel or Script

window

Place the insertion point where

you want to add code

Start to type the code you want,

and then press Control+Spacebar

(Win) or A+Spacebar (Mac) or

click the Show Code Hint button

on the toolbar to manually display

the code hints popup menu

Scroll through the list by using the

scroll bar or pressing the Up

Arrow and Down Arrow keys

To insert a code hint, double-click

an item, or select it and then press

Enter (Win) or Return (Mac)

◆ Press Esc to dismiss the list of

code hints

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See Also

See “Setting ActionScript

Preferences” on page 349 for

information on enabling code hinting

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Use Code Hints for Custom

Classes

Create or open a Flash or class

document (ActionScript 3.0)

◆ Store the custom classes in the

same folder as the document

Open the Actions panel or Script

window

Place the insertion point where

you want to add code

Start to type the code you want,

and then press Control+Spacebar

(Win) or A+Spacebar (Mac) or

click the Show Code Hint button

on the toolbar to manually display

the code hints popup menu

Scroll through the list by using the

scroll bar or pressing the Up

Arrow and Down Arrow keys

To insert a code hint, double-click

an item, or select it and then press

Enter (Win) or Return (Mac)

◆ Press Esc to dismiss the list of

code hints

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Did You Know?

You can reload code hints without

restarting Flash Open the Actions

panel, click the Options menu, and then

click Reload Code Hints

You can save time with Auto

close-bracket insertion When you type an

open bracket { in the Actions panel or

Script window, Flash automatically

adds the corresponding close

bracket } (New !)

Properties Options

Type this Code hints for that same class Type new+<space> Displays a list of available classes and

packages Type import+<space> Displays a list of all the built-in packages

and custom packages

Code Hinting for Custom Classes

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As you build Flash documents for ActionScript 3.0, it's almost a certainty that you will use elements over and over again Flash created a solution that makes it easier to reuse elements called Code Snippets (New!)

Snippets offer a simple and convenient method of creating reusable code, which especially helpful for those transitioning from ActionScript 2.0 to ActionScript 3.0 They are composed of bits of code and/or content along with comments for usage that you can save, edit, use, and reuse

as often as you want You can use a pre-defined code snippet supplied

by Flash or create your own in the Code Snippets panel (New!)

Inserting and Creating

Code Snippets

Insert a Code Snippet

Select the object or Timeline frame

in the Flash document where you

want to insert/apply the code

snippet

Open the Code Snippets panel.

Click the arrow icon next to the

folder (Actions, Timeline

Navigation, Animation, Load and

Unload, Audio and Video and Event

Handlers) to display the snippet

you want to insert

Select the snippet you want to

insert

Click the Add to current frame

button in the Code Snippets panel

TIMESAVER You can also drag

a snippet from the Code Snippets

panel directly onto an element, or

double-click the code snippet in

the Code Snippets panel In the

Actions panel, you can click the

Code Snippets button

Click Yes to convert your selection

to a movie clip, if necessary

A new ActionScript is added to a

new layer, labeled Actions, in the

Timeline

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Click to Play/Stop Sound snippet code New layer with ActionScript

Create a Code Snippet

Open the Code Snippets panel.

Click the Options button in the

Code Snippets panel, and then

click Create New Code Snippet.

Type a title and tooltip

Type the code you want to use in

the Code box or click Auto-fill to

insert the code selected in the

Actions panel

Select or clear the Automatically

replace instance_name_here

when applying code snippet

check box

Click OK.

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Did You Know?

You can edit an existing code snippet.

In the Code Snippets panel, select the

snippet you want to edit, click the

Options button, click Edit Code

Snippets XML, make the changes you

want, click the File menu, click Save,

and then click the Close button in the

Code Snippets tab

You can copy a code snippet to the

clipboard In the Code Snippets panel,

select the snippet you want to copy,

click the Copy to Clipboard button, and

then click OK, if necessary Now, you

can paste it into the Actions panel or

If you want to share code snippets with others, you can import or export one or more from the Code Snippets panel To import a code snippet, click the Options button in the Code Snippets panel, click Import Code Snippets XML, select the XML file, and then click Open

To export a code snippet, select the snippet you want to export in the Code Snippets panel, click the Options button, click Export Code Snippets XML, type a name, specify a location, and then click Save

For Your Information

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